David Lidsky's Blog, page 4574

Wanted: Osmos, a Zen-like Game For iPad

Osmos, unveiled last Friday for iPad, is more than simply a spell-binding, addictive video game: It's an "ambient" game that makes you feel relaxed rather than anxious playing it.

[vimeo 5892502:]

Why's that interesting? Used to be that video games were all about sweaty, tense button mashing. But as they've evolved to attract audiences beyond young males, so too have the various game-play experiences. So you've got gestural gaming on Wii or Natal, where the game play is relatively slow but...

BMW's iDrive: Connected iPhone Apps... While Driving

We've been connecting our iPods up to our car stereos for a few years now, and BMW plans a next-gen iDevice interface that may even let you control apps while you drive. 

Does that sound safe? At first thoughts, perhaps not, but you should check out the video of the system in action inside a Beamer before you make up your mind. The idea is to develop BMW's existing iDrive interface, which provides basic integration with iPods and iPhones, into a fully-capable user interface with hooks to grab...

ArkHippo Transforms Your iPhone 4 into a Brick-like Block of Croc

Part speech-bubble, part old-school Ericsson mobile (before they got Sony-ed), the ArkHippo is a gigantic phone case for the iPhone 4 that for most smartphone users is probably more thumbs down than thumbs up. It's made from the same material as those heinous Crocs shoes, and it resembles the polystyrene protection that comes with larger bits of tech packaging.

But you've got to admit that, in these times of tiny tech, the ArkHippo maybe has something that all the other iPhone protection...

iFive: Footie Farewell, BP Spill, Google's Interactive Ads, U.S. and U.K. Govt. Broadband Plans, Barefoot Bandit Banged Up

While you were slumbering in your bed, innovación was dancing a pasa doble with the Jules Rimet trophy on its head, crying tears of alegría, and wibbling about in a state of what can only described as benevolent inebriation. Way to go, España, and dos cañas por favor!

1. For the first time in its history, Spain is the proud possessor of a large-ish gold trophy, following a month of less-than-whelming football in South Africa, although Holland aimed its final two-footed tackle, this time at...

Apple's Retail Guru Tapped for Tesla Showrooms

Obvious differences in product offerings aside, Apple and Tesla Motors have a lot in common. They're both quirky, trendy,and often misunderstood. Apple, however, has managed to transform from a scrappy startup to a multi-billion dollar company, and Tesla is still struggling. Lucky for Tesla, then, that it snagged George Blankenship as its vice president of design and store development. Blankenship previously spent nine years working with Apple to amp up its retail strategy. Before that, he...

China Worries Facebook's a Western Political Tool, Game Ads Are Naughty

China's authorities hint they've made at least one Western company (Google) bend to their will. And it seems elsewhere on the Net, China is more openly resisting modern memes: Apparently Facebook and video game ads are evil.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, which the AP calls a "government-backed think tank," has published a new report dubbed "Development of China's New Media." Among its various arguments, the report reserves a special place for social networking sites like Facebook...

MIT's Neverending Drawing Machine Hints at the Future of Education

Kids learn differently than when you and I were in school, and if research coming out of MIT's Media Labs is anything to go by, in the future they'll learn in tech-boosted ways that are incredible. Witness: The Neverending Drawing Machine, a collaborative art tool.

NEDM is basically a collaborative real-time content-sharing and
creativity system that lets users create novel digital artworks
together. In some ways, its interface and powers remind us of the
shelved Microsoft
Courier

Apple's Four New iPhone Ads Concentrate on FaceTime, Families

When Apple announced--actually, it was Mac boy Justin Long who made the news public--that the Mac versus PC campaign was to go in the circular file, most fanboys cheered. Probably. We knew that the "I'm better than you" ragging, diplomatically known as the Get a Mac campaign had come to the end of its three-year shelf life, but we weren't sure what was coming next.

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The scene was set at the end of last month with the two-minute-long slot that, says TechCrunch's MG Siegler...

iFive: Footie Farewell, BP Spill, Google's Interactive Ads, U.S. and U.K. Govt Broadband Plans, Barefoot Bandit Banged Up

While you were slumbering in your bed, innovación was dancing a pasa doble with the Jules Rimet trophy on its head, crying tears of alegría, and wibbling about in a state of what can only described as benevolent inebriation. Way to go, España, and dos cañas por favor!

1. For the first time in its history, Spain is the proud possessor of a large-ish gold trophy, following a month of less-than-whelming football in South Africa, although Holland aimed its final two-footed tackle, this time at...

Google's Android App Inventor: DIY Apps for Everyone, From Everyone

[youtube 8ADwPLSFeY8:]

Making a truly great mobile app, for Android, iPhone, WebOS, or whatever else, is a very difficult game, requiring skill, luck, imagination, creativity, obsession, and a fair bit of time. The Doodle Jumps of the world don't just spring up out of nowhere. For most people, app creation is just too complex and nerdy to even think about tackling. Google's new App Inventor software aims to change that.

Google App Inventor is a DIY program that lets any interested parties...