David Lidsky's Blog, page 4859

Google's Sergey Brin Talks Hacking: Chinese Human Rights Activists Targeted

Sergey Brin of Google sat down with TED to talk about the recent revelations about the broad, sophisticated attacks the company has been battling from Chinese sources, and what that struggle means for Google's future in China. In the process, he reveals a few little tidbits of information--and explains why he's not interested in figuring out if the Chinese government is behind the attacks.

Brin starts off by stating the primary goal of the hackers, which wasn't entirely clear before: to gain...

Today in Most Innovative Companies

Daily news of note about our Most Innovative Companies, including Darden, GE, Spotify, and Apple.

Darden Restaurants: The Orlando-based restaurant giant that boasts more than $7 billion in annual sales announced yesterday a new sustainable restaurant design initiative aimed at bringing its establishments up to LEED standards. The new eco-friendly restaurants will utilize recycled building materials, natural light, energy-efficient equipment, and "reclaimed heat," which reuses heat otherwise...

Earl Cox's Tesla Charging Station Makes Electric Roadtrip from LA to SF a Reality

Planning to take a road trip from LA to San Francisco in an electric Tesla Roadster? The car needs to be recharged about halfway through the 400 mile journey. That's a problem if you don't happen to have a friend willing to lend their Tesla Home Charger for a few hours. Fortunately, a kind-hearted Tesla supporter named Earl Cox has donated one of the $2,000 devices to Harris Ranch, a restaurant and inn located in Coalinga, CA--just about halfway between the two cities. In addition to...

Parsons Launches Transdisciplinary Design Program. Whatever That Is.

This September, 15 lucky grad students will enroll in the country's first MFA program in transdisciplinary design at Parsons. Then, just two short years later, they'll surely graduate to find myriad career options, all aimed at filling this country's desperate need for transdisciplinarians.

What's that? Your mom (the one whose name is at the bottom of your tuition checks) wants to know what, exactly, transdisciplinary studies means?

Herein lies the problem that Jamer Hunt, the program's...

Stone-Age Animation in a Digital World: William Kentridge at MoMA

After the popularity of Pixar's Up and the dynamic digital illusions in Avatar, could the next big technical step in animation come from a piece of charcoal?

Opening today at the Museum of Modern Art an exhibition entitled William Kentridge: Five Themes celebrates the work of the enormously influential South African artist who is a dominant force in contemporary art. Kentridge emerged from relative obscurity in the late '90s with a series of animated films entitled "Nine Drawings for...

What Will the Fashion Industry Look Like in 2025?

Many of the designs at New York City's recent Fashion Week certainly looked futuristic--think metallics and extreme eyeliner--but the fashion industry will have to do better than that if it wants to adapt to coming changes brought about by climate change, resource shortages, and population increase. As these factors emerge in the decades ahead, what will happen to the multi-trillion dollar fashion industry? The Forum for the Future explored the question in the Fashion Futures report (PDF)...

The World's Best Infographics: A Sneak Preview of 'Data Flow 2'

For infographics and design nerds, there are few books as useful as "Data Flow." Thankfully, Gestalten is releasing "Data Flow 2" next week--and they've given Fast Company a sneak peek at some of 200+ infographics it contains.

The 4G Revolution - Not So Fast, Speed Queens

The noise emanating from the pen in the communications zoo where the mobile carriers reside seems to be increasing. The U.S.'s largest mobile carriers, Verizon and AT&T, are trumpeting the impending arrival of 4G, the sequel to 3G, when G comes out of retirement to fight a malevolent band of dial-up connections expected to supersize mobile speeds. But before anyone gets too excited about the idea of being able to download an entire series of Caprica faster than Usain Bolt runs 100 meters...

The British Hate Our New London-Embassy Design

By contrast, they thought that a competing design, by Thom Mayne/Morphosis, was "touched by genius."

Yesterday, news broke that workaday Philadelphia architects KieranTimberlake had beat out a star-studded line-up to design the new U.S. Embassy in London. Just one wrinkle: The two British jurors who sat on the committee that selected the design reportedly hate it.

The two happen to be some of the biggest names in British art and design, architect Lord Richard Rogers and...

Microsoft's Global Criminal Compliance Handbook Leaked

Microsoft has acted swiftly after the Web site Cryptome leaked its "Global Criminal Compliance Handbook." The guide does exactly what it says: outlines the surveillance services the software company will perform for law enforcement agencies on its online platforms. These include its email services, such as Hotmail, MSN, Messenger, Office Live, Windows Live, and even Xbox Live. Gulp.

The 22-page guide has "Confidential For Law Enforcement Use Only" stamped all over it, but that didn't stop...