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Taking the pulse of the people: Newest awards by popular vote

What is America's favorite example of good design? The Smithsonian's Cooper- Hewitt National Design Museum in New York has been asking that question this autumn by urging people to vote for their favorites in the first People's Design Awards.

What does the response tell us about America's perceptions of design?

For starters, it suggests that design is one of those subjects on which most people have opinions, often strong ones. Public votes and prizes are precarious projects for museums, accustomed to exploring subjects with scholarly subtlety in exhibitions, rather than delivering absolute judgments by naming winners and losers. As the Turner Prize for contemporary art proves year after year at the Tate Britain, awards are remarkably effective at generating media coverage and public debate, and at provoking controversy and accusations of sensationalism.

» peoplesdesignaward.org

» Search Branding-Specific Tags: Design Awards - Turner Prize - Contemporary Art
» International Herald Tribune

Judge postpones criminal trial of 16 former KPMG executives accused of selling illegal tax shelters.

One of the Department of Justice’s most high-profile white-collar crime cases has been dealt a blow after a New York federal judge postponed indefinitely the criminal trial of 16 former KPMG executives accused of selling illegal tax shelters.

The ruling represents a setback for prosecutors in the US attorney’s office in the southern district of New York, who have been heavily criticised by Judge Lewis Kaplan for their role in pressing KPMG, the accounting firm, to cut off legal fees to its former employees.

» Financial Times

One runway trend that has crossed all boundaries in recent seasons, it is that fashion loves gold.

Designers are dotting their collections with long gold gowns - which seem more common than "little black dresses" - and working gold fabrics or accents into their pieces, whether for spring or fall, casual or evening.

In some cases, designers have personal reasons for using gold. Elie Saab showed a spring collection in Paris entirely devoted to gold - from sequined minidresses to flowing chiffon gowns - after he went to his native Beirut and was inspired by the intensity of the sun there. Donna Karan has created a capsule collection and a fragrance based on the material that she has used since her early days as a designer.

» Search NYC-Specific Tags: Fashion Design - Elie Saab - NY Style
» New York Sun

Morgan Stanley turns up heat on NY Times

The debate over the future ownership structure of the US newspaper industry deepened when Morgan Stanley Investment Management boosted efforts to loosen the Sulzberger family's grip on the New York Times Company.

» FT.com - US homepage

SEC chief gets blogging

Chairman of the SEC, Christopher Cox, has joined the blogging world.

In a comment on Sun Microsystem's chief executive, Jonathan Schwartz's blog, the SEC chief showed interest in Mr Schwartz's recent request that blogs be used as a way to expand investors' access to information. In a triumph of PR, Mr Cox posted the text of a letter he had sent last week in response to a letter from Mr Schwartz on the subject. "Since you're talking about trasparency and efficiency in communications, I though you might appreciate my taking advantage of the internet's speed and potential for broad dissemination by posting here as well," he added.

MET Podcast: New Orleans after the Flood: Photographs by Robert Polidori

The photographer Robert Polidori describes his experience depicting the loss and pathos of a civilization in chaos in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

[mp3] Special Exhibition Podcast - Metropolitan Museum of Art

City's Financial Pre-Eminence in Jeopardy

New York risks losing its pre-eminence in the global financial sector unless government eases regulation and does something about excessive civil litigation, Mayor Bloomberg and Senator Schumer are warning. In an opinion piece with a double byline in the Wall Street Journal titled "To Save New York, Learn From London," the two politicians argued that while New York is still the dominant international financial center it is "losing ground as the leader in capital formation."

City Will Soon Get Open Internet Listings of Real Estate

In a step toward opening up New York's real estate marketplace, the Real Estate Board of New York announced yesterday that it plans to launch a public Internet portal containing all the exclusive apartment sales and rental listings of its 319 members, including the city's biggest brokerages. While similar systems exist in many real estate markets around the country, establishing a comprehensive, shared, and free listing system on the Web has been a long, hard slog in New York City.

via: New York Sun