David Lidsky's Blog, page 59

TikTok’s new singing contest is ‘American Idol’ for the viral generation

Audition from your bedroom, go viral, and maybe end up performing live at iHeartRadio Theater.

Still haven’t made it to the American Idol stage? Now you can audition for a new singing competition—without ever leaving home.

Pursue performance over benchmarking for ultimate success

Regression to the mean is the unfortunate outcome of most benchmarking today.

“How are we doing against the industry benchmark?”

Computers were designed for humans, robots should be too

From beige boxes to cultural icons, the history of computers shows what happens when design meets emerging tech. Robotics is next.

In 1982, personal computers were beige, boxy, and built for engineers. They were powerful, but uninviting. Few people knew what they were for, or why they might need one. It took more than just better processors to turn computers into objects of mass adoption; it took design.

Amazon’s profit outlook overshadowed by cloud computing results

The tech giant expects total net sales to be between $174.0 billion and $179.5 billion in the third quarter, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $173.08 billion.

Amazon.com forecast third-quarter sales above market estimates on Thursday, July 31, but failed to live up to lofty expectations for its Amazon Web Services cloud computing unit after rivals handily beat expectations.

Forget ‘Shark Week’: ESPN2 has a dog-surfing competition, and you can stream all the ‘best waves’ tonight

Resistance is futile. The most adorable event in TV history begins tonight as part of a monthlong celebration of obscure sports.

While the old proverb “every dog will have its day” was not directly referring to surfing canines, we are going to ride that metaphor like a wave anyway.

Nvidia denies its chips have ‘backdoors’ after China raises security risks over H20

The inquiry comes shortly after the U.S. reversed a ban on Nvidia selling the H20 chip to China.

Nvidia said on Thursday its products have no “backdoors” that would allow remote access or control after China raised concerns over potential security risks in the firm’s H20 artificial intelligence chip.

Mexico tariffs paused for 90 days in order to strike trade deal

The agreement avoids the 30% tariffs that had been set to come into force on Friday.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday that she secured a pause on new tariffs coming into effect and a 90-day period to work on a trade deal during a call with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Middle management is dead.

With AI, every employee is about to become a mini-CEO.

Everyone’s obsessing over whether AI will steal their jobs. They’re asking the wrong question.

‘The overall vibe was total chaos’: Tesla Diner goes viral for long waits and mixed reviews

Elon Musk’s retro-futuristic restaurant is blowing up online as TikTokers share their experiences.

In case you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard, the Tesla Diner opened its doors in Hollywood last week, and online reviews have been pouring in.

Kendrick Lamar’s pgLang launches a new creative agency

A new venture from pgLang called Project3 wants to redefine brand-making with a focus on great storytelling.

When Kendrick Lamar and his longtime creative and business partner Dave Free launched pgLang in 2020, it was under the banner of an “at service company” for creatives. It was an enticing, if somewhat mysterious, modus operandi that led to inquiries in droves.