David Lidsky's Blog, page 4801

Foursquare's Celebrity Mode Allows You to Avoid DJ Pauly D Like an STD

Stalking DJ Pauly D, he of Jersey Shore fame, just got a whole bit easier (oh, I know ladies, stop your hysteria, I can barely hear my own sarcasm above the screams). The walking hair-don't is the first celebrity--sorry, let me rephrase that--the first "celebrity" to use geo-social network Foursquare's Celebrity Mode (that's Celebrity Mode without inverted commas) which enables you to stalk--sorry, I mean follow, your favorite fame whores.

The idea is a hook-up (note to Pauly: not one that...

Opera Finishes its iPhone Browser, Apple Not Likely to Give a Damn

Opera has revealed it's put the finishing touches to its Opera Mini Web browser for the iPhone and has submitted it to Apple. Some folk on the Net are getting excited about it. But they're wrong: Apple's likely to ditch it in the "no" bin.

In its press release on the matter, Opera's team notes it's "put every effort" into fashioning a "customized, feature-rich and highly responsive browser" that "masterfully" mixes the iPhones smartphone superpowers with "Opera's renowned Web experience." It...

Jean Nouvel Gets the Nod for 2010 Serpentine Pavilion

Jean Nouvel, winner of the Pritzker Prize in 2008, is to design this year's Serpentine Pavilion in London. For the past decade, the gallery, situated in Hyde Park, has been home to some of the most innovative pop-up structures designed by a whole raft of architectural luminaries, including Zaha Hadid, Olafur Eliasson, and Frank Gehry, whose 2008 structure of timber and glass was absolutely breathtaking.

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Previous pavilions have--with the exception, perhaps, of Oscar...

Why Can't the World's Best Architects Build Better Web Sites?

The best way to describe Architizer might be to call it a Facebook for architects. That's probably simplifying things a bit, but for an undertaking like this, simple is the linchpin.

At Architizer's West Coast launch last week, the turnout was as diverse as
the thousands of projects represented on the site. Hundreds of firms--from the big names to the no-names--have created profiles and uploaded
information about their work, including photos, credits, materials, even some
renderings or...

A Mobile Homeless Shelter You Wouldn't Mind Living In

We spend a lot of time looking at shelters here on FastCompany.com--from pop-up shelters for earthquake relief to the Open Architecture Network's challenge to build shelters with a social component, there is no shortage of designers trying to solve the ever-present problem of homelessness. But this mobile homeless shelter designed by Paul Elkins and featured on designboom is--dare we say it--kind of comfortable-looking.

Sure, the 225-pound shelter is tiny and has no room to stand, but...

Boston's Ugliest Buildings are -- Surprise! -- all Brutalist

Robert Campbell asks Boston Globe readers what buildings they hate most, and it's bad news for concrete buffs.

Boston Globe architecture critic Robert Campbell asked his readers for their most-hated buildings and, surprise, surprise, brutalism took the brunt. The concrete-heavy, '60s style of architecture favored by budding, post-industrial east-coast cities like New Haven and Providence (and especially common across the pond in the UK) hit Boston particularly hard. Pretty much every big...

Global First Look: Brandkarma.com Insures That Brands Reap What They Sow

Superstar Aussie ad man Craig Davis has spent his life promoting brands. Now, with his new Web site, Brandkarma.com, he wants the world to weigh in on who's been naughty or nice.

What goes around comes around, they say in the pen, and it's as true for brands as it is for people. Just ask Toyota. Or Walmart. Or WaMu. Or the brand called Tiger.

In an effort to accelerate that karma wheel, today Craig Davis, chief creative officer at Publicis Mojo, will launch Brandkarma.com, a site designed...

MTA Scraps Plans for New Subway Pictograms

Mies Hora's 90-icon set get tossed in the face of a $750 million budget shortfall.

Earlier this month we mentioned Mies Hora's pictogram set for the MTA (featuring a new, international exit sign). Well, bad news for those, like Slate's Julia Turner, hoping for the makeover: Facing a $750 million budget deficit, the MTA scrapped the project. According to the Post:

Instead, transit employees will refresh old icons -- for example, by changing the background from black to blue on...

Design Crimes: The World's Most Expensive Bottled Water

With an estimated price of $60,000, this might be the least sustainable product in the world. Naturally, the proceeds are going to a global warming "charity."

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Did World Water Day leave you parched yesterday? Why not quench your thirst with a $3.3 million water bottle filled with H20 from natural springs throughout the world. That's right, Fernando Altamirano, who previously brought you the world's most expensive cognac bottle, is now selling the world's most expensive bottled water.

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Do Something: Let's Hear It for the Little Guys

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Illustration by Frank Chimero

We glorify our leaders and praise our visionary entrepreneurs, but Nancy Lublin says we should focus on the followers -- the people who get things done.

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We're obsessed with leadership. Bookstores have entire sections devoted to leadership. Corporations spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on leadership retreats. At some universities, you can even major in leadership. Venture-capital money flows like water into the hands of founders who are labeled "visionary...