Categories: Articles

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #203

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:

SCP Foundation. "One of the weirdest things on the Internet. This is, in some ways, a great example of collaborative storytelling. It’s also freakishly bizarre. The only rule is that these are all stories of containment, obsessively detailed descriptions of how to stop X-Files-like monster-of-the-week horrors from leaking out. The idea of a vault is a pretty common sci-fi trope — Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has the Fridge–and apparently, the Internet has the SCP Foundation. And I bet you can’t read just one." (Alistair for Hugh).
An Easy Interface for the Internet of Things – MIT Technology Review. "All of your devices are belong to us. If you haven’t heard how the Internet of Things is going to change your life, you’re living in a cave. But connecting all those things to one another is a big problem. This MIT Technology Review article talks about one startup, Bug Labs, whose new service, Freeboard, is a really easy way to capture data about a thing and share it. Visit their page on a mobile device (go on, do it now… I’ll wait) and you’ll see stuff about that device, including its current location and position in three dimensions. Now realize that while you’re on that page, anyone anywhere can visit the URL at the bottom, which is unique to you, and see that data. And now, think what a rogue mobile app on your smartphone with one line of code — visiting a web URL — can share with the world." (Alistair for Mitch).
Ukraine: The Phony War? – The New York Review Of Books. "In the fast-moving world of Ukranian politics, this April 27th article is a bit out of date. But, it’s the best overview of what’s going on there, which, frankly isn’t saying much. What is going on?" (Hugh for Alistair).
Monica Lewinsky’s story is a scandal of Americans’ double-standards – The Guardian. "Remember Monica Lewinsky? This The Guardian article (inspired by Lewinsky’s Vanity Fair article) makes for strange reading about a very strange episode in US politics. Can you imagine the effect of having your most private sexual encounters scrutinized in a court room, and gleefully reported on in media outlets around the world? It’s absurd, and horrifying. And terrible." (Hugh for Mitch).
CEO Of Anonymous Social App Whisper Nearly Melts Down On Stage At TechCrunch’s Startup Conference – Business Insider. "I’ve been down this road before. I interview someone for my podcast or an article, and they’re doing their best to stick to whatever narrative they created for their brand. When someone pokes, prods and shows them other sides of the coin, it creates frustration – as if everyone else doesn’t get what they’re doing and the value. There are three sides to every story, and many shades of grey (in almost every story). The challenge is this: if you’re only willing to listen to your own narrative, it may cause some pretty uncomfortable moments… like this one. The bigger lesson: the inventor doesn’t always know what the invention is for or how it will be used. Sometimes accepting other, plausible, outcomes and discussing them openly is better than resisting the reality." (Mitch for Alistair).
The Obsessive Curator of the Internet: Jason Hirschhorn – Priceonomics. "Jason Hirschhorn‘s MediaREDEF is an amazing e-newsletter. If I had to choose just one email to get daily, it would be this one. I have no idea how he curates the world of media so well… until now. And, if you dive down deep into this article, what you uncover is the true art of great curation. You also realize that simply sharing links is not the same as curation. Anyone can click and share, few have raised it to an art form like Jason has." (Mitch for Hugh).

Feel free to share these links and add your picks on Twitter, Facebook or wherever you play.

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.