David Lidsky's Blog, page 3057
February 10, 2015
Urban Outfitters Sparks Outrage For Selling Holocaust-Themed Tapestry
It's not the first time the brand has sparked scandal over offensive Holocaust-related imagery.
Apparently, America can't go more than two months without some major brand debuting a product printed with offensive Holocaust-related symbolism. Just eight weeks after Hallmark apologized profusely for selling Hannukah wrapping paper covered in swastikas, the Anti-Defamation League is demanding that Urban Outfitters remove a tapestry resembling the prisoner gray and white stripes and pink triangles that gay prisoners were forced to wear in Nazi concentration camps.
Amazon Gets Into the Sweepstakes Game With a New Giveaway Feature
As long as your giveaway's prizes can be found on Amazon, the commerce giant will handle everything but paying for the contest.
Love giving stuff away? Amazon knows you do, so it has released Amazon Giveaway, a tool that will do essentially everything for you—except pay for the prize.
Meet 3 People Willing To Die On Mars
Volunteers are being selected to colonize Mars. The catch? They can never return to Earth.
Back in 2012, the Netherlands-based nonprofit Mars One announced its plan to "establish a permanent human settlement on Mars." Beginning in 2024, crews of four will depart for the red planet every two years. But there's a humongous catch: It's a one-way trip. Those selected to travel to Mars can never return to Earth.
How Flipboard Found Itself On The Web By Letting Go Of Its Past
Until now, the app has been defined by its slick, magazine-like presentation. But the web wants to be like the web.
When Flipboard, the pioneering social-magazine app, first brought a subset of its features to web browsers in July 2013, CEO and cofounder Mike McCue told me that he expected to make a full-blown web version available no later than early 2014. But he added "We're not going to ship it until we love it."
Why Fax Won't Die
As long as some continue to insist on faxes, companies keep working to make sending a fax feel like you're not sending a fax at all.
When OrderSnapp, a company that helps restaurants take orders online, works with its clients, it lets them choose how they want to be notified about incoming orders. Some prefer email, and some would rather get push notifications through their phones, says company president Ron Resnick. But a substantial number of OrderSnapp's clients—somewhere between 30 and 40 percent, Resnick estimates—prefer to have their customers' web and app orders delivered through a technology that has been rumored to be extinct: the fax machine.
How Eric Schmidt, Cisco, And An Israeli Spymaster Launched A New Cybersecurity Incubator
Nadav Zafrir, the former Unit 8200 chief, has brought many entities together. One partner calls it a "kooky structure" for a company.
A new cybersecurity incubator named Team8 Ventures that is exiting stealth mode today has an unusual pedigree: Co-founded by the recently departed chief of Israel's cyberspy program, the incubator is launching with a $18 million funding round from Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt's Innovation Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Marker LLC, along with input from Cisco and Lucent Technologies. Team8's apparent goal? To leverage the offensive and defensive skills of veterans of Israel's cyberwar efforts to build new security startups which the company describes as "disruptive."
February 9, 2015
Google Added A Puppy To Its Creepy Robot Family
Boston Dynamics has given its humanoid robot a terrifying—but cute—new best friend.
Spot is the latest effort from Boston Dynamics, the Google-owned robotics company known for creating the freaky humanoid robot Atlas and the four-legged automaton originally known as Big Dog. Announced via YouTube video on Monday, Spot is less strong but more agile than its larger cousin. From the demo video, it's unclear whether the robo-puppy is capable of throwing cinder blocks at you as you cower in terror, but Spot is oddly unsettling nonetheless.
Twitter's Transparency Report Reveals The World's Most Data-Hungry Governments
#whichgovernmentswantyourdata?
Twitter is a real-time, finger-on-the-pulse measure of public opinion—so it's no surprise that governments are interested in finding out details about some of the social network's users.
A First Look At Kanye West's New Shoe
In his first collaboration with Adidas, Kanye West is launching the Yeezy 750 Boost.
A little over a year ago, Kanye West broke ties with Nike to head to Adidas. Now, we see the first fruits of that collaboration, the Kanye West x Adidas Yeezy 750. They look sort of like a pair of Toms or a military field boot hooked up with an Air Yeezy, featuring canvas-colored fabric and the now trademark strap over the top of the toe that has featured in his previous two releases.
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AMC Brings "The Walking Dead" And "Mad Men" To Dish's Sling TV
There really is less and less reason to hold on to your old cable subscription.
There are less and less reasons to keep shelling out for your expensive monthly cable bill. Today we learned that Dish Network's online-cable-TV service, Sling TV, will add the much-loved AMC network to its lineup.
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