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Slate editor Julia Turner explains why American exit signs need to be shown the door. Over at Slate, in her epic six-part series on wayfinding, deputy editor Julia Turner explains the exit sign: designed to stand out, but ignored by designers–at least in the U.S.–for 75 years

Porsche has come up with a nifty little marketing campaign for its Cayenne models, using a couple of Google APIs.

Why would you ever put a skyscraper in the countryside? In the case of Design Crew for Architecture’s Freshwater Factory skyscraper, the idea actually makes sense.

Google’s up to its old tricks again , extending software tentacles in new directions to capture or subvert entire markets: This time it’s aiming at business software by launching Google Apps Marketplace, which does clever cloud-connecting stuff. Digging through Google’s slightly obfuscating explanation in its blog post on the news, it seems that the App Marketplace has been conceived to make it super-easy for “Google Apps administrators” to find, enable, and distribute to their users all of the apps sitting in Google’s cloud storefront.

Verizon won’t be getting any action from Apple’s iPad directly but, bless ‘em, they’re trying to make good of the matter and push 3G wireless dongles on users who’ve bought wi-fi only versions.

Traveling around Silicon Valley last week, I heard the David vs. Goliath story over and again, but in surprisingly different versions.? In some, David (in the form of a cleantech start-up) aims to kill incumbent market giants, in others they end up in bed together.? Yes, this was San Francisco, but it seems we are seeing a seismic shift in the cleantech industry’s underlying narrative.

Just occasionally, a bit of gear comes out that makes you wonder just whose side technology is on.

As reported by Japan’s Nikkei newspaper, Panasonic is going to partner with retailer Best Buy in the US for a major push of 3D technology.

The recent earthquake in Haiti may not be at the forefront of our minds anymore, but the rebuilding process in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere has barely begun. Two students at MIT hope to move things along with Konbit, an interactive communications platform that lets locals report their skills via text, phone (voice input), or Internet.

Just in time for the Oscars, Californians for a Healthy and Green Economy have announced the winners of the Toxies, an actual red carpet event that honored so-called “Bad Actor Chemicals” or toxic compounds found in many everyday products. Some of the winners: Worst Breakthrough Performance and Viewer’s Choice Award for Worst Chemical of 2009: Bisphenol A (BPA), an estrogen impersonator found in polycarbonate plastics used in baby bottles, reusable food and water containers and canned food liners. Linked to breast cancer, prostate cancer and infertility