David Lidsky's Blog, page 4620

All About AT&T's iPad Hacker, Andrew Auernheimer

This, people, is Andrew Auernheimer, the hacker who last week exposed 114,000 iPad owners' details courtesy of AT&T's lax security system. He also goes by the name of Escher, but we'll call him by yet another alias: Weev. (Whether that name came about because of his fulsome facial furniture is by the bye, but it's apt, don't you think? Perhaps Donald Trump might like to post his bail.) He is, as the New York Times has it, "legendary among trolls"--not the type that populate Norse legends...

SpaceX Lands $490 Million Satellite Launching Contract

It seems the commercial space industry in the U.S. is suddenly ablaze with activity. SpaceX has just announced a $492 million deal with Iridium to launch numerous satellites into orbit, and it's all thanks to the Falcon 9 rocket success.

Iridium is the owner-operator of what it calls "the only truly global satellite communications" system for the public. It's the tech behind those satellite phones that news reporters sometimes use in particularly far-flung parts of the world. The company is...

New Moscow Metro Map Doesn't Look Like a Soviet Relic

Art. Lebedev Studio unveils a modern subway map for Moscow.

Russia's powerhouse design firm Art. Lebedev Studio (of Optimus keyboard fame) recently
unveiled a striking new map that at long last drags the Moscow Metro
out of the Soviet era. The design, though not an official replacement, took nearly four years to complete. It costs 350 rubles (around $14) and
comes in various sizes and levels of detail.

 

Studio founder Artemy Lebedev released the map publicly in hopes that it will be...

Entrepreneur Epidemic: Second Startup Syndrome

You're successful. An entrepreneur who nailed your first startup, raising tons of VC and creating a great product. You feel like a regular Mark Zuckerberg.

But now you've come down with a serious condition: Second Startup Syndrome. Warning: This needs to be treated immediately.

According to Ben Horowitz, cofounder of venture cap firm Andreessen Horowitz, Second Startup Syndrome "occurs when an entrepreneur wants to pick up her second startup right where her first startup left off." As...

Chevy Volt Survives Pounding in Tests

Conventional gasoline-powered and hybrid vehicles undergo all sorts of boundary-pushing tests before hitting showrooms, but this kind of testing is still new for plug-in hybrids like the Chevrolet Volt, which has yet to be released. According to GM, the Volt has performed well in a variety of grueling scenarios.

Among the tests performed so far at the General Motors Desert Proving Grounds in Yuma, Arizona: the Hot Soak Evaluation, where the Volt is "baked" in the sun for several hours...

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg Is Embracing the End of Email, Here's Why

"If you want to know what people like us will do tomorrow, you look at what teenagers are doing today," Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg told the audience at Nielsen's Consumer 360
conference yesterday. And according to Sandberg, only 11% of teens email daily--clearly, a huge generational drop. Instead, they are increasingly turning to SMS (or Twitter) and social networks for communication.

"E-mail--I can't imagine life without it--is probably going away," she said.

But this transition will...

Infographic of the Day: The iPad Competes With Just About Everyone

And that flies in the face of classical product strategy.

We won't lie: This infographic, created by Section Design for the Japanese publication Courier Japon, is just a wee bit visually confusing, but it does add a very important insight about the way Apple sees innovation.

The iPad has been billed as a "magic" product, unlike anything else on the market. But this infographic really highlights that the iPad is actually faced by competition from myriad products that are almost like it, which...

Apple iPhone 4 Sold Out Until July 2, Pre-Orders Suspended by AT&T (Updated)

If you missed out on pre-ordering your iPhone 4 yesterday, then July 2 is the earliest date you'll receive one--that is if you manage to pre-order the new device at all.

Demand for Apple's new phone caused Internet chaos--including a gaping security breach that exposed people's credit card details to the world. Add to that a server meltdown at Apple's online store, which now shows the beginning of next month as the earliest available date for the new smartphone.

The security breaches at...

Join Us for Oakland, California's Fast Cities Breakfast!

Want to see how an innovative city of the future is created? Join us for our Fast Cities panel on June 22 at the Washington Inn in Oakland, California. A variety of speakers, including Fast Company's own Anya Kamentz; Ian Kim, Director of The Ella Baker Center's Green Collar Jobs Campaign; and Jaimie Levin, the Director of Alternative Fuels Policy and Marketing at AC Transit, will explore how Oakland has emerged as a leader in zero-emissions public transit and sustainable infrastructure...

3-D Printing From Beyond the Grave: Household Items Made From Dead People

From the Dutch design firm Studio Wieki Somers come household objects made out of human
ashes. Yes, human ashes. As in John Steegman (b. 1939, d. 1985), who is now a
vacuum cleaner:

Pietertje Vos (b. 1942, d. 2007), now a scale:

And Anne Lindeboom (b. 1920, d. 1984), a toaster:

Somers
thinks there's too much conspicuous consumption in the world, so by
turning grandpa into a vacuum cleaner or a rocking chair or whatever,
she hopes we become more attached to our stuff. No one would throw out
a...