David Lidsky's Blog, page 4689

From Oil to Asphalt: How a Powder Could Turn the Gulf Slick into Future Highways

Brian Merchant of Treehugger is reporting on location about the efforts to contain the Gulf oil spill (seen here in a photo taken this morning by astronaut Soichi Noguchi from the International Space Station). The latest idea to prevent the slick caused by the explosion on the BP rig last month from reaching land is certainly ingenious. It consists of using a chemical formula called C.I. Agent that, when added to oil, turns it into a gelatinous compound that can then be used to make...

Adobe Launches Hearts and Minds PR Campaign to Bite Apple

The public face-off between Adobe and Apple just got serious. How serious? Full page Washington Post ads serious. The ads reuse the same material we've seen before...but they're so slick someone is helping Adobe finesse this stuff.

Adobe's campaign includes a two-pronged attack: The first, which is nastily spiky in a sarcastic way, features a straight and simple "We heart Apple" tag, followed by the hook: "What we don't love is anybody taking away your freedom to choose what you create, how...

Atheism Gets a Much-Needed Rebranding

Atheism, it could be argued, has an identity problem. "Atheism is quite often
mistakenly seen as a cold and distant world, rather than the beautiful,
important, and engaging philosophy that it is," says Matt Luckhurst, a student in the School
of Visual Arts Designer as Author MFA program. Even though Atheism's theory includes a set of rational beliefs that most non-Atheists wouldn't disagree with, they often don't know enough about it to make a fair judgment on where they stand with...

Vegas Train War! Another L.A.-to-Vegas Train Will Get Gamblers There Slower, but Drunker

We told you a few weeks ago about the DesertXPress, a high-speed train connecting Vegas to not-quite-Los Angeles that plans to be fully operational by 2014. Well, friends, today we have news of the X Train (turn down your sound and close your eyes before clicking that link) yet another train that is not only laying faster claim to the L.A.-to-Vegas route, they've also got the psychedelic carpets to own it.

A visit to the X Train's Web site--a site so true to form it will, like Vegas, take...

Twitter's Role in the Iranian Election Protests: Shining a Spotlight

The events unfolding today in Bangkok bring back memories of the crucial role that Twitter played in spreading news about the massive demonstrations that took place during the Iranian elections earlier this year. As Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey points out in this video, the updates helped put the spotlight on an event that might have otherwise been ignored. It exemplifies Twitter's role as a news outlet in an era when media most U.S. companies are scaling back on coverage of foreign events...

Bluebox is Turning iPad Into an In-Flight Entertainment System

You know that handheld media-friendly new tablet gizmo from Apple? Yeah, that one. Turns out that companies are looking at it and wondering how to use it in business--and one, Bluebox, has turned it into an in-flight entertainment box.

If you think about it, this is an ideal solution for in-flight entertainment. iPads are small, portable, give the user control over when and what they do for entertainment, and since they can be wirelessly-served data through specialized apps, it's easy for the...

Boulder: Smart Energy [Fast Cities 2010]

[image error]

Cisco, Microsoft, IBM, Google -- it seems everyone is in the smart-grid fray, trying to transform our electromechanical power grid into a digital network that saves energy, taps alternative sources, lowers costs, and boosts reliability. But Boulder is the first U.S. city to pilot a large-scale smart-grid system, allowing residents to monitor use and control appliances remotely. Xcel Energy has installed 21,000 meters since the $100 million program started in 2008. Early adopters cut energy...

How Green Is The U.K.'s New Government?

Britain's got a new prime minister, Conservative David Cameron; a new deputy prime minister, Liberal Democrat ; and an odd new governing coalition kludged together with both of
their parties. The new government has released
its platform, saying "The parties agree to implement a full programme of measures to fulfill our joint ambitions for a low carbon and eco-friendly economy."

Items of note from the environment section:

The establishment of a high-speed rail network.The...

Sixth Death at Foxconn, Is Apple's Success to Blame?

There's been another tragic suicide among Foxconn's workforce. That makes six Foxconn people who've killed themselves this year alone. Will Apple reconsider its links with the company?

The 24-year-old woman from Henan province, whose identity is unknown, threw herself out of her apartment building. She'd been with Foxconn just since August, and it seems that her motives either aren't yet known, or haven't been publicized. Covering the story, Shanghaiist notes that the defensive words of...

One in Four U.S. Households Are Landline-Free

Nearly 25% of households in the U.S. have given up landlines for cell phones, according a survey from the NCHS. The report (.pdf file) shows an astonishing graph: in just six years, landlines have declined tenfold, which means that, should the trend continue, barely anyone will be using fixed phones by 2015.

It's the 25- to 29-year-old age bracket that uses fixed lines the least,
with 48.6% of them living in wireless-only households. The data, which was taken from 21,375 homes, also...