David Lidsky's Blog, page 2905
August 27, 2015
Amazon Dismisses "Dozens" Of Engineers Who Worked On Failed Fire Phone
The e-commerce company is also cutting back on other projects from Lab126, its hardware research and development division.
Amazon has sent packing "dozens" of engineers who worked on its ill-fated Fire phone, according to the Wall Street Journal. The e-commerce giant is also making other changes to Lab126, its consumer electronics R&D division, including putting the brakes on some of its more lofty hardware objectives.
Yes, Anti-Facial-Recognition Glasses Are Coming
The perfect gift for that person in your life who wants to take their privacy protection offline, too. But is it just window dressing?
Has the encroachment of facial-recognition software made you a little uneasy? Are you concerned that cameras are tracking your every movement in public? Are you not ready to commit to makeup-based camouflage? Well, the National Institute of Informatics (NII) of Japan is rolling out a first-of-its-kind commercial product next year that might be for you.
Airbnb Is The Latest Tech Company To Hire Big-Name Political Talent
Former Bill Clinton advisor Chris Lehane is Airbnb's new head of global policy and public affairs.
Airbnb announced on Thursday that it had hired Chris Lehane, a former advisor to President Clinton, as its new head of global policy and public affairs.
Unilever Makes Like A Tree, And Leaves The Forest For The Streets
The global corporation creates a film to raise awareness of deforestation ahead of UN Conference on Climate Change.
At the end of November, leaders from more than 190 countries will gather in Paris for the latest United Nations Conference on Climate Change to discuss a potential new agreement on climate action.
Yamaha's Player Piano Brings Auditions To The Cloud
Students audition for music schools on the other side of the world with cloud-connected pianos that record and re-create how they played.
Getting into a top music school like UCLA (where John Williams studied) or Boston College (where conductor Robert J. Ambrose studied) requires more than a demo tape. Tiny nuances distinguish the very top musicians from the merely great ones, and judges really need to hear and see an audition in person to tell the difference.
The Big Bad Wolf Gets A Rebranding
An endangered species is worthy of our care, not fear.
Ever since the publication of Little Red Riding Hood—and even long before—wolves have gotten a bad rap in pop culture (with the possible exception of 
August 26, 2015
Is Snapchat One Step Closer To Being A Major Content Discovery Platform?
The messaging app is adding Mashable, IGN, and Tastemade to the Discover tab, upping its count to 15 publishers.
In an ongoing effort to bring more media brands onto its Discover platform—and boost advertising revenue—Snapchat has struck deals with Mashable, IGN, and Tastemade. But this time, the app will not be removing partners to make room for the new additions, unlike when it introduced BuzzFeed last month.
Amazon Takes Its Machine Learning Platform To Europe
The e-commerce firm is upping its international data science game, as part of an expansion into an already crowded market.
Amazon is unveiling its machine learning platform in Europe, as part of a larger data science rollout. The service, which lets companies leverage cloud products from Amazon Web Services (AWS) for data science projects, is the e-commerce giant's ploy to stay competitive in an increasingly crowded market—one populated by Microsoft's Azure computing service and IBM's supercomputer Watson.
Why Rudeness At Work Is So Contagious
The more psychologists learn about how rudeness spreads, the more workplaces need to adjust to defend against it.
Most offices have policies in place to stop sexual harassment, abuse, and other problems in the workplace. And rightly so.
"Angry Birds" Creator Rovio To Lay Off One-Third Of Employees
The game manufacturer is downsizing to focus its efforts on the Angry Birds movie—but can a feature film save Rovio?
Rovio, the gaming company behind the hit Angry Birds franchise, is axing 37% of its workforce—260 jobs, to be exact. Employees working on the company's long-awaited 3-D feature film will not be affected by the cuts.
David Lidsky's Blog
- David Lidsky's profile
- 3 followers
