David Lidsky's Blog, page 4611

Soraya Darabi and Drop.io Want to Supercharge Social Media

She's earned a reputation among the digerati as someone who has intuitively understood where all this social-media stuff is going--and left The New York Times to help create a platform to share rich media with the cloud.

New Tron Light Cycle Toys Drive Up Walls, Upside Down [Video]

 Disney Pictures is gearing up for a December release of Tron: Legacy with a line of cutting edge toys that defy gravity.

Most are beautiful dark-chrome replicas of vehicles and gizmos from the film, complete with neon-glowing trim, but to really feel like Kevin Flynn barreling through cyber space, we recommend the zero gravity light cycles. These aren't your father's Hot Wheels--as the name implies, these futuristic remote control vehicles can actually climb walls.

"One of the things...

What You Need to Know About iOS 4

What Is It?

iOS 4 is the newest version of Apple's iOS mobile operating system, the platform used by all models of the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. The major new features (leaving aside the myriad little ones--check out Ars Technica's review for the nitty-gritty): multitasking, iBooks app, threaded emails, Spotlight Search (now supports Wikipedia and web searches), a digital zoom for still photos, and two main UI changes (customizable wallpaper and folders for apps).

If you've updated iTunes...

Connecticut Attorney General Leads 30-State Investigation Into Google "Data Grab"

Connecticut's Attorney General, Richard Blumenthal, is leading a multi-state investigation into Google's admitted breach of wireless privacy. You can check out our coverage of the situation, but to quickly catch you all up: Google's Street View cars, while doing their normal mapping, also gathered data on local Wi-Fi networks. This has a legitimate purpose--Google says it's for location services, which could include, say, an overlay in Google Maps showing all the local cafes with free Wi-Fi...

Brother, Can You Spare a Blender? The Scoop on Peer-to-Peer Equipment Rentals

With all the lawn mowers, table saws, and complete collections of CSI DVDs sitting around gathering dust in the shadowy corners of our homes, you would think the idea to rent out unused stuff would have come sooner. Especially as we inch our way out of the recession with the mantra, "frugality is the new black!"

But while renting cars, bikes, films, etc. -- otherwise known as a "product service system" -- is big business for the Netflix and Enterprises of the world, loaning our bikes and...

Blood Diamond III: A Call for Zimbabwe's Suspension From the Diamond Trade

The blood of the diamond trade continues to flow in Zimbabwe, according to a Human Rights Watch report detailing violence in the nation's Marange diamond fields, an area we wrote about in our Dec./Jan. issue.

In its June 20 report, Human Rights Watch calls for the suspension of Zimbabwe from the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, an international group of governments, diamond companies, and civil rights organizations that aims to end the violence of the diamond trade. The report comes a...

Space Hero Glenn: Save Our Space Shuttles

If, like me, you're a fan of all things space-related, then this year's grounding of the Space Shuttle fleet is a tricky thing--sensible, and yet a poignant tragedy. Now the biggest voice yet has joined the pro-Shuttle debate: John Glenn.

If you don't know that name, then shame on you: He was the third person in space, and the first American to orbit Earth as part of NASA's historic Mercury program in 1962. After retiring from NASA he "dabbled" in politics, winning a 25-year seat in the...

Amazon Drops Kindle Price to $189 to Compete With Nook and iPad

Ever since the release of the iPad, we've been waiting for the e-book reader price drop. If the iPad, with its color screen, long battery life, fast processor, and huge app store can sell for $500, how could the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook survive at $259? Today seems to be the day of reckoning: E-book readers are in a race to the bottom.

Kindle announced today that the Kindle 2, with its Whispernet 3G, will see a price cut from $259 to $189. That sub-$200 price point could make a...

Did North Korea Test Hydrogen Bomb Technology?

North Korea may have lost control of their World Cup game against Portugal (7-0!), but the nation's also lost control of something much more deadly: Waste products from its attempts to build a hydrogen bomb have been detected in South Korea.

South Korean officials today announced the news, saying that "abnormally" high levels of radiation had been detected along the border with North Korea. Just days ago, the authorities in North Korea announced they had succeeded in a critical step toward...

Upcycling Gives Excess Clothing Fabric a Second Chance

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Photographs courtesy of Looptworks

Looptworks stitches together an upcycled business model for outdoor apparel.

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As global director of product at Royal Robbins, Scott Hamlin was responsible for eliminating the outdoor-clothing company's "fabric liability" -- mountains of surplus cloth. "It wasn't quite enough to make a production run, and it was more than what was conscionable to just throw away," he says. "So we would write the check to the textile factory and the factory would take over from...