A number of visionary companies that are changing the way we think about consumption: Zipcar, FreeCycle, Netflix, Etsy, CouchSurfing and Zopa.
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“Creativity begins when you cut a zero from your budget…” – Brazilian architect and urban planner Jaime Lerner With all the talk out of Washington this week about reduced federal […]
Walk down the street of any community in America and look up – what do you see? A mass of tangled wires that comprise the high-voltage tranmissions lines of the […]
n During the peak of the social media revolution, “lean forward” was one of the buzzwords that was bandied about quite often to explain the changing habits of media consumption. […]
We’re experiencing a retro-digital (or is post-digital?) movement in the tech world: just today, I read about a gaming company (Discovery Bay Games) that has figured out to convert your […]
The current issue of Wallpaper* magazine – in addition to its feature on the global Design Awards 2011 Winners – has a wonderfully thought-provoking article about the growing popularity of […]
n Over the past 12 months, the whole notion of “design thinking” has come into vogue. Not only are there entire books devoted to “design thinking” – like Tim Brown’s […]
Bluto Blutarsky might just have something to teach Corporate America. Just as fat, drunk and stupid is no way to make it through life, big, wealthy and bloated is no […]
The Global Africa Project sheds light on design innovators at the forefront of Africa’s design movement, which is being integrated (co-opted?) into the marketing of Western goods.
The argument for or against e-books always seems to boil down to one central issue: e-books can not be touched, bookmarked and lovingly annotated in the same way that real […]
While a number of leading technology companies (IBM, Cisco, HP) have launched impressive Smart Grid initiatives, the broader public still doesn’t really understand why the “Smart Grid” is so important […]
Of late, I’ve been thinking a lot about visual storytelling and the various ways that the Internet and digital devices like the iPad require us to process information and content. […]
Thanks to a new crop of Chinese design firms, the phrase “Made in China” may soon come to stand for design, creativity and innovation.
Rank the blocks of some of the world’s most famous cities by size instead of location, and this is what they look like.
Yesterday, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck New Zealand’s second largest city, a potential aftershock from an even bigger quake last September.
Sam Stein asks, “Would The Democrats Have Been Better Off Letting Walker’s Bill Pass?” Better off how? If Wisconsin’s Democratic legislators had sat still and let the bill pass, the […]
One in three Americans are diagnosed at some point in their lifetime with cancer, a derangement of normal cell growth in which cells grow in antisocial ways, crossing natural tissue boundaries.
So I’ve said before evolution is getting more personal. I’m now going to say a few things about the personal point of view of our time. I’m just trying to […]
Want to get a some more volcano news from aspiring bloggers in my First Year class? Check out their first posts on the blog for the class – we’ll be […]
Last week in NYC, we attended the Economist’s summit on “Intelligent Infrastructure,” which covered investment issues, new technologies, scenarios for urban growth, and sociological questions about the future role of the city.
This week the World Trade Organization meets to revive the Doha Development Round of talks. Economist Daniel Altman explains why little will be gained—and why that isn’t such bad news.
Magma wells could prove to be a very powerful new source of energy—up to five times more productive than standard geothermal wells.
The 2012 presidential election is going to be the most expensive ever, thanks to the Citizens United court ruling.
We’re fascinated by machines that can imitate humans, but also feel an existential discomfort around them. Today, the primal distinction between man and technology is blurrier than ever.
Ink-jet printing technology has inspired scientists to look for ways to build sheets of skin that could one day be used for grafts in burn victims, experts said Sunday.
It may be boring for parents—but reading the same book over and over again to children is the best way to develop their vocabulary, say researchers at Sussex University.
How much more crowded is our planet going to get? Will we keep on expanding indefinitely, or are we approaching the upper limit? Can the planet sustain ten billion people?
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron wants private companies, voluntary groups and charities to be given the right to run schools, hospitals and vast swathes of public services.
Loss-making Twitter has been valued at $10 billion. Facebook is said to be worth more than Ford. Now, for some investors, the alarm bells are starting to ring.
Unfortunately, there is no feasible way, certainly not in the United States, to go from the present world to a world without guns, says Nobel Laureate Gary Becker.