David Lidsky's Blog, page 3423
October 23, 2013
A Bamboo House That Weathers Storms
Every year, floods, storms, and landslides plague Vietnam's cities and countryside. These natural disasters, though not always devastating enough to attract international media, take a toll on the country, wreaking damages that are above the world average. In economic terms, Vietnam loses 1.2% of its annual GDP to mother nature, while large areas of development are swept away. Then, of course, there's the human cost, which can peak around 500 casualties, with several thousand more forced to live in extreme circumstances after the fact.
For Hanoi–based H&P Architects, there is a viable architectural solution to this urgent problem. They have produced a new housing prototype capable of withstanding floods and powerful rainstorms and nimble enough to be assembled in about 25 days and for as little as $2,500. Elevated on stilts, the Blooming Bamboo––or Bb House––keeps occupants safe from elements, withstanding, according to the architects, up to 1.5–meter high floods.
[image error]The structure consists of cubic bamboo–framed bays stacked side–by–side and pinned down by steel poles and recycled oil drums. Interior partitions and exterior screens are fabricated from thin bamboo shoots––what the architects term "modules"––that are then strengthened by bamboo wattle and fiberboard.
"The Book Thief" Wants You To Imagine A World Without Words, Starting With The New York Times
As visuals go, it's not the most mind–blowing advertisement you've ever seen––but the image of two consecutive blank pages of the New York Times, purchased to promote Fox's upcoming film The Book Thief, is striking nonetheless.
[image error]New York Times – Pages A9 & A10The pages aren't entirely blank––the Times' name, along with the date and page numbers (A9 and A10) appear on the top of each page. According to Deadline, the two full–page ads had to be approved by the Times' advertising standards team, which commented that "the underlying message of the advertising campaign, "Imagine a World Without Words," echoes the film's narrative." As far as putting the name, date, and page numbers at the top, making the pages look like editorial pages of the paper, there was no issue: "Like with any full–page advertisement, both pages feature the Times header, which includes the Times logo, date, and page number," a spokesperson told the Poynter Institute.
The bottom of the second page included the URL for the movie's website, wordsarelife.com, which features actual images of the Holocaust–set film in which a young woman steals books to share with others––during a time in which books were being routinely burned in the streets.
Baseball Games Beautifully Visualized Like Transit Maps
The baseball box score you see in the sports pages of your local newspaper is almost as old as baseball itself, and for good reason. From a design perspective, the box score is a masterpiece of statistical plain–text austerity: a four–hour–long battle between two teams full of bat–wielding titans distilled down to maybe a dozen lines of newsprint.
It takes a long time, and a lot of trial and error, to design a system that can convey information as efficiently as a box score can. But that's not to say that the box score can't be improved for the 21st century. Just in time for the World Series, Statlas is a new site trying to do just that with some modern design mojo and a dash of Sabermetrics.
[image error]One of the things that is so satisfying about sports statistics is the way that, just by looking at a lineup of names and numbers, they can be used to relive the pulse–pounding excitement and tension of a great game. Unfortunately, while there are a lot of good sites out there that crunch the data for sports fans, they don't often do it in a way that is visually appealing or straightforward.
Ad Campaign Reveals Rampant Sexism Through Google Autocomplete
Google Autocomplete is a democratic function: The suggestions that pop up are the world's most popular searches that include the words you've typed, which can offer a weird window into collective Internet psychology. "Dogs are" is autocompleted by "…people too," "…awesome," and "…family." Cats, on the other hand, "are jerks" and "are evil." Usually, the results are sort of funny and mostly inconsequential.
But autocomplete gets disturbing in a new ad campaign by United Nations Women, where it's used to reveal widespread sexism.
The ads, created by Ogilvy and Mather Dubai's Christopher Hunt, feature women's faces with real Google searches over their mouths, in which phrases like "women need to," "women should," and "women cannot" are autocompleted by shocking bigotry, including "women should be slaves," "women cannot be trusted," and "women need to be controlled." The fine print in each ad says "Actual Google search on 09/03/13." These searches were done in Dubai, but some of the same results turn up in the U.S. The ads also offer alternative, feminist statements below each search, like "women shouldn't suffer from discrimination anymore" and "women cannot accept the way things are."
U.K. Charity Encourages Empathy for Ex–Cons in Interactive Ad
(Note: apologies for the auto–play. Click the video to stop).
When it comes to looking for a job, there are countless advice articles written on how to cultivate your online brand. Having a polished LinkedIn account is as important as having a tight CV. Prospective employers will survey your Twitter account. And gaps in the resume that don't involve headers such as "Consulting" or "Freelance" are viewed with suspicion. Having these digital ducks in a row is imperative when job–hunting so as to avoid silent judgment that precludes one from being called for an interview, advise the experts.
[image error]This is all well and good for those on an upward career trajectory. But what about those who are simply trying to right the wrongs of their past and land on their feet? Like ex–inmates. An interactive PSA from U.K. charity Business in the Community aims to illustrate the degree of prejudice the previously incarcerated face when trying to reintegrate into productive society.
October 22, 2013
A Slender Armchair That's Part Nordic, Part American
Consider the pressure of legacy on today's Scandinavian furniture designers. Expectations are formidable in the region that produced the iconic designs of Hans Wegner, Arne Jacobson, and so on, as well as the principles of minimal, hyper–functional but still graceful products that have informed the likes of everyone from global retail behemoth Ikea to American artist Donald Judd.
So for a trio of fledging designers to name a chair for their hometown of Oslo––a chair by a U.S. manufacturer for a U.S. market––says a lot about the piece as a beacon of sensible, elegant design with international appeal.
"This is a typical Scandinavian chair," says Øyvind Wyller, one–third of Angell, Wyller, & Aarseth. "It's slim and lightweight. The cushion in the back gives the chair layers and shades for the light to play with. It is clothed in a way. This also gives interior designers possibilities to specify several different fabrics on the same chair."
All Of The Ways Apple's New Free Mac OS Hurts Microsoft Windows
Apple products are usually seen as expensive if not out of reach for average consumers; rarely are they associated with being free. But today the company took a big step toward changing that perception at a splashy event in Cupertino. "For the last several years, we've been on a mission," Apple SVP Craig Federighi said on stage, "[and] today we're going to revolutionize pricing."
An iPhone–Controlled Robot To Brew Your Beer
There's never been a better time for craft beer aficionados in the United States. New brews are taking over menus in bars and specialty shops, and this summer it became legal to home brew in all 50 states. Legalizing home brewing, however, doesn't make the process any simpler.The task is a complicated chemistry where timing is crucial: add hops at 45 minutes instead of 60 minutes and you produce two totally different drinks. Miss the timer for cranking up the heat and you've botched the fermentation process.
We use our phones to automate everything from our schedules to our home thermostats, heck––even the number of fresh eggs in our refrigerator. So why not do the same for beer?
Meet the Brewbot, a smartphone–powered appliance for making at–home hooch. The device is composed of plastic bins and pipes enclosed by a sleek steel and wood box that while big––it's about the width of two refrigerators––is handsome. It comes equipped with accompanying software that guides users through the process via a smartphone app alerting them to key moments in the brew process.
How Apple Created The Lightest iPad Yet
When Apple introduced the first iPad with Retina Display in March of last year, it didn't come without a cost. The third–gen iPad was the first Apple product to actually get fatter than its predecessor. Compared to the iPad 2, at 1.44 pounds, the iPad with Retina Display was about 50 grams heavier and oh–so–slightly thicker around the middle.
For a company that has always emphasized its ability to make each successive generation of its products lighter and thinner, the iPad with Retina Display was a real porker. The culprit? The Retina Display, and the 40% larger battery Apple needed to build into the iPad to power it.
First announced with the iPhone 4, Apple's Retina Displays are screens with pixels so small that they can not be individually seen by the human eye (when held at an average viewing distance). For the iPad, a Retina Display is made up of 2048 x 1536 ultra–tiny pixels, four times as many as a non–Retina iPad. Retina Displays are easier to read and more lifelike than regular displays. But those extra pixels really drain the battery.
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