I see the value of writing clearly and concisely becoming an increasingly important skill for digital workers. Partly for the reasons outlined above, but also because we’re moving into a massive wave of distributed work and self selected customers. This means our voice, and the voice of our companies, are often going to be discovered and engaged with via the copy of our services, the content of our social media channels and the clarity of our emails.
BRYCE DOT VC: Writing As a Competitive Advantage
Never underestimate the power of the pen, or as is the case in our digital world, the keyboard…
(via marksbirch)
Yes, a thousands times yes.
First Taste (by TEDxSydney)
Parents everywhere enjoy this awesomely true video of children tasting new foods for the first time. Love it.
Andreas Gursky - Bahrain, 2005
what I would do to have one of his photos dominating one of my walls.
(via Ultra-minimalist posters for classic movies)
This is tumblr bait, but it’s terrific. So here we go.
Every other time I go out to eat with a group, be it family, friends, or acquaintances of whatever age, conversation routinely plunges into a discussion of when it is appropriate to pull out a phone. People boast about their self-control over not checking their device, and the table usually reaches a self-congratulatory consensus that we should all just keep it in our pants. The pinnacle of such abstinence-only smartphone education is a game that is popular to talk about (though I’ve never actually seen it played) wherein the first person at the dinner table to pull out their device has to pay the tab. Everyone usually agrees this is awesome.
What a ridiculous state of affairs this is.
The IRL Fetish – The New Inquiry (via s-m-i)
I am building something that potentially capitalizes on this fetishization. Then again, the fetish may actually get us to reconsider the balance and while the temporary state of affairs is absurd, the long term realignment is probably a good thing.
Compare these two quotes. The first from Nick Bilton. He’s remarking on the Google I/O experience. The second is from Neal Stephenson’s third novel “Snowcrash.” The parallels are surprising and possibly terrifying:
“Everywhere I looked at the conference, people were wearing Google Glass. Hundreds of them. Maybe more than a thousand! They were on the escalator. At the coffee stations. Press lounges. Lingering in the hallways like gangs of super nerds. They looked like real people as they nibbled on M&M’s and nuts at the snack bars. Except they weren’t; these “humans” were able to take pictures with their eyes and then post them to the Internet.”
-Nick Bilton
Gargoyles represent the embarrassing side of the Central Intelligence Corporation. Instead of using laptops, they wear their computers on their bodies, broken up into separate modules that hang on the waist, on the back, on the headset. They serve as human surveillance devices, recording everything that happens around them. Nothing looks stupider; these getups are the modern-day equivalent of the slide-rule scabbard or the calculator pouch on the belt, marking the user as belonging to a class that is at once above and far below human society. They are a boon to Hiro because they embody the worst stereotype of the CIC stringer. They draw all the attention. The payoff for this self-imposed ostracism is that you can be in the Metaverse all the time, and gather intelligence all the time.
-Neal Stephenson
I’ll go to the bookshop in town, grab three or four books of poetry, sit in the coffee shop, and read those for a while. It’s like loosening up your muscles before a workout.
Slow down.
Desynchronize from standard time frames and surprising opportunities may present themselves.
Incomplete Manifesto for Growth
Bruce Mau’s 43 lessons (and growing) are remarkable. We felt this was particularly relevant to the work we do at Blackstrap on behalf of our readers.
(via blackstrapping)
A big reason why we made Blackstrap. Stated simply.
a picture, Ruben Aubrecht (2004)
A Picture breaks down a digital photo into its component parts, the source code. The entire body of information contained in the now indecipherable picture is bound into a book. (via ruben aubrecht - work)
Love this.
If you want to experience a miracle during your time in Korea, then pay a visit to the Jindo Miracle Sea Festival, which runs from April 7 to April 9. Once a year in Jindo, a tidal phenomenon occurs and the sea miraculously “parts”. This phenomenon is caused due to the difference in high tides and low tides, which creates a 2.8-kilometer-long road measuring 40 to 60 meters in width. The spectacular sight of the waves parting is widely known and many people travel to Korea from all over the world just to witness this amazing event.
According to our still deeply-embedded forager sensibilities, identities are supposed to be formed via informal interactions between apparently equal allies who share basic values.
Robin Hanson
Perhaps this is why social media works so well.
I like to build things with people. I want to make things that matter and that improve life. I have failed in a few of my attempts, but I'm learning and haven't yet backed down from trying again.
I value honesty, an open mind and commitment. I will be part of building a great business and a great team that will create value where value hadn't existed before.
Molasses is a company that creates ways to eliminate distraction by slowing the digital flow. Our first product is Blackstrap. Blackstrap takes selected articles from your Instapaper or Pocket queue, binds them into a book, and sends it to your door in less than 30 days.
Molasses was founded by Irwin, Elliott and me.
-Doing Strategy for Denny's and others
-Helping build Gotham brand in social media
-Learning a ton from smart folks
-Putting ideas on notecards and taping them to the wall
-Trying to replace paper with the iPad
-Building a theory of memes as the root of great strategy
I'm a co-founder of Blackstrap and a Strategy Director at Gotham. I live in a digital world, but love physical objects. I'm a doer of hoops, marathons and ski slopes. I'm a reader of almost anything and a listener of stuff you may hear soon.