David Lidsky's Blog, page 4614

Blockbuster CEO Jim Keyes on Bankruptcy, Netflix, and Becoming the Next Apple

While it may feel like an all out tug-of-war between Blockbuster and Netflix, don't forget they aren't the only companies battling for market share. Redbox is fighting for kiosk space. Apple, Amazon, and Comcast are competing for movie download purchases. And Hulu will soon start its subscription-based service. Blockbuster is trying to fend off all these competitors, even as the company is mired in debt.

We spoke again with the company's CEO, Jim Keyes, to get his take on Netflix's recent...

iFive: BP's Hayward Sails Into PR Storm, Facebook Movie Poster, World Cup Red Cards, Wimbledon Begins, Red Sea Redemption

While you were sleeping, innovation was limbering up for a competitive game of tennis, lobbing balls over the net, rather than into the back of it.

1. So, Tony Hayward went sailing into yet another PR storm. Meanwhile, an oil worker on the Deepwater Horizon rig claims that the leak was identified before the explosion, and both BP and Transocean were notified. Details of the attempt to prevent the blowout are now emerging.

2. You've signed up to Facebook, got the friends, played Farmville, now...

Toshiba's Trio of New Laptops Includes A Dual-Screen, Windows 7 Oddball

Toshiba announced three new laptops today, two of which are slightly unusual and one of which is completely bonkers. The most normal is the Portege R700, an ultraportable with some legitimate power. The R700 is business-focused (hence the drab, ThinkPad-like design), but with a full Intel Core processor and a mere inch of thickness, it's a pretty impressive bit of hardware (it shoots air over certain internal components to stay cool). At less than three pounds, it's about as light as a...

iPhone 4's FaceTime Video Chat Won't Count Against Your Minutes

Apple's iPhone 4 is pretty well-covered at this point--check out our hands-on and an early review--but some aspects of the new device won't be cleared up until it's in the hands of customers. We've just gotten some clarification on FaceTime, the somewhat groaningly named new video chat feature.

The confusion over whether FaceTime will count against minutes is due to the nature of the app. While FaceTime is Wi-Fi only for now (for the sake of AT&T's poor, overworked 3G network), it can be...

Say Goodbye to Unlimited Smartphone Data Plans: Verizon to Fall Soon

Unlimited data plans are currently used by Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. When you buy a smartphone, you have two plans, voice and data, and at the moment (on those networks), only the former is variable. Data plans are unlimited, usually cost around $30 per month. Use all the data you want! Stream movies, download music, send a billion emails! It's all included!

Not anymore. Verizon's CFO noted in an interview that "We will probably need to change the design of our pricing where it will not...

Three New LED Lights by Humanscale Are Smart, Bright, Efficient

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Three new task lights made by the company Humanscale debuted at the NeoCon trade show this week in Chicago, each of them highly-efficient, LED-powered machines made from supersustainable recycled aluminum. Element 790 (above), for example, uses just seven watts of power while outputting the equivalent of 90 watts of incandenscent light. Although one LED bulb in the Element 790 will get you 60,000 hours of light, if that's not enough, Humanscale's LEDs can be easily replaced, unlike other LED...

Open Thread: The End of Email?

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg sparked a firestorm this week with her bold assertion that email "is probably going away."

But she's not the first to make this claim. Just do a quick Google search, and you'll find plenty of bloggers warning of email's demise. (You'll also find loads of puns saying we should "Google Wave" goodbye to email--so much for that.) Even the Wall Street Journal published an article last year arguing that Facebook and Twitter were now king among online communication...

How (RED) CEO Susan Smith Ellis Tapped Damien Hirst to Raise Millions for Africa

Asked at Fast Company's Most Creative People event last week about how she asks others to take risks, (RED) CEO Susan Smith Ellis offered a one-word answer.

"Nerve," said Ellis, who was featured as #25 on our Most Creative People in Business list.

By now you should know how (RED) partners with world-recognized brands like Apple and Nike to raise funds for combating AIDs in Africa. (Most likely, you've seen that Gap captu(red) the slogan in many of their T-shirts.) But (RED)'s success...

JetBlue COO Thinks Flying From New York to Boston Is a Waste

It seems obvious: flying short distances is less efficient than taking the train. We never expected an airline executive to admit as much, but JetBlue Chief Operating Officer Rob Maruster surprised us all at the recent "Airports: 21st Century Makeovers For The New York Metro Region" conference when he noted that high-speed rail often makes more sense than flying.

Maruster's exact words, courtesy of Transportation Nation:

"I may be shooting ourselves in the foot here, with five daily flights...

FDA Calls Marlboro Out on Creative Marketing of "Light" Cigarettes

Cigarette manufacturers, beware: the FDA won't stand for any creative workarounds to its ruling requiring companies to remove descriptors like "light," "mild," and "low tar" from cigarette packaging. The New York Times reports that the FDA is opening an investigation into Altria Group, the maker of Marlboro Lights, because of notes on packaging that read, "Your Marlboro Lights package is changing, but your cigarette stays the same," and "In the future, ask for Marlboro in the gold pack."...