Categories: Articles

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #170

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:

Automatic style spotter can spot your next book – New Scientist. "’Software can build a visualization of a novel’s style, helping to spot the next bestseller or holiday read.’ Shoot me now." (Alistair for Hugh).
James Burke predicted the future in 1973. Now he does it again – PM. "James Burke changed my life with his Connections series. I think I’ve actually used it as a link before. Well, he’s a smart guy, and he’s still at it. Here’s an audio interview in which he compares his predictions of the future to what the world is like today. They’re pretty accurate; he also guesses at the future from today’s perspective." (Alistair for Mitch).
Self-referential chart – Boing Boing. "I love good data visualization." (Hugh for Alistair).
Fuck You. I’m Gen Y, and I Don’t Feel Special or Entitled, Just Poor – Adam Weinstein. "There was a post flying around Facebook about how Gen Y is spoiled. You probably read it. I read it, or enough of it to conclude that it was condescending bullshit. Here’s a great response from someone at the older-end of Gen Y, born in 1977. (I think I’m at the young end of Gen X). Especially great is the exchange between commenter ‘shootingfan’ and the author." (Hugh for Alistair).
Google is starting a new company to monetize life extension and disrupt the death space – Quartz. "I spent a lot of time with the people at Google this past week. From attending the Google Zeitgeist event in Phoenix (where I was one of the first non-Googlers to go for a spin in a self-driving car), to speaking at their Think Performance event at the Googleplex. When you have conversations with brands about Google, it’s hard for them to see beyond AdWords and Android. Google is disrupting so many spaces – at so many levels – that it is staggering. They are miles ahead of most (and most people don’t even know it). Now, this company called Calico. It just keeps getting more and more interesting." (Mitch for Alistair).
Why I Am A Superhero – James Altucher Insider’s List. "I was kind of upset with Hugh, this past week. In the last 6 links, he wrote about James Altucher and called him one of his favorite writers on the Web today. I could not agree more. I’m just mad that I didn’t say it first. This post is a killer. He is clever, funny, deeply personal and, ultimately, right. There is a sense of directness in his writing that keeps it from creeping into the awkward self-help category. With that, his writing style is so powerfully personal, that you can’t help but feel like you know him. I loved this one. I saved this one. I am going to keep on sharing this one with anyone that will listen." (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.