Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #40

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, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, PressBooks, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so 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:

• Interchangeable Parts – Engines Of Our Ingenuity. "There are all sorts of fascinating, poorly-formatted nuggets in the corners of the Web. The Engines of Our Ingenuity is no exception: a labor of love that’s been running on NPR since 1988, with around 2700 episodes under its belt. You could do worse than to use this as the basis for an entire history lesson: it’s like a user manual for Sid Meier‘s Civilization. As an example, I’ve chosen an episode on interchangeable parts — something we take for granted every time we repair a car or change a battery, but which was revolutionary in the 1700s." (Alistair for Hugh).
• The Case of the “Audiosonic Identiglyph” – Kempa. "All I need to do is quote the creators’ final words: ‘To this point, the feedback has been equal parts amazement, ennui and rabid consumerism, which, in the introduction of any bleeding edge technology, is an entirely predictable result.’ Adam Kempa, with the help of many others, takes on a secret message from Brand Labs. Encoded on the liner for Fawn‘s Greetings from the World Wide Web, it’s a great example of how messages reach audiences on many levels. Brand Labs’ tongue is firmly in their cheek for this one." (Alistair for Mitch).
• The Valparaiso Cerro Abajo Bike Race. "This is the craziest video I have ever seen, I think. One of them, anyway." (Hugh for Alistair).
• The best journalism-job want ad ever ever – Mother Jones. "If every newspaper posted job ads like this one, I think there would be less talk of the death of journalism." (Hugh for Mitch).
• Google Debuts New Online Magazine – Mashable. "With Google quietly launching their own online magazine this week, you might think that this link would be for Hugh, not Alistair (and you would be wrong). Think Quarterly is, ‘a 68-page dive into the world of data and its impact on business. The first thing most people will notice is that it’s a visually stunning piece of work. It’s a rich Flash app with Google ‘s quirky sensibilities and the in-depth writing you might find in BusinessWeek or Salon. Google’s quarterly magazine is edited and designed by creative agency The Church of London,’ explains Mashable. Is Google about to make data and business even cooler?" (Mitch for Alistair).
• Twitter Was Act One – Vanity Fair. "Let’s face it, there many, many times that traditional mass media gets it right. This is one of those instances. Quality and well-established magazines (and other publications) are offered access to certain individuals most Bloggers could only dream of. When you couple that with someone who has experience writing long, in-depth features and has a knack for telling a great story, you get a beautiful piece like this one from Vanity Fair. David Kirkpatrick is the best-selling author of The Facebook Effect and in this article he interviews Twitter founder (and current CEO of Square), Jack Dorsey. It’s a must-read." (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.

VCA 2010 RACE RUN from changoman on Vimeo.