David Lidsky's Blog, page 4557

Race to Net TV in China Spotlights Doom of Cable TV in U.S.?

Net TV may be the biggest new media tech event on the horizon in the U.S., but it's also big news in China. Though it's for different reasons, the rapid developments in online TV there may well impact how you watch TV in the future, too.

The New York Times just produced an interesting thought piece about the state of television and Internet entertainment in China. It's a timely discussion, given the recent moves by Google to align itself with Chinese censorship regulations in order to...

Alex Bogusky Tells Fast Company He's Never Going Back to Advertising: Meet the New Gang at Crispin Porter

Alex Bogusky tells Fast Company he's done with advertising for good, no
matter who comes a knocking. "I've had some offers floated by and I find it
really confusing," he told me last week. "I was Chairman of the best agency
on earth four months ago and I left that. What makes people think they can
come up with a better offer than best?"

Four months ago when Crispin Porter + Bogusky issued a press release
announcing his departure, they essentially buried the headline. "Five new
partners...

ToneCheck Test Drive: Spots "Unprofessional" Email, Knows Dick Cheney Sounds "Sad," "Angry"

Program helps make sure missives arrive with their intended messages. Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Talking to people in person sucks. It's dangerous, lame, and I won't have any of it.Talking to people in person is difficult. It doesn't seem very professional, and I'd rather do it differently.Which sentence sounds better to you? The first version certainly gets the point across, but if those behind the ToneCheck software are right, that point may be lost in the unprofessional...

Google Lobbying Spending Nearly Doubles, $1.34M Spending Focused on Privacy

This past quarter, Google spent $1.34 million on Washington lobbyists, an increase of 41% over last year's spending during the same period. That brings the company's lobbying money up to $2.72 million for the first half of 2010, according to Consumer Watchdog. With all that spending, who and what is Google trying to influence?

Recently, the company has faced mounds of criticism over privacy issues, and it seems to be focusing its lobbying efforts on that front. For example, Johanna...

New Robot Surgeons Can Operate Without Human Assistance

Paging Dr. 3PO. One day soon robots could performing routine procedures in the OR.

Bioengineers at Duke University announced yesterday that they've created a robot that can "locate a man-made, or phantom, lesion in simulated human organs, guide a device to the lesion and take multiple samples during a single session," all without a doctor's supervision. Researchers hope these developments could one day lead to robots working autonomously on basic surgical operations.

Nicknamed the...

Why Volkswagen is Sheepish on an Electric Vehicle Strategy

Look out on any street and gasoline-powered vehicles still dominate the road. But in the coming years, automakers like Toyota, Honda, and GM plan to start pumping out plug-in hybrid electric cars in a bid to keep up with the EV revolution. Volkswagen, on the other hand, is taking a more conservative approach.

As we reported months ago, VW is skeptical about the short-term possibility of widespread EV adoption. Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann, Chief Officer for Electric Traction at the Volkswagen...

Google Steals Ideas From Bing, Bing Steals Market Share From Google

Last month, Google added a new feature to its homepage that enabled users to select a background image. Google included a gallery of professional photos to choose from, including those by famous artists and National Geographic. Soon, Microsoft responded via tweet over the obvious similarities of this feature to the company's search engine: "We've lost a background image, if found please return to bing.com."

A new report by ForeSee Results perhaps explains why Google is starting to...

Is Your Boss on the New Sexual Harassment Registry?

Boasting one of the better rhyming straplines I've heard in a
while, eBossWatch is a registry for bosses prone to sexual harassment.
"Nobody should have to work with a jerk," claims the National Sexual
Harassment Agency, and if the testimonies are to be
believed, it's the best thing since Dolly
did disco.

Not content with merely being a searchable database (Noah and Tyler, my two bosses at Fast Company, have both checked out okay) it's also got a Worst Boss section where the truly...

iFive: Tony Hayward Gone By October, Obama and Cameron, New Star Discovered, Energy Dept Goes Online, China's Clean Energy Plan

While you were sleeping, innovation was doing things. Yep, things. I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you.

1. Remember the ocean floor seepage close to BP's containment cap? Apparently it's coming from another well and, says Admiral Thad Allen, a drip is not a leak. Something else that could be escaping from BP is Tony Hayward -- not, however, as a drip, but as a resignation. The Guardian reckons he'll be an ex-employee of the firm, which has tabled around $7 billion of assets for a...

Sweden Getting World's First Pirate-Friendly ISP

The new pirate political party in Sweden, which takes a stern anti-copyright stance, and helps out torrent-sharer Pirate Bay, now plans to launch the world's first "pirate ISP." It'll be anonymized, safe, and feed funds to the party itself.

The machinations of Sweden-based Pirate Bay have been fascinating to watch unfold--every step seems to challenge laws and accepted norms. Like the latest development, where the Piratpartiet (Sweden's Pirate Bay-inspired copyright-fighting political party...