Unsuck It
My opposition to business jargon is no secret. (See here and here.)
Hence my love for Mule Design‘s new tool which translates business jargon into plain English.
‘A New Kind of Beauty’
In his latest project, Philip Toledano — the man behind Days with My Father — delves into our modern creation of beauty:
Beauty has always been a currency, and now that we finally have the technological means to mint our own, what choices do we make?
Toledano asks many questions, but answers few. His bio offers a semi-satisfactory explanation of why.
(Fair warning: NSFW photos.)
That Whole Google + Verizon + Net Neutrality Thing
Mark Hurst recaps and links to, in my opinion, the best recommended readings on the matter.
Also see: Daring Fireball’s many articles on net neutrality.
‘The First Church of Robotics’
Jaron Lanier, for the NYT, on a budding “religion” — one popular almost solely amongst technologists — centered around engineering and what might happen as it grows, given the empirical clash of religion and modernity:
If technologists are creating their own ultramodern religion, and it is one in which people are told to wait politely as their very souls are made obsolete, we might expect further and worsening tensions. But if technology were presented without metaphysical baggage, is it possible that modernity would not make people as uncomfortable?
Talk about your loaded question. Then again, at least someone is asking it. And at least that someone is Jaron Lanier. But this question requires another to first be answered: Can technology be totally mutually exclusive from the metaphysical? I would argue: no, not totally.
UPDATE: Another thought: what is so wrong with discomfort? I’m not sure Lanier is implying discomfort is bad, but it seems to be a salient question to the conversation he’s having. Discomfort (in this case) comes from change; therefore, discomfort is inherently neutral — not good or bad. Thus it is change itself which must be good or bad. I believe that is what Lanier is getting at: doing a better job of evaluating the things we do and why we do them, given the incredibly accelerated pace of change since the dawn of the Digital Age.
Don’t Ask People What They Want, Watch Them And Discover What They Need
Mark Hurst:
But here’s the thing about the research: customers never said they wanted an angled measuring cup. In fact, users weren’t even aware that there was a problem to be solved. Consumers didn’t say, “I wish I could read the markings more easily.” They muddled through without complaint. And yet the innovation came directly from observing customers. How?
Simply by observing the customer experience. The job of any product developer, any innovator, is to identify an unmet need – a pain point – a market opportunity – and the best way of doing that is by observing customers. Which means their actual real-world behavior – what they do, not what they say they do. This reveals the genuine customer experience.
The ‘Evolution’ of Disney Princesses
Frightening, to say the least.
Ed Catmull: ‘Success Hides Problems’
And other choice quotes from Peter Sims’ “What Google Could Learn from Pixar” article in the Harvard Business Review.
Aptera’s 200MPG Car Makes X Prize Finals
$10 million at stake, and one of the coolest designs for a car ever. I, for one, sure hope it hits the roads en masse.
Getting Nitpicky on Bloomberg’s Speech
Mayor Bloomberg, earlier in the same speech:
On that day, 3,000 people were killed because some murderous fanatics didn’t want us to enjoy the freedoms to profess our own faiths, to speak our own minds, to follow our own dreams, and to live our own lives. Of all our precious freedoms, the most important may be the freedom to worship as we wish. And it is a freedom that even here—in a city that is rooted in Dutch tolerance—was hard-won over many years.
Not quite true. Explicitly, Al-Qaeda’s motives:
- U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia
- U.S. support of Israel
- U.S. sanctions on Iraq
The common element? America’s global presence, which Al-Qaeda perceives as imperialism. Bloomberg is a smart man; no doubt he is familiar with Al-Qaeda’s motives. Why Bloomberg, and other leaders, feel it necessary to glad-hand citizens like this remains a mystery to me.
Mayor Bloomberg Gives the Speech of His Career
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on the controversy of putting a mosque near Ground Zero:
On Sept. 11, 2001, thousands of first responders heroically rushed to the scene and saved tens of thousands of lives. More than 400 of those first responders did not make it out alive. In rushing into those burning buildings, not one of them asked, “What God do you pray to?” (Bloomberg’s voice cracks here a little as he gets choked up.) “What beliefs do you hold?”
Carl Bernstein on Government: ‘There Are Plenty of Secrets’
The legend himself minces no words in discussing secretive government, corruption, and how the Obama administration is the first in a while to really crack down. Also, some wise thoughts on investigate journalism today vs. yesterday.
Jeffrey Miron Wants to Legalize All Drugs
Yes, all drugs. As in cocaine, heroine, and meth.
Disagree with the facts, studies, and predictions all you want, but Miron’s definition of freedom is rock solid:
My basic argument is that, first, in a free society we should allow people to consume whatever they want—no matter how dangerous, no matter how much it might be bad for them — because that’s what freedom means. Not just the freedom to do things that are good for you, but the freedom to do things that might not be good for you. Or that other people might think are not good for you.
‘You Are Not So Smart’ Takes on Confirmation Bias
David McRaney:
The Misconception: Your opinions are the result of years of rational, objective analysis.
The Truth: Your opinions are the result of years of paying attention to information which confirmed what you believed while ignoring information which challenged your preconceived notions.
What is happening here? Is the universe trying to tell you something?
No. This is how confirmation bias works.
Punditry is a whole industry built on confirmation bias.
Rush Limbaugh and Keith Olbermann, Glenn Beck and Arianna Huffington, Rachel Maddow and Ann Coulter – these people provide fuel for beliefs, they pre-filter the world to match existing world-views.
If their filter is like your filter, you love them. If it isn’t, you hate them.
A man after my own heart. Each and every YANSS article is worth reading, and this is no exception.
IDEO Envisions A Future of Self-Service Banking
Once you watch this, all “modern” ATMs will make you sad-face.
Maybe Journalism 101 Should Be Compulsory
At least then students would surely learn the concept of source verification. From the aforementioned ReadWriteWeb article on the UIC study of students’ Internet research behavior:
However, in reviewing the screen-capture footage of those respondents, the researchers found that even in this supposedly savvy minority, none actually followed through to verify the identification or qualifications of the site’s authors.
Duh
Turns out young people aren’t as tech savvy as studies said we wanted them to be.
Dylan Kelley Gets A Truly American Tattoo
Somebody sure likes Emma Lazarus.
Bud Caddell Is Writing A Book Funded by The Internet
I passively mentioned Bud’s upcoming (and untitled) book yesterday, but it really deserves its own post. So enjoy Bud in an interview with the Denver Egotist:
For the first time in a long while, an idea given air to breathe and an opportunity to grow support is far more valuable than that secret idea locked away behind a mountain of legal jargon and secrecy.
Can’t wait to read the finished product. Freeze me now.
The Best Insider Account of The Tea Party Movement Yet
Bob Inglis — one and the same responsible for Bill Clinton’s witch-hunt — lost his House seat because he refused to follow Tea Party orders. David Corn summarizes:
Inglis says that it’s hard for Republicans in Congress to “summon the courage” to say no to Beck, Limbaugh, and the tea party wing. “When we start just delivering rhetoric and more misinformation…we’re failing the conservative movement,” he says. “We’re failing the country.” Yet, he notes, Boehner and House minority whip Eric Cantor have one primary strategic calculation: Play to the tea party crowd. “It’s a dangerous strategy,” he contends, “to build conservatism on information and policies that are not credible.”
Is it just me, or is the Tea Party starting to feel like a George Lucas film?
True American Leadership
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg:
This nation was founded on the principle that the government must never choose between religions or favor one over another. The World Trade Center site will forever hold a special place in our city, in our hearts. But we would be untrue to the best part of ourselves and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans if we said no to a mosque in lower Manhattan.
(Verbatim via John Gruber.)
Billionaires Donate Billions
Well, I’ll be…
BBC: ‘Google Cleared Of Wi-Fi Snooping’
So ends another blown-out-of-proportion oh-no-it’s-a-conspiracy.
The Warm, Sympathetic Police Officer
They do exist.
For Whom Do You Make the World a Better Place?
Bud Caddell wants to know. And since we’re all in this together, everybody everywhere should answer — not just “creatives.”
(Also, Bud just got a book funded entirely via Kickstarter.)
‘Higher Education Is Overrated; Skills Aren’t
Michael Schrage:
The point isn’t to declare a college degree antithetical to launching a high-tech juggernaut but to observe that, perhaps, higher education isn’t essential to effective entrepreneurship.
Couldn’t agree more.
(Thanks to Andy Santamaria.)
Evidently Blatant, State-Supported Racism Wasn’t Such A Good Idea
Can we all just agree that only a few dumb-dumbs with power were the reason this legislation passed in the first place and please move forward now?
‘No One Nos: Learning to Say No to Bad Ideas’
Reasonable debut on A List Apart by Whitney Hess.
‘Choice Not Charity’
Warren Kimmel interviews Jaqueline Novogratz, founder of Acumen Fund, in his new series What The Future. Warren and Jaqueline discuss Acumen’s innovation of a new (and incredibly successful) way of tackling poverty called “patient capital.” Patient capital is a balance between traditional venture capital and traditional philanthropy.
The second part turns the emotional knob up to eleven. One revolutionary, contemplating whether or not to trust a business leader, as they burned an entire market to the ground:
I was always going to kill him.
Watch the first episode for free on the WTF website.
Richard Branson on BP and Gaia Capitalism, in 2008
A choice quote from Richard Branson, in his book Screw It, Let’s Do It:
I agreed to join the Climate Group’s leadership council, alongside people like Al Gore and the petroleum group BP. A petrol company might seem an anomaly, but BP is concerned enough about the future to have been engaged in this issue for a long time. [emphasis mine]
An anomaly indeed.
