David Lidsky's Blog, page 4561

Kindle Books Outselling Hardcovers on Amazon by 43%

Leather-bound books and rich mahogany shelves may soon be as endangered as the 70's playboy who used them to impress women.  

Today, Amazon announced that sales of books for its popular Kindle reading device are far outpacing sales of hardcover books. The online retailer said that it's sold 143 Kindle e-books for every 100 hardcover books over the past three month. In the last four weeks, that figure has jumped to 180 e-books per every 100 hardcovers.

"Even while our hardcover sales...

Princeton Computer Scientists Create Innovative Crowdsourcing Tool, Inspired by Kittens

How do you decide the cutest cat in the world?

That question served as the unlikely inspiration for Princeton sociology professor Matthew Salganik, who, when doing research on crowdsourcing, stumbled across Kitten Wars, a site that pits saucer-eyed felines against each other in a battle of cuteness. Salganik had been developing an online tool to help organizations solicit ideas from large numbers of people, and this Hot-or-Not-for-cats Web site actually helped crystalize his concept.

Go Plastiki, Go!: Boat Reaches Australian Waters

Ladies and gentleman, the Plastiki has landed.

One hundred and twenty-two days into its landmark voyage from San Francisco to Sydney on a quest to raise awareness of marine and plastic waste, the boat, composed of 12,500 plastic bottles and other recycled materials, has reached Australian waters. The crew touched ground in Mooloolaba, Queensland, which is north of Sydney.

However, it wasn't always smooth sailing.

While the original plan was to sail into Coffs Harbor, the team...

Chipotle Burritos: Stuffed with Integrity

Integrity isn't the first word that comes to mind when you think of burritos. Chipotle is out to change that with a new marketing overhaul, Food with Integrity. Though they won't be tampering with the tasty (and caloric)
burrito recipe, they hope to alter the way American think about fast food and fast food advertising.

Chipotle, a former subsidiary of McDonald's (the company went solo in 2006), partnered with San Francisco-based design and
strategy firm Sequence to create an informative...

Are Men More Sympathetic Than Women to BP CEO Tony Hayward?

BP's marketing response to the Gulf oil disaster has been an unquestionable failure, thanks in large part to CEO Tony Hayward and his many callous remarks ("I'd like my life back," anyone?). But according to neuromarketing research company Innerscope, men and women don't hate Hayward's halfhearted apologies equally.

Innerscope measured the biometric response (skin response, heart rate, body movement, and breathing) of 54 volunteers while they watched BP's now-infamous apology...

Is Toyota Working on an Electric Supercar?

Toyota already has the world's largest range of hybrid vehicles. But the company isn't leaving any potential electric vehicle market to chance. We recently learned that the automaker is teaming up with Tesla to build electric versions of the RAV4 and Lexus RX, and now Motor Trend brings us word that Toyota might be working on an all-electric supercar. If built, the supercar could rival future Audi and Mercedes electric sports cars.

Motor Trend explains:

An
insider close to Toyota tells us...

TransFair USA Introduces First Fair-Trade Clothing to the U.S.

Fair Trade food? That's old hat. Get ready for Fair Trade Certified clothing, courtesy of TransFair USA. The nonprofit, which is the only third-party fair trade-certifier in the U.S., announced this week that it is launching Fair Trade certification for Apparel and Linens--the first Fair Trade certification for clothing in the country.

The certification covers the whole spectrum of the clothing supply chain, from factories to buyers. TransFair explains the qualifications for certified...

Vlogger Sarah Austin Perfects the Work/Life Balance: One Seamlessly Feeds the Other

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

Not long ago I had lunch with the vlogger and lifecaster Sarah Austin. We ate on the patio at Aureole and not ten minutes in she asked if I we could shoot our interview for a reality show she is doing. She said she'd send me what she wanted to use before it went live and wouldn't ask for a release until I gave her approval.

I agreed and she rolled tape.

Looking back, I realize this is what Austin does. She...

Online, Mobile Ad Spending Explodes, Threatens Traditional Media?

Some thinking about online advertising spend in 2010 suggests that this year it's going to see serious growth, which is fabulous news for new media. But it's potentially bad news for traditional publishing.

The analysis is coming from ZenithOptimedia, which has been revising its estimates for online advertising spend in 2010 upwards for several months now. Its latest piece of thinking has attracted some attention in the online media itself because it predicts that the spend in 2010 will rise...

Livescribe Echo Smart Pen Even Cleverer Than Predecessor

Livescribe, makers of exceedingly smart pens, has just made public its latest. The Echo, which is available from today, is a computer in a pen that's aimed at anyone who spends their time taking notes--from students to professionals--and even people in our trade--journalism.

As well as using the pen and pad for drawing on your computer, via the USB port, the password-protected Echo can transcribe notes directly to your computer, and record audio on it. But what is most clever about the Echo...