Categories: Articles

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #65

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:

Wealthy Campers Bring Hired Help to Burning Man – The Wall Street Journal. "I spent a week in the desert North of Reno at Burning Man. While it’s a rough place to spend any time, plenty of people bring their creature comforts. This brief video (and the accompanying article) show just how far some people are stretching the definition of ‘self-reliance.’" (Alistair for Hugh).
Jeff Jarvis Remembers 911 On Twitter – Storify. "On Sunday, author and journalist, Jeff Jarvis, relived his day in New York exactly 10 years ago. He tweeted what he was doing when the planes hit the towers, until Twitter‘s rate limiting stopped him. It’s the best use of Storify I’ve seen yet, and it demonstrates just how much of media has changed in ten years. As Jarvis says, ‘If we had Twitter and phones with cameras that day, the world’s view would not have been from a rooftop miles away… it would have been at eye-level.’" (Alistair for Mitch).
Supercomputer predicts revolution – BBC. "We are no longer in the age of computers, or the age of the Web or mobile. Truly, we are witnessing the birth of the age of data: its creation, its collection, and most importantly, its networking. Patterns emerge and we are starting to be able to *predict*… whether someone is likely to buy a particular pair of shoes; and now, whether a country is about to descend into revolution." (Hugh for Alistair).
Ex-Drug Smuggler Turned Data Miner Reclaims Field He Created – Bloomberg. "Data data data is what it’s all about today. Any company, or country not on top of data – about their customers, competitors, their market and their future – is in for a tough time. This is a story about legendary Hank Asher, former cocaine smuggler, former house-painter, former draughtsman, and and and… inventor of LexisNexis and multiple other data/search tools. He’s recently completed terms on a non-compete agreement (an obligation to the last company that bought one of his products), and is back on the horse, making more data tools." (Hugh for Mitch).
Van Halen & Startups – Favo.rs. "I tend to hate articles that attempt to compare something from business to an artist or some such, but what could be better than an article about Van Halen and startups? Really? … and let’s not forget about those green m&ms!." (Mitch for Alistair).
How Information Became a Thing, and All Things Became Information – Discover Magazine. "What is it about human nature that makes us fascinated by things like information… and then how information turns into data? The root must lie in our own curiosity to simply understand things… and a lot of that understanding is based on figuring out why we’re here and what we’re supposed to do with our lives. I know, this is deep stuff, but it’s true. Once we’ve gathered all of the information that we need and we turn it into usable data… then what? Human beings have an unquenchable thirst for information. Have you ever really stopped to think about why? This article was sent to me by Virginia (our ECD at Twist Image), so a special hat-tip to her!" (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.