Categories: Articles

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #123

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, PressBooks, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".

Check out these six links that we’re recommending to one another:

When A Daughter Dies – Freakonomics. "There can be no greater sadness than to bury one’s child. In this guest post on Steven Levitt‘s Freakonomics blog, Steven’s father chronicles the last months of his daughter’s life. It’s harrowing, but also gives unusual insight into how the medical system works. As he writes, ‘I have attempted to relate the experiences of a father/physician as he watches his daughter die of cancer.’ Her course was a testament to the limitations of medical care. In this era of molecular biology, the most valuable medication was morphine, a drug that has been available for almost 200 years." (Alistair for Hugh).
A Beginner’s Guide to Personal Integrity – Think Different. "We hear a lot about how marketers have to be genuine, consistent, and authentic. Much of this has to do with the way we assign trust (something our friend Julien Smith talks about a lot in his awesome new book, The Impact Equation, but that’s not the point right now). This post by Bob Marshall attempts to define integrity–something you wouldn’t think needed defining, but, well, here we are. As Bob says, ‘There can be no friendship without confidence, and no confidence without integrity.’" (Alistair for Mitch).
Apple, Samsung, Google and the smartphone patent wars – everything you need to know – The Guardian. "The Apple/Samsung patent war explained." (Hugh for Alistair).
Hundreds Register for New Facebook Website – The Harvard Crimson. "I don’t see what the big deal is, if you want to post stuff, just post it on your blog. I don’t get what value Facebook adds." – Hugh McGuire, 2008. (Hugh for Mitch).
Panetta Warns of Dire Threat of Cyberattack on U.S. – The New York Times. "We’re all sticking our heads in the sand when it comes to cyber security. It’s not sexy and it’s not something that the vast majority want to think about. So, think about this: where is your money? Do you think it’s piled up in some bank vault? It’s not. It’s a bunch of zeroes and ones. Credit card information? Same. The management of things like electricity and the water purifiers in your city? Yup, all controlled by computers… the kind that get hacked. It’s going to take more than articles like this for people to wake up, but it’s a reality and it’s going to happen. It is an inevitability. I’m no doom-monger, but it just seems like we’re woefully unprepared. I hope everyone read this article… and takes the information to heart." (Mitch for Alistair).
Exoskeleton Could Help Astronauts Run A Marathon In Space – PSFK. "When something uses the word ‘exoskeleton’ it gets my attention. I love this sort of stuff. Imagine having an exoskeleton that could take over for your muscles when you get tired… or add power to what your muscles are already doing. Singularity anyone? I’ve been on the Makers kick for some time now and I do think that robotics is going to be big, huge and important to business moving forward. The possibilities will, truly, be endless. Let’s be honest, it’s a great time to be alive!" (Mitch for Hugh).

Now it’s your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.