David Lidsky's Blog, page 4709

Bumped Passengers, Fines Aside, "It's All About Relationships" for Southwest Airlines

Southwest has pissed off its fair share of customers, bumping more of them from oversold flights than any other carrier last year. You don't have to look to far to find disgruntled flyers saying things such as, "I have always flown Southwest in the past, but doubt I ever will again. Saying you care about your customers is not the same as actually caring." Even the Department of Transportation has taken a swing, citing last week Southwest's failure to reimburse bumped passengers promptly or...

Google's Editions E-Bookstore To Chase Apple, Amazon, in June

With what may be seen as curious timing, Google's just revealed that soon it'll be selling digital books through its own Google Editions store. The search giant is obviously keen to not let Apple and Amazon dominate an industry it hasn't also wrapped a tentacle around.

Google's been mulling this sort of move for over a year, and it ties in with its Google Books effort to try to reinvent publishing as a cloud-based marketplace. Speaking at the Book Industry Study Group (which explains the...

Is California the New Detroit? BYD Latest Automaker to Go West

Chinese automaker BYD announced a plan this week to build its North American headquarters in Los Angeles--the latest in a series of moves that are slowly turning California into the new electric vehicle hotspot.

BYD, listed as one of our Most Innovative Companies, started selling its first plug-in hybrid (the F3DM) in China this week. The company also produces EV batteries and recently established a partnership with Daimler to build a four-door electric sedan. We've questioned BYD's...

7 Ways to Protect Times Square--Without Invasive Cameras

When Faisal Shahzad allegedly drove his Nissan Pathfinder, packed with explosives, into Times Square on Saturday, he was likely aiming for a place dense with tourists, theatergoers, sidewalk hucksters, and at least one naked cowboy -- a target rich environment. Happily, thanks to a combination of Shahzad's ineptitude and a quick-witted T-shirt vendor, NYPD's crack bomb squad disabled the Rube Goldberg contraption before it could detonate.

We got lucky. But apart from larding the theater...

Starbucks Opens LEED Pilot Shop in NYC

Starbucks is one of those rare food and beverage chains that embraces sustainability in both their products (Fair Trade coffee, for example) and in retail locations. The latter can be seen in Starbucks' newly completed Manhattan Soho pilot store, which is up for LEED certification in July.

The shop incorporates a laundry list of green features that increase its chances of getting LEED certified, including dual-flush toilets, low-flow faucets, water-based paints, and LED bulbs. In an a

Why the Times Square Bomb Fizzled Rather Than Boomed

The drama about the Times Square bombing event is continuing, and now a suspect is in custody, thanks to science and forensics. But it looks like the suspect's grip of science wasn't so hot: His bomb probably wouldn't have been as deadly as he hoped.

The investigation has revealed that the SUV contained an extremely jury-rigged device: simple alarm clocks, a "birds nest" of wiring, eight bags of fertilizer, jerry cans of 10 gallons of gasoline, M88 firecrackers, and three propane tanks. The...

Cellphone Networks Gang Up on Apple, Google

A is for apps--and agitated cellphone networks. They've formed a consortium in an attempt to fight back against the overwhelming dominance from Apple and Google in the smartphone market, and make some money from the mobile app market.

This week, the three-month-old Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) is to merge with the Open Mobile Terminal Platform (OMTP) and, with a little help from the world's handset makers, including LG, BlackBerry and Samsung, try and put put the brakes on Android...

Why The Times Square Bomb Fizzled Rather Than Boomed

The drama about the Times Square bombing event is continuing, and now a suspect is in custody, thanks to science and forensics. But it looks like the suspect's grip of science wasn't so hot: His bomb probably wouldn't have been as deadly as he hoped.

The investigation has revealed that the SUV contained an extremely jury-rigged device: simple alarm clocks; a "birds nest" of wiring; eight bags of fertilizer; jerry cans of 10 gallons of gasoline; M88 firecrackers and three propane tanks. The...

Sustainability Faceoff: Walmart vs. Target

There can be only one winner in the battle of the big box retailers. In the new book The HIP Investor, author R. Paul Herman claims that Walmart trumps Target in a comparison of profit, management, and human impact (health, wealth, earth, equality, trust) qualities. We agree.

It's hard to argue with Walmart's superior profitability, but sustainability is always subjective. We've detailed Walmart's sustainability initiatives extensively on FastCompany.com--the company offers locally grown...

Infographic of the Day: We're Drowning in Green Label Glut

A glut of eco-labels has actually made it harder to consume responsibly.

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The Washington Post has an infographic on the incredible number of green labels
flooding the marketplace in recent years. Fair Trade, Certified
Naturally Grown, Energy Star, FSC, LEED, OTCO, EPEAT.... How do you keep it all straight?

You don't. Based on a survey by the World Resources Institute, Duke University and the green analyst Big
Room Inc., 600 labels worldwide dispatch some sort of eco -benchmark; 80
of...