David Lidsky's Blog, page 3025
March 24, 2015
Mom, Chief Brand Officer, TV Villain: WWE's Unbreakable Stephanie McMahon
Before Wrestlemania 31, revelations on Jon Stewart's smack talk, crushing social media, and how to sell a Stone Cold Stunner.
Between the kids, the job, and perfecting what is arguably the hardest fake slap on television, Stephanie McMahon has her hands full.
[image error]
March 23, 2015
The Y Combinator Chronicles
Catch up on Fast Company 's series following the startup factory Y Combinator ahead of Demo Day (happening now in Mountain View).
When startup incubator Y Combinator launched in 2005, founder Paul Graham was a little-known entrepreneur advocating strange notions about how to grow a startup. In retrospect, those weird ideas proved revolutionary and YC currently has a network of some 700 portfolio companies with a collective valuation of $30 billion. Now, with 29 year-old Sam Altman leading YC's next evolution, we've been following his Winter 2015 startup class with a series of weekly stories, culminating with a print feature coming up next month. What will Altman's expansion efforts mean for YC and how Silicon Valley works in 2015? Read the series so far here:
[image error]
Can Twitter Help Power Foursquare's Future?
Twitter will help Foursquare in its quest to become "the location layer of the Internet."
It seems like yesterday that Foursquare was all the rage at South By Southwest. But six years after the social-location app's hyped debut, it seemed like everyone in Austin last week was too busy Meerkating to even think about tapping a check-in button. That's okay, because if Foursquare has a future, it's going to look very different from the vision the company launched with in 2009.
[image error]
Square Goes After Branded Payments With $Cashtags
Square adds quick payment for businesses, as well as a very trendy username feature.
Square is opening up its Square Cash quick-payment service, previously used only for exchanging money between individuals, to, well, almost anyone: just set up a user handle, called a $Cashtag, for you, your business, or your movement, and anyone with a debit card can send money straight to your bank account.
[image error]
FTC Opens Tech Office To Protect Consumers In This Strange New Connected World
The FTC's new office will aim straight for the Internet's diciest issues: privacy, data security, big data, and The Internet of Things.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is creating a new investigatory arm for its Bureau of Consumer Protections: the Office of Technology Research and Investigation, which will cover just about everything that makes us nervous about the Internet today, The Washington Post reports.
[image error]
It's Time for Google To Clean Up Chrome's Web Store
Google's browser-based app store was supposed to make sense of the web. Instead, it's created more confusion.
Four years ago, Google decided that its Chrome browser needed more than just the open web.
[image error]
Facebook's Quest To Overtake Your Phone Aims Right For The Dialer
Facebook is developing an app to replace your phone's stock dialer.
Facebook, like many tech giants, wants to overtake your smartphone. But rather than building devices or developing a full-fledged operating system, Facebook is going a more subtle route: nabbing chunks of your attention span, one app at a time. First there was the Facebook app; then the unpopular Home app; the beautifully designed reader Paper; the professional communication platform Work; and, of course, the pester-you-til-you-download-it Messenger. Now Facebook is going for the phone itself.
[image error]
A Breathtaking Close-Up Of The Most Active Volcano On Earth
Fire and brimstone IRL
Kilauea, a volcano on the southern edge of the island of Hawaii, may be the most active volcano on the planet. It's been erupting continuously since 1983, and has been mowing down buildings and homes in its path toward the ocean. Local filmmaker Lance Page's new short, "Kilauea: The Fire Within," follows the spectacular (and terrifying) creep of molten rock as it flows from deep underground.
[image error]
Instagram Introduces Layout, A Super-Simple Stand-Alone App For Photo Collages
Collage apps are legion, and most have more features than this one. But it's as elegant as you'd expect an app from Instagram to be.
More than just about any major smartphone app I can think of, Instagram's simplicity is core to its identity. If it ever gets overstuffed with features—even nifty ones—it'll stop being the Instagram we know.
[image error]
Touch The People You Work With (Not In A Creepy Way)
It's a touchy subject, but done right, physical contact can make you and your colleagues happier and more productive.
Touch is quite possibly the most useful sense we possess. In pure utilitarian terms our sense of touch serves as the first and best warning system that something externally is affecting us (as anyone who has accidentally picked up a hot pan off the stove can attest). It is our sense of touch that alerts the body that something is harming us, prompting a reaction in our nervous system within seconds that makes us recoil our hand, saving ourselves from harm. But touch doesn't just warn us about danger. It is also deeply linked with our emotions. Touch tells us that we are safe—so just chill out. Look at the face of a newborn baby being coddled by her mother's breast. Touch also tells us we are loved, as anyone who has ever received a caress from a romantic partner can attest. And touch can bring us so much physical pleasure, from activities as therapeutic as massage or as passionate as sex.
[image error]
David Lidsky's Blog
- David Lidsky's profile
- 3 followers
