David Lidsky's Blog, page 4728

Gilt Groupe Launches Gilt City, Attacking Groupon in New York City

[image error]Gilt Groupe, one of our Most Innovative Companies, made its bones in flash sales (often just one or two days) of high-end fashion. But now it looks like they're setting their sights on Groupon with a new, more local service called Gilt City.

Gilt City is available in, of course, New York City (and nowhere else, at the moment). It's a bit like Groupon, in that it has limited-time offers of coupons and deals for local merchants, but it's also different in a few ways. For one, there doesn't...

Bribery, Massive Corruption at Samsung, Says Exposé by Former S. Korean Prosecutor

The New York Times reports on the questions the book, entitled Think Samsung, has asked of the South Korean people. Samsung is the single largest tech company in the world by revenue, accounting for more than 20% of South Korea's exports. But even more than that, it's a cultural touchstone for South Koreans, a universal marker of what's cool, what's modern, and what's of high quality.

So when Kim Yong-chul's book accused the company of bribery, money laundering, evidence tampering, and...

Everybody Look Under Your Seats--It's the Official Oprah iPhone App!

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Not to be confused with Oprah Mini, which is a groundbreaking web browser known for its offsite caching and end-of-year gift lists (confusing!), Oprah Mobile is the first official iPhone app for Oprah fans, of which I have been assured there are several. The content comes from Oprah's litany of media, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, O (the Oprah Magazine), Oprah Radio, and Oprah.com. (Side note: In only one paragraph, I have written the word Oprah enough times that it now looks like a fake...

Former Samsung Prosecutor's Expose Accuses Samsung of Massive Corruption

The New York Times reports on the questions the book, entitled Think Samsung, has asked of the South Korean people. Samsung is the single largest tech company in the world by revenue, accounting for more than 20% of South Korea's exports. But even more than that, it's a cultural touchstone for South Koreans, a universal marker of what's cool, what's modern, and what's of high quality.

So when Kim Yong-chul's book accused the company of bribery, money laundering, evidence tampering, and...

What Should You Have Bought? AAPL Stock or Apple Products?

That Apple PowerBook G3 250 you bought back in 1997 may have some nostalgic value, sure, but if you had simply bought up some Apple stock instead you'd be sitting on real value, to the tune of about $330,563.

True! If you had simply been granted the mystical skill clairvoyance back in 1997, you would have seen that the $5,700 you plunked down on the G3 would have been worth many more times times that amount in 2010.

The exhaustive, somewhat depressing for a Mac owner list is available in the...

YouTube Quietly Begins Renting Movies, Warming Up for Fight Against Apple, Netflix, Hulu et al

Google knows it needs to compete with Apple, Amazon, and Netflix on content. That's why they're digitizing libraries. But considering Google also owns the world's largest streaming video site, they've stayed remarkably quiet while Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Hulu have begun to figure out how to make boatloads of money off video content. Google's plans with this aren't clear at all, but they're definitely dipping a toe into the water of media content. And, going by this photo (taken by our...

iFixit's Relaunch: A Wikipedia For Gadget Repair

Gadget makers can tout their superior recycling programs all they want, but let's be honest--replacing a dead iPod, cell phone, or laptop every couple years just isn't sustainable. So instead of ditching dead electronics or paying hundreds of dollars for repair, why not take the DIY approach? IFixit, a website originally devoted to selling iPod and Mac repair parts, relaunched itself this week to do just that as one giant repair manual Wiki.

IFixit explains the reasoning behind the switch:

Can SunHydro's Network of Hydrogen Fueling Stations Succeed?

Fuel cell technology is the perpetual underdog to electric vehicle tech--almost every major automaker has an EV planned for the next few years, but fuel cell vehicles are largely being kept on the back burner just in case public interest suddenly heats up. SunHydro is betting that it will. The gutsy startup is building the first privately funded network of hydrogen fueling stations, starting with a nearly $2 million station in Wallingford, Connecticut this summer. SunHydro plans to capture...

Jilted by HTC, Divvying Up Palm May Be Rubinstein's Only Option

Palm's options are somewhat thin on the ground, following today's news that HTC has lost interest in the struggling smartphone manufacturer. The firm best known for its Android handsets was thought of as the best hope for Jon Rubinstein's struggling company, but has pulled out citing, according to a source, a lack of "synergies." The current hookup rumor links Palm and Lenovo, but with Palm's financial report showing sales at almost one-third lower than analysts had expected, it's going to...

Designing the Perfect Health Care Clinic

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ON THE SET: From left, Dr. Calvin Wheeler, center director Jennifer Liebermann, design director John Kouletsis, and architect Angelene Baldi in a mock-up of a digital operating room. | Photograph by James Chiang

At Kaiser Permanente's Garfield Center, Hollywood-style sets help planners create a patient-friendly blueprint for the future of health care.

On a November afternoon, a wheelchair-bound woman rolls into Kaiser Permanente's Garfield Center in San Leandro, California, for a checkup...