David Lidsky's Blog, page 4868

Neff Ink Goes Bananas With a Playful Brand Refresh for Chiquita

With its monkeys, clowns, and good bananas duking it out against bad ones for banana supremacy, the new campaign for the iconic fruit distributor tries to bring out the kid in everyone.

Everyone, at some point in their life, has peeled off a Chiquita banana sticker and stuck it inside a notebook, or onto the back of a driver's license, or on a best friend's forehead. This idea was the starting point for Neff Ink's new campaign for Chiquita, which creates a family of new stickers depicting...

It's Official: Google Can Buy and Sell Energy

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In December, Google formed an energy subsidiary with the creative moniker of Google Energy. Last month, Google quietly put in a request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to buy and sell electricity on wholesale markets. And now FERC has officially approved (PDF) the request for Google to buy and sell energy at market rates.

What does Google plan to do with its newfound power? According to the FERC grant, "Google Energy states that it was formed to identify and develop...

A New Era of Climate Change Consciousness

We know that recommendations coming from Copenhagen will likely take years to have practical effect. Meantime, companies are trying to understand how those recommendations--and resulting legislation--will impact their bottom lines.

And smart companies are starting early by making climate change part of their business strategies. I had spoken with David Hone, Shell's climate change advisor, about Shell's approach for a book I wrote in 2008, Climate Change: What's Your Business Strategy?

Hone...

Close Encounters With the Space-Age Restaurant at the Center of LAX

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Back in the '90s (not the 1890s), we were asked by Eddie Sotto at Walt Disney Imagineering to help out with the design of the Encounter Restaurant. This restaurant is in the Theme Building at LAX; the building in the center of the airport that looks like a giant flying saucer. Recently the entire building was renovated and
the scaffolding that's shrouded its spider-like legs will soon be removed for first time in almost two years.

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I have no idea why it's called the Theme Building. If it...

The Winter Olympics Uniform Review: Part Deux

Ok, now that the games are in full swing and the official team uniforms have been exposed to millions around the world, it's time to sharpen the pencils at the judge's table. I must admit some of my earlier concerns have been dashed as I've had the chance to see more official team attire, particularly for Team USA.

How hot is that luge suit? These guys have to be the closest thing we have to "no-fear, hell bent on a need for speed" hot rodders. So, how better to suit them than with a...

Norman Foster on the Big Screen

Filmmakers Norberto López-Amado and Carlos Carcas release their documentary on the British architect.

There's a new architecture documentary of Norman Foster out, adding the British architect to the movie-star ranks of Rem Koolhaas, Frank Gehry, and Louis Kahn. From the looks of it, though, it's closer to The Third and the Seventh--beautiful, sure, with slow, majestic panning shots, but oh so deadly serious. Is that a problem?

Directed by Norberto López-Amado and Carlos Carcas, How Much...

Got Spare Juice in Your Electric Car? Sell It Back to the Grid, Earn Cash

Electric cars have huge batteries inside ... and as a demo of a converted Toyota Scion xB has just shown, one day you may be able to earn cash by selling spare electricity stored here back to the grid in times of shortage.

The vehicle was shown at annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science just yesterday, having been put together by researches keen to demonstrate the "vehicle to grid" or V2G concept. Essentially it doubles the car's utility in terms of...

Got Spare Juice in Your Electric Car? Sell it Back to the Grid, Earn Cash

Electric cars have huge batteries inside ... and as a demo of a converted Toyota Scion xB has just shown, one day you may be able to earn cash by selling spare electricity stored here back to the grid in times of shortage. 

The vehicle was shown at annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science just yesterday, having been put together by researches keen to demonstrate the "vehicle to grid" or V2G concept. Essentially it doubles the car's utility in terms of...

Infographic of the Day: What's Your Social Currency?

Data pulled from the website Where's George?, which charts the travels of American money, can help reveal hidden patterns of human behavior.

The National Science Foundation just announced the winners of its 2009 Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge, all of which appear in the latest issue of the journal Science, out today. There are a ton of great photos, illustrations, videos, and graphics among the bunch, including this beauty, an illustration of the forces lung cells exert in...

Hulu Sets Sights on iPad, But It'll Cost You

Hulu and the iPad would seem like a software and hardware combo born in media heaven, but we hadn't heard a peep from Hulu officially on the matter. But now Hulu's kind of confirmed its iPad plans. The trick is, you may have to pay.

The news isn't absolutely concrete, but AllThingsD has heard directly from several insiders inside Hulu's parent companies: Simply put, Hulu would love to serve up its web video content to iPad users. The iPad is expected to be a soaring success, and it's a device...