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, Solve For Interesting, the author of Complete Web Monitoring, Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks and Lean Analytics), Hugh McGuire (PressBooks, LibriVox, iambik and co-author of Book: A Futurist’s Manifesto) and I decided that every week 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:
- Zygote Body. "It’s only for Chrome browsers, and it’s a bit clunky still–but it shows the immense power of the Internet to democratize information. Here’s a fully explorable, anatomically correct 3D model of the body for you to explore. That’s cool. What’s transcendent is to think about the textbooks of yesteryear, which cost hundreds of dollars, and to compare them to what’s available absolutely free today." (Alistair for Hugh).
- How Lego Became the Most Valuable Toy Company in the World – AdWeek. "This Adweek piece sums up just how good Lego has it–an almost Apple-like fanboy ecosystem, along with the ability to partner up with just about anyone they choose. Great look inside the marketing machine of a company everyone loves." (Alistair for Mitch).
- Mobile phone data redraws bus routes in Africa – BBC. "Using geo-located mobile phone usage data to help determine the need for/location of new bus routes." (Hugh for Alistair).
- The Birth of a Format: How Netflix Reinvented Television in Just 13 Hours – Bonnier. "Netflix took a look at its user data, and decided to build a 13-hour series to spec (House of Cards). An interesting twist: all 13 episodes from season one were released simultaneously (I watched them all over a 3-week period). So, what does this mean for makers of content?" (Hugh for Mitch).
- Nilofer Merchant: Got A Meeting? Take A Walk – TED Talks. "I have been using my Jawbone Up bracelet fairly regularly since attending the last TED conference. It measures how active I am and how my sleep is. The truth is that I am way less stressed out now because I see that I actually move and sleep quite more than I thought. As anyone in a startup – or who acts as an entrepreneur – will tell you, sitting through meetings all day may make you richer, but it’s hard to stay in shape when we simply don’t move all that much. In this fun (and short) TED Talk, my good friend Nilofer Merchant says to take a hike for your next meeting – literally. It’s a great idea and makes perfect and simple sense. The truth is that golfers have been doing this forever but now is the time to take it off of the green and into everyone’s life." (Mitch for Alistair).
- The Death Of Blogs? Or Of Magazines? – The Dish. "Here we go… again. Google Reader is leaving and people just don’t have the patience to follow one, specific, writer as they rant and rave through their own personal blog. The true future of blogs is like an online newspaper. Ummm… no. Publishing changes, yes. Blogs are something else from what they once were, yes. We have to stop confusing evolution and changing habits with the death of anything. Or, at the very least, lets get some real data to back these sort of headlines up." (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.
Because this is the 150th time that Alistair, Hugh and I have shared our links for one another, Hugh provides this bonus link:
Goat On A Hippo.
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.