Categories: Articles

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #185

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:

Mapping The Wealth Of U.S. ZIP Codes Shows The Haves Hiding From The Have-Nots – Fast Company. "One of the things I’ve loved about 2013 has been the rise of visualizations that help convey data–congressional deadlock, the outbreak of conflict, spending habits, and more. The intersection of a connected populace and widely available tools to crunch large amounts of data makes this possible. Here’s a Fast Company interactive infographic that shows the rich hiding from the poor, in what Harvard philosopher, Michael Sandel, calls the ‘skyboxification’ of American life." (Alistair for Hugh).
Nordic Soul Top 100 Albums of 2013 Mix – Sean Horton. "A couple of years ago, I helped run Seattle’s Decibel electronic music conference. Decibel is the brainchild of Sean Horton, who is also an amazing DJ and the guy who programs music for a bunch of big retailers and brands. If you want to know what artists and sounds you’ll be familiar with three years from now, look no further than his annual lineup." (Alistair for Mitch).
George Saunders’s Advice to Graduates – The New York Times. "In short, be kinder. Wise words for all of us in 2014." (Hugh for Alistair).
Structure. Beyond The Picnic Table Crisis – The New Yorker. "This is one of those crazy, long pieces The New Yorker is famous for. In it, John McPhee explores – in a long, digressive, but highly structured essay – how to write long, digressive, but highly structured essays. Even though you don’t know at all where it is headed, you want to stick with it, with the writer on his journey of discovery and exposition. And that is the best kind of writing, for my money, the kind that doesn’t tell you where it is going, but when you get there, it all makes sense (and you’re glad you stayed till the end)." (Hugh for Mitch).
NSA seeks to build quantum computer that could crack most types of encryption – The Washington Post. "Well, here’s a thought: if you want to beat the encryption and privacy game, why not just build and SUPER super computer. One that uses quantum computing. One that is so powerful that it simply glides through all of that private stuff that all of us think is protected by passwords and security. Plus, if let’s say you were a government agency that had the resources and capabilities to build that type of system and then have access to everything, who would know? Creeped out? You should be." (Mitch for Alistair).
In Speed Metal, Fastest Drummers Take a Beating – Wall Street Journal. "The technology makes it hard to tell the difference between a human doing a double bass drum blast beat or a drum machine. So, bands that are trying to push the limits of heavy metal (in terms of aggression and speed) are turning to technology when the feet fails. If there’s one thing I can tell you about heavy metal (and trust me, I have tons of experience on this topic): the faster it is, the better it is. The problem with that equation is that fans of the genre want it faster, but they also want it to be real. So now, the great debate begins. What wins? Feet or algorithms? And, for the record, Mike Mangini (currently in Dream Theater) is one worthy of checking out -video below)." (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.

Transitions with John Digweed – 19th December 2013 by John Digweed on Mixcloud

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.