Journal

Donald Thomson’s water bottle solution? Throw them on the roof.

Donald Thomson, a 56-year-old, Canadian-born builder, entrepreneur, and self-taught designer, launched ‘A’Gua-brand water bottles in Costa Rica earlier this year. But he sees no contradiction in his current endeavor: converting reclaimed, custom-designed, PET plastic water bottles into roofing tiles that are filled with an insulating, lightweight mix of aerated concrete and waste paper, which can be tinted to simulate marble, slate, or ceramic tile. (He now also is exploring using corn stover, an agricultural waste, as a filler.)

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The Rotterdam-based architecture firm has turned the roof of a tennis club into spectator seating.

MVRDV, the Rotterdam-based architecture firm known for its bold, futuristic designs including everything from small town community centers to South Korean Skygardens to dazzling skyscrapers that look like Twizzlers, is now jumping into the sporting arena. Its latest design is just as much furniture as it architecture though: a comfy red tennis clubhouse that doubles as a seating area for over 200 spectators.

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Pop Chart’s latest infographic shows off just how weird the Man of Steel’s rogue’s gallery really is. Kuku the Klown, anyone?

Superman predates Batman by almost a year, but chances are, you know Batman better. Don’t believe me? I bet you can name half-a-dozen Batman villains off the top of your head: the Joker, the Penguin, Catwoman, Two-Face, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, Bane, and so on. But what about Superman’s villains? Unless you’re a big comics fan, Lex Luthor might be the only one you can name.

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Last year, I spent significant time inside Jack Dorsey’s payments company. What I learned tells us how to read its IPO filing.

This week Square filed for its long-rumored and long-anticipated IPO, and the public finally got a look at how Square’s business is actually performing. All the pundits, anonymous sources, and leaked documents could now be considered in light of the actual facts. Did Square’s S-1 prove the press had served up some scolding cups of claim chowder? Not exactly. Square’s story has always been a nuanced one that defied simplistic narratives, and its business can be looked at from a number of perspectives. The company reported revenue of $560 million for the first half of 2015, up 50% during the same period last year, but it also recorded a $78 million net loss, following losses of $154 million in 2014 and $104 million the year prior. It has built out a growing payments processing business but has made product stumbles along the way in trying to expand its portfolio of services and boost margins. Its high-profile deal with Starbucks proved to be expensive, but was it seriously costly? Like most IPO prospectuses, Square’s S-1 presents a portrait of a promising future that could be derailed by significant risks.

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The trade group Interactive Advertising Bureau introduces a a new set of standards for online advertisers.

Since Apple made its mobile operating system compatible with ad blockers, Internet publishers and other online content creators have fretted that their primary source of revenue could dry up. And last week, Google introduced Accelerated Mobile Pages, which will give publishers the ability to create web pages that load faster—but also means that bulky advertising may not run on the pages if they significantly slow down loading times.

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IBM reportedly gave Chinese authorities access to source code to some of its products.

In a rare move, IBM allowed the Chinese government to review source code to some of its products, the Wall Street Journal reports. Officials from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reportedly reviewed IBM’s source code in a secure space where they couldn’t remove the data; the decision was reportedly made to calm Chinese fears that IBM software would present a security risk.

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