David Lidsky's Blog, page 3319
March 5, 2014
Move Over, Bitcoin. CrossCoin's New Accelerator Bets On The Ripple Ecosystem
Startups accepted into the accelerator program will receive up to $50,000 in XRP, Ripple's native currency, and will work to advance the Ripple ecosystem.
Bitcoin might steal the limelight when it comes to virtual currencies, but it's also experienced a spate of bad press lately. Japanese exchange Mt. Gox declared bankruptcy, Bitcoin bank Flexcoin shut down, and BitInstant CEO Charlie Shrem was arrested on money-laundering charges. With all this tumult, some entrepreneurs are hedging on another digital currency ecosystem: Ripple.
Design Pirate Cody Foster Tries To Buy Victim's Silence
The Nebraskan tchotchke maker is ready to deal with the independent designers it stole from. But there are some onerous terms.
Design pirate Cody Foster is at it again. Accused of ripping off the designs of a number of independent designers late last year, the Nebraskan tchotchke wholesaler is now trying to settle one of the lawsuits that has sprung up in the wake of the allegations.
5 Video-Game Tricks For More Loyal Customers
Smart companies are harnessing the tactics that video games use to hook customers and keep them engaged. Here's how to stay ahead of the game.
If you've played Candy Crush Saga or Cut the Rope, you know games can be addictive. Reach a new level, earn a booster, or get a top score and suddenly the reward center of your brain is in control--now you've just dropped a bunch of money on virtual hammers.
How Can I Learn Skills For A New Field Without Going Back To College?
Leadership coach Lolly Daskal and cofounder of General Assembly Matthew O. Brimer tackle this week's question about how to break into graphic design without dropping thousands on a degree.
Some people know what they want to be when they grow up and stick with it for their entire lives, but for most of us the path to career contentment is a little (or a lot) more winding. This week's question tackles that tricky situation of itching for a career change when you are already saddled with college debt from a few false starts.
Real-Time Marketing: What We Learned From The Oscars And Beyond
Is Real Time Marketing effective or an old gimmick? These successful RTM campaigns can teach us what consumers are really looking for from brands.
If you've been paying attention to today's prominent marketing tactics, you may have noticed some of the entertaining headlines following the Oscars and Super Bowl this year: 17 (mostly failed) Brand Tweets From The Oscars, 'Real-Time Marketing: Only the Dumb Survive', and 'Go home, Real Time Marketing. You're Drunk'.
March 4, 2014
Click Your Tongue Or Wink To Control This Tiny Computer Earclip
This tiny computer clips onto your ear and lets you scroll through a menu by winking or pause a song by scrunching your nose. The Samantha Stevens-ification of human interaction has begun.
It looks like we're one step closer to becoming cyborgs with little chips implanted in our skulls. Researchers in Japan are currently developing the "Earclip wearable PC," a tiny computer that clips onto your ear. It weighs all of 17-grams (0.59 ounces), but manages to house a GPS, compass, gyro-sensor, battery, barometer, speaker and microphone, and its functions are controlled by your facial expressions: the blink of an eye, a raise of an eyebrow, a click of the tongue. As inconspicuous as a hearing aid, it's less dorky-looking than Google Glass.
The Most Dangerous Man In Bitcoin Isn't A Criminal
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has busted Wall Street insiders and dark web drug dealers. Now he's setting out to do what Marc Andreessen, the Winklevoss Twins, and cryptocurrency nuts can't: clean up bitcoin.
Preet Bharara tells the hotel ballroom full of bankers. "I could either come around, or you could just form a single-file line."
March 3, 2014
OpenTable To Introduce Mobile Payments
Restaurant-goers in San Francisco will soon be able to pay for their meals with the OpenTable app--but only if restaurants adopt the technology.
Matthew Roberts, CEO of the popular restaurant reservation app OpenTable, remembers well how wary the restaurant industry was of online booking when the startup launched 16 years ago. How things have changed: OpenTable, which allows diners to reserve tables via a computer or mobile app, today seats 14 million diners a month across more than 31,000 restaurants. Now the company is hoping to once again transform the restaurant industry with technology--this time, by giving customers the ability to pay for their meals with their phones.
Working Long Hours Could Kill You
Go home for the day. It's good for you.
Research has previously shown that taking vacations is good for your health. But working less throughout the year might be good for you, too. The Economist put together a scatter graph that finds a significant correlation between how much you work and premature death (eeee). From the accompanying article:
Why Your Stodgy Old Concert Hall Looks The Way It Does
New research supports the idea that the best way to hear music is in a room shaped like a shoebox.
In 1781, architect Johan Carl Friedrich Dauthe constructed one of the earliest philharmonic concert halls by retrofitting an upper floor of a textile trading house in Leipzig, Germany. Famous for its acoustics, the rectangular shape of the Gewandhaus became a model for classical music venues in subsequent years. Though the field of architectural acoustics would not appear on the scene for another century, Dauthe had already hit on a magic formula: Rectangular rooms sound better.
There is a compelling argument for not getting too fancy with the architecture of concert hall interiors.
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