David Lidsky's Blog, page 4884

Boston's Walking Innovation Tour, Complete With Zuckerburgers!

Last week, we reported on why you should start a company in Boston, citing the city's large supply of smart, creative people. Now Boston.com has created an innovation tour modeled after the Freedom Trail. As you might expect, most of he tour stops are in Cambridge, home to Harvard and MIT. Noteworthy stops include Akamai's command center (#4), without which, there would basically be no Internet, MIT's Media Lab (#5), the center that spawned One Laptop for Child and E-Ink, and drug-maker...

Facebook's Ad Plans: Tackling Google Head-On

There's news that Facebook is releasing a new version of its Ad Conversion tool for advertisers to see how well their placements are going. Interesting stuff, if you're an advertiser. But the back story is huge: Facebook is tackling Google.

Basically Facebook is enabling its advertising partners to get the detailed low-down on the return on investment they're getting from ad placements on Facebook--the tool allows you to "track activity that happens on your Web site as a result of someone...

iPad Rumor Mill: Hulu, $1 TV Shows, and Still No Camera

We may know of its official existence now, but the the rumors surrounding the iPad haven't died down since its announcement. If anything, they've got more intense. In the latest crop: $1 TV shows, Hulu, definitely no camera, and the FCC.

$1 TV Shows in iTunes

This one's coming from the Financial Times, which has sometimes been near the target with Apple rumors, and it centers on pricing of TV shows on iTunes. According to the FT, Apple's reported to be moving from its $1.99 standard...

George Lois on MTV's Changes to His Original Logo: Less Snookie, More Stones

Exclusive: George Lois, the ad man behind the original "I want my MTV" campaign weighs in on the new logo. "The visuals they're using now are of those silly reality TV people, instead of talent like David Bowie."

We've watched it coming from a mile away, with one reality show after another eclipsing good ol' fashioned music videos, but now it's official: MTV is no longer music television. The new logo is cropped and scaled to fit today's 16:9 aspect ratio TVs versus the old 4:3 standard, and...

How the iPad Might Bring Us Back to Our Print Roots

I'm going to admit that I'm excited about the iPad. And from the buzz it seems I might be alone on this one. I'm seeing comments that range from, "That's it?" to "This is an iPhone with a larger screen." Adding to the thoughtful sentiments are calls for the heads of AT&T executives for their sub par network service. I've got my pitchfork and torch in hand and am ready for the AT&T witchhunt, but I'm putting them down to use an iPad first.

My excitement doesn't brew from iPad's functionality...

Infographic of the Day: Twitter's Explosive Growth, Behind the Scenes

A mesmerizing look at the programming that's gone into creating Twitter.

Setting up Twitter was just a matter of building the thing and then watching it explode, right? Not even close: To make sure the operation can handle an exponentially growing user base, the code has to constantly revised and improved.

To illustrate that, Ben Sandofsky, an engineer at Twitter, ran the site's code through Code Swarm, a data viz program that tracks programming changes (a little bit like tracking redline...

Loving Thy Neighbors: American Volunteer Ranks Swell

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Infographic: Rob Vargas

One happy consequence of last year's rough economic season was that more people had more time on their hands--and instead of playing Wii all day (though there was, undoubtedly, plenty of that, too), they decided to chip in, help out, do good. Volunteering in America has, in fact, been on a three year run. Here we illuminate the ways in which this spirit is manifesting itself. Hopefully it will persist as the economy improves and more people return to work.

Can High-Speed Rail Reduce Our Reliance on Air Travel?

The Obama Administration's $8 billion plan to bring high-speed rail to the U.S. is ambitious, to say the least. And with so much cash riding on its success, it better have some redeeming merits. One possible benefit: a reduced reliance on air travel. China's vast network of high-speed trains has cut into air travel so much that China Southern Airlines Co. (the country's largest carrier) and Air China Ltd. have reduced prices by up to 80% to compete with the rail network.

The trend shows...

What You're Not Missing at MacWorld 2010: Kevin Smith, NYT's David Pogue Tinkling the Ivories

Cue wild yelps and cheers from the Mac crowd: MacWorld 2010 kicks off today! Excitement! Adventure! Multitouch! And really ... okay, nothing that special. Without the participation of Apple, the company behind the brand for which the convention is named, it's going to be a subdued scenario.

MacWorld's Web page has a splash advert for what's going to be the hottest topic of conversation at the event: The iPad. It's promoting an "iPad special event" on Saturday February 13 which will...

Whole Foods, Bed Bath and Beyond Reject Suppliers That Use Oil From Canadian Tar Sands

As the light, sweet crude oil that we rely on for many of our everyday activities becomes more scarce, companies have started to increasingly turn to a toxic alternative: fuel from Canada's Tar Sands. But now two major companies--Whole Foods and Bed Bath and Beyond--have taken a stand against buying from suppliers that rely on oil from the Tar Sands.

Fuel from the Tar Sands isn't as easy to get to as conventional oil, so it's more energy-intensive to retrieve it--Tar Sand oil production...