David Lidsky's Blog, page 4912

The Vancouver Olympics by the Numbers

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Typography by Julie Teninbaum

Infographic: Let the Games Begin! 

More than 80 nations and 5,500 athletes and officials will participate in this year's Winter Games.

NBC paid $820 million for the rights to broadcast Vancouver 2010, 34% more than it paid to air Torino 2006.

The Winter Games were first commercial televised in 1960 when CBS paid $50,000 {$365,000 adjusted for inflation.}

Nine companies, including Coca-Cola, Omega, and Visa, have pledged a total of...

The Design Evolution of inPulse's "Blackberry Watch"

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Images by Steve Johns for Allerta

1. In mid-2008, Eric Migicovsky, then 22 and the one-time owner of a calculator watch ("It's a very cool '80s thing," he says), wanted to be able to check email while riding his bike without killing himself. Rising smartphone sales and advancements in lithium-ion batteries convinced him that "the time was right for a smartwatch."

2. Smartwatches have been a nerd dream since Dick Tracy, but they've always been too pricey (e.g., Microsoft's...

An Exclusive Peek Inside Citi's Banks of the Future

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Eight Inc. for Citi

Inside the financial giant's lab, where it's engineering the bank of the future -- to be more like a convenience store

In a retail space, there are three ways to turn customers on: attraction (enticing decor), engagement ("stay awhile" perks), and connection (the hard sell). "The problem with banks," says Chris Kay, a former Target exec who's now managing director of growth ventures at Citi, "is that they're skipping the first two and moving straight to the third." By...