David Lidsky's Blog, page 4535

Black(Berry)-Out: Indonesia Considers Banning the BlackBerry, Too

[image error]RIM's BlackBerry might be the best-selling smartphone brand in North America, and the second-best in the entire world, but the Canadian company is having a lousy PR week despite the announcement of its new flagship phone, the Torch. First the UAE and then Saudi Arabia banned BlackBerry from their countries, and now Indonesia is considering the same thing.

Indonesia is a much more populous nation than either the UAE or Saudi Arabia, and consequently has over one million BlackBerry users. But...

Blame iPhone Antennagate on AT&T, Not Apple

New research backs up Steve Jobs' claims that Antennagate is a just a whole lot of hoopla.

Apple's been getting pummeled for Antennagate, as it's been dubbed, the controversy over whether a design flaw in the iPhone 4 has caused reception problems. Several weeks ago, Jobs shot back in a press conference at the criticism, blasting other phone companies for similar reception issues and touting Apple's anechoic chambers.

The report, released today by research firm ChangeWave, suggests that...

Home Appliance Energy, Water Efficiency Standards Could Save 5 Trillion Gallons of Water

The U.S. government may not be able to push through a climate bill, but that hasn't stopped appliance makers from banding together and proposing efficiency standards of their own. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers teamed up with the Natural Resources Defense Council and American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy this week to produce the Energy Efficient and Smart Appliance Agreement of 2010 (PDF), a sweeping set of energy and water efficiency standards that could save up...

Rating America's Greenest Colleges

What makes a college sustainable? Does it need scores of rooftop solar panels and LEED-certified buildings or will a PETA-approved cafeteria menu suffice? The Princeton Review waded into that debate by releasing its 2011 Green Rating Honor Roll. Out of 703 schools that submitted environmental information, the Review gave just 18 schools spots on the list. The lucky recipients, which include Yale, Harvard, Northeastern, University of California, Berkeley, and West Virginia University, have...

Square Planning Big Mobile Payment Rollout, Could Be Bumped by Newer Tech

A stutter in the rollout of Jack Dorsey's novel Square cellphone credit card system may mean it'll get swallowed soon by emerging tech.

The Twitter cofounder's tool has been in and out of the news for months, largely because it appears blindingly simple, and comes with promises of radically reinventing the mobile credit card payments scene. The device is incredibly straightforward: It's a tiny plastic gizmo with a magnetic strip card reader inside, a smattering of circuitry, and a standard...

Apple Sneaks Out Music Streaming

Apple spent a bunch of cash on Lala, and recent rumors have surfaced that the team has been absorbed into a different part of Apple than you'd expect--they may be working on a video streaming power, ready to deliver content to iPads and a revamped Apple TV. But with some iDisk shenanigans, Apple's just done something surprising.

Michael Robertson, who founded poineering music site MP3.com, notes that buried in the release notes for the recently updated version of its iDisk app for iPhones...

While Kenya Votes, Ushahidi Does Its Part

Fast Company catches up with Erik Hersman, the man behind the groundbreaking crowdsourcing tool, Ushahidi, as Kenya holds its constitutional referendum.

I first met Erik Hersman, 2009 TED Fellow and founder of Ushahidi, about a year and a half ago at the 2009 We Media conference in Miami. Since then, he's relocated back to Kenya, founded Nairobi's first iHub, and is now working on Uchaguzi to monitor today's constitutional referendum in Kenya. While churches fight over the draft...

Politicians Desperate for New Campaign Technology Grasp Onto Gowalla

President Obama has been heralded as our first tech-savvy commander in chief. He's been lauded for his masterfully run campaign, that rode the grassroots wave on the heels of social media and the digital age. And since then, no pol wants to miss a beat. Facebook and Twitter are now essential tools for communication; speeches and ads are uploaded to YouTube; blogs are commonplace; and it seems every communications director is keeping an eye out for the next big technology that'll...

Huawei: 70% of Carbon Emissions During Products' Lifespan Your Fault

Chinese mobile device manufacturer Huawei has taken the unusual step of thoroughly auditing where the worst polluting happens for its products, and concluded that it's mostly your--the end-user consumer's--fault. 

Huawei's one fo those companies that probably plays a big role in your life without you realizing it: It's behind many of those 3G USB sticks that're enabling the 3G mobile broadband revolution, for one. It's also a firm that sells its products by the million globally, and it takes...

How Harley Could Save Its Milwaukee Home and the Planet

But would the softer "green" side of life save them?

Harley-Davidson may face eviction from its home of Milwaukee, after being there for 107 years, due to unmanageable manufacturing costs. The crisis raises critical questions about the sustainability of old industrial practices and begs the question: Maybe Harley should get with the times and just go green? Well, what we found out may just surprise you.

Harley, which accounts for roughly half the motorcycle market share, actually does...