David Lidsky's Blog, page 4625

iFive: BP's $34 Billion Ticket, News Corp. Bids for BSkyB, North Korea vs. Brazil, Kindle Gets Twitter, Polygraphs Are Fun!

What did you dream about while you were sleeping last night? Lie detectors? Kim Jong Il? Oil Slicks? Well, innovation was living the dream.

1. The Senate is demanding that BP pay $34 billion in fines for the Gulf oil spill. Ahead of his meeting with the oil firm's management at the White House tomorrow, Obama visited the slick-hit region--clean-up attempts are "chaotic," say observers--and called for a "new future" of energy.

2. The eight-headed hydra that is News Corp. is making a bid to buy

How One Indian Entrepreneur Is Bringing Clean Water and Health Care to Local Villages on the Cheap

How do you win a major sustainability award from MIT? Simultaneously tackle health care and clean water in the developing world like Dr. BP Agrawal, the founder of Sustainable Innovations--a seven year-old nonprofit that builds self-sustaining projects in rural villages. Agrawal recently won the $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability, which will be given out this week at MIT's Eureka Fest. The prize honors "inventors whose products or processes impact issues of global
relevance, as...

Apple's New Mac Mini: A Preview of the Next Apple TV

Apple has just lavished attention on its smallest Mac, the Mini, and now the tiny beast is smaller, more powerful and HDMI-capable. And it provides a preview of what Apple's other media box, the Apple TV, might be like--if Jobs and Co. ever bother to update it.

The back panel completely betrays the intended
purpose of the new Mini: It's got an HDMI socket. It's the first Mac to get this
power, and it bows to the fact that many consumers used the older Minis
as a potent home theater PC. It...

Can You Beat BP's Ridiculous "Reports from the Gulf"?

Can you top the writing and reporting of BP flack Paula Kolmar? Drop your "reports" into the comments!

Among the various PR efforts that BP is engaged in, they've apparently sent out a "reporter" to file missives about the company's efforts to stem the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.

And what "Paula Kolmar" is writing tips well over the line of self-parody, into some kind of bizarro world where bullshit smells like puppies and champagne--and where cleaning up the oil spill while being slathered...

iFive: BP's $34 Billion Ticket, News Corp. Bids for BSkyB, North Korea vs. Brazil, Kindle Gets Twitter, Polygraphs are Fun!

What did you dream about while you were sleeping last night? Lie detectors? Kim Il Jong? Oil Slicks? Well, innovation was living the dream.

1. The Senate is demanding that BP pay $34 billion in fines for the Gulf oil spill. Ahead of his meeting with the oil firm's management at the White House tomorrow, Obama visited the slick-hit region--clean-up attempts are "chaotic", say observers--and called for a "new future" of energy.

2. The eight-headed hydra that is News Corp. is making a bid to buy

RIM Rumored to Have New BlackBerry Touchscreen Smartphone and Tablet in the Works

According to the Wall Street Journal, RIM has a couple of interesting new BlackBerry products in the works, including a vertical slider with a touchscreen interface and a companion tablet.

The smartphone has been long rumored, even coming with its own code number (the 9800) and a few leaked photos. The vertical slider design is, in my opinion, an underused smartphone form factor. I much prefer the smaller keys, as my clumsy thumbs have a shorter distance to move while typing, than in the...

YouTube Expands CitizenTube: A UC Berkeley-Curated News Video Stream

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YouTube has used the CitizenTube name a few times in the past, tracking certain major news stories (Iran election protests, that kind of thing). But why limit it to only extraordinary situations?

YouTube today announced that CitizenTube will be seeing a hefty expansion this summer. Working with the University of California at Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, YouTube is looking to turn CitizenTube into a curated stream of news videos from all kinds of sources. You'll see footage from...

Did a Piece of Deepwater Horizon Wash Up on a Florida Beach? [Updated]

This isn't the actual washed-up tank, but we couldn't find a good picture. Please let us know if you have one!

Over the past few months, the BP oil disaster has littered Gulf Coast beaches with both dead wildlife and tar balls. Now, in a Lost-like turn of events, a piece of an oil storage tank, thought to be from the Deepwater Horizon rig, has washed up on Florida's Panama City Beach. The 5,000 pound, 550 gallon tank still had a small amount of oil leaking out when it washed ashore on...

Twitter Finally Going 'Places,' Adds Foursquare and Gowalla Integration Starting Today

Twitter Places was first announced back in April, but you'll be able to use it starting today, and it's going global.

At the moment, you can go to Twitter's site or use the app on your mobile phone to tag your location along with your tweet. You can either pick from an existing location, or enter a new one; the list of place names is sure to blossom quickly. Then anyone who reads your tweet, including you, can click on that location to see recent tweets also linked to that location. Twitter...

@BPGlobalPR Revealed to be Funnier in 140 Characters Than in Real Life

Today at TwtrCon, the Twitter business conference in New York City, the infamous (and philanthropic) @BPGlobalPR ran out on stage looking very much the con himself, disguised in a ski mask, fake moustache, oversized nose, glasses, and a wig and top hat.

In case you haven't kept up with @BPGlobalPR's viral success, he tweets as a mock-BP rep, using the platform to parody the oil company's bumbling response to the Gulf spill. Though his popularity has frustrated BP execs (who recently