David Lidsky's Blog, page 4642

3-D Typography: Experimental Type Designs That Leap Off the Page

It's ironic that in an age where almost all design happens on computers, some of the best designers are getting their hands dirty, fashioning typefaces out of everything from moss to human skin. In fact, if it can be bent, shaved, melted, twisted, or pressed, odds are that some clever young graphic designer has tried to make it into a typeface (and then taken a picture).

The Happiness Culture: Zappos Isn't a Company -- It's a Mission

Tony Hsieh sold earthworms, greeting cards, and slices of pizza. Along the way, he never considered that a failed business meant he was a failure. Then, the guy who wore the same pair of shoes founded Zappos. Today, Tony says it's all about Happiness, and he's got the business to prove it.

The thing about Zappos is that it really might be a model for a new way to build and run a business.

Okay, now that seems like a stretch at first glance for an on-line etailer who's major claim to fame is...

Urban Planning Lessons From Cairo (Yes, Cairo)

One of the most polluted cities in the world hatches a plan to improve the streets for pedestrians.

Ask anyone who's visited Cairo, and they'll tell you, "great place, love the history, adore the qahwas, hate
the cars." Cars are to Cairo what clouds are to London and bitchy
waiters to Paris -- nuisances so endemic to the urban culture, someone
ought to build them a monument.

That's about to change.
Cairo announced plans recently to expel cars from downtown as part of a
bigger scheme to...

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...

Live Coverage: Steve Jobs Keynote from Apple's WWDC10

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1:59 iMovie App for iPhone 4

You can edit video, add photos and music too on the new iMovie app. "Photos automatically get a Ken Burns effect on them," says Jobs. He's talking about those image pan transitions that are a hallmark of both the documentary filmmaker and iPhoto slideshows.

Location, location, location: You can now geotag the videos too.

1:54 iPhone 4 Camera Details

Jobs talks down megapixels (smart, since they don't really effect picture quality--David...

Facebook on Pulse: Yahoo Goes Social

Yahoo calls it "increasing your social IQ," and seasoned social networkers might just call it bandwagon-jumping. We are, of course, referring to the relaunch of Yahoo Profiles--now called Pulse--a massive Facebook connect implementation. The deal makes good on a partnership deal annouced in Decemeber, and will allow Yahoo and Facebook users to sign directly into their FB account at various Yahoo locations including the front and mail pages.

With 600 million users worldwide, Yahoo's search...

Mini Flying Drones Cluster, Dance, and Demonstrate the Future of Flight

Quadrocopters: One very likely future for all sorts of autonomous flying vehicles. New research is even showing how these 'bots can cluster together in swarms to lift anything from human-sized upwards. Sci-fi never seemed so real.

Advances in batteries and motor miniaturization enabled the craze of those mini indoors helicopters that've swept the world in recent years, and Quadrocopter research has made astonishing leaps and bounds in what a small autonomous flying vehicle can do. Versions of...

The Happiness Culture: Zappos Isn't a Company -- It's a Mission.

Tony Hsieh sold earthworms, greeting cards, and slices of pizza. Along the way, he never considered that a failed business meant he was a failure. Then, the guy who wore the same pair of shoes founded Zappos. Today, Tony says it's all about Happiness, and he's got the business to prove it.

The thing about Zappos is that it really might be a model for a new way to build and run a business.

Okay, now that seems like a stretch at first glance for an on-line etailer who's major claim to fame is...

IBM's Software Could Connect Every Little Gadget to the Net

Several times we've predicted the future world will be one where everything is networked to everything, and now IBM's revealed it has the same goal. It's releasing new software to enable "the internet of things" so that sensors can hook to the Net.

Big Blue will be revealing all at the 2010 Sensors Expo and Conference today, but we already know some of the essentials. The package is free, it's called Mote Runner, and it's an IBM Research product that's designed to be ultra-connectable, so it...

Grocery Getters: The Farm Proper Plants Real Food in Shopping Carts

Urban farms are sprouting in vacant lots and forgotten walls all over the country. But a farm in San Diego, California employs another type of abandoned real estate: The shopping cart. Firms Set & Drift and mi-workshop have used a signature blight on the urban landscape to create a mobile garden
concept called The
Farm Proper in the city's Barrio Logan neighborhood.

Abandoned carts gathered from the neighborhood have been lined with burlap sacks donated by a local coffee retailer and...