Group Work
I spent the evening drinking and talking with the wonderful Katie Chatfield. It was a more productive 3 hours than the 10 that had preceded it, and I think the above speaks to that a little. I think if she were here, she’d also be pointing out that the critical thinking can’t be done without those other two things, and I can’t help but agree.
Greenpeace - A New Warrior
Stunning execution from Greenpeace asking for donations to help construct a new Rainbow Warrior ship.
Almost impossible not to donate.
While it’s a report from eMarketer who are hardly unbiased, their latest study has the web receiving 25% of people’s time each day but receiving only 19% of marketing dollars. TV is even with 43% on both counts, but newspapers come out the clear winner, with just 5% of people’s time spent each day but 17% of advertising dollars.
As your friend and mine Alan points out, this has two sides: one suggests newspaper executives have done an excellent job of keeping that much revenue in-house:
This is good news for newspaper publishers because it proves that they have done an excellent job to date of convincing marketers of the value of their medium.
Conversely, it begs the question why they’re receiving so much spend when the attention of the masses is clearly being focused elsewhere.
Me against the music
I have an iPod I rarely use since getting an iPhone. I used to carry two devices with me always, an iPod always playing, a phone I sometimes answered when I felt like it. Now I’m not given a choice - in more ways than one.
Aside from the music stopping if the phone rings, that iPod, all 80 gigs of it, had more music on it than I could ever really hope to listen to. But it also meant not having to make any choices about what I carried with me - not just because of its size but also because I could put music on it from any device. iPhones however don’t have that luxury - they commit you to one computer and one computer only. And in a modern age where access is increasingly key, that seems like a bizarre move to make.
Amazon have understood this notion of access and in a surprise move have beaten both Apple and Google to a music library offering that provides that access wherever you are. Apple have long been rumoured to be working on such a thing, while Google’s music offering hasn’t yet made it to vapor-ware status, but that can’t be far off.
Amazon of course have one final hurdle to jump - plans from mobile carriers that make streaming music constantly from the cloud an affordable reality. They’re unlikely to do that without handsets of their own, the idea of which has the tech press buzzing.
In closing the loop on the consumer journey, Amazon could be making an end-run around Google. “Thanks very much for the technology, but we understand the consumer.” The Seattle-based retail giant has so far failed to make a dent in Apple’s stranglehold on digital music sales. In delivering this service, they’ve finally arrived with a proposition Apple have no clear competitor to.
Not yet anyway.
A Day Made Of Glass - from glass manufacturer Corning.
Is it weird the only time I thought “I can’t see that happening” is when the couple went to sleep on the opposite side of the bed? The side of the bed is sacred. Also - nobodfy in the future is unattractive. Ever.
Interesting to see this come from a glass manufacturer, the last thing I think about when looking at a smart phone is where the glass came from - or what was involved in getting it to function in the way it does. It does make me wonder if there are sideways glances throughout the video at partners with a “We’re doing our part” subtext.
If nothing else, it’s a lot of fun to dream.
(How to Write Epic Shit) Lesson #1: Fear Makes You Tame and Ordinary
Again, trying to be a better writer.
(You’ll notice a theme here…)
“The idea behind the Slow Company movement is that instead of trying to be the first or to get the most mindshare or market share of any company in your vertical, you try to make something that people genuinely find useful and are willing to pay for it. And instead of trying to woo celebrities and plastering your name all over SXSW, you make something that people like so much that they tell their friends, and it spreads by word of mouth based on how well made it is and how awesomely it solves problems that people have — real problems, not ones that marketers make up.”
Lucius Kwok (via jkleske)
Timing. Paying the folks at SoundCloud a visit today, can’t wait.
Thanks to kiel for the link.
(via alexjcampbell)
Gameification vs. Gameplay – G4tv.com
Jesse Schell and Brian Reynolds debate the rise of gamification and the broader trend towards better design in everything we do.
Notes On A Revolution is curated by 