David Lidsky's Blog, page 2998
April 24, 2015
Kleiner Perkins Wants Ellen Pao To Pay $1 Million For Losing Her Gender Discrimination Case
The VC firm suffered a major PR blow from the high-profile case, but making Pao pay them back for legal costs isn't likely to help their image.
It's been nearly a month since a jury decided that Silicon Valley's prominent VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers didn't discriminate against its former employee Ellen Pao based on her gender. Now that they've won, the firm is asking for more.
Scheduling App Doodle Tries To Redesign Itself For An American Audience
A popular Swiss app is ditching its utilitarian design for a sleeker look.
Nobody has truly made a huge business out of online scheduling—yet. But Swiss scheduling app Doodle, which launched in 2007, currently has 18 million users in Europe, and 7 million in America. The app was acquired in 2013 by Swedish media giant Tamedia, and Doodle's new CEO Michael Brecht has been charged with expanding into brand-new markets. He especially wants to grab the 312 million Americans who aren't using Doodle yet, and convince them to give it a whirl.
Take The Fast Company News Quiz
What happened this week? Here's our quiz for April 24, 2015.
What happened this week? Research says that one of the best ways to solidify new information is to be tested on it. Here's a chance to bolster your knowledge of current events—and earn a special emoji badge. 
Google Removes Image Of Android Robot Peeing On Apple Logo From Google Maps
A prankster edited an area of Google Maps outside the city of Rawalpindi to show the Android robot relieving himself on Apple's logo.
Just outside the city of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, was an Android robot peeing on an Apple logo. At least, it was there on Google Maps, south of the city and west of the Takht Pari Forest, until Google removed the offending map modification along with another nearby.
BitTorrent Lays Off 40 Employees
The company that pioneered the popular "torrenting" file transfer method has significantly reduced its staff.
BitTorrent laid off 40 of its 150 employees on Thursday, a source told Fast Company. The cuts were made in an effort to streamline business and focus on a smaller suite of products, according to sources speaking to BuzzFeed.
Debugging The Gender Gap: This Movie With A Mission Seeks To Inspire Women In Tech
Documentary director Robin Hauser Reynolds on the importance of encouraging a generation to start coding.
"Never send a boy to do a woman's job."
This Smartphone-Connected Grower Is Like A Keurig For Marijuana
"Companies are trying to rebrand what cannabis is," says Root cofounder Eric De Feo. "It's no longer this whole Jerry Garcia vibe."
When Brielle Pettinelli takes the stage, a subtle, awkward laughter trickles through the room. She's here to talk about marijuana. And this particular crowd, comprised mostly of buttoned-up investors, is still getting used to having this conversation. But as the legal status and public perception of weed slowly evolves, Pettinelli isn't waiting around.
21 Things I Didn't Know About The Apple Watch Until I Started Wearing One
Initial ruminations on a tiny device that's bursting at the seams with new ideas, features, and approaches.
Today is launch day for the Apple Watch. In some ways, that's more of a ceremonial rite than a statement of practical reality. With Apple's online-only ordering, you can't just barge into an Apple Store and plunk down your money, though you apparently might be able to find one at a handful of boutique shops. Many of the folks who pre-ordered won't get their timepieces until May or June.
The Exclusive Inside Story Behind Times New Ramen, 2015's Best New Font
Ryder Ripps on the font's noodly genesis, its surprise endorsement by Kendrick Lamar, and why it will change the type world forever.
Times New Ramen is a new font by the perpetually tongue-in-cheek designer Ryder Ripps, creative director of the progressive brand marketing agency OKFocus and New York Times profiled net artist: a goofy Twitter joke turned into a nigh-illegible typeface that you can actually download. The website claims that the weird font was "endorsed" by Kendrick Lamar, the rapper behind March's To Pimp A Butterfly, so we decided to reach out to Ripps to ask some questions about the genesis of his noodly new font and whether Lamar was really as much of a typography lover as it seemed. Without further commentary, here's what Ripps had to say:
No More Trucks: Send Packages Through Underground Tubes Instead
The delivery service is a series of tubes.
Here's an idea to cut congestion and pollution around major cities: dedicated freight pipelines that flow from out-the-way distribution centers to urban hubs.
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