David Lidsky's Blog, page 328

Striking ‘NYT’ workers are asking you to skip Wordle—but they made other games for you to play

The New York Times Tech Guild is striking for a contract—which they’ve been negotiating for more than two years.

New York Times tech workers are still on strike after walking out one day before the presidential election. That means they’re still asking people to skip their usual Crossword, Wordle, or Connections routines. But now, the union has released its own offerings for games lovers that could keep them from crossing the digital picket line.

Betting odds called the 2024 election better than polls did. What does this mean for the future of prediction markets?

They may have been more right this time around, but experts say there may be little to learn from it.

Election Day has come and gone, and once again, millions of people are sifting through the data and trying to make sense of it all.

Why the future of product design is all about how it feels

After nearly two decades of sleek minimalism in digital interactions, tactile design is emerging to use texture and materiality to bring back the lost art of touch.

In 2007, Apple won the smartphone wars by betting on our collective desire to fall into the iPhone’s looking-glass screen and explore the digital wonderland that waited for us on the other side. We’ve spent the intervening years building the cyberfrontier with a rampant fervor—designing innumerable digital products and experiences. But recently, we’ve started recognizing something was lost in the wake of sleek, digital minimalism.

New York City is under a drought watch for the first time in more than 20 years

An exceptionally warm and dry autumn has led to drought conditions across the Northeast.

After a historically warm and dry start to fall, New York City is now under a drought watch—a first for the city in more than 20 years.

The economy has been good—but not in the way voters wanted

Rampant inflation helped sink VP Kamala Harris’s chances to win.

Vice President Kamala Harris lost the presidential race on Tuesday in large part because Americans are dissatisfied with the economy. According to an NBC News exit poll, 31% of voters cited the economy as their top issue.

Online election gamblers expect $450 million jackpot after Trump’s win

In a triumph over traditional polling, the prediction markets proved more prescient in the polarized presidential race.

Thousands who gambled on the U.S. election are looking forward to a potential payout of about $450 million from online gambling sites after Donald Trump was elected president in a stunning comeback. But some may have to wait to collect their haul.

What Trump’s win could mean for Google’s antitrust cases

Trump is expected to continue cases against Big Tech, several of which began in his first term. But his recent skepticism about a potential Google breakup highlights the power he will hold over how the cases are run.

Donald Trump will likely dial back some of the antitrust policies pursued under the administration of President Joe Biden, potentially including a bid to break up Alphabet’s Google over its dominance in online search, experts said.

‘Okay, so I was wrong’: Checking in on the TikTok creators who predicted Kamala Harris would win

After Trump’s historic win was officially announced Wednesday morning, many turned to social media to share their shock.

Donald Trump is set to be the next president of the United States. Yet, in an election cycle where national and swing-state polls were neck-and-neck for weeks, it was easy to believe that Vice President Kamala Harris was on track for a landslide victory—or at least, that’s what your TikTok feed might have suggested.

Why Trump’s return won’t stop America’s clean energy boom

A Biden-era law providing a decade of lucrative subsidies for new solar, wind, and other clean energy projects would be near-impossible to repeal, thanks to support from Republican states.

Donald Trump’s return to the White House will refocus the nation’s energy policy onto maximizing oil and gas production and away from fighting climate change, but the Republican win in Tuesday’s presidential elections is unlikely to dramatically slow the U.S. renewable energy boom.

What the UAW, the SEIU, and other major labor unions make of Trump’s win

All of these unions endorsed Harris. In the wake of Trump’s victory last night, here’s what they’re saying about how they’ll move forward.

One of the most-sought-after demographics of the 2024 election was the union vote. And even though Vice President Kamala Harris earned endorsements from many of the country’s biggest unions, voter support among union workers was decidedly split.