David Lidsky's Blog, page 4874

#8 Novartis - Most Innovative Companies 2010

Since focusing its R&D on rare diseases and biotech, including vaccines for the likes of H1N1, the Swiss pharma giant has been in a fever of invention. The FDA has approved nine of its drug candidates in 2009 alone. Chairman Daniel Vasella explains how the world's third-largest drugmaker got so healthy.

#7 PG&E - Most Innovative Companies 2010

Utilities aren't known for pangs of conscience. But last September, PG&E chief Peter Darbee boldly and publicly resigned from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over the business council's opposition to global-warming legislation.

#6 First Solar - Most Innovative Companies 2010

First Solar was the first panel maker to cross the $1-per-watt threshold, making its energy competitive with power produced by conventional means.

#5 Huawei - Most Innovative Companies 2010

Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies shot past Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens in 2009 to become the world's No. 2 telecom-equipment provider, powered by quality and product upgrades on top of its long-standing low prices.

#2 Amazon - Most Innovative Companies 2010

Amazon is writing the book on how to diversify with ingenuity. It generated an estimated $24 billion in revenue last year (up 26% from 2008) not simply through books, which it continues to dominate with the top e-book reader and iPhone reader apps, but also through its growing data storage and computing service.

Microsoft Outlook Social Connector is No Buzz (But Maybe That's a Good Thing)

While Google Buzz's aggressive social network integration into Gmail upset users enough to make Google quickly backtrack, the Outlook Social Connector add-on is Microsoft's timid step towards integrating social network activity into Outlook.

Microsoft has announced that Facebook support is forthcoming in the Office 2010 version, but Social Connector can integrate your LinkedIn contacts in Outlook 2003 and 2007 right now.

To do so, download the Outlook Social Connector add-on from here and...

U.S. Climate Action Partnership Loses BP, ConocoPhillips, Caterpillar

The U.S. Climate Action Partnership has a lofty goal: bringing together businesses and environmental groups with diverse interests to pressure the U.S. government into climate change legislation. But, as The Atlantic Monthly laments, USCAP is actually just "a marriage of convenience between groups like the Nature Conservancy
that wanted a climate bill, and companies like Shell and DuPont that
wanted to make their voices heard rather than deny the inevitable." And now that a cap-and-trade...

SuperSkin Helmet Grotesquely, but Safely, Imitates "Skin Stretched Over a Skull"

Something about the phrase "skin stretched over a skull" gives me the willies, but to IDC, makers of the SuperSkin helmet, it just means good safety.

The SuperSkin helmet, to be made by Lazer Helmets, imitates the natural flexibility of our own anatomy, a lot like BMW's shape-shifting GINA car. This helmet allows a thin outer layer to move somewhat freely over a harder inner layer, thanks to some lubrication between the layers. The idea is that while typical helmets protect only against one...

Prize-Winning Vizualizations of the Disaster in Haiti

GOOD recently asked its readers to create an infographic that shows both the devastation of the recent Haiti earthquake along with aid efforts thus far. Emily Schwartzman won the contest for her hard-hitting design, which clearly shows the poverty, destruction, and humanitarian funding offered to Haiti in the quake's aftermath. If you have a friend that doesn't understand the scope of the earthquake's wrath, this is the infographic to show them.

We're also fans of Stephane Bao's entry...

Thinking Back to the 1984 Summer Olympics: The Glory and the Magenta

Being a designer in Southern California is like doing comedy; it's much harder than it looks. The 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles was a perfect example of this. I remember the spring before the Olympics. Everyone planned to leave
town. "It will be like Armageddon," people said. "The freeways will be
jammed. People will be stranded on the 405 for days."

The games began and the freeways were wide open. It wasn't because everyone was in Palm Springs or San Diego. There was a remarkable...