David Lidsky's Blog, page 4784

Why Does iTunes App Store Need a Facebook Page?

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We've heard rumors that Apple is trying to make its services more social-net-centric, and we know that the App Store needs a bit of an overhaul if it's to remain vital and easily navigable. But Mashable points us to an App Store Facebook page. Who expected that?

The Facebook App Store page pronounces itself the "official App Store Facebook page" and then explains exactly what this is all about: Becoming a fan of the page, or interacting with it as an iPhone or iPod Touch user (and presumably...

The Sword Falls: China Severs Access to Google Search

This really does look like the final blow in the war between Google's Search Engine and the censorship-loving Chinese authorities: The sword has fallen, severing all access to Google Search from inside China. Even the mobile site is being partly blocked.

According to the Telegraph newspaper, in "almost every major Chinese city" users are reporting back that they simply cannot access Google's search engine results, even via Google's Hong Kong work-around. The government demands that companies...

Google Maps Helps Portland Chloe O'Brians Triangulate Source of Pipe Bomb

On Sunday night, geo-developer Reid Beels was sitting in a restaurant in Portland when he heard a loud bang. It seemed he wasn't the only one, as the twittersphere was soon thick with (no doubt) WTF-style exhortations from around the Oregon city's users. As no one could immediately get to the bottom of it, Beels set up a map using the My Maps app on Google, and invited people to collaborate, using different-colored pins.

Over 1,000 people added pins--100 in the first hour--and the map has...

Enjoy a Piping Hot Cut of the Future ... Without the Burn!

Could this be what your Starbucks latte will come in, a few years from now?

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Scott Amron--one of the cleverest American product designers working today--has just released his newest concept: The Heatswell, a disposable coffee cup with a built in sleeve for shielding your hand from a burning hot cuppa joe. Unlike his other product designs this one might move beyond being merely clever, into the realm of mass production.

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It's pretty simple: Instead of a separate cardboard...

Cisco to Turbo Boost South Korean City to 'Smart' Future-City Status

Cisco has just signed up to what sounds like a bizarre and confusing thing: It'll be a partner in developing a whole "smart city" in Korea. Weird. But if you think about it, with networks connecting up everything, it may be a model for where you'll live in the future.

We're talking about Incheon, in South Korea. It's going to transform the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) into a "high-tech, globally competitive and environmentally sustainable smart connected city" which sounds terrifically...

Infographic of the Day: What the iPad Really Costs

Huh. Maybe $500 is a bargain?

Maybe the iPad seems kinda spendy, at an entry level price of $500. But consider the history of Apple pricing: Below is a chart of the prices of major Apple products introduced since 1976, adjusted to present dollars.

When Apple really lost its way in the late 1980's and early 1990's, the prices of its products were totally insane--for example, almost $1100 for a Newton in 1993. (And the device really didn't do all that much, in retrospect.) But since then...

Social Media Getting a Bit Too Up-Close, Personal, Erroneous

Is it just me, or is social media getting a little creepy? This week I came across a couple of websites that, as well as being cute, funny, and a little bit different from the usual Facebook and Twitter offshoots. The first, SleepingTime, lets you find out when individual Twitterers sleep--and it's even compiled a list of the world's foremost tech experts' sleep/tweet times. So, if you want to know when you can rob Kara Swisher's house, or even shin up their drainpipe just to stand over her...

Why a Verizon iPhone Isn't a Panacea

That old faithful iPhone rumor, about a Verizon CDMA version of Apple's wonderphone, has surfaced again, to the delight of AT&T iPhone users and wanna-haves. But will it actually be any better in terms of service quality? 

This time it's the Wall St Journal at the heart of the rumor, and as well as being a more reputable publication than some other sources, we've already speculated that Apple may be using the WSJ as a deliberately leaky news valve. The actual published story says little more...

Obama Plays Good Cop to Google's Bad Cop with China

President Obama received the new Chinese ambassador to the US, Zhang Yesui, with more than the customary platitudes promising a beneficial relationship between two countries. After all, the US has essentially been pissing China off recently.

Google's much-ballyhooed strikes over internet freedom and censorship, though they lacked formal participation from the US government, were still huge symbolic strikes against a Chinese regime more concerned with controlling its citizens than allowing...

Android Is on Its Way to Beating iPhone in Mobile Web Use

AdMob (which we'd be remiss to forget, is owned by Google) is the biggest mobile ad platform on the planet, so its data measures a very specific thing. Not total number of handsets, or most money spent, or biggest app store, but pure mobile web use. And in that sense, there are really only two competitors in the US, and one is about to overtake the other.

Back in October 2008, the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Microsoft Windows Mobile platforms were all competitive in mobile web use. But consumers...