David Lidsky's Blog, page 4700

Spira Foam Car Saves Pedestrians From Searing Pain

Fact: vehicle accidents kill more 15 to 25 year-olds worldwide than anything else. But would that still be the case if we replaced our hulking 1,000 pound steel cars with 300 pound foam vehicles? Spira, an entrant in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize, is made out of soft foam--a quality that makes it ultra-safe for pedestrians.

According to Autobloggreen, the three-wheeled vehicle features a plastic coreboard frame coated with epoxy fiberglass and covered with covered by...

Stanford d.school Students Prototype on the Cheap In "Extreme Affordability" Class

Continuing our peek inside the d.school's new building, a class that uses their classroom to build water filter concepts for rural Cambodia.

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Our non-standard classroom lends to the creation and presentation of non-standard deliverables. This picture was taken after our first presentation of "rough prototypes" for the class Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability. Each team has to design comprehensive solutions for problems for the world's poor. Our team is designing a water filter...

It's Official: Apple has Become the Man

When the subject of cool, innovative brands comes up, it's a dead cert Apple gets a mention in the first five minutes. It's iconic, makes beautiful products, and has a wow factor that most tech companies would give their eye teeth for. In short, it sets a benchmark. Granted, it's been slated a bit recently for its draconian measures after one of its employees lost something in a bar, but it is almost solely responsible for tech becoming a sexy, must-have item. Each week, a new report shows...

Theme Announced for 48 Hour Magazine, Over 6,000 Contributors Have Two Days to "Hustle"

That sound you hear, of thousands of writers, designers and photographers banging their heads against the wall to the beat of a ticking clock? That's the sound of 48 Hour Magazine, a new publication that aims to go from inspiration to execution in 48 hours and begins....now. Exactly two days from now, 48 Hour will be available to you, the eager public, as a real, printed magazine (and as a Web site, too, of course, don't be silly).

The "raucous experiment in using new tools to erase media's...

At a Stanford d.school Trade Show, a Concept to Help Students Eat Healthier

Last week, we saw how the Stanford d.school's new building was designed for innovation. This week, how the school converted into a trade show to give students an opportunity to showcase--and sell--their ideas.

First-year MBA student Jen Paragallo and David Klein debuted Spork!, their new college student-focused dinner delivery service, to a group of 100+ venture capitalists, Stanford students, and local businesspeople at the April 29 Beta Trade Show hosted by the Stanford d.school. The trade...

Creating Engaging Spaces for Engaging Ideas at the d.school's Beta Trade Show

Last week, we saw how the Stanford d.school's new building was designed for innovation. This week, how the school converted into a trade show to give students an opportunity to showcase--and sell--their ideas.

We are two computer science graduate students developing an interactive news reading application for the iPad. To set up our Beta Trade Show booth, our first thought--as geeks--was, "Let's get like 10 iPads and lots of tables. People can stand and play with our application."

Spending...

Robots in Knife Slasher Gore Movie--For Science

You remember Mom used to warn you about not running with scissors? Did she ever tell you not to give sharp implements to robots? No? Well, not to worry--scientists are busy teaching 'bots not to cut humans with knives. Wait...what?

This is hardcore science coming from the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics in Germany, and it's specifically designed to investigate one very worrisome thing: Can a robot wielding a sharp tool for its job work out that it's hitting the wrong target--i.e...

Alternative Fuels & Vehicles Conference

Half of all car purchases in 2035 are predicted to be alternative-fuel vehicles. But until then, we're about as green as the 378 million gallons of gas our cars guzzle daily. Despite programs like Cash for Clunkers, nearly 98% of autos sold last year had conventional gasoline engines. Hybrid cars hold less than a 3% market share, and roughly one in four hybrid-car owners also own a nonhybrid SUV. Last year's stimulus did help put some 9,000 alternative-fuel vehicles on the road and will pump...

Ferrari Drops Wickedly Sneaky Cigarette Advertising From Its Race Cars

Still, you've got to admire the wicked branding genius that inspired the now defunct design.

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That Ferrari F1 car you see above doesn't look like dinosaur, but it is: Though the team has be sponsored by Marlboro for years, the EU has banned cigarette ads on F1 cars in 2007.

But that didn't stop some evil-genius brand designers from trying to sneak cigarette ads onto the cars--in the form of an abstracted bar code that subtly name-checked the bar codes on cigarette packs, and the Marlboro...

Microsoft's Sleep Server Can Green Corporate Networks

Sometimes, the simplest solutions are the smartest. That's the case with Microsoft's sleep proxy project, which preserves remote access to corporate desktop machines while allowing them to remain in sleep mode.

Consider: Many people leave their work PCs on when they leave in case they need to access files while at home or at meetings. Powering them up and down takes lots of juice, too. IT departments also may want PCs powered on to perform maintenance. But this wastes energy--a big problem...