David Lidsky's Blog, page 4726

Police Raid Gizmodo Editor's House, Seize Computers in Connection With iPhone Leak

Disclosure: Up until a few months ago, I was employed by Gizmodo, but was not involved in any way with the iPhone leak. As part of an ongoing partnership, Fast Company sometimes syndicates Gizmodo stories and vice versa.

According to Gizmodo, California's Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team raided the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen on Friday night while Chen was out to dinner, searching for evidence in connection with the Apple iPhone 4 leak story Gizmodo published last week. The police...

Supreme Court That Misunderstood Texts, Email to Take on Video Game Debate

The U.S. Supreme Court is taking on the constitutionality of a proposed California law to ban the sale
of video games to minors. The same Supreme Court where Chief Justice John Roberts asked the difference between email and a pager, and where Justice Antonin Scalia asked if "spicy little" texts could be printed out and sent in hard copy to buddies.

The gaming industry already polices the sale
of mature video games via the ratings of the non-profit Entertainment
Software Ratings Board

Wall Street Journal and Foursquare: Geolocating City Newsrag Mashup From Heaven

Foursquare, the social networking geotagging game has just pulled off what may one of its biggest partnership coups yet: It's snagged the Wall Street Journal as a geolocation ad check-in. It's a fascinating old media meets new Web media crossover.

It's been a short while since we've heard anything about new Foursquare partners, and when we did it certainly looked like the geolocation game was on the ascendant, starting with partnering Bravo TV and then moving on to bigger fish with HBO, Zagat...

Playboy Hugh Hefner Saves the Hollywood Sign (Again)

The Trust for Public Land tried everything to raise the $12.5 million needed to purchase the land behind the Hollywood sign from developers. A weird public awareness campaign that actually altered the letters--sometimes quite amusingly--during President's Day Weekend. Corporate funding from high-profile donors like Tiffany & Co. Neighborhood bake sales. But in the end, it was large naked breasts that saved the day. Today, Playboy's Hugh Hefner tossed in the last $900,000 needed to buy 138...

Sliver Steak: Amtrak's Beef-Powered Passenger Train Debuts

Taking 's Heartland Flyer train between Fort Worth and Oklahoma City sometime in the next year? You will be hitching a ride on the first beef byproducts-powered biodiesel train. The train, which runs on 80% regular diesel and 20% beef-based biofuel from a Texas vendor, is running for the next 12 months courtesy of a $274,000 grant from the Federal Railroad Administration. But is it morally suspect?

Amtrak says that the cow tallow (read: rendered fat from cattle) fuel reduces...

Netbook Phenomenon Nearly Over as Slates Go Marching In

Microsoft's own data, released as part of its recent financial disclosure, reveals something we suggested a while back: The netbook phenomenon is winding to a close. As the recession ends, people want more powerful PCs.

The statistics within MS's data are, as the Wall Street Journal notes, pretty unequivocal: Over the last year, laptops in the $500 to $850 price bracket leaped in sales by 35% while netbooks sales grew just 20% and appear to have stabilized at about 12% to 18% of the entire...

Better Place Demonstrates First Switchable Battery Electric Taxi in Tokyo

Better Place is now one step closer to fulfilling its mission of making switchable batteries commonplace in electric vehicles. The California-based electric car services startup showed off the world's first switchable-battery electric taxi this week as part of a partnership with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry and Tokyo taxi operator Nihon Kotsu.

Nihon Kotsu and Better Place will offer up three
switchable-battery electric taxis for customers on the taxi line at Tokyo's...

Infographic: Visualizing Twitter Conversations in Real Time

Revisit produces a timeline of tweets, covering any keywords you search for.

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Twitter's been hyping a "huge redesign," but in the meantime, there's a booming cottage industry of people visualizing how Twitter conversations evolve. Just a couple months ago, we were praising TweetCatcha but bemoaning the fact that it doesn't show tweets in real time. But now, along comes Revisit.

Created by infographics designer Moritz Stefaner, Revisit allows you to search for subjects and even users. Results...

Walter Hood to Design Solar-Panel Wonderland in Buffalo

The University of Buffalo will soon break ground on a 1.1 megawatt installation, and a sprawling park intended to make solar energy beautiful.

Fields of solar panel arrays are now popping up all across the United States, but the State University of New York, Buffalo, hopes to create the country's most beautiful one yet--smack dab at the entrance to its North Campus.

The university just announced that renowned landscape architect Walter Hood will design a combination solar-array-landscape...

Nook Outsells Kindle in First Month on Sale, Lessons for eReader, Tablet Rivals

Barnes & Noble's e-reader, the Nook, has busted the Kindle, according to figures released by DigiTimes research today. It accounted for 53% of all e-reader sales in March, although this can be put down in part to consumers' obsession with the newest technology they can lay their hands on--and, in part, to its frequent firmware updates. So, perhaps B&N's approach is something that any tech firm girding their loins to launch into the tablet market should study as they attempt to wrestle market...