David Lidsky's Blog, page 2794
February 8, 2016
Mark Zuckerberg Responds To India's Decision To Ban Free Basics
On Monday, Indian regulators ruled to ban Facebook's Free Basics Internet service—but Zuckerberg says that won't keep Facebook out of India.
On Monday afternoon, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg responded to the decision by Indian regulators to ban the social media giant's Free Basics app, which offers limited Internet access to people in emerging countries. The move capped a lengthy tug-of-war between Facebook and India's Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI), which believes that Free Basics compromises net neutrality, the idea that Internet users should be granted equal access to all content.
Yelp's Earnings Report Leaks, Reveals CFO Is Stepping Down
The reviews site's quarterly earnings results were released earlier than expected, causing its stock to ricochet.
Yelp's quarterly earnings report, which was slated to be released later today, was pushed out early, according to CNBC. In its earnings results, the reviews site revealed that CFO Rob Krolik will be resigning sometime this year.
New Bitcoin Rival Currency Will Offer More Anonymity, Say Its Creators
The currency, now in alpha testing, will deploy mathematical techniques that let users keep transaction parties and amounts encrypted.
Digital currencies like bitcoin are touted for their anonymity. But in practice, it can be possible to trace transactions across the shared bitcoin ledger known as the blockchain and figure out who's sending bitcoin to whom.
Here's What The Blue Origin Rocket Sees When It Lands Vertically
Jeff Bezos shows off a POV Vine of the vehicle's second landing attempt.
In November 2015 Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's private aerospace company Blue Origin announced an aerospace first: the vertical takeoff and landing of a rocket ship. The achievement, completed by the company's New Shepard rocket, was hailed as a milestone for the aerospace industry. The milestone, however, was matched just a month later by the Elon Musk-owned SpaceX and its Falcon 9 rocket.
India Has Blocked Facebook's Free Basics Internet Service
It's a massive win for net neutrality advocates.
India's Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) has blocked Facebook's Free Basics Internet service in the country, reports the Times of India. The ruling was announced by the TRAI in an order called the "Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulation." The order states that "no service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content."
This Chip Will Give Your Phone AI Modeled On The Human Brain
MIT's "Eyeriss" chip would allow for neural networks to run locally on your phone without an Internet connection.
In computing, a neural network is a collection of processors that mimic the way the human brain works. Simply put, a neural network analyzes data, learns about it, and then decides how to act upon that data. It is because of neural networks, which don't rely on standard rule-based programing, that we have software that can recognize and distinguish between different human voices or that can recognize individual objects. Both Google Now and Apple's Siri are examples of consumer neural networks.
L'Oréal's Latest Beauty Secret: It's Acting Like A Tech Company
If My UV Skin patch is successful, you'll forget that it's filled with sophisticated technology.
Sticking the My UV Skin patch on your arm is a cinch. It's as simple as applying a Band-Aid or a nicotine patch. There's one crucial difference: This personalized sun protection device has five layers of micron-thin electronics, including near field communication capabilities.
Logitech Has Quietly Become A Big Deal In Videoconferencing
With its new Group, the manufacturer best known for consumer gadgets is edging its way higher in the big-company collaboration food chain.
Ever since Logitech sold its first computer mouse in 1982, its brand has been deeply tied to accessories for PCs and other consumer-electronics devices. And though accessories have been good to Logitech and vice versa, the association has been so strong that it's sometimes been tough for the company to expand into other categories.
February 7, 2016
Epic Cheese Pull: How Taco Bell Nailed Its Innovative New Quesalupa
After debuting the Quesalupa in a Super Bowl ad, Taco Bell is continuing its quest to become fast food's most-craveable company.
On a recent evening, Taco Bell CEO Brian Niccol was hanging out at his Newport Beach, California, home when an idea popped into his head—a menu item designed to appeal to young, ravenously hungry customers on their way home after a night of partying. Niccol, 42, was thinking about his days as an engineering student at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he had a favorite lunch spot with a simple gimmick. "We went to this place called Bagel & Deli that had all these great names for their sandwiches," he says, sitting on a sofa in his large, comfortable corner office at Taco Bell's Irvine, California, headquarters. "I was like, 'Why haven't we thought of having great names for our burritos?' " (Taco Bell's current offerings tend to have monikers like "Shredded Chicken Burrito" or "Beefy 5-Layer Burrito.") He fired off a text to Taco Bell's chief food innovation officer, Liz Matthews, that included a name borrowed from Bagel & Deli: "the After Burner." Niccol didn't give many further instructions. Whatever those two words might conjure in the minds of Matthews and her crew of chefs and food scientists would be the starting point. "What's in the burrito?" he says in his office a few days later. "I don't know! Make it up."
February 6, 2016
Google Created A Horserace Tracker
Because you're not getting enough horserace coverage from the media as it is.
Google has made the Great American Horserace a little more interactive.
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