David Lidsky's Blog, page 4712

Did Amazon's Social Networking Injection Just Kill the Kindle's Killer Feature?

So Amazon revealed the details of its Kindle firmware update for May--a doozy if you're into reading e-books and social networking simultaneously. But with the Kindle's main charm being its status as a single purpose device, did Amazon just screw the pooch?

The Kindle firmware 2.5 has two new bigger-size fonts and better font "sharpness" which is a boost to its readability and accessibility, but the big take-away is the social networking hooks dotted throughout the code. This means you can...

Fluid Dynamics: The Flexible, Transformable d.school Classrooms

This week, Linda Tischler has revealed the ins and outs of Stanford's new d.school building. We asked the students to provide some insight on their new digs as well.

MS&E 277 Creativity and Innovation is taught in Studio 1 on the second floor of the d.school, by Dr. Tina Seelig and an extending teaching team that includes star designers Dennis Boyle (IDEO) and Peggy Burke (1185 Design). Students learn about factors that contribute to personal creativity, as well as those that foster creative...

"No One Tells Me To Shut Up!": Cool Graphics From The American Labor Movement

Saturday, you'll recall, was International Workers' Day aka May Day aka day on which trust-fund commies throw bottles, torch cars, and yell "Die yuppie scum!" In tetchy parts of Europe, any way. We've compiled some of the best Yankee prole propaganda around with help from Lincoln Cushing, coauthor of Agitate! Educate! Organize!: American Labor Posters (and himself an erstwhile union guy).

Amber Case - Digital Philosopher

The Brainiacs

Amber Case

Cyborg Anthropologist

Amber Case is just your ordinary cyborg anthropologist. "My father used to read me bedtime stories out of this book called Evolution of Consciousness," Case says. One night he drew two points on a piece of paper. He asked what the shortest distance was from point A to point B. "A straight line," she said. 'There's an even shorter distance," he responded. And he folded the paper over so the two points touched—"which is the idea...

YouTube Wants to Let You Charge for Your Keyboard Cat Remix

YouTube's just teased a new feature that could, just possibly, utterly transform YouTube from an essentially trivial video amusement park into a serious money-spinning business for creators of original video content. 

It's basically creating a system that will let any YouTuber rent their movies to viewers on a pay per view basis, and it's more or less self-service. The nameless system is to be the third string in the monetizing bow for YouTube users, in addition to the current YouTube Partner...

Infographic of the Day: The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Will Be Bigger Than Valdez in 40 Days

Visualizing the clean-up effort, the size of the spill, and a disturbing historical comparison.

Here's an infographic detailing the main points of the current oil spill crisis, caused by a BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that exploded and sank, killing 11 workers aboard.

As you'll see, the graphs illustrate all the main points of the story, including the rate of the spill and the number of ships being deployed to fight it.

But the most alarming stat is at the bottom of this graphic, which...

IBM's CityOne Is Like Sim City, Except the Solutions Are Real

A "serious game" that lays out the problems facing modern cities--and the solutions required to solve them.

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Tomorrow, at the IMPACT conference, IBM plans to unveil CityOne, a video game that plops you into the role of being a city planner, trying to solve the sorts of business and environmental problems that grip today's modern cities. The ultimate aim for this so-called "serious game" is to teach laypeople how to better cope with complex modern problems by showing them the forest of...

Connecticut Attorney General Subpoenas Craigslist, Citing Prostitution Ads

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal issued a subpoena today to Craigslist over the prostitution ads often displayed in the classifieds Web site's "casual encounters" section. Reports indicate that Craigslist may be earning over $35 million in revenue from these ads.

"The Craigslist brothel business seems booming--belying its promise to fight prostitution," said Blumenthal, who is leading 39 states in the effort to regulate the site's screening process. "The best evidence is...

Almost Genius: Plates Double as Nutritional Infographics

Could a design like this nudge our behavior toward healthier eating?

Behaviorial economists are gaga for the idea of "nudges"--tiny little hacks that can help people make better decisions. For example: Making 401k's opt-out rather than opt-in can wildly increase savings rates. Simply moving a salad bar can increase veggie consumption by 250%.

So it makes sense that a dinner-plate design could help us eat a far healthier diet.

"Wheel of Nutrition" was designed by two recent design-school...

Design Student Tackles Scourge of Used Bubblegum

The Gumdrop program is twofold, providing handy waste bins for "ABC" gum and products made using that used gum.

25-year-old design student Anna Bullus--who's created "optical illusion" stools and shape-shifting couches--is now tackling the urban blight caused by used chewing gum. Her Gumdrop program has two parts: first, handy bins that encourage gum disposal; and second, a process she invented to make new products out of recycled gum.

Bullus first began thinking about recycling gum after...