David Lidsky's Blog, page 4703

Opera Shivs Flash, Brohugs HTML5

Aw, hell no. Shots fired! Opera Software has weighed in on the Apple versus Flash debate. And the makers of the clever lightweight browsing system have kinda, sorta taken Apple's side, just like Microsoft did. The future, Opera says, is HTML5.

Opera product analyst Phillip Gronvold is behind this revelation, and he softened the blow to Adobe by noting Opera will continue to support Flash technology inside its system for the future, as it's integral to the current "full" Web experience. "Flash...

Sustainability Faceoff: Chevron vs. ExxonMobil

It's hard to pick a winner in a sustainability face-off between two oil companies--we've all seen in recent weeks what kind of havoc said companies can wreak--we haven't forgotten about the Exxon Valdez disaster, either. Nevertheless, author R. Paul Herman attempts to compare Chevron and ExxonMobil based on the factors of profit, management, and human impact (health, wealth, earth, equality, trust) in the new book The HIP Investor. So who comes out on top?

ExxonMobil has invested some...

Walmart de México y Centroamérica Orders Wind Power in Bulk

Chalk up another point for Walmart in the big box sustainability battle. This time around, the retail giant has decided to power 348 of its Mexican self-service stores, pricing clubs, and restaurants with wind--a move that the company claims will save 137,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases annually, or the equivalent of taking 21,000 cars off the road.

Much of the wind power will come from the Oaxaca I Lamatalaventosa Wind Farm, a new 67.5 MW installation that has been planned and installed...

LED Flowers Bloom When It Gets Dark

A beautiful project by a young Dutch design student.

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Solar-powered gizmos are rarely as beautiful as Morning Glory, by Wendy Legro. A graduating student at The Netherland's Design Academy of Eindhoven, Legro designed the project for her graduate thesis.

Her idea was that in the modern world, we've lost the pleasure of watching things grow and change--and inside our homes, artificial light is always competing with natural light. Morning Glory attempts to counteract that.

[twistage...

A Pitch to Mark Zuckerberg to Ghost-Write His Tips for Managing a Successful Startup

Dear Mark Zuckerberg,

I'm writing to you (big fan of yours. Biiiiig fan) to suggest that, when the inevitable book deals from publishers come winging your way, you young thruster, you, that I ghostwrite it. Not your memoirs--let's leave that to Kitty Kelley, as she's a far, far better excavator of truthiness than I could ever be--but your guide to managing a billion-dollar startup.

Have you seen David Kirkpatrick's tome The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting...

Skyline Solar Gets Fast-Tracked Through the USPTO Green Tech Program

We had high hopes when the U.S. Commerce Department's Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced in December a pilot program to fast track certain green tech patent applications. So what kind of crazy, innovative technology is the USPTO approving as quickly as possible? Nothing too outlandish, as it turns out--one of the first patents to be fast-tracked is Skyline Solar's Dual Trough Concentrating Solar Photovoltaic Module, a core part of the startup's High Gain Solar Arrays (HGS...

NASA Fires Off a Test Rocket It Hopes to Never Really Use

Another bit of the cancelled Constellation project just actually rocketed into the skies: A testbed Orion space capsule has followed the Ares i-X atop a fiery plume off the launchpad. But unlike Ares, Orion may actually reach space. Possibly.

Today the Orion capsule, a 16-foot diameter, 11-foot tall space ship roughly the same shape as those used to bring Apollo astronauts back to Earth in the 1960s and '70s, was catapulted into the air by rocket. After a brief parabolic trip after the solid...

Gulf of Mexico Spill Inspires Digitally Produced "Oil Paintings"

An unsettling artwork, created using digital images of the ecological disaster.

Well that didn't take long. The disastrous spill in the Gulf of Mexico has inspired its first artistic masterpiece: Deep Horizon, a series of "oil paintings" created by digital artist Ubermorgan.

The paintings are actually drawn from images of the disaster, which have then been digitally manipulated with compression effects and video-editing. Thus, the colors in the images take on a distorted, liquefied...

FCC Pushes for Net Neutrality and Internet Regulation: What Happens Next? [Update]

Net neutrality, considered a centerpiece initiative for FCC chair Julius Genachowski, would effectively stop Internet providers from slowing

or blocking access to Web sites. It's among the most important political topics that most net-heads don't understand. And the debate's just been reignited: Yesterday Genachowski revealed plans to reclassify

broadband lines so that they are governed by the same rules as traditional phone networks, which the FCC has legal authority over--creating a...

Smart Solar Panels Shine at the Stanford 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.

Our concept Veloz Solar just took part in the Beta Trade Show at the Stanford d.school. This trade show featured ideas from our class LaunchPad, which meets twice a week to discuss strategy,
tactics, prototypes and how to brainstorm ideas for startups.

Our device allows solar panels...