David Lidsky's Blog, page 4644

How Design Conference

Forget bookworms -- graphic designers are the real victims of e-publishing. According to conference host Bryn Mooth, new gadgets like the Kindle and iPad pose a big question to these ink-and-paper pioneers: "How does this emerging platform of reading and interacting in a digital space change what it means to be a book designer?" To help answer that, the Denver conference -- the largest graphic-design gathering in the U.S. -- is going interactive itself: e-book-designing workshops, digital...

Your Ideas for Developing Cheap, Quiet, and Clean Commercial Aircraft

When we asked FastCompany.com readers for ideas on how to stop the BP oil spill, you delivered--and then some. We highlighted a number of your creative solutions in subsequent posts, and now we have a new challenge: How can we make commercial aircraft significantly quieter, cleaner, and more economical by 2025?

NASA is soliciting proposals for clean, green, cheap aircraft, with the best ideas eligible for $36.6 million in contracts. Up to four teams will be selected in 2011. The agency a

Redesigning Education: Building Schools for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

"It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected findings of science." --Carl Sagan

Not since the Soviets launched Sputnik into Earth's orbit in the 1960s has there been such urgency for America to redesign science and math education programs. Now, in the third millennium, the initiative takes the form of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education. Research demonstrates that interest among American students in STEM...

How DreamWorks Animation Creates New Technology and Markets It to the Masses

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"There is this insatiable appetite to invent cool and interesting ways of storytelling," says Ed Leonard, CTO of DreamWorks Animation. But the technology behind these new forms of storytelling is evolving more rapidly than the audiences, who have a plethora of choices at the box office--not to mention cable, the Internet, and mobile phones.

Two years ago, when DreamWorks Animation released its first 3-D movie, there was only one other 3D movie in release--so only one...

Sustainability Faceoff: Dow vs. DuPont

Massive materials companies like Dow and DuPont generate so many products that it's difficult to get a comprehensive picture of their sustainability as a whole. Nevertheless, author and investment adviser R. Paul Herman compares the two in the new book The HIP Investor. Below, we do the same.

Dow deserves credit for starting relatively early on its sustainability initiatives--the company established 10-year goals for environment, health, and safety in 1996. Since then, the goals have been...

BP's Latest Attempt to Slow Oil Disaster May Be Working, Our Readers' Ideas Keep Flowing

A modicum of good news on the BP spill front: After weeks of failed attempts at slowing the flow of oil from the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the oil company successfully cut off the damaged portion of the riser pipe and put a containment cap on top. Now BP reports that oil and gas is being received onboard a ship on the ocean's surface--roughly estimated at a rate of 1,000 barrels per day. But BP warns against too much optimism in a recent press release:

It is expected to take one or ...

Among Rome's Ancient Ruins, a Hotel Made Entirely of Trash

Italy has some big issues with trash collection--there is even a documentary film, Biùtiful cauntri, about the notorious illegal toxic waste dumping in the south around Naples. The garbage situation isn't nearly as bad in Rome, but tourists and locals still have the opportunity to check out a pile of trash as big as a large home--albeit in the form of a temporary hotel.

The Corona Save the Beach Hotel, designed by German artist HA Schult, is open until June 7 near Rome's Castel Sant'Angelo...

Country Music Association Festival

Video killed the radio star, but cowboys might just save radio. Even as CD sales and legal music downloads slid last year, radio use climbed to 93% among country fans (from 79% the year before). Most listeners tune in for an impressive 9.9 hours a week, and crossover artists such as Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, and Darius Rucker are luring a growing number of African-American and tween listeners to the airwaves. That's plenty to celebrate at this year's Country Music Association Festival...

SpaceX Falcon 9 Successfully Launched Into Orbit [video]

Falcon 9 is SpaceX's flagship rocket, and a great leap forward for President Obama's plans to diversify the space
industry. The vehicle will help ferry cargo up to the International Space
Station in the years between NASA's retirement of the Space Shuttles and
developing a new heavy-lift launch capability of its own. It's 55
meters tall, and powered by nine of the same Merlin engines that SpaceX
has been developing for years to power its fleet. These specs make the vehicle a...

Redesigning Education: Building Schools for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

"It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected findings of science." --Carl Sagan

Not since the Soviets launched Sputnik into Earth's orbit in the 1960s has there been such urgency for America to redesign science and math education programs. Now, in the third millennium, the initiative takes the form of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education. Research demonstrates that interest among American students in STEM...