David Lidsky's Blog, page 4788

Apple Winning the Flash War: New York Times' Video Engine Goes iPad Compatible with HTML5

This is a powerful move for Steve Jobs in his battle over Flash on the iPhone and iPad: Brightcove, the online video provider, just announced it's tweaked its system to allow HTML5 video to replace Flash. That means the New York Times, folks. 

Brightcove's Experience for HTML5 is the specific bit of code we're talking about, and Brightcove's just made it available to its 1,000-plus customers for free. The neatest aspect of this code as far as normal Netizens are concerned is that it allows...

Infographic of the Day: Japan, the Strange Country

A beautiful animation about the quirks of Japanese life and culture.

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In a mere 12 minutes, this video about Japan covers everything from its strange cultural mores to its equally strange economy. Before you get hung up on the ugly caricatures of Japan people and exclaim racism, consider: The creator, Kenichi Tanaka, says, "By the way, please don't call me racist, because I am one of short,
small eyes Japanese." Apparently, his motivation in creating the piece--which was his graduate...

How the iPad Could Make Books Go Viral

With just five days to go before the iPad launches, plenty have predicted that Apple's tablet will decimate Amazon's dominance over the ebook world and how, together, the two companies are screwing the publishers with tough dealmaking. Far fewer prognosticators have considered how smaller companies--and, in turn, authors--are going to benefit from eReaders. In short, have you ever thought that the available technology is going to make books go viral?

Smashwords (449,687,462 words published so...

iPad Slays Tablet Competitors with Killer Apps

Over the weekend a huge number of leaked images gave away what some of the first tranche of iPad apps will look like. Guess what? Everything we guessed about how exciting iPad will be has just been proved true--this thing's apps will rock.

A few weeks back I wrote about one simple iPad app, and how it may indicate the Microsoft Courier-vanquishing powers of the iPad. The idea wasn't to upsell the prospects of the app concerned (PadNotes,) but to spark your imagination off with the sort of...

Apple's iAd Could Bite a Chunk Out of Google's Mobile Ad Business

It's iPad week folks, so expect a deluge of excitement about tablet PCs, e-publishing, TV shows and whatnot: Kicking us off is a juicy rumor that Apple's soon to launch a new "iAd" mobile advertising platform, ready to smack Google where it hurts.

This news comes from MediaPost, who've heard from the requisite insider sources that Apple is due to announce this new system on April 7th--which is timed nicely to ride the rear flank of the huge wave of press that the iPad's launch will result in...

Smart Design's iPad ... Circa 1989

As we all await that moment when we can finally get our mitts on an actual iPad, it's important to realize that the idea of a tablet computer is not a new one. In fact it's been over 20 years in the making. How do I know this, you may ask? I know because a little over 20 years ago Smart Design (along with a few other firms) was asked by Apple to develop concepts for a tablet device.

The Mac products at that time were basic and beige by today's standards.

The Macintosh portable had been...

Work Smart: Taming Your Voicemail in Two Easy Steps

In an email age where text is king, voicemail feels like a big waste of time. First, there are those insufferable voice prompts you have to sit through in order to get your messages or leave one. Then you're waiting for the person who left the message to get through the small talk and to their point, so you can jot down anything important with your free hand. Voicemail is a necessary evil for anyone with a cellphone. But there are two ways you can make leaving and receiving messages faster...

Google Receives More Than 1,100 Official Applications for Fiber Broadband Network

Cities have temporarily renamed themselves "Google." YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook have been used and abused. And hundreds of government officials have written proper applications to be the site of Google's forthcoming fiber network. Google hasn't announced its plans yet, but the company did release some statistics this weekend.

Turns out over 1,100 official governmental applications were sent in, and over 194,000 personal requests from citizens. You can see on the map above exactly where...

iPad App Store Preview Leaks: App CoverFlow

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Apple's new iPad App Store should be immediately familiar to everyone who's used the iPhone's App Store before, since it's pretty much the same. The few changes: you can now browse apps by CoverFlow, and the app selection is different, putting emphasis on the "HD" or "XL" versions of apps made specifically for the iPad.

Browsing the iPad App Store: A Video [By @viticci:] from Federico Viticci on Vimeo.

CoverFlow may not be the best idea; it's a very pretty navigational tool, but anyone with a...

Healthcare Bill Will Cost AT&T $1 Billion, May Lead to Cut in Retiree Drug Coverage: Who's to Blame?

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The news: several companies, including 3M, John Deere, and Caterpillar, have already announced that due to the healthcare plan recently (and with incredible tumult) signed into law, they'll see raised expenses this year, which could be tough in this economic environment. But all of those companies' added expenses combined don't add up to half of AT&T's proposed problem, announced on Friday and reported by the New York Times: the telecommunications giant says they'll see a whopping $1 billion...