David Lidsky's Blog, page 4867

Work Smart: Claiming Your Name on the Web

A startup founder I know was hiring recently, and she told me, "I search for applicants on the Web before I call them in for an interview. What people do online tells you more than a resume can."

When someone Googles your name, what do they find? Is it a outdated quote from an ancient article in your college newspaper? Is it your blog dedicated to cute photos of ferrets? Or is it a bunch of pages about someone else who happens to share your name?

Google is the new pre-interview. It's the...

Dimitri Medvedev Rocks Biggest Portable This Side of Gordon Gekko's Cell Phone

When it comes to laptops, Dimitri Medvedev doesn't exactly go for portability. The Russian president favors the Tandberg Tactical MXP, a beefy monster that boasts over thirteen types of embedded encryption, and is mainly used for videoconferencing over an ISDN line. Roughly translated, said line has built-in miniature Russian nano ninja bots that are trained in mano-a-mano combat against cyber attacks and nosy buggers, so that the leader of the Slightly-Freer-Than-It-Used-To-Be* World can...

Olympic Uniforms Take Home the Gold in Ugly-Off

We've put in our time lauding the slick and well-designed Olympic uniforms. These are the other ones. Amid the pageantry of competition, a surprising number of athletes trotted, slid, or squatted into the ready position in garb that made us wonder, "Who thought that outfit was a good idea?"

OPENING CEREMONY--It's a Tie!

Team Azerbaijan

Say what you want about the fluffy white fur trapper hats, when Team Azerbaijan made their entrance, we couldn't help focusing below the belt. Psychadelic...

The School That Swiped the Dodge Logo, and Other Design Copycats

Are there no more good ideas out there? A rash of copycat designs makes it seem like the muses have been drained dry.

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Design is a tricky game--it's part art after all; a single project can be a tangled mess of influences, some clear, some not so clear. And then there are the head-slappers. Like Lake Mary High School in Florida, recently busted for using the Dodge logo as their own [Ed. note: Full disclosure, this was my high-school's rival growing up, though my mom actually worked there...

Chinese President Tweets, Too, Just Not on Twitter--It's Banned

Twitter is banned in China--all sorts of culturally-polluting ideas might leak through the Great Wall if the government let citizens use it. So there are state-monitored local alternatives. And the President's just joined one. A new era, perhaps?

Twitter's free-wheeling, news-breaking, open discussion format is just incompatible with how the Chinese government would like its people to lifecast (and the anti-government Twitter-aided demonstrations in Iran must've resonated with China's...

The School that Swiped the Dodge Logo, and Other Design Copycats

Are there no more good ideas out there? A rash of copycat designs makes it seem like the muses have been drained dry.

[image error]

Design is a tricky game--it's part art after all; a single project can be a tangled mess of influences, some clear, some not so clear. And then there are the head-slappers. Like Lake Mary High School in Florida, recently busted for using the Dodge logo as their own [Ed. note: Full disclosure, this was my high-school's rival growing up, though my mom actually worked there...

The 10 Most Addictive Sounds in the World

You're probably among the millions who have experienced it: driving in a car, listening to the radio, and suddenly this song comes on. It is not just any song--this was your favorite song when you were a teenager. As the first few notes strike up, you're transported back in time. Everything is so vivid, and your mind wanders to parties, first kisses and sweaty palms. It's as if time stands still and you suddenly realize that for the entire duration of the song, you haven't seen a single...

Bloom Energy Unveils Its Ultra-Secretive Bloom Box Fuel Cell

If you keep track of green technology companies, you may have heard rumblings about Bloom Energy, a secretive company that has raised nearly $400 million from investors like Kleiner Perkins for its supposedly game-changing fuel cell device. Now the eight year old company is finally emerging from the shadows with the Bloom Box, a $700,000 to $800,000 machine that 60 Minutes calls "a little power plant-in-a-box." So what exactly is the Bloom Box?

The box consists of a stack of ceramic disks...

Chinese President Tweets, Too, Just Not On Twitter--It's Banned

Twitter is banned in China--all sorts of culturally-polluting ideas might leak through the Great Wall if the government let citizens use it. So there are state-monitored local alternatives. And the President's just joined one. A new era, perhaps?

Twitter's free-wheeling, news-breaking, open discussion format is just incompatible with how the Chinese government would like its people to lifecast (and the anti-government Twitter-aided demonstrations in Iran must've resonated with China's...

TD Bank: The Greenest Bank in the U.S.?

It's not easy to quantify sustainability, but it's pretty safe to say that TD Bank is now one of the greenest banks in the U.S. The company recently announced that it is the largest U.S.-based bank to achieve carbon neutrality. That means all of the bank's energy use is offset by various energy-saving practices.

Those practices include investments in wind, solar, and low-impact hydro power (including a block of wind energy that is large enough to power the bank's 2,600 ATMs) and 31,000...