David Lidsky's Blog, page 2807
January 20, 2016
How Twitter Will Win Lawsuit Brought By Woman Widowed By ISIS
Florida widow's attorneys will have a tough road proving Twitter's culpability in the attack that killed her husband in Jordan.
In one of the first cases of its kind, a Cape Coral, Fla. woman is suing Twitter for enabling an ISIS attack that killed her husband in November, but some legal experts believe she'll have a hard road proving her case.
How Color Genomics Plans To Win Over Health Providers: A Decent Website
This cancer-screening startup's employees hail from Google and Twitter. It shows.
Elad Gil, Color Genomics' CEO, doesn't believe that his company will make money by jacking up the price of its genetic tests. Just a decade ago, it cost thousands of dollars for women to get tested for BRCA 1 and BRCA 2, the genes that are associated with breast and ovarian cancer. Color Genomics' screening test is just $249.
Instead, Color Genomics, a startup founded by veterans of Twitter and Google, wants to win over patients and providers with its easy-to-use interface. On Wednesday, the company launched a new service for health providers to order, track, and view the results of a patients' genetic test. By logging in to the website, physicians can check if the sample has arrived at Color Genomics' Burlingame, California, lab, and whether the patient has connected with a genetic counselor to receive the results.
Ad-Blocking Firm Unceremoniously Dumped From Ad Industry Conference [Updated]
The ad blocker's registration for the Interactive Advertising Bureau's annual conference was revoked with virtually no explanation.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has booted Adblock Plus from its yearly conference with little more than "sorry, not sorry." The company, which boasts more than 400 million downloads of its ad-blocking browser extension, was dismissed with a curt email from the IAB, according to an Adblock Plus blog post.
Airbnb Super Hosts Account For Almost 40% Of Company's Revenue, Says New Study
The report is the latest salvo in a vicious battle between the hotel industry and the company.
Airbnb hosts with more than one property make up a substantial portion of the company's revenue, according to a new report released by the American Hotel & Lodging Association, which has vigorously opposed the company's efforts to expand in cities across the country.
Google Wants To Lock ISIS Out Of The Open Web
Google says the terrorist group ISIS is using social media to create a false narrative.
Google's head of ideas, Jared Cohen, said in London this week that the terror group ISIS must be pushed off of the open web if it is to be hindered from spreading its message online. Cohen, whose responsibility at Google is to build tools to fight oppression, made the comments on Monday during a talk with the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, reports The Guardian.
It Was A Bad Day For The Apple TV
Head designer quits as Apple reportedly "frustrated" over lack of streaming TV service
Yesterday wasn't a great day for news about Apple's new Apple TV digital media player. The first sting came from an interview that ESPN president John Skipper did with the Wall Street Journal, in which he revealed that Apple has been "frustrated" with its inability to form programming deals with major content providers. When asked if Apple has a path to being a player in the TV industry, Skipper replied:
The Future Of The EU Is Being Decided Inside This 3-D Printed Building
The EU Presidency's meeting space features a 3-D printed facade that can be shredded and re-printed at a moment's notice.
Europe is facing huge challenges right now, from economic upheaval to a refugee crisis. Over the next six months it will determine its collective approach to these issues by bringing together thousands of European ministers and officials in Amsterdam for a series of semi-annual meetings that will produce a roadmap to the EU's future, as The Netherlands plays host to the rotating EU Presidency.
January 19, 2016
The 25 Most Popular Passwords Of 2015, Or, Humans Suck
A definitive list of our idiocy.
Human beings accomplished some pretty incredible things in 2015. We landed a reusable rocket. We legalized love (as if love needed our permission to begin with). We flew by Pluto and sent back high-res images from more than 3 billion miles away. For all intents and purposes, we rocked 2015.
Netflix Inches Toward 80 Million Subscribers, Thanks To Aggressive Global Expansion
Netflix added 17 million subscribers last quarter. Most of those were outside the U.S.
Video streaming service Netflix added 17 million subscribers last year, according to earnings numbers released by the company on Tuesday. By the beginning of January 2016, Netflix had surpassed 75 million users. The company said it expects to add 6 million more in the first quarter of this year.
The Zappos Exodus Wasn't About Holacracy, Says Tony Hsieh
The company estimates about half of those who took the Holacracy-related severance wanted to "pursue other passions."
A version of this article originally appeared on Medium; it has been edited for length and clarity.
David Lidsky's Blog
- David Lidsky's profile
- 3 followers
