David Lidsky's Blog, page 4641

Filmmaker Jesse Dylan Focuses on the Bigger Picture

He has created award-winning ads and directed feature films, but lately he has been making short films for the likes of the Clinton Global Initiative, TED, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Orange Power Wellies Juice Up Your Cell Phone

You're at a weekend music festival. It's raining, mud is splattering all over the place, and to top it all off, your cell phone battery is dying. That's where the Orange Power Wellies, created as part of a collaboration between UK cell phone company Orange and GotWind, come in. The prototype boots, unveiled at this week's Glastonbury Festival, feature a power-generating sole that turns heat from your feet into an electrical current.

Orange explains:

The power collected in the 'power...

Apple's iPhone 4 Screen Is Better Than Your Retinas

Apple just revealed the iPhone for 2010: The iPhone 4. It's the design we've been expecting, but there are a number of surprising and amazing features that we're only learning about now, one of which is a human-retina-resolution screen.

Gizmodo did indeed have the hardware for this year's iPhone when they made their controversial leak postings, and in that early look at the hardware (even though it wasn't properly working) there were suspicions that the iPhone 4 had a super-high-res display...

Forget iPhone 4, Here's What Steve Jobs Didn't Mention During His WWDC Speech

Today's WWDC speech by Steve Jobs was in some ways, surprising. Despite a veritable armful of rumors, Steve mainly talked about a handful of tech, with emphasis on the new iPhone 4. So what did he leave out, and when may it come true anyway?

New Mac Minis

The Mac Mini is a much-beloved little computer, widely use as a home theater device and even as a server workhorse (due to its petite size and reasonable pricing). So why didn't Apple lavish any WWDC love on their smallest Mac? Strong rumors...

The Last Haul: Stalked by Oil, Gulf Coast Fishermen Grab Everything They Can

Oystermen, fishermen, and shrimpers around Apalachicola Bay--where seafood is an $80 million a year business--share thoughts about their drastically altered lives, the reason for their overfishing, and the Faustian bargain that's been struck with BP.

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Hand-painted signs for "Fresh Shrimp by Capt. Glen" hook travelers coming off of U.S. Route 98, which runs along the Gulf Coast of the Florida Panhandle and into Mississippi. Down a marina road in Carrabelle, Fla., an Igloo cooler sits on a dock...

Infographic of the Day: Using the World Cup, South Africa Bets Big on Its Future

South Africa has spent $52 billion preparing for the World Cup, but it'll only bring in $2.7 billion. What gives?

The World Cup is right around the corner, and you'd assume that it'll be an economic bonanza for the host country, South Africa. But the South African government looks at the event differently: They've essentially used the event to mortgage their future.

As this infographic by Menainfra shows, South Africa is spending a whopping $52 billion on the Cup--even though it's only...

Why Isn't the Justice Department Pursuing a Real Criminal Investigation Into BP?

A defaced sign at the site of a May 28th protest in New York City

We were relieved last week when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into BP's involvement in the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. But our relief may be unwarranted, according to Scott West, the former special
agent-in-charge at the EPA's Criminal Investigation Division. That's because West believes there isn't actually an investigation.

"I won't say...

The Last Haul Photos: Fortune Now, Oil Tomorrow for Gulf Fishermen

Fast Company traveled the Gulf Coast before and during Memorial Day Weekend, talking to oystermen, shrimpers and fishermen. Were their livelihoods were more immediately threatened by approaching crude or their own desperate overfishing?

Plastic Pollution in the Water? Drink Up!

What happens when you bring together an artist, a marine biologist, and two futurists for an interactive art installation? The answer, on display this week at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, is Plastic Century, an installation created for the 100th birthday of Jacques Cousteau.

Designed by artist Sarah Kornfeld, oceanographer Wallace J. Nichols, and futurists Stuart Candy and Jake Dunagan, the display explores the relationship between people, plastic, and the...

Apple's iPhone 4 Screen is Better Than Your Retinas

Apple just revealed the iPhone for 2010: The iPhone 4. It's the design we've been expecting, but there are a number of surprising and amazing features that we're only learning about now, one of which is a human-retina-resolution screen.

Gizmodo did indeed have the hardware for this year's iPhone when they made their controversial leak postings, and in that early look at the hardware (even though it wasn't properly working) there were suspicions that the iPhone 4 had a super-high-res display...