Fast Company

Via Co.Design Design competitions are a dime a dozen, so it’s...

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:23:00 -0500

Design competitions are a dime a dozen, so it’s hard to create something that stands out and piques the creative interest of talented designers. But we think we’ve done just that. The challenge for you: Design an object smaller than a living room and bigger than a purse, which references three design elements taken from Porsche 911s of the past or present. (But not a car!)

The winner stands to get a very nice prize indeed: A one-year lease on a brand-new Porsche 911, or a cash-equivalent of $20,000.

Co.Design exposure helped TikTok break a Kickstarter record for fundraising. Imagine what it could do for your project! Even if you don’t win this is a great opportunity. Pass it on.

Do your video chats look like this? If so, maybe it’s time...

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:12:16 -0500

Do your video chats look like this? If so, maybe it’s time you learned some tricks to make your video calls look better.

Amber Mac offers three simple tips (along with some convincing before and afters to seal the deal) to improve your webcam video picture. Read more—>

We speak with CNN’s chief business correspondent, Ali...

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:18:46 -0500

We speak with CNN’s chief business correspondent, Ali Velshi, about how he manages his downtime (whenever he can get it), what keeps spenders and savers together, and which one he is.

For more tips on building your personal brand and working smarter, see Amber Mac’s Work Flow series.

High-End Pinterest Competitor The Fancy Launches Commerce...

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:39:40 -0500

High-End Pinterest Competitor The Fancy Launches Commerce Platform With Help From Jack Dorsey, KanyeWest. Read more—>

Tumblr is about to grow its design staff to two people. How did...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 09:33:48 -0500

Tumblr is about to grow its design staff to two people. How did they become so design-centric when so few designers work there?

How Tumblr Created A Design Culture With No Design Team

To illustrate how much Twitter drove our global dialogue, we...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:40:00 -0500

To illustrate how much Twitter drove our global dialogue, we culled the most talked-about topics into a crossword puzzle. Click here for the answers.

The World’s Most Innovative Companies: Twitter

At a Congressional hearing this morning that veered into...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:05:58 -0500

At a Congressional hearing this morning that veered into contentious arguments and cringe-worthy moments, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spilled the beans on their social media monitoring project.

DHS Chief Privacy Office Mary Ellen Callahan and Director of Operations Coordination and Planning Richard Chavez appeared to be deliberately stonewalling Congress on the depth, ubiquity, goals, and technical capabilities of the agency’s social media surveillance. At other times, they appeared to be themselves unsure about their own project’s ultimate goals and uses. But one thing is for sure: If you’re the first person to tweet about a news story, or if you’re a community activist who makes public Facebook posts—DHS will have your personal information.

Department Of Homeland Security Tells Congress Why It’s Monitoring Facebook, Twitter, Blogs

This video is mesmerizing. usagov: Aurora Borealis over...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:31:43 -0500

This video is mesmerizing.

usagov:

Aurora Borealis over Northern North America and Canada

Video description:

This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 30 on board the International Space Station on January 29, 2012. This video begins as the space station is passing over the dark waters of the North Pacific Ocean northeast towards Vancouver Island. The Aurora Borealis can be seen far north, where both the under side and top of the aurora are visible. They continue to pass over Canada until the sun begins to come up in the east while over Quebec.

Video from NASA

theatlantic: Occupy Wall Street Now Has a Super PAC Embracing...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:00:05 -0500

theatlantic:

Occupy Wall Street Now Has a Super PAC

Embracing Occupy Wall Street means embracing the language of the 99 percent—even when you’re filing for a super PAC. Today, an election lawyer tipped us off to a Federal Election Commission filing for a brand new super PAC: The Occupy Wall Street Political Action Committee. It’s the type of document that’s typically stuffy and technical, but less so when the treasurer of the super PAC is an Occupy organizer. Note the mailing address.

It looks like a high school prank but the committee’s treasurer John Paul Thornton promises us it’s anything but. ”We’re utterly serious,” he says. A data technician in Decator, Alabama, Thornton says he’s an active member in his state’s Occupy movement, contacting state representatives and city council-members, participating in weekly general assembly meetings, and saying active in his local branch’s private and public online forums.

Read more. [Image: FEC/Flickr/Vectorportal]

"In an ironic way, Long says, this frees many people to be more public about who they really are and..."

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:24:01 -0500

“In an ironic way, Long says, this frees many people to be more public about who they really...

longreads: The power of habits in guiding our behavior—and how...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:31:21 -0500

longreads:

The power of habits in guiding our behavior—and how companies like Target have used customer data to create new buying habits:

There are, however, some brief periods in a person’s life when old routines fall apart and buying habits are suddenly in flux. One of those moments — the moment, really — is right around the birth of a child, when parents are exhausted and overwhelmed and their shopping patterns and brand loyalties are up for grabs. But as Target’s marketers explained to Pole, timing is everything. Because birth records are usually public, the moment a couple have a new baby, they are almost instantaneously barraged with offers and incentives and advertisements from all sorts of companies. Which means that the key is to reach them earlier, before any other retailers know a baby is on the way. Specifically, the marketers said they wanted to send specially designed ads to women in their second trimester, which is when most expectant mothers begin buying all sorts of new things, like prenatal vitamins and maternity clothing. ‘Can you give us a list?’ the marketers asked.

“How Companies Learn Your Secrets.” — Charles Duhigg, New York Times

See more #longreads from Charles Duhigg

Fast Company is hiring, come work with us!

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:52:34 -0500

Fast Company is hiring, come work with us!

Soup is a photo series that documents the millions of tiny...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:46:34 -0500

Soup is a photo series that documents the millions of tiny pieces of plastic floating in our oceans. Pollution has never looked so pretty.

Beautiful Photos Of The Ocean’s Deadly Plastic

laughingsquid: Everything is a Remix Part 4: System Failure

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:15:05 -0500

laughingsquid:

Everything is a Remix Part 4: System Failure

Jean-Paul Cauvin calls himself the binôme, or right-hand man,...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:39:03 -0500

Jean-Paul Cauvin calls himself the binôme, or right-hand man, of the French designer Julien Fournié. Fournié and Cauvin recently teamed up with Dassault Systèmes, whose 3-D simulations last year demonstrated how you could tug an iceberg across the ocean. Why this unlikely partnership? Together, the team developed FashionLab, which enables fashion designers to envision their garments in 3-D from the earliest stages of the creative process. As New York Fashion Week drew to a close, Fast Company spoke with Cauvin about the need for designers to embrace the brave new world of technology-assisted fashion design.

Why Fashion Designers Need To Embrace Their Inner Geek

"There’s an education bubble, which is, like the others, psychosocial. There’s a wide public buy-in..."

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:00:05 -0500

“There’s an education bubble, which is, like the others, psychosocial. There’s a wide public...

Kenny F***ing Powers talks to Co.Create about the last season of...

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:33:24 -0500

Kenny F***ing Powers talks to Co.Create about the last season of Eastbound & Down, being the MFCEO of K-Swiss, and his upcoming feature Bullies. Read it.

“We want brands to view us as a place full of their fans...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:51:38 -0500

“We want brands to view us as a place full of their fans and influencers,” says CTO and cofounder Pasha Sadri. To that end, last fall it introduced the Polyvore Intelligence Report, a monthly set of analytics that breaks down the demographics of Polyvore users and tracks their top trends and items. The report is sent for free to select retailers, designers, and editors, revealing what shoppers want now. (Hot: fisherman sweaters and studded handbags!)

Most Innovative Companies: #28 Polyvore

A group called Genomic Gastronomy is using a dessert ingredient...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:08:00 -0500

A group called Genomic Gastronomy is using a dessert ingredient as an atmospheric sensor, and a way to get people to face the horrible air they’re breathing every day.

Smog Tasting: Baking With Air Pollution

Y Connector: How Y Combinator’s powerful alumni network...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:06:37 -0500

Y Connector: How Y Combinator’s powerful alumni network operates.