David Lidsky's Blog, page 4768

Today's Most Innovative Companies by Popular Demand

Harris Interactive polled close to 30,000 folks to find out what companies have the best reputations in corporate America. A yet-to-be-released part of that study tested the public on which companies had the most innovative products and services. Harris provided Fast Company with the list. Here are 3 of the top 5, stacked against our own list of innovators.

Apple: Looks like public perception matches up with Apple's reputation as an innovator. Cupertino ranked #1 on Harris' study, and...

Pay No Attention to the Man Behind this Documentary (Banksy)

The extended trailer for the new Banksy documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop has been posted today by Wooster Collective and as we expected, it doesn't reveal much more about the reclusive Banksy himself (who appears pixelated as above, his voice altered). But we do learn more about the bizarre twist of the documentary's plot.

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Thierry Guetta, a French filmmaker also known by his street artist name, Mr. Brainwash (he had his own splashy art show in L.A. named Life is...

Cottage Industry: Design Competition Hopes to Preserve a Brooklyn Block

On the outset there's nothing particularly special about these three tiny cottages in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y. But according to Tina Fallon of real estate agency Realty Collective, the circa 1931 structures may be some of the increasingly rare architectural holdouts in a rapidly transforming area--there's already the gourmet grocery Fairway and an Ikea around the corner, heck, the The Real World: Brooklyn was even filmed nearby. So her company persuaded local developer...

Bebo and the Death of Start-Up Culture at AOL

Look how happy these Bebo users are. Smiling, listening to music, hanging out with their dog, giving sexy eyes. They may soon be forced to find another outlet, though, as AOL announced today that it is looking to sell the social networking site. And if there are no buyers? It's bye-bye Bebo, bye-bye sexy eyes.Things seem a bit adrift at AOL, and the Bebo news makes it seem all that much more... well, drifty. AOL bought the site just two years ago for $850 million, which is nothing to scoff...

A Conversation With Jan Chipchase and Frog Design's Chief Creative, Mark Rolston

How do you design for China, a country that hasn't had much exposure to design but whose citizens suddenly find themselves awash in new money?

On Monday, Frog Design, one of the country's biggest and most respected design firms, announced it had hired Jan Chipchase, one of the world's leading usability researchers and, for many years, one of the highest profile member of Nokia's design team.

It's a big move for Frog and Chipchase both. For Nokia, Chipchase has roamed the developing world...

Jeffrey Hollender Seventh Generation Social Responsibility

This blog is part of our Inspired Ethonomics series. Pierre is an Investor, Director, and VP of Marketing for Guayaki Yerba Mate and will be profiling businesses with a triple-bottom line agenda.

Many of us know of Jeffrey Hollender, founder of Seventh Generation.

Seventh Generation is committed to becoming the world's most trusted brand of authentic, safe, and environmentally responsible products for a healthy home. For 20 years, the closely held Burlington, Vermont-based company has been at...

The Top 50 Bike Friendly Cities in the U.S.

Wondering whether it's a good idea to ride your bike to work? Bicycling Magazine has put together a handy list of the top 50 bike friendly cities in the U.S. (Spoiler alert) Congratulations, Minneapolis, Minn.! Some of the choices are obvious--the list would be suspect if cities like San Francisco, Portland, and New York City weren't included--but others might surprise you. Did you know, for example, that over 5% of Gainesville, Florida, residents commute by bike (it's a town built around...

Court Slaps Down FCC Over Comcast Ruling, Throws Doubt Onto National Broadband Plan

The FCC has been slapped down by federal judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. over its attempts to censure Comcast for slowing down its customers' access to a torrent site. That does not bode well for the government's National Broadband Plan or net neutrality. And, in turn, Comcast's victory today could end up as a pyrrhic victory for the cable company, whose proposed acquisition of NBC-Universal is currently under scrutiny by the FCC.

The ruling relates to a 2008 order from the FCC...

Noon Design Studio Opens First Natural Dye Plant in U.S., Every Color Is Green

Most textiles found in clothing today use dyes that harbor arsenic, lead, heavy metals, and other toxic substances. And while some boutique clothing contains nontoxic, biodegradable naturally dyed fabrics, most of what we wear is made using industrial processes. Enter Noon Design Studio, the first natural dye production house in the U.S.

The Chicago-based studio opened in January and is committed to using sustainable materials at an affordable production scale. According to Ecouterre, Noon...

Facebook Clarifies Questionably-Private New "Pre-Approved Partners"

Late last month, Facebook updated the Privacy Policy to include some new and frankly suspicious additions: "In the proposed privacy policy, we've also explained the possibility of
working with some partner websites that we pre-approve to offer a more
personalized experience at the moment you visit the site." Sounds innocuous, right? Pre-approval just means faster! But it also means you don't get to give your approval to these partners--only Facebook does. And that spells trouble.

Facebook...