David Lidsky's Blog, page 2997

April 27, 2015

Instagram Launches Emoji Search, New Filters

The photo-sharing service has made emoji hashtags searchable. #blessed

Finally, a simpler way to curate poop-with-eye-themed content! Today, Instagram introduced a series of updates including new filters, and, most significantly, support for users to add emojis to hashtags, which enables mobile shutterbugs to search for photos by emoji.

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Published on April 27, 2015 12:45

ESPN Is Suing Verizon Over Its New Slimmed-Down TV Subscription

The Disney-owned sports network is claiming breach of contract for being included in Verizon's new discounted cable packages.

When Verizon announced its $55 discounted cable TV subscription block, it seemed an awkward compromise as the company tries to keep its customers from switching to cheaper streaming services. But now the ESPN sports network is suing Verizon in New York state court for including it in those custom packages, which ESPN claims is a breach of contract, Bloomberg reports.

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Published on April 27, 2015 11:10

Banned From Riding Bikes, Skateboarding Afghan Girls Shred Their Way To Empowerment

A new photo exhibit reveals how cultural and gender norms are being crushed in Afghanistan.

In 2007, Australian skateboarder Oliver Percovich traveled to Kabul, Afghanistan with skateboards in tow. Seeing the curious faces of Afghan kids—many of whom, particularly the girls, were not allowed to ride bicycles—and their excitement to learn how to skate gave Percovich the idea to start Skateistan, an NGO initiative in Afghanistan, Cambodia, and South Africa that uses "skateboarding as a tool for empowering youth, to create new opportunities and the potential for change." Skateistan, which has established itself as Afghanistan's first skateboarding school, has gained attention over the years, most notably for its ever-growing body of female students.

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Published on April 27, 2015 10:00

BuzzFeed Unveils Pound To Show How You Really Share Content

A new technology from BuzzFeed tracks content across social networks, offering a more realistic view of how stories spread.

The traditional view of how content spreads socially is tightly bound to a specific network. Share your cat GIF on Facebook, for example, and watch as ever-widening groups of interconnected people propel the image far beyond anything you could have planned—on Facebook. Even analytics providers tend to bucket content this way.

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Published on April 27, 2015 09:32

A Counterintuitive Way To Beat Online Procrastination

A Cornell study found that a tool that pushes you to commit to a time cap for distracting web surfing actually helps keep you productive.

Most office workers today have seamless access to the Internet during work hours—and often it is just too easy to click over to Facebook. Even people who are actively trying to stay on task can find themselves checking social media out of habit. A new study has found a counterintuitive way to reduce procrastination: Rather than trying to avoid distractions completely, commit to a reasonable time limit of web browsing, and then allow yourself to surf guilt-free during that time.

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Published on April 27, 2015 08:59

One Way To Force The Government To Act On Climate Change: Take It To Court

A landmark case in the Netherlands will decide whether or not the government is violating human rights by not stopping emissions.

Fed up with political apathy about climate change, a group of 900 citizens is suing the Dutch government for not taking enough action to curb emissions. The lawsuit is the first case to argue that inaction on climate change is a violation of human rights.

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Published on April 27, 2015 06:11

Don't Throw Out Your Dog's Poop: It's Now A Valuable Natural Resource

This new household appliance turns it into energy.

Your dog might seem like an unlikely source of renewable energy. But a new appliance is designed to take a plentiful resource your pet produces—dog poop—and convert it into electricity that can charge household gadgets.

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Published on April 27, 2015 05:35

Planned Parenthood's President On Reproductive Rights: "These Issues Shouldn't Be Partisan Issues"

Almost a century into Planned Parenthood's history and after almost a decade as its president, Cecile Richards still embraces controversy.

Fast Company sat down with Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards to discuss crises, politics, and good female mentors.

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Published on April 27, 2015 05:00

April 24, 2015

Hunks Need Not Apply: Abercrombie Loosens Its Hotties-Only Hiring Practices

You no longer have to show your abs to work at Abercrombie or Hollister.

For years, working at Abercrombie & Fitch had one particularly stringent requirement: You had to be totally hot. Today, the youth-obsessed apparel retailer announced that this policy is changing.

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Published on April 24, 2015 15:00

Google Didn't Kill Glass, It's Just Making It Sexier

Google is partnering with the eyewear giant behind Ray-Ban to build its next face computer.

For all the Jetsonian innovation packed into Google Glass, the product just couldn't live down its most glaring flaw: the dork factor. For regular people, the mere idea of a face computer is a creepy nonstarter. To Google, it's concluded Glass's stigma is just a fashion problem.

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Published on April 24, 2015 13:15

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