David Lidsky's Blog, page 2806
January 21, 2016
General Motors Embraces The Future With Car-Sharing Service Maven
Maven, the new umbrella brand for General Motors's car-sharing efforts, points to a future in which car ownership is no longer the norm.
It's official: Transportation is changing forever. This may sound like a no-brainer if you follow the tech industry, but it's not just highly valued ride-sharing startups and search giants who are singing that tune. It's old-school Detroit, too.
This Is How Jack In The Box Is Overhauling Its Menu
The fast food chain is tweaking the formula for its hamburgers and chicken sandwiches in more than 2,000 locations at once. Easy job.
When you walk into Jack in the Box's corporate headquarters, two anonymous mid-rise buildings in a San Diego office park, the first thing you see is the branding. Jack, the fast food chain's mascot and imaginary CEO, is everywhere. Jack has a parking spot outside the building. Jack appears on the wall decorations. Jack appears on signs for every room and office. Jack randomly pops up in the hallways. Jack owns the place.
Facebook Kicks Off Super Bowl Season With Dedicated Sports Section
The Facebook Sports Stadium delivers game-related content to fans in real time, by collecting relevant posts from friends and experts.
When it comes to the chatter that surrounds televised events—be it presidential debates, awards shows, or the Super Bowl—Twitter reigns supreme, in large part due to its fast-moving, reverse chronological timeline. Despite boasting a user base that is nearly five times as big, Facebook still lags behind Twitter on this front: The ranking of posts in Facebook's news feed, determined largely by the company's algorithm, does not allow users to easily track real-time updates.
This Is What It Looks Like When Walmart Tries To Get Its Mojo Back
The retail behemoth's decision to close 269 stores may be just the kind of disruption it needs to stay ahead—or a sign that it's too late.
Mary Becker, the mayor of Juneau, Alaska, got a phone call early Friday morning with news she later called "devastating." The lone Walmart Supercenter in Juneau—opened with fanfare and celebration in 2007 as the first Supercenter in Alaska—would be closed permanently, in just 21 days.
Facebook "Likes" Can Stop ISIS Recruiters, Says Sheryl Sandberg
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said "counter-speech" is best way to combat terrorist propaganda.
On the same day that a Google's exec proposed locking ISIS out of the open web, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg spoke about using Facebook to combat the group's terrorist propaganda, reports The Guardian.
Turns Out Our Solar System Might Have A 9th Planet After All
Sorry, Pluto.
Good news, everyone: Our solar system likely has nine planets again, so there's no reason to forget that number you learned in grade school. The bad news is is that the ninth planet still isn't Pluto. Instead it's an entirely new planet, according to a team of astronomers from Caltech who found evidence of its existence and are calling it Planet Nine.
Weibo Beats Twitter To Raising Its 140-Character Limit
The Chinese microblogging service is raising its posting limit to 2,000 characters
China's Twitter, Weibo, has beat the original to the punch in raising its 140-character posting limit, reports the Wall Street Journal. The news of the new limit, which is 2,000 characters, first started making the rounds on Weibo after the company sent out a letter to developers announcing the increase. The announcement of Weibo's impending character limit increase comes just weeks after Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced that Twitter may be expanding its 140-character limit to 10,000 characters per post.
January 20, 2016
Why This Homecare Startup Is Giving Equity To Its Caregivers, Not Just Its Engineers
Doing the right thing isn't always easy, or cheap.
Seth Sternberg was recently faced with a choice that could make or break his startup.
Facebook's Free Basics Program Under Fire From Indian Regulators
India's telecom regulator dubbed Facebook's Free Basics publicity campaign a "crudely majoritarian and orchestrated opinion poll."
For more than two years, Facebook has been fighting off criticisms of its effort to bring Internet access to underserved regions. Free Basics, an app that grants users access to Facebook and other select services for free, is the social network's attempt to connect people across the world. But to others, Free Basics and its umbrella program, Internet.org, represent a potential violation of net neutrality—of an open Internet—and yet another way for Facebook to assert its influence over what people see and read.
T-Mobile Trolls Verizon's Earnings Call With New Drinking Game
Every time a Verizon exec says "millennial" or "monetize" or "monetize millennials" you have to drink. OK, John!
T-Mobile is always trying to think of ways to bolster its image as the cool, rebellious, rock-and-roll outsider wireless service provider, and the company's latest effort is a new drinking game to go with Verizon's earnings call Thursday.
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