David Lidsky's Blog, page 4705

Google Streamlines, Targets Search: Its Biggest Change in Years

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Google isn't exactly staid, but Search, its bread and butter, tends to change slowly--a new feature here, a new logo there. Today is the first major overhaul in recent memory, and it looks pretty great.

Aesthetically, it's a little cleaner and more modern; the graphics are a bit "flatter," but it's still obviously Google, what with the primary colors and simple layout. But the layout has definitely changed. Whereas in the old Google, the different types of search (video, photo, blog, news...

Major Facebook Security Flaw Makes Private Chats and Requests Public

This morning, Facebook users discovered that by using the "Preview My Profile" option, a user's private chats and requests became visible. In the words of TechCrunch, the original reporter of the story:

Today I was tipped off that there is a major security flaw in the social networking site that, with just a few mouse clicks, enables any user to view the live chats of their 'friends'. Using what sounds like a simple trick, a user can also access their friends' latest pending friend-requests...

Infographic: Is This Old AC Really Destroying the World?!

A new tool from Pentagram's Lisa Strausfeld reveals the brutal truth about your home energy consumption.

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Homes are responsible for more than 20% of energy
consumption in the United States. But how do you pinpoint the sources
of all that CO2? An impressive new data-visualization tool from GE and
Pentagram's Lisa Strausfeld, who knows from information design, helps determine precisely which household electronics do
the most damage.

"The hardest challenge was finding the right data, and...

The New United-Contintental Logo: Flying a Little Too Close Together

What's wrong with this picture? When I first saw this photo, taken Monday, of United and Continental's CEOs cementing their just-announced merger, I didn't notice it. When I clicked over to the press release announcing the new mega-airline, I still didn't notice it. It was only when I was reading the branding and identity site Brand New this morning, when I saw their side-by-side comparisons, that I noticed it. The extremely puzzling United-Continental "mashup."

I had looked at United's "new...

Infographic: Blow-Drying Your Hair Costs $4,200 a Year?!

New tool from Pentagram's Lisa Strausfeld reveals the brutal truth about your home energy consumption.

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Homes are responsible for more than 20% of energy
consumption in the United States. But how do you pinpoint the sources
of all that CO2? An impressive new data-visualization tool from GE and
Pentagram's Lisa Strausfeld, who knows from information design, helps determine precisely which household electronics do
the most damage.

"The hardest challenge was finding the right data, and making...

Nissan Leaf EV to Have Ultra-Cheap Battery Pack

Over 8,200 people have made online reservations in the past month for the upcoming Nissan Leaf EV, and for good reason. The $33,000 vehicle, set to be released later this year, is the first affordable all-electric vehicle from a major auto manufacturer. It's an early adopter's dream. Now Nissan has revealed the secret behind the Leaf's reasonable price: an ultra-cheap battery pack.

While most lithium-ion batteries cost $1000 to $1,200 per kWh, the Leaf's 24 kWh battery pack costs just $9,000...

Government in the Digital Age: How Anil Dash's Expert Labs Is Speeding Democracy

There's an episode of 30 Rock in which Jack Donaghy takes a job with Homeland Security and gives a stirring speech to Congress so that his office can get pens. Finally, a large box of pens arrives--but it's filled with only the caps. Government is, by its nature, slow and bureaucratic. But network technology can cut through that, and at the same time amplify our access to elected officials and Washington's entire decision-making process. That is the goal of Expert Labs, an incubator created...

Dirtiest Hotels of 2009: A Lesson in Sparking Curiosity

I got a broadcast email one day from TripAdvisor. I was just about to delete it when I noticed the subject line: The Dirtiest Hotels of 2009. That gave me pause. I read some of the quotes from people who'd stayed in these hotels: One said: "I have 30 bites from bugs in Room 919." And I had to click through. I had no choice. I had to know what the hotels were--and had I stayed at any of them? Are any of them in my hometown? You got me, TripAdvisor.

This ad worked because it made me curious...

iPhone 4 Firmware Reveals File-Sharing, Orientation Lock, and How to Close Multitasking Apps [Updated]

Apple's just released the latest developer firmware before the official iPhone 4.0 roll-out. This is geeky. What is not geeky is some of the secrets it reveals about the future iPhone workings. Apple seems to have utterly nailed it.

File sharing direct to iPhone

This is an oft-requested feature by the more traditionally minded iPhone user, used to managing files in folders on desktops rather than the iPhone OS's hidden file management layer, but it's going to be damn useful all the same...

Here's an Idea: Light Bulbs Make Us Better Thinkers

We have been trained so well to associate the light bulb with insight and creative thinking that simply sitting under one can inspire, well, insight and creative thinking. That's the conclusion researchers at Tufts University came up with after putting students through a series of experiments under both a bare incandescent
25-watt light bulb and an overhead fluorescent light.

In the first experiment, researchers sat students down in front of a screen that flashed 10 words linked
with...