Gizmodo: city

San Francisco Sets An Example, Opens City Data For Anyone To Use

Jason Chen — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:20:00 EDT

SF Mayor Gavin "Handsome" Newsom just announced via Techcrunch that the city will start placing crime, health and other city data online for people to use. What's it for? Think iPhone apps that show restaurants' health code ratings, for one.

There are even more possibilities. You can imagine apps taking crime rate statistics and mapping it out, showing users the safest places in the city to live—or even drive through. The more datasets there are (there are > 100 right now), the more possibilities there are for programs. So we're all for cities putting their data online for users to freely access. [Techcrunch]

Staples City Is—as You Would Expect—a City Made of Staples

Jesus Diaz — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:40:00 EDT

Nothing ever gets lost in Staples City. Until Office Godzilla destroys it.

Peter Root, the artist, describes his work:

Low-Rise is a precarious assemblage of thousands of free-standing stacks of staples densely tessellated to create a city-like mosaic. Like a city, the staples are subject to the elements, on a micro scale. The slightest breath or vibration and the domino effect kicks in.

In other words, a bureaucrat's paradise. [Peter Root]

The Plans for the 1.55-Mile-High Skyscraper in, You Guessed It, Dubai

Jesus Diaz — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:00:00 EDT

Forget the 3,280 feet-high 200-floor Nakheel Tower because it's no longer going to be the highest skyscraper in the world. The new upcoming beast is this amazing 1.55-mile-high skyscraper planned for the Jumeirah City project in Dubai. The building is so tall that its main elevator is in fact a vertical 125mph bullet train. This city-in-a-skyscraper will consume 37,000MWH/year, with a 15MW peak usage, but as the plans show, it has been designed to generate most of it using wind, thermal, and solar power:

If completed, the Dubai City Tower, would definitely be absolutely breathtaking. I wonder how many slaves would have to die to complete this one. [Luxury Property via Dark Roasted Blend]

Dealzmodo: Circuit City is Shipwrecked, but the Flotsam and Jetsam Have a Great Price-Match Guarantee

Dan Nosowitz — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 18:30:00 EDT

Circuit City's price guarantee was always a little wonky: the only prices they'd match were from local brick-and-mortar vendors, which excludes even their own online site. But sneaky tipster Kevin has caught wind that Circuit City, in the midst of crashing and/or burning, is due to accept any verifiable price, from any retailer, starting tomorrow. Even better, the prices in-store are going to match those of CC's online site, which means some serious price cuts in-store. There's always a silver lining, am I right? [- Thanks, Anonymous!]

Blockbuster Drops Bid for Circuit City, Making Future For Both Unsure

Matt Hickey — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:01:10 EDT

We were excited for the merger talks between Blockbuster Video and Circuit City, as that union could create a probable entertainment behemoth, and we don't mean like Paula Abdul. Sadly word is coming down that Blockbuster is pulling its offer for Circuit off the table. Apparently it was ultimately decided that the match wasn't a good fit for Blockbuster's shareholders, so the plans have been scrapped. What could have been an awesome two-front retailer now means Blockbuster has to find new ways to catch up with Netflix, and Circuit City has to keep its head above water without any help. Bets on what happens next? [Forbes]

Architect Dreams Up Lilypad: Floating City Ark for Eco-Refugees

Kit Eaton — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Remember I wrote about the floating home solution that Dutch builders are using to counteract rising sea levels? Architect Vincent Callebaut has started with that idea, and taken it much further down the archeology-meets-ark route, and created Lilypads: floating eco-cities. Each 50,000-person pad is a designed as a zero-emission floating home that uses solar, wind, tidal and biomass power to generate energy for its inhabitants. Plus it's got a titanium dioxide skin that helps it tackle rising atmospheric CO2. It's a fantasy right now, but rising sea levels may one day tempt builders to take on mega structures like this... just keep Kevin Costner away from the project, is all I'm saying. [Freshome via Inhabitat]

Alltel Adds City Caller ID: Figure Out Who's Calling

Jason Chen — Tue, 22 May 2007 15:40:02 EDT

If you're always getting weird calls from area codes you don't recognize, Alltel's new City ID could be just the thing you need. Available only on the LGAX275 for now (more phones later), the app will display the city and state assigned to any landline or mobile phone.

If you want this, you'll have to fork over another $1.99 a month, which is quite small compared with the $27.5 billion Alltel itself just sold itself to a private group for. But if you're not on Alltel, apparently some other phones like the Samsung Upstage also have this feature. And Treos have an optional download for it too. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Alltel]

Image courtesy blinman

XM Is Cool With Finding You A Parking Spot

gizmodo.com — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 21:45:32 EST

XM Radio is doing everything it can to make your life easier, and finding you a parking spot is topping the list. Using "Dynamic Parking Information" developed with Nu-Metrics and InfoGation, the system searches nearby parking garages for the closest available spot and displays it via your car's navigation system. It'll use color coding to indicate how much parking is still available in a particular building. This is a huge benefit for anyone driving in the city and trying to find desirable parking. Sheer genius. XM is only testing this right now, but it should become available in the near future.

XM Looking Into Electronic Parking Spot Locator [Edmunds]