Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #357

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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 (Solve for InterestingTilt the WindmillHBS; chair of StrataStartupfestPandemonio, and ResolveTO; Author of Lean Analytics and some other books), 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: 

  • I built a robot to apply to thousands of jobs at once – here’s what I learned – Fast Company. “It’s not just blue-collar jobs that have to worry about automation. In fact, much recent research suggests white-collar ones are more vulnerable, because code can be upgraded faster than machines, and simply put, code makes fewer mistakes. Or does it? In this piece, the author sends out hundreds of job applications automatically — and comes to some disheartening conclusions about how badly hirers have automated their side of the job-search bargain.” (Alistair for Hugh).
  • Leningrad – Kolshik – Vimeo. “Just amazing. It’s like a music video and detective story. Fantastic and you have to watch it a few times to figure out what the hell is going on. Talk about massive outcomes from tiny starting conditions.” (Alistair for Mitch).
  • Tire ski jump – YouTube. “They really put the most extraordinary things on TV in Japan.” (Hugh for Alistair).
  • You can write hit songs like the Chainsmokers if you follow this snarky video’s instructions – Mashable. “Hilarious instructional video on how to make a hit song. Easy peasy!” (Hugh for Mitch).
  • What Makes a Genius? – National Geographic. “I love deep pieces like this. Is it nature? Is it nurture? A combination? Can you really ‘make’ a genius? How do we define it? This is a long and thoughtful and powerful read about certain individuals who really do make a dent in the universe. With that, is there a science behind how they pull it off? Is there something new that we need to know about how a genius comes to be?” (Mitch for Alistair).
  • How eBooks lost their shine: ‘Kindles now look clunky and unhip’ – The Guardian. “I thought that more and more people were just using the Kindle app (or other reading apps) on their smartphones, instead of carrying around another device. It seems like mobile screens are getting bigger and bigger while costing less and less. Is it just the device? Now we’re seeing the sales of eBooks take a little dive (so it’s not the device?). Is it phones or – gasp – is it that people are reacting to the idea of reading extra longform content on their smartphones? People love and want paper books now more than ever? Things are starting to get confusing… and interesting in the world of book publishing. Read on, and don’t think that this article is about the end of books. That is hardly the case.” (Mitch for Hugh).

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

Leningrad – Kolshik from FancyShot on Vimeo.