David Lidsky's Blog, page 4626

World Cup Hack: A Simple Fix to Eliminate That Annoying Vuvuzela Drone

This year's World Cup got off to an exciting start, at least for my native USA (we totally didn't lose!). But all the fun of watching a Cup match is tempered by that grating, stab-your-ears-with-a-pencil drone of the vuvuzela, that giant red plastic horn. The vuvuzela's drone seems stronger this year than ever before, and there have been a few offered fixes to the problem.

The best way to filter out the vuvuzela is through equalizer settings. The vuvuzela's tone is a Bb, which in an EQ...

Microsoft Unveils Skinny, Cheaper Xbox, Announces Kinect Release Date

At a press event today, Microsoft unveiled a slimmer,
cheaper Xbox 360 that will be released later this week for $299. Besides a sleeker design, the new console will include built-in WiFi-- the current box requires a peripheral WiFi antenna-- and
250GB harddrive. Microsoft also surprised the audience with the announcement they'd be sending everyone in attendance-- some 1,000 members of the media--  a new
360.

Microsoft revealed their motion-control device,, will be...

Starbucks Makes Wi-fi Net Access Free in All U.S. Stores, Joins the Internet Era

Starbucks has just announced that it's expanding its in-store Wi-fi system, to its maximum limit: From July 1st it'll be free for everyone, with a single click access and no registration process at all. Welcome Starbucks to the Internet Era.

The Starbucks free Wi-fi push got its start in a partnership with
Apple.
Startbucks iPhone apps allowed
you to actually pay for orders from your iPhone screen in over a
thousand stores. In February
2008 the generic free Wi-fi was opened to all...

Biodesign Institute Harnesses Wastewater-Munching Microbes to Make Hydrogen

Is wastewater our greatest underutilized resource? We've recently seen a startup that turns sludge into high-quality fertilizer as well as a university that produces steam, water, acetic acid, and fertilizer from wastewater. Arizona State University' Biodesign Institute is continuing the trend with a process that uses wastewater as a feedstock to generate hydrogen for fuel cells.

Microbial fuel cells, or fuel cells that harness biochemical reactions from wastewater-munching microbes, are...

Did a Piece of Deepwater Horizon Wash Up on a Florida Beach?

This isn't the actual washed-up tank, but we couldn't find a good picture. Please let us know if you have one!

Over the past few months, the BP oil disaster has littered Gulf Coast beaches with both dead wildlife and tar balls. Now, in a Lost-like turn of events, a piece of an oil storage tank, thought to be from the Deepwater Horizon rig, has washed up on Florida's Panama City Beach. The 5,000 pound, 550 gallon tank still had a small amount of oil leaking out when it washed ashore on...

Amnesty International Ad Sentences the Death Penalty to... Death

A commercial waxes eloquent about the injustices of capital punishment.

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Death-penalty protests don't usually rise to the level of art, and commercials never do, but a
beautiful new ad from Amnesty International comes awfully
close. Wax figurines of execution devices -- of guns, a noose, an
electric chair, and the like -- melt under the light of the Amnesty
International candle. "Death to the death penalty," the tag line goes. [vimeo 12493449:]

It's
a gorgeous, haunting remonstrance (made...

Goalie Blames Ball, Adidas Blames Goalie, What's the Jabulani Story?

We know the score. Each World Cup brings a new football: smoother; better; faster; stronger, to misquote Daft Punk (they're in Adidas' Cantina ad as well). Jabulani is the sportswear firm's 11th Official World Cup ball and it's come in for a bit of a beating ever since that freak goal/blunder--depending on which side of the Atlantic you reside--during Saturday night's match between England and the USA.

Both Robert Green, England's goalkeeper, and Fabio Capello, the team manager both blamed...

With Sketchbook for iPhone, Autodesk Wants to Democratize High-Tech Design

A company known for niche design programs ventures into the mass market. But why?

Autodesk does well-over $2 billion in annual revenues, but unless you're a designer, you probably don't know the company: They produce sophisticated programs, often costing thousands of dollars, which are necessary tools in design professions ranging from architecture to digital animation.

So it's a bit of surprise that lately, they've been fooling around with iPad and web apps geared towards a mass audience...

Infographic of the Day: The Physics of Oil Spills

How the ocean absorbs and spreads the oil streaming into it.

The oil streaming into the Gulf isn't just pouring from the ocean floor and causing havoc--along the way, it's triggering myriad chemical interactions.

You hear some of these interactions mentioned in news reports--things such bio-degradation and oxidation. But they've never been explained as elegantly as in these infographics by MSNBC.

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The design, obviously, is a bit perfunctory. But the content is superb, seeking to answer what...

Walmart Pilots Plastic Bag Charge: Harbinger of Statewide Ban?

California may soon become the first state to ban single-use plastic bags thanks to AB1998, a proposed bill that would subject shoppers to a 5 cent surcharge for every paper bag used. But how will Californians react to such an inconvenience? Sure, individual cities like San Francisco and Oakland have already passed similar bans, but the sustainability-happy Bay Area is representative of statewide sentiment on the issue. For that, we should take a look at Walmart's plastic bag initiative...