David Lidsky's Blog, page 4762

Intel Shows Off Its Behavioral-Based Television: Consumers and Advertisers Rejoice?

Ever write a message in Gmail and notice seconds later an advertisement related to what you just sent? Behavioral-based advertising is now the norm on the Web, but the often-frustrating marketing tool could soon benefit consumers as much as it benefits advertisers. At yesterday's Intel showcase, the Labs team showed off their "Personalized TV," which connects your laptop, cable box, and television together, and scans your Internet browsing patterns to offer TV show recommendations, from...

Freedom of Choice: Devo Web Fans Choose 12 Tracks for New Album

Fresh from crowdsourcing its new look, Devo has turned to its fans to help choose the final playlist of its new album. The Devo Song Study is hosted by what can only be described as a Microsoft Office Rat circa 1989 called Jakob the Journalist, who seems to be channeling the inner fire of Gareth Keenan, and the hair shade of Kenneth the Page.

After a little intro by Jakob, who's the kind of guy you just know has a mustache comb, and does things with a tube of ChapStick Katy Perry could only...

Crib Sheet: iPhone OS 4's Sexiest Features

Apple's just concluded the main part of its big reveal for the next-gen iPhone OS software, and it's chock-full of new features that'll turn the iPhone and iPad into faster, cleverer beasts. We've summed up the big seven changes for you.

Multitasking

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This answers many iPhone critics, as it enables some sophisticated background-running powers to apps. True to Apple's historic form, the function is designed to be easy to use and it's running under tight Apple control. Only...

Boom: iPhone Gets Multitasking, at Last

Right at the start of Apple's iPhone 4.0 event, Steve Jobs revealed the "boom!" many iPhone lovers had been waiting for--multitasking.

Jobs laughed off the several years of anti-Apple criticism centering on multitasking by noting that while Apple wasn't "the first to this party," it's definitely "going to be the best." The system works pretty much how you would expect: That home button gets another function--a double click now activates the multitasking system. This means it doesn't work...

GE Brings LEDs Closer to the Mainstream With 40 Watt Household Bulb

LEDs are slowly creeping into the mainstream despite their high price tags.  Lemnis Lighting recently unveiled the first household dimmable LED bulb, Digital Lumens offered up its system of networked LED lights, and companies like Philips, Panasonic, and Toshiba have rolled out LEDs of their own. But perhaps the biggest evidence of the LED's growing popularity is that GE, the inventor of the first visible light-emitting diode, has debuted a household LED bulb of its own.

GE's Energy Smart...

Apple Emulates Microsoft and Sony With Game Center

With today's announcement of the iPhone 4 OS, Apple unveiled Game Center for the iPhone -- it's like a gaming network like Microsoft's Xbox Live and Sony's PlayStation Network. Even the feature list looks familiar: invite friends, matchmaking, leaderboards, and achievements.

But you're asking yourself, didn't many games already support these through Plus+? That gaming social network for the iPhone was created by Ngmoco had many of these features. It also had others such as avatars and...

Apple Introduces iAd: All iPhone 4.0 Roads Lead to Advertising

The last "tentpole" in the presentation by Steve Jobs and co. unveiled during the iPhone OS 4 presentation in Cupertino, Calif., on Thursday was the most important. All of those shiny new iPhone functions -- the multitasking, the folders, unified e-mail, iBooks, Game Center -- will satisfy lots of user desires. But make no mistake: It's all about iAd.

iAd is Apple's long-awaited play in mobile advertising, the one running in the background of all it's done recently. And it's distinctly...

Four Unlikely Solar Innovations Come to Light

Solar energy: It's not just for rooftop panels and giant power plants anymore. Designers and researchers are coming up with unique ways to harness the sun's energy. Below, some of the more exciting ones unveiled in the last few weeks.

Sick of dealing with all the people that cram into subways and buses during the morning commute? So is Dave Owsen. The designer has come up with Community Transit, a mass transit system that features solar-powered pods traveling on overhead rail lines.

Wired

Infographic: To Map Cross-Country Migration, Just Follow the Money

Using data culled from the web, an application reveals where we get our money--and where we spend it.

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Mapping migration patterns across America is harder than you think. Using airplane flight-data doesn't capture people's everyday travels. And you can't track everyone's everyday car movements (legally).

So Christian Thiemann and Daniel Grady of
Northwestern University found an alternative: the flow of dollar bills. Specifically, they used data culled from Where's George, a website you can...

Boom: iPhone Gets Multitasking, At Last

Right at the start of Apple's iPhone 4.0 event, Steve Jobs revealed the "boom!" many iPhone lovers had been waiting for--multitasking.

Jobs laughed off the several years of anti-Apple criticism centering on multitasking by noting that while Apple wasn't "the first to this party" its definitely "going to be the best." The system works pretty much how you would expect: That home button gets another function--a double click now activates the multitasking system. This means it doesn't work...