David Lidsky's Blog, page 4746

Yves Béhar's Paper Chandelier Powered by Crystal Light

Low-cost and made of paper, the design is meant to democratize one of the symbols of high-class bling.

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Yves Béhar and Fuseproject have been busy this week: Fresh from unveiling a super-green shoebox for Puma, they've sent FastCompany.com their newest project, Amplify, a chandelier concept created for Swarovski.

The crystal company usually commissions insanely expensive, one off pieces for Milan--you can see some of this year's works here and here--but Fuseproject chose another path. Rather...

Crib Sheet: What Happened at Twitter's Chirp Conference

Official Android Twitter App

It's been said that Twitter launched as an incomplete product--unlike, say, Facebook, Twitter is very much a skeleton, without its own versions of many of the most important ways we interact with the service. Twitter doesn't have its own mobile app, its own photo uploading service, or its own URL shortener--so third-party developers have jumped in to provide them. Twitter's slowly been filling those "holes," recently releasing their own BlackBerry app and buying...

Lady Gaga Collaborates with Marc Jacobs, Jane Birkin, and a Sharpie on Signature It Bag

Last night it was reported that Lady Gaga arrived in Tokyo with a "defaced" Hermes Birkin bag tattooed with Japanese text. The more appropriate word is customized. Others might even say enhanced. I say Gaga took a hallowed and timeless piece, something forever linked to the singer/actress/style icon Jane Birkin--that starts at about $6,000--and with the swipe of a 70-cent Sharpie, made it her own.

The first thing that came to mind when I saw Gaga's Japanese ode to her "Little Monsters" was...

Milan 2010: A Bedroom Worthy of HAL

A "sleep capsule" that coddles you in high-tech luxury.

For the renovation of Veuve Clicquot's Hôtel du Marc in Reims, France—set to reopen in 2011—the champagne brand commissioned this Once Upon a Dream bed from French designer Mathieu Lehanneur. (Whom we've covered here and here and here and .)

Here, Uri the male model demonstrates the functionality of the sleep capsule, which is meant to alleviate jet lag by gently neutralizing the environment: Lay down and the temperature...

Microsoft Responds to Abusive Labor Conditions at Chinese Manufacturer

Following reports of abusive labor conditions at KYE by the National Labor Committee, the factory in China that manufactures Microsoft's Basic Optical Mouse -- and a variety of other products for other companies -- Brian Tobey, Microsoft's Corporate Vice President, Manufacturing and Operations, Entertainment and Devices, has posted the following response on the Official Microsoft Blog:

As a company that sells a wide range of hardware and devices, we take very seriously our corporate...

Iceland Erupts: The Prettiest Travel Headache You'll Ever See

Good news for sky watchers, bad news for sky travelers: The eruption of a volcano in Iceland means that all flights to and from Ireland and the U.K. are grounded until 6 a.m. GMT tomorrow morning, and airports have closed in Sweden, France, Denmark, Finland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. That means a lot of very unhappy people at airports throughout Europe. And this is when the classic understatement of the Brits comes into its own: "I'm meant to be going to Lanzarote," said one passenger

Here's Why the Banksy Movie Is a Banksy Prank

In the summer of 2008, I saw an article in the LA Weekly about a massive street art show mounting in L.A. named Life is Beautiful. On the outset the show seemed ambitiously cool. The 125,000-square-foot show was being staged in CBS' abandoned Columbia Square Studios, a massive modern office complex where I Love Lucy was filmed. The artist, Mr. Brainwash or MBW, was an up-and-comer who had already plastered the city in his likeness, as a guy holding a video camera. And the timing for such a...

Your Best Hope for a Flying Car? DARPA's Pitch for a Flying Humvee

Remember that fantastical-sounding flying car that DARPA proposed earlier this year? It isn't just a pipe dream anymore--the defense agency has released a 58-page announcement (pdf) detailing the military's vision of "a robust ground vehicle that is capable of configuring into a VTOL air vehicle with a maximum payload capability of approximately 1,000 lb". In other words, the military wants a flying Humvee.

The UK Register points us to the lengthy Pentagon announcement, which lists...

Yves Béhar Designs a Crystal Chandelier Out of Paper

Low-cost and made of paper, the design is meant to democratize one of the symbols of high-class bling.

[image error]

Yves Béhar and Fuseproject have been busy this week: Fresh from unveiling a super-green shoebox for Puma, they've sent FastCompany.com their newest project, Amplify, a chandelier concept created for Swarovski.

The crystal company usually commissions insanely expensive, one off pieces for Milan--you can see some of this year's works here and here--but Fuseproject chose another path. Rather...

Hey Gleeks, Turn Your iPhone Into a Show Choir

Ever wish you could be a part of a show choir like the one on Glee, but lack both singing talent and friends? There's now an app for that. This is great news for Glee fans. Everyone else: cover your ears.

Smule and Fox Digital Entertainment have teamed up to create an app—simply called "Glee"—that turns your voice into a show choir of your very own. Like a portable karaoke machine, the app flashes the lyrics across the screen, and as you sing along, it captures your voice, either recording it...