David Lidsky's Blog, page 4822

Clever Video Installation Encourages Charitable Giving

Using a video projection and text-message billing, a new project opens up hearts and wallets to problem of homelessness.

A problem like homelessness hides in plain sight: It's easy not to give, because, as any city dweller knows, you simply don't notice the homeless after a time. And even if you intend to be charitable, you're probably loathe to give change--and neglectful in following up with the right charities.

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Those dilemmas are solved in a new installation...

Tweetmaster General Evan Williams Touts Twitter as a Worldwide Force for Democracy

Evan Williams, one of the founders of Twitter, has given a lengthy interview to the BBC World Service, in which he claims that social media is fundamental to the spread of democracy. Or should that be the other way around? In the 30-minute program, which debuts tonight, he also touched on why he turned down an offer from Facebook, and why the company is focusing on money first of all. "Our goal at Twitter is to be a force for good," he said, as he outlined plans for the Web site's expansion...

FCC Scrutinizing NBC-Comcast Deal, May Take a Year

Although the NBC Universal-Comcast hook-up was announced at the end of last year, it's taken three months for the FCC and the Justice Department to decide whether they're going to scrutinize the merger. (More time, even, than it took 30 Rock to parody the merger -- clip from Thursday night's show below). And the answer is yes, apparently, they will investigate.

While the antitrust bit of the deal will be handled by Justice, the FCC review will go up close on the details, such as spectrum...

Apple Reveals More About iBooks

Apple's iPad went on pre-order for the lucky Amer'cans today (the rest of us have to wait an interminable extra week or so) but Apple also revealed a little more about its iBooks effort. Guess what? It's surprisingly open. 

Clicking on the iPad page at Apple.com now reveals a segment in the "Features" tab that explains much more about the iPad e-reading iBooks app and its supporting iBookstore service than we've heard until now. It's due to launch at the same time as the iPad--April 3rd--and...

Bow to Your Robot Overlor... Er, We Mean, Check Out This Butler and Housemaid of Tomorrow!

We've joked about the robocalypse a lot, but robot tech really is developing at one hell of a clip. And you may be rubbing, um, shoulders with robo-house assistants sooner than you think, as two recent developments from France and Japan remind us.

First up is France's Robosoft with Kompai, who's specifically designed to assist old people at home, with a nod toward the well-known "aging population" problem that's facing developed nations--Japan in particular. (Just be sure to keep your Old...

Infographic: Tracking a Toxic Asset

NPR's Planet Money produces an astounding infographic that shows just how bad a bet the banks made when they went crazy for bundles of subprime mortgages.

Toxic assets brought our economy to its knees. You remember those, right? They were bundles of sub-prime mortgages, which were sold to banks like bonds. As the bundled mortgages were paid off each month, they promised a steady portion of the cash.

For the banks that bought these assets, the problems began when people couldn't pay the...

Virgin Media to Start Trialing Overground Fiber-Optic Broadband in the U.K.

Inhabitants of the picturesque village of Woolhampton, 50 miles west of London, are set to be guinea pigs for an interesting broadband experiment. Virgin Media is to trial running fiber-optic cables from telegraph poles, piping ultra-fast broadband direct to the villagers' homes.

Although you might think that it's just case of stringing up the cables on the existing above-ground network, it's apparently a bit more complicated than that. Workmen will have to install new poles, dig up the...

Google-Mapping Your Life: Which Way to Omelet-Town?

Christoph Niemann's latest project is an atlas of daily life.

Maps aren't just for getting around anymore; they've become so ubiquitous--and so easy to manipulate--that they're more like raw materials that artists, designers, and everyone else use to make sense of the world as it is, or just make a new one. Sharing the shelves with dozens of newly compiled atlases of historic cartography are books like The Map as Art or Strange Maps, which show all the weird, alternative uses people find for...

Infographic of the Day: How the Global Food Market Starves the Poor

How can 1 in 7 people be malnourished in the modern world? A beautifully illustrated video shows the causes.

To understand the complexities of the international food market--and how traders in Chicago can cause Africans to starve--you could get a ph.D. in economics, or read a 400-page report from the World Bank. Or you watch this superb nine minute video, directed by Denis van Waerebeke.

Though ostensibly created for a science show in Paris for 12 year olds, it's actually probably waaaay...

Hot New NYC Restaurant The Collective Will Specialize in Leftovers

For the Meat Packing District eatery due to open March 17, designers ICrave hired artists on Craigslist and Etsy, a plumber who also designs lighting fixtures in styrofoam, a former Swiss goldsmith who recycles street signs, and a pair of women carpenters from Brooklyn who create dazzling floors from reclaimed wood.

You know times have changed when a new restaurant in Manhattan's swank Meatpacking District brags that its decor has been scavenged from junk yards, flea markets, and discarded...