David Lidsky's Blog, page 4756

Google Docs Overhauled, Microsoft Should be Worried

Google Docs, the convenient online-competitor to Microsoft Office, today rolled out some great new features that combine many of the search-giants services into one handy product. The key to the overhaul is real-time collaboration. Essentially, it combines features from Buzz and Google chat to create a document-style layout, with an in-the-margins sidebar that allows you to track changes, add comments, and talk with co-workers as you would in Gchat. More importantly, the editing is done...

Hey Kids, Microsoft's Phat New Kin Phones Will "Crank Social to 11," Fo Shizzle

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You'd be forgiven for thinking you'd tuned into a hip church youth group show on cable access rather than Microsoft's presentation of its new social networking phones--Kin, to friends.

Against the backdrop of an adult's version of a kid's clubhouse presenters shared with the media two two flavors of its new phone: the bubbly Kin ONE with a compact slide-out QWERTY keyboard (above) and the longer, more iPhone-shaped Kin TWO, which has a larger slide-out QWERTY setup--both made by Sharp (of...

GM Doubles Size of EV Battery Lab

Look no further than GM for evidence that electric vehicles are about to explode in popularity. The auto giant recently invested $8 million to double the size of its automotive battery lab--already the biggest and most advanced battery lab in the U.S.

As a result of the investment, GM's Michigan-based battery lab will double in size from 30,000 sq. ft. to 63,000 sq. ft. The expansion will also increase GM's capabilities in six areas: buildup and teardown, safety and abuse tolerance...

Conan O'Brien Pulls a Leno on Lopez, Heads to TBS for 11 p.m. Show in November

TBS just got a little oranger.

According to a Time Warner press release, pale, string-dancing late night comic Conan O'Brien is heading to TBS, and will be bumping George Lopez's Lopez Tonight to midnight. Conan has been trying to get back in the public eye for some time, recently jumping off his U.S. comedy tour, and, since leaving his short-lived stint as host of The Tonight Show, Team CoCo has been trying to work out a deal with networks to get back on the air after NBC's non-compete...

DreamWorks Launches Kung Fu Panda World, Second Life for Chop-Happy Tykes

It's taken longer than it did (probably) to train up Jack Black in the dark arts of tubby-chub kung fu, but DreamWorks Animations' first virtual world for kids, is to launch today in the U.S.. Kung Fu Panda World is $10 million-worth of virtual theme park for 8- to 12-year-olds to hone their martial arts talents and learn the thoroughly admirable skills of styling cartoon animals using in-world games and on-site currency, and there will be safe chat rooms.

There are two versions--a pay...

Virgin Media Celebrates 10th Anniversary of U.K. Broadband With Friggin Lasers

The installation, "Speed of Light," was created by Fast Company favorite United Visual Artists.

This year, apparently, is the 10th anniversary of broadband in the U.K., and Virgin Media is celebrating in high style, with a sprawling laser-light installation, on view in London through April 19.

"Speed of Light" is the brain child of United Visual Artists, whose work we've featured regularly. This time, however, with the aid of some backing from PR firm Borkowski,
the installation is...

Chipotle: Grass Fed Animals Make Tastier Tacos

Looking for some grass-fed beef on the quick? Chipotle has you covered. Steve Ells, the fast food chain's CEO, has long touted his commitment to selling sustainable meat from places like Niman Ranch. But does it make a difference to customers?

Ells explains his reasoning in an interview with SmartPlanet:

I'd say a while ago people mostly thought about convenience in fast
food. I think that we have shown that consumers can have fast food and
great taste, and food with integrity. What I used t...

Here's How to Tether Your iPhone 3G S to Your iPad, Steve Jobs Be Damned

Cometh the iPhone tether, then, soon cometh the iPad tether. Anyone with a jailbroken iPhone 3GS and a Wi-Fi only iPad might like this little cheat from MyWi developers Intelliborn, which will give you 3G. Fuh free. Well, the MyWi app costs $9.99 (PdaNet offers a slightly trickier but similar iPhone tethering program), but it's free thereafter. Well, you'll gamble your iPhone warranty, but they never break, right? And all this, despite Steve Jobs' response to an Apple customer who emailed...

Grand Central Table Folds Like a Subway Map

The design actually implies a bigger idea about the way people live today--and what they aspire to.

That coffee table above isn't just an ode to minimalism: When not in use, in actually folds up, to become a tiny corner table.

Dubbed "Grand Central," the table, by Swedish designers Sanna Lindström and Sigrid Strömgren is more than just a rendering: It will be unveiled this week at the Milan Furniture. The name comes from the its inspiration, a fold-up subway map.

The design has a...

MIT Unveils "Surround Vision," Turns TV Into Augmented Reality

The new technology could easily translated into an iPhone app.

"If you're watching TV and you
hear a helicopter in your surround sound," says Santiago
Alfaro, a grad student at MIT's media lab. "Wouldn't it
be cool to just turn around and be able to see that
helicopter as it goes into the screen?" Sure would. And Alfaro has realized that idea, in his thesis project, Surround Vision.

The set-up was actually fairly simple. The basic components were a TV, a hand-held monitor with a...