David Lidsky's Blog, page 4568

Microsoft Bribes Developers for a Solid Windows Phone 7 App Store Launch

[image error]It's hard to overestimate how important the launch of Windows Phone 7 is to Microsoft. The smartphone isn't just another gadget--it's the future of computing. Mobile, location-aware, constantly connected, cloud-based, touch-based--this is where computing is going. And Microsoft has squandered an early advantage by letting Windows Mobile rot, turning from a once-promising mobile OS to an embarrassment.

Windows Phone 7 might be the last chance Microsoft has to enter the smartphone market. It's...

The Team Who Made Old Spice Smell Good Again Reveals What's Behind Mustafa's Towel

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

One of the modern Holy Grails of advertising is to translate a successful TV campaign into a monster viral Internet phenom. Working with their client Procter and Gamble, the advertising firm Wieden+Kennedy opened the ark with its online work for Old Spice. The campaign is simple: The manly star from the TV spots responds to queries on Twitter via humorous 30-second YouTube videos that are being watched and...

iPhone 4.1 Software Update Doesn't Fix "Death Grip": True Fix Coming Friday?

The iPhone 4 has had a contentious birth. The so-called "death grip," in which the signal drops either entirely or close to it when the phone is held a certain (not very odd) way, has led to widespread calls for either a recall or a free bumper case. At the very least, customers want a response from Apple more comforting than the brusque "just don't hold the phone that way" email reply Steve Jobs sent to a dissatisfied customer after the phone's release.

Apple has so far mostly tried to...

Apple Acquires Canadian 3D Mapping Software Company Poly9: Apple iMaps?

Québec City's Cyberpresse published a report stating that Apple has quietly purchased its hometown Poly9, referring to Poly9 as "les cerveaux de Québec," essentially "the brains of Québec." Poly9 makes, or, rather, made, the Poly9 Globe, a 3D globe map superficially similar to Google Earth, as well as an online GIS (Geographic Information Services) tool called MapSpread. So what does Apple want with this company?

The easy answer would be that Apple is developing its own mapping software to...

Net Propaganda Plans Jump Over China's Great Firewall

China's Green Dam Net censorship wall looks like it may be about to fracture, with interesting timing: A rare leak has revealed the government officially plans to use the Net itself for propagandizing at home and overseas.

A report on the BBC News, sourced from publications inside China, notes that the Green Dam Youth Escort system has lost its Beijing project team because of a lack of government funding, and a partner team in Henan is also set to shutter for the same reason. Green Dam had...

Viral Boarder Video From KnifeShow Anticipates AR Gaming

Although we're not quite sure what this video is for, FastCompany is going to use it as a way to augur the future--the 21st-century version of chicken entrails and all of that. It is, I think, a viral video from KnifeShow Inc., who mainly film rad dudes who do rad things with boards.

[youtube tVljiwwqwfc:]

The film footage for Gnarcade was finished about a year ago, but the guys have spent so long doing the special effects on the three-minute film that it was only released two days ago. And...

Manure From 4,000 Cows Powers Ukraine Milk Factory

Manure-powered biogas facilities are becoming increasingly popular around the world, with companies ranging from L'Oreal to Beijing's Deqingyuan Chicken Farm getting on board. Now the Ukraine Milk Company is banking on 4,000 cows and a GE biogas engine to juice up a factory that produces milk for baby nutrition products.

The combined heat and power (CHP) plant--the first biogas cogeneration plant in the Ukraine--has successfully been powering the Ukraine Milk Company's factory for 9 months...

Squarespace Gets $39 Million for Mysterious Publishing Initiative

Blogging engine Squarespace has just concluded its first external funding round in seven years, garnering $38.5 million in cash from Index Ventures and Accel Partners. The plan is to use it to better "redefine publishing" online.

Squarespace's founder and lead-programmer Anthony Casalena explains in a blog posting that he sees it as critical that companies reinvent themselves "or face extinction." In this case, $39 million will really help Squarespace do a lot of shuffling things around...

SkypeKit: Easily Building VoIP Into Any Application

Skype's just released its SkypeKit development suite for Mac and Windows. This is good news for developers, who can create different apps with Skype's VoIP powers built right into their code. This, in turn, will only simplify life for chatty consumers.

SkypeKit--an SDK for hooking up to Skype's VoIP systems--was announced a few weeks ago, but at that stage it was largely a curiosity from a consumer's point of view as it only worked for Linux-based software. Today's launch of Mac OS X and...

In the Works: Shipping Supertankers of Alaskan Drinking Water to India

Talk about capitalizing on the resource shortages of the future: Texas-based S2C Global Systems plans to ship water from Sitka, a tiny water-rich town off Alaska's southeast coast, to India's west coast. Alaska Resource Management, a joint venture between S2C and True Alaska Bottling, holds the rights to export 2.9 billion gallons of water per year from Sitka's Blue Lake Reservoir. If the deal succeeds, will be the first bulk water export venture ever, potentially reap $26 million to $90...