David Lidsky's Blog, page 4892

Will E-Ink Go the Way of Plasma? iPad Bets Yes

There's news from PVI, the makers of the Kindle's e-ink screen, that they've got new versions coming this year that'll update fast enough for "animation," have touchscreens and color. The question is, is it too little to late?

The news is coming via PVI's chairman Scott Liu, through Digitimes. It couldn't be simpler really: Scott is promising that this year PVI will turn out more flexible e-ink screens, ones that have a fast enough refresh rate to support animation speeds, and ones that...

NYC Big Apps Winners Listed

The winners of the NYCBigApps competition are out: Top prizes go to Taxihack, Big Apple Ed, and Wayfinder NYC. And horror of horrors--none of these three is an app specifically for the world's sexiest fruit-flavored smartphone!

The contest was designed to spur developers into crafting applications for the Web and smartphones that would actually benefit New Yorkers' daily life, tempting them with a prize fund of $20,000, "plus dinner with the mayor and tons of public appreciation." After...

Is the Job Market Improving?

You want the good news or the bad news first? Hey, it's Friday and this is The Upswing so let's go with good news first! The national unemployment rate dropped to a five-month low of 9.7% in January, suggesting perhaps that the labor market will soon take a turn for the better. And yesterday, you'll recall, we pointed you to the places with the best ratios of applicants per job opening.

Now the less spectacularly wonderful news: The Labor Department revised layoff figures from recent...

Stripper Bowl XLIV: How the Big Game's a Boon to Boob Biz

The Super Bowl is expected to pump $153 million into South Florida's hotels, restaurants ... and Bedazzled leather g-strings.

According to one study, this weekend's Super Bowl will pump some $153 million into South Florida's economy, 3% more than last year's game brought to Tampa. There will be about 120,000 people invading the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area and the average fan will spend four nights in a hotel and drop about $1,700 on the room, food and entertainment. The exact amount of local...

Infographic of the Day: An Apocalyptic Short Story, Told in Charts

Sumedicina is an experimental work of fiction that scraps words, and replaces them with infographics.

Our Infographics of the Day are all about how data and charts reveal stories in the broader world. So it's only natural that charts could be used for fictional stories as well, and that's the conceit of Sumedicina, a piece of experimental short fiction created by Jana Lange and Kim Asendorf. 

The plot involves John, a scientist working for a nefarious biomedical company called Sumedicina...

Recreate 'The Abyss' and 'Dambusters' With Google Earth

Google Earth is always a bit of a curio--appealing to the voyeur inside all of us a little, as well as tapping into some vague educational vein. It's just got a whole lot more curious though, with under-sea and WWII layers that'll really appeal to academics.

Predictably Google's touting the new oceanic layers with the line "anyone can be a desktop Cousteau" but that doesn't detract from how interesting the new material actually is. Essentially Ocean Showcase is a part curated tour of the...

Meet Siri: A Virtual Personal Assistant That Actually Works, Deciphers Drunken Slur

For decades, companies have tried to create the real-life equivalent of Rosie the Robot-Maid, an electronic personal
assistant that actually works, and is actually personal. It's a task easier said than done: Just ask Apple, whose "handwriting recognition" Newton handhelds were discontinued in the '90s, or Chandler, whose note-to-self Web organizer has been in development since 2001, and now seems outdated. But with mobile Internet use at an
all-time high--and smartphone tech smarter than...

Green Thieves Launch Cap and Trade Scam

Cap-and-trade systems aren't just a burgeoning part of the new energy economy. They're a burgeoning chunk of thief bait. Last week, Hackers sent fake emails from the German Emissions Trading Authority (DEHSt) to companies in New Zealand, Europe, and Japan claiming that the users had to re-enter their information into the agency's website to keep hackers out.

The phishing scam worked, and the hackers quickly started trading carbon emission allowances to different accounts and selling them...

Five Browser Secrets of Power Web Surfers

Whether you're working or wasting time, you spend a lot of time on the web every day. You've already ditched Internet Explorer and switched to Firefox or Chrome; in fact, Net Applications' browser marketshare stats show Chrome inched past Safari for the first time in December to take the No. 3 spot behind IE and Firefox. But are you using your browser's best features? Power Web surfers know the settings and shortcuts that make getting what you need online fast and efficiently. Here are five...

Evil-Faced Robot Could Have Warned of Haiti Earthquake

The recent earthquake in Haiti has highlighted the need for an accurate earthquake detection system that, unlike Twitter, can predict shaking more than a few seconds in advance. Scientists have long been able to predict earthquakes on a grand scale--we know that there is a significant chance of a devastating earthquake in the Bay Area sometime in the next few decades--but what about in the crucial hours before the big one hits?

A group of students from the J T Engineering College in...