David Lidsky's Blog, page 4616

Changing Consumer Behavior One Water Bottle at a Time

This week I'm attending the Design Management Institute conference in San Francisco again. The conference is Re-Thinking...The Future of Design, and the conversations on stage are focused on tracking how design thinking is making a difference in business. Design and business continue to mix.

As I sit in the conference, I'm enjoying my bottle of hotel-provided Fiji water--it's easing the discomfort I have from my allergies. But I feel guilty drinking it. Despite Fiji Water's aggressive work in...

A Lamp That's Also an Infographic

The dimmer is actually a clever chart made of glass.

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Camille Blin's Gradient Lamp dims when you need it to--but it does so without an electrical circuitry. Rather, it relies on what amounts to a chart of lighting conditions.

Blin wanted to make the dimmer--which is usually hidden in the electrical guts of a lamp--into a visual, integral part of the design. She did that by create a rotating glass disc that covers the lamp's bulb housing. The disc is silkscreen with a gradient, ranging from...

iFive: iPhone Campers, BP Apology, AT&T Hacker, Chinese Walkout, Flick'r an' Getty

Good morning! What's been happening while you're sound asleep you're your comfy mattress—or perhaps your Aerobed outside the Mac store? Here's five things you might've missed.  1. Weev only just begun. The mastermind behind the AT&T/iPad security hack, Andrew "Escher" Auernheimer has been sprung from an Arkansas jail yesterday after posting $3,160 bond. His hearing for drug felony charges—an FBI raid on his home found LSD, ecstasy, coke and other chemical goodies is slated for July 16th...

How to Design Cities for People Instead of Cars

Cars set modern planning on an unsustainable path: Cars begat wide, unwalkable roads, which begat highways, which begat suburban sprawl. But a new generation of architects and urban planners has been laser-focused on reversing the curse of car-oriented city planning. Ten full-blown ideas for integrating sustainable transport into the fabric of ten different modern city are now on display in Our Cities, Ourselves, an exhibition at New York's Center for Architecture from June 24-Sept 11.

Facebook Makes $800 Million in 2009; Now Profitable

IPO, here we come?

It's been expected for some time, but the day has finally arrived: In 2009, Facebook was profitable. In all, it made $800 million--double what it made in 2008.

That news comes from Reuters, which used "two sources familiar with the situation" to confirm the figures. And if true, it's a remarkable indicator of Facebook's prospects as powerhouse of ad sales. Earlier this year, Marc Andreessen, who sits on Facebook's board, was estimating that in 2009, the company would make...

BP's Hired Guns Block Journalists From Talking to Disaster Workers

BP manages to create more bad PR in a surprising new way.

For some reason, BP continues to invest its resources in keeping journalists away from oil spill disaster sites. The tactic is clearly failing--we all have access to horrific pictures of dead animals and oily beaches--but BP still insists on bullying reporters. Of course, BP doesn't want to take the blame, which is why it has apparently hired mercenaries to shoo journalists away.

Scott Walker, a reporter with New Orleans news station...

Apparently Bonkers Analyst Amusingly Predicts iPad Sales Flop

According to Forrester Research, tablet PC sales will overtake netbook sales by 2012. But Forrester also predicted just 1.2 million iPads will sell in 2010. On what alternative universe data is conclusion based?

Forrester's Research, by Sarah Rotman Epps, got a big chunk of press coverage yesterday. In one neat graphic it explained that Forrester thinks desktop PC sales are on an inexorable slide, that tablet PC sales are on a smooth rise, and that tablets will overtake netbook sales by 2012...

Studio 360 Wants YOU to Give Uncle Sam a Makeover!

Stars or stripes? Hat or no hat? White or non-white? Public radio show Studio 360 has launched a challenge to redesign Uncle Sam and they want YOU!--that joke really never gets old, does it?--to submit your best idea for what the face of our country should look like. Draw up your take on our revamped national icon and upload it to the Studio
360 Redesigns Uncle Sam Flickr pool. During the week of the 4th, Studio 360 will be announcing a winner during the week of the 4th and we'll also...

Trading Business Trips for Video Conferencing Could Save $19 billion

One study estimates that by 2020, simply forgoing business trips in favor of video conferencing could save $19 billion.

As travel costs rise and environmental concerns grow, corporations are becoming increasingly receptive to video conferencing technology.

An AT&T-sponsored study from the non-profit Carbon Disclosure Project confirms that it's a practical move: It found that by 2020, if companies in the U.S. and U.K. with over $1 billion in revenue switched from business travel to...

Nokia's 2011 Smartphones Have Built-In Wireless Payment Tech: Take That, Apple!

Speaking at the Moby Forum, a Nokia spokesman has confirmed that every Nokia smartphone from 2011 will have near field comms built in--the tech that makes wireless credit card payments work. NFC technology permits extremely short-range wireless data transfers to
take place, which makes things like contactless subway fares, concert tickets, merchandise, or
the Visa-based contractless credit card system work. It's a move to keep relevant in the face of Apple's advances in contactless payment...