David Lidsky's Blog, page 3026
March 23, 2015
Starbucks's Race Together: Why The Naysayers Have It All Wrong
Rather than scowl at CEO Howard Schultz's bold attempt to further the race dialogue, we should admire his tenacity and modern corporate leadership.
Unless you've been hiding under a rock the past week, you probably have heard about Starbucks's Race Together initiative. From the Washington Post's "Starbucks CEO has a terrible idea to fix race relations" to The Economist's "Starbucks and branding: #Fail" to Ad Week's "The Internet Is United in Despising Starbucks' 'Race Together' Cup Campaign," the media criticism has been fierce and unrelenting. A quick scan of social media doesn't yield a much better response; the majority of comments are negative and downright cutting, declaring the campaign a major fail. Over the weekend, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said baristas would stop writing #RaceTogether on coffee cups.
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March 21, 2015
Angry Birds Maker Rovio's Bold Plan To Slingshot Its Way To Future Growth
Rovio has been on a rocky road lately, but it still insists it can become the next Disney. We spoke to the company's new CEO, Pekka Rantala.
When Fast Company first profiled Rovio in 2012, the company was riding high. Not only were Angry Birds and its sequels regularly on top of the App Store charts, the company had successfully started growing its revenue in the physical marketplace with books, toys, clothes, and even Angry Birds speakers. Merchandising sales of those colorful little birds and evil pigs were so good they accounted for 40% of Rovio's roughly $200 million revenue from licensing deals.
March 20, 2015
Apple And USB: A History Of Adoption, Acceptance, Acquiescence
Did Apple jump the gun with the new MacBook's sole USB-C connector? If so, it's in keeping with its character—and not the end of the story.
The Macs and Windows PCs of a couple of decades ago shared few common connectors. PCs had parallel ports for printers and PS/2 ports for keyboards and mice. Macs used SCSI connections for hard drives and ADB connectors for keyboards and mice. Even their serial ports for modems and other peripherals had different shapes.
A Simple Way To Raise Your Cultural Awareness At Work
This change could mean the difference between being the insensitive office jerk and working well with a diverse team.
Most of us have encountered situations in the workplace where conflict or misunderstanding seems to arise from cultural difference. A boss who grew up in a distant part of the U.S. or overseas exercises authority in ways that subordinates find demeaning or confusing. The coworker in a neighboring cubicle speaks too loudly or uses a different language when talking on the phone. You reach out to shake the hand of a new client and she bows.
Old People Saw White And Gold, And More Insights From A 23andMe Study Of #TheDress
In a survey of 25,000 customers, 23AndMe tackled who saw which colors in the viral dress photo.
A few weeks ago, the Internet was deep in heated argument over the color of a dress. After a photo of a dress that appeared to be either blue and black or white and gold, depending on the viewer, went viral seemingly to every corner of the web, offices were split, couples squabbled, and Facebook turned into a battleground. Now, maker of a popular genetics kit 23andMe has issued a new report on "The Dress," and why it appears differently to different people.
UN Women Says It Has No Plans To Collaborate With Uber On Job Creation (Updated)
UN Women says it will not partner with Uber on a previously announced plan to create 1 million driving jobs for women.
Just 10 days after Uber announced a global program to get more women drivers, UN Women has backed away from its highly publicized partnership to create 1 million jobs for women. "We will not collaborate with Uber on job creation, so you can rest assured," says UN Women executive director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka in the video below, which was uploaded to YouTube on March 18.
Apple TV Is Getting Its First Refresh In Three Years
Steve Jobs swore that Apple would never make another TV again. Until now.
With the launch of its first wearable gadget out of the way, Apple is now shifting its focus back to bigger screens. Specifically, your television. No, the long-rumored Apple-branded TV set isn't around the corner. But what Cupertino is planning for this summer sounds pretty significant.
Drafthouse Films Releases Its Newest Feature On BitTorrent
Horror-romance Spring is the cinema innovator's first feature to launch in theaters and on the peer-to-peer network simultaneously.
Spring, a new horror/romance by filmmakers Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, is definitely the first film in history to be billed as "Richard Linklater meets H.P. Lovecraft." It's also the first feature film that forward-thinking Austin-based theater chain Alamo Drafthouse and its distribution arm Drafthouse Films are releasing in theaters and for download via BitTorrent's Bundle product simultaneously.
HTC Gets A New CEO As It Shifts Focus To Connected Devices
Smartphone maker HTC has named cofounder Cher Wang as CEO. The new strategy: wearables and other connected devices.
Once the largest smartphone vendor in the U.S. by shipments back in 2011, HTC is expected to fall below 2% of global smartphone market share this year. To turn things around, the Taiwan-based electronics company is demoting current CEO Peter Chou and replacing him with cofounder Cher Wang. As the new CEO, Wang will help chart a course out of the stormy smartphone waters by building up HTC's connected device business, including wearables and virtual reality products.
This Vending Machine Will Make You A Fresh Pizza From Scratch
One hungry Italian inventor wondered: Why can't I just push a button and take a pizza?
Put in some money, push a button, and three minutes later, an Italian vending machine will give you a freshly made pizza.
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