David Lidsky's Blog, page 4645

Igor Pusenjak's Lima Sky Is "Doodle Jumping" the iPhone Game Business

Doodle The Doodler is a happy little hand-drawn figure, jumping calmly higher while dodging sweetly nonthreatening monsters and the occasional black hole. He's friendly, gentle, tenacious, and insanely addicting. "People seem to project a lot of interesting things on him," says Igor Pušenjak, of the character who is at the heart of an iPhone game that has catapulted into the Apple Store record books.

The Bravest Doctors in the World

The outstanding new documentary "Living In Emergency" follows four Doctors Without Borders volunteers as they try to heal the ailing--and themselves--in Congo and Liberia.

When Chris Brasher, a ruggedly handsome Aussie physician, lights his first cigarette, I know I will like "Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders," Mark Hopkins's compelling new documentary about one of the world's most celebrated aid groups. It's not because I think doctors should smoke, or because it's a...

Beyond Design Thinking: Why Hybrid Design is the Next New Thing

Hybrid design dispenses with theory and relies on nimble, multi-faceted teams of experts to tackle the complexities of a design challenge.

For the better part of the past decade, the design profession has been in a chaotic period. Confronting a unique mixed salad of conflicts--political, social, economic and environmental--designers have been struggling to define their core beliefs. The result has often been a defensive stance, rather than a positive look at the industry's capabilities and...

Infographic of the Day: K Street, the Favored Employer of Ex-Congress Members

Guess which state has the most?

An interactive map from Talking Points Memo
shows how K Street, that D.C. sinkhole of faceless movers and lobbyists,
is in fact full of familiar faces: your ex-Congress members.

The
map details the distribution of Congress members-turned-lobbyists
across the United States. Scroll over the states to find out how many
high-profile career changers are out there (172) and where they come
from (Texas takes first place with 17; New York's a close second with
14)...

Warner Music-Tap Tap Deal Confirms the Power of the App

Warner Music Group is trying a new tactic to promote its music in the digital age, and it's a move that demonstrates the rising power of the App: Its new partner is Tapulous, makers of the runaway success Tap Tap iPhone music games.

According to PaidContent, this is the latest move by WMG's CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. to spread the word about WMG's music and artists beyond the narrow but successful confines of Apple's iTunes. If this is really the case, then the move hasn't been very far, merely...

Designers Spin Spidey-Worthy Webs From Packing Tape

Astounding cocoons made only of tape float in mid-air, capable supporting more than your average tree house.

Packing tape has gotten MacGyver out of many a jam, but he never managed to make an entire home out of the stuff. So he could probably learn something from Viennese/Croatian design collective For Use/Numen. The team uses nothing but packing tape to create huge, self-supporting cocoons that
visitors could climb inside and explore.

Installed three times in the past year, the...

How to Make an Inflatable Metal Chair

Over the centuries, we've welded metal, beat it into shape, bent it, melted it. But until recently, we've never inflated. Now that too is possible, thanks to years of painstaking work by architect Oskar Zieta and materials scientist Philipp Dohmen, both researchers at Zurich's ETH (better known as Einstein's alma mater).

Apple WWDC 2010 Rumor Round-Up

In about 72 hours from now Steve Jobs will kick off the 2010 World Wide Developers Conference--one of Apple's premiere events. Given the drama of this year's leaks, what new things can we expect to learn from Steve? 

The new iPhone for 2010

Whatever you think about the Gizmodo iPhone "leak" saga, it's done at least one thing for us: It's pretty much 100% confirmed that this year's revision of the iPhone is the hardware Gizmodo showed the world. And although more recent rumors have suggested...

Crib Sheet: The Bilderberg Group, a Real-Life Illuminati for Conspiracy Theorists

Just outside of Barcelona there is a pretty little seaside resort called Sitges. Beloved by the gay community and horror movie aficionados, it is this year's venue for the Bilderberg Club's annual general meeting. "The what?" asked Noah, my editor. Evidently he hasn't received an invite.

Or maybe he has. The first rule of Bilderberg is, apparently, that you don't talk about Bilderberg--at least, you don't discuss what went on during the meetings, as they are governed by the Chatham House...

Study: Teens Who are Social Online are Social in Life, But Don't Like Television, Foursquare

Last week's YPulse Youth Marketing Mashup, held in San Francisco, featured panels where brands like Flip Video and vitaminwater revealed their social marketing strategies, as well as interesting facts to the youth-ignorant: Did you know the generation born after 2001 is named the "Homeland Generation?" But one of the most interesting sessions was a report from myYearbook.com, which, according to comScore is the #1 site for teens, and the fastest-growing social network in the U.S., with...