David Lidsky's Blog, page 4546

YouTube Extends CitizenTube Concept With Local News Channel Deal

It's long been a staple of citizen journalism, but YouTube has signed a deal with a local news station in San Francisco to enable people to submit their own video reports and photos. It's a little bit of crowd-sourcing, a little bit of outsourcing, and it probably keeps the station's costs down. So, win-win.

ABC7 News has called the scheme uReport, and it invites locals to send in videos of anything they think needs fixing, or they've got a gripe about. Videos of the Bay Area weather, as well...

Med Student Pioneers "Political Medicine" in Rural Haiti

DoSomething, headed by Fast Company columnist Nancy Lublin, has recognized five young social entrepreneurs with $10,000 grants--and one with a prize of $100,000. Fast Company will profile one of these enterprising youth each day this week. Click here to read the other winners' stories.

It's the morning before Will Perez leaves for Haiti. The Providence, Rhode Island, medical student has been busy. For one thing, there's school. But that's just the beginning: Perez has also helped set up a...

mBillionth Wraps in India, Says There Is Opportunity in Mobile for Large-Scale Federal Integration

Curator Osama Manzar shares key takeaways.

With South Asia expected to continue its boom in mobile usage in the coming years, mBillionth was created to follow key trends in the South Asian mobile industry and honor its vital players. The much-anticipated mBillionth conference wrapped in India last week, and curator Osama Manzar answered FastCompany.com's questions about the key takeaways.

Why, for example, is a platform like mBillionth necessary when other entities such as MobileActive...

Sweden's Pirate ISP Offers Aid to Keep WikiLeaks Afloat

The Swedish political Pirate Party has gone and embroiled itself in some hot news: It's offering servers and hosting to WikiLeaks, the "whistleblowing" site that's just published thousands of controversial secret military files on Afghanistan.

At first blush, this would seem to be a marriage made in heaven. PiratPartiet has always taken a controversial stance on Web-based content, taking the reins from the original PirateBay.com torrent-hosting site (which it officially distances itself...

Kanye Joins Twitter, Files GREATEST TWEET OF ALL TIME!

"DON'T HAVE A F****** TWITTER... WHY WOULD I USE TWITTER??? I ONLY BLOG 5 PERCENT OF WHAT I'M UP TO IN THE FIRST PLACE."

"I'M
ACTUALLY SLOW DELIVERING CONTENT BECAUSE I'M TOO BUSY ACTUALLY BUSY
BEING CREATIVE MOST OF THE TIME AND IF I'M NOT AND I'M JUST LAYING ON A
BEACH I WOULDN'T TELL THE WORLD. EVERYTHING THAT TWITTER OFFERS I NEED
LESS OF."

--Kanye West, the last time he mentioned his lack of presence on Twitter.

iJustine on Converting 300 Million YouTube Views Into a Network of Fans

The real-life, blonde precursor to Nickelodeon's iCarly, Justine Ezarik, finds her way onto scads of screens with a breezy style and a deep understanding of influence.

This interview is part of our ongoing series related to The Influence Project.

Creating a random viral moment is as rare as getting struck by lightning, but Justine Ezarik has found a way to routinely bottle the juice and light up the Internet. With over 300 million YouTube views, the coal miner's daughter and social media...

Aspen Institute Amplifies Green Jobs Collaboration With Energy and Environment Awards

Blue Green Alliance Named Winner in Non-Governmental Category

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"Collaboration" and "green jobs" are buzzwords in the climate change scene these days, but The Aspen Environment Forum, in collaboration with National Geographic, just made them buzz a whole lot louder.

They've given the Blue Green Alliance this year's Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Award for the "Non-Governmental Organization" category. The Blue Green Alliance pairs labor unions with environmental organizations to expand...

Sweden's Pirate ISP Offers Aid to Keep Wikileaks Afloat

The Swedish political Pirate Party has gone and embroiled itself in some hot news: It's offering servers and hosting to Wikileaks, the "whistleblowing" site that's just published thousands of controversial secret military files on Afghanistan. 

At first blush, this would seem to be a marriage made in heaven. Piratpartiet has always taken a controversial stance on Web-based content, taking the reins from the original PirateBay.com torrent-hosting site (which it officially distances itself...

Why the BlackBerry 9800 Smartphone Won't Slay the Mighty iPhone

Along with rumors that it'll rival the iPhone come others that say it has its own iPhone-like antenna issues.

RIM is rumored to be releasing its hottest handset, the BlackBerry Bold 9800 at an event with AT&T next week. It's destined to be an AT&T-exclusive, which also chiming with some media noise about the Bold 9800 being RIM's "iPhone killer." 

is reporting a group of cell phone industry analysts are strongly hinting the Bold 9800 will launch at the upcoming RIM press event next...

Amazon Kindle 2 Sold Out, but What Does It Mean?

Amazon's Kindle is sold out "temporarily," according to the e-reader's web page, causing a bit of a fuss on the Intertubes. Is it a sign a new version is en route, or merely reflecting a manufacturing or supply chain glitch? We've had a think.

Amazon's Kindle e-reader has been sold out before: Back in December 2009 it was reported to be sold out "until February," and the first ever batch sold out in under six hours. It also sold out just before the Kindle 2 arrived, presumably as Amazon was...