David Lidsky's Blog, page 4536

Bury My Heart at Conference Room B: Sweat Time at Microsoft

"You just did a very bad thing," said Bill Gates, reacting to a presentation of Stan Slap's suggestions. In this excerpt from his upcoming book, "Bury My Heart at Conference Room B," consultant Stan Slap relates how Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and a room full of Microsoft execs loved and loathed the concept of leading with your values.

Check the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language under "aggressive" and you'll find Orlando Ayala's picture. The head of worldwide sales for Microsoft is a...

Solar Market Forecasted to Grow to $78 Billion By 2015

Spain's solar industry may be about to fall apart, but the same can't be said for the U.S. solar market, which is expected to balloon from $9.8 billion today to $78.1 billion by 2015. During the same time period, solar investments will jump from $22.4 billion to $61.1 billion, according to a new report from Environmental Leader Insights.

The report lists some other encouraging statistics for the industry: global solar generation will increase from 17.0 billion kilowatt hours in 2010 to...

Is BlackBerry Doomed to Be North America's Nokia?

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When Apple announces a new flagship phone, it's front-page news, worldwide. When the new best Android phone in the world is announced (every few weeks, it seems), it's front-page news of every tech publication in the country, and the source of endless debates. Yet today, the largest smartphone manufacturer in America announced a new flagship phone, along with the biggest change to its mobile OS in years. And what did I do?

I read the reports (watched as Middle Eastern nations banned

RIM's Woes Deepen: Saudia Arabia Bans Blackberrys Too [Update: U.S. Authorities Can Spy on Emails]

RIM's highly-promoted 9800 Torch "iPhone killing" Blackberry hit the scene yesterday, to a mixed reception. But whatever shine the event added to RIM was quickly taken away as Saudia Arabia banned Blackberrys services outright. 

Seemingly moments after RIM unveiled the new 9800 Blackberry--a slider touchscreen version of its iconic smartphone, bearing a new OS and slicker iPhone-eqsue features--the government of Saudia Arabia announced that a blanket ban on Blackberry service in the nation...

FTC Settles Antitrust Case With Monopolistic Intel

Chip-making giant Intel has been a bad company during various parts of its life, waging an anticompetitive war against its rivals. The FTC's been investigating in the U.S. and has just settled with the company.

Remember when European monopolies investigators concluded Intel had abused its market-leading position to quash other chip makers like AMD and slapped the U.S. firm with a whopping $1.45 billion fine? Well, the FTC was subsequently prompted to open its own investigations into Intel's...

iFive: Google History, TV Tablet, Flickr Makeover, BP Progress, Tree Fight

All the breaking bits you didn't learn in that dream where you were standing in Times Square reading the news scroll on the billboard when you realized, OH GOD I'M NAKED!

1. Google news dump! The search giant is letting all of us forgetful people now rely less on our memories to recall recently searched items and websites. "History" is the tab to look out for. Plus, Google's keywords business opens up copyright restrictions to allow competitors' results in searches. (Looking for Chevy info...

ScuttlePad, "Safe" Social Network for Kids, Needs a Perv Gate

A former Boy Scout leader tracks his troop's Facebook updates to develop a new social network for kids. But is it fertile ground for strangers with candy?

ScuttlePad, a New York-based startup started by a Cub Scoutmaster, promises to be the Internet's newest safe social network for kids. But it's more like a playground without a fence in a neighborhood known for creeps.

ScuttlePad offers children, age 6-11, the opportunity to create a profile with the supervision of their parents. In order...

iFive: Google history, TV tablet, Flickr makeover, BP progress, Tree fight

What happened while you were out.

1. Google news dump! The search giant is letting all of us forgetful people now rely less on our memories to recall recently searched items and websites. "History" is the tab to look out for. Plus, Google's keywords business opens up copyright restrictions to allow competitors results in searches. (Looking for Chevy info? Expect ads for Ford to pop up, too.) And finally, you can sign into multiple Google accounts at the same time in the same browser.

2.

Fflick Tracks Movie Buzz Among Your Twitter Friends (Hope They Have Good Taste!)

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Fflick (spelled correctly, to my endless editorial discomfort) is a new service that collects sentiment on Twitter, positive or negative, as regards movies. It organizes those tweets based on movies that are in theaters now or that are coming soon, so you can get a nice quick at-a-glance look at the public opinion on individual films--a nice new use of Twitter.

The nice thing about Fflick is that it only looks at your individual friends list. Sure, those Twilight movies may have made a bundle...

Barnes & Noble on the Block? Get Ready, Amazon

The world's largest book retailer, Barnes & Noble, announced Tuesday that its board of directors is considering selling the company in order to increase shareholder value. As the bookseller explained today, the board has formed a team to evaluate "strategic alternatives" to make sure it's "taking advantage of [its:] compelling digital opportunities." Putting the company on the block is one of those alternatives.

Just how compelling are these digital opportunities? B&N's online store is...