David Lidsky's Blog, page 2849
November 12, 2015
With BuzzFeed's New QuizChat App, You Can Take Quizzes With Your BFFs
QuizChat, which lets friends fill out quizzes in tandem, is an extension of BuzzFeed's tried-and-true formula.
As Fast Company wrote last month, BuzzFeed recently announced that it now boasts 5 billion monthly content views across its site, apps, and many social channels—a staggering number that can largely be attributed to BuzzFeed's dominance on platforms like Snapchat and Facebook.
Five Storytelling Strategies For Creating A Lifestyle Brand
The jewelry company Dannijo has created a lifestyle brand by using social media and real-life experiences to hook their audience.
Sisters Danielle and Jodie Snyder first started making jewelry as teenagers growing up in Jacksonville, Florida, but after a few years working in fashion, they decided to cast out and turn their old hobby into a full-fledged business.
November 11, 2015
"Selma" Director Ava DuVernay Raises Her Hand For Diversity In Hollywood In A Big Way
Selma director Ava DuVernay reveals for the first time an incident that underscores Hollywood's persistent diversity problem.
Ava DuVernay doesn't like the word "diversity."
Udacity Is The Tech World's Newest Unicorn
E-learning site Udacity is now worth $1 billion, and is planning a global expansion.
After completing a new funding round, online education firm Udacity is now worth $1 billion thanks to raising a $105 million Series D round of funding. This catapults Sebastian Thrun's online vocational training startup to Unicorn status—meaning that they are valued at over $1 billion. The new funding round was led by media firm Bertelsmann. New Udacity investors also include Google Ventures.
Meet Lumosity's New Boss
Steve Berkowitz, Lumos Labs' new CEO, oversaw the $1.85 billion sale of Ask Jeeves in 2005.
The company behind popular "brain game" app Lumosity has a new CEO, and he's no dummy. Although Steve Berkowitz, the incoming leader of Lumos Labs, is best known for overseeing the growth of the For Dummies book series in the 1990s, he's also experienced in scaling tech companies and steering them toward large exits. Berkowitz will replace Kunal Sarkar, the company's co-founder and current CEO, who will become Lumos Labs' new chairman of the board.
How Nike And Serena Williams Team Up To Beat The Competition
At Fast Company's Innovation Festival, Nike CEO Mark Parker and Serena Williams shared the secrets of their creative collaboration.
Funny story: Serena Williams is playing at the Australian Open earlier this year—a tournament she would go on to win, of course—and Mark Parker, CEO of Nike, is texting her.
Why Did It Take The Football Team To Bring About Action At The University Of Missouri?
The football team is a major revenue generator.
The president of the University of Missouri resigned after the school's football team refused to play until he did so. There have been growing incidents os racial bias at the University of Missouri, and the football team used their collective power to bring about change in the administration. The football team is a major revenue generator for the school, and used that as leverage to gain the administration's attention to this issue. Do you think that more colleges and universities will use the power of their sports program to bring about change? Let us know at #29thFloor.
OWN Announces Warner Brothers Will Produce Its New Series "Queen Sugar"
The news comes as OWN's co-presidents, Erik Logan and Sheri Salata, take the Innovation Stage, together with Selma director, Ava DuVernay.
During Fast Company's Innovation Festival in New York City, Erik Logan and Sheri Salata, co-presidents of the Oprah Winfrey Network, revealed that Warner Horizon Television—a division of Warner Brothers—has signed on to produce Queen Sugar. It will be a scripted series and is currently being written by acclaimed director Ava DuVernay, who recently directed Selma.
Facebook Takes Over Your Lock Screen With Its New App, Notify
Facebook's newest app is all about push notifications delivered to your lock screen.
Facebook is launching a new app. Notify, which showed up in the iTunes store today, is designed as a one-stop notifications center that will keep users updated on everything from weather forecasts to sports scores to celebrity news, courtesy of selected media partners.
Meadow Launches A Cloud Platform For Marijuana Dispensaries
A Y Combinator-based startup wants to put California's marijuana dispensaries in the cloud.
In a sign of marijuana's increasing acceptance in American society, a Y Combinator-backed startup is now offering a cloud-based SaaS (software as a service) management platform for California marijuana dispensaries. Meadow, which is best known for their marijuana delivery app, is unveiling their new Meadow Platform product today.
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