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 Interesting, Tilt the Windmill, Interesting Bits, HBS, chair of Strata, Startupfest, FWD50, and Scaletechconf; author of Lean Analytics and some other books), Hugh McGuire (Rebus Foundation, PressBooks, LibriVox) 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: 

• Nine months in the long limbo of long covid – Ed Rooksby. “I didn’t know Ed Rooksby, but plenty of people I trust did. He wrote great articles for The Guardian, some of which I’ve browsed since I learned of his death on February 16th. By all accounts, he was a thoughtful, clever, middle-aged man. He was just 45.” (Alistair for Hugh).
  
• Paul R. Williams Redesigned the Beverly Hills Hotel. But Because He Was Black, He Couldn’t Stay There – LX. “Paul Williams designed more than 3000 of LA’s iconic buildings. Can you imagine designing one of the most famous buildings in America, featured in magazines and film, and never being able to stay in it?” (Alistair for Mitch).
• Hex Factor: Inside the Group Offering $250,000 for Proof of Superpowers – One Zero – Medium. “How to find out if your neighbor can really bend spoons with her mind.” (Hugh for Alistair).
• Inside the ‘Wikipedia of Maps,’ Tensions Grow Over Corporate Influence – CityLab – Bloomberg. “OpenStreetMap is one of those amazing web projects — a volunteer-driven, non-profit version of Google Maps that’s been around since 2004. Big companies like Apple and Facebook use OSM, and contribute to it, but the weight of their contributions is starting to worry the community behind OSM.” (Hugh for Mitch). 
• Kings of Leon Will Be the First Band to Release an Album as an NFT – Rolling Stone. “It was just a matter of time. The being ‘first’ component of any new technology is always a great way to get attention. With that, congrats to the rock band, Kings of Leon, for releasing their new album as an NFT. If you don’t know what NFT (Non-fungible Token) is, I’ll refer you to this document: The Non-Fungible Token Bible: Everything you need to know about NFTs. This makes sense for artists of every stripe. It’s a way to create something that is unique, digital but scarce. And that’s where we’re at. A technology that can create scarcity in a digital world of abundance. Now, will consumers get behind this, or is this all too new and foreign for the average rock fan?” (Mitch for Alistair).
• The Era of Audio Creators Has Arrived – The New York Times. “I’m still on the Clubhouse train (for now). With that, I think I’m seeing what I can only describe as an “Attention Ponzi Scheme” (which is another article for another day). As with any new platform (in this case, social audio), it should come as no surprise that people with mass followings (are they Influencers? Experts? Who knows?) will pool together and attempt to figure out a way to monetize the attention (it’s a tale as old as advertising itself). This is that. Brands want in on the Clubhouse attention. Other people want to get into the inner circle. It’s a general social media feeding frenzy. The question remains: Is Clubhouse the future of… something? Time will tell, but there’s a world of attention and people that are jockeying for position, which makes it all that much more interesting. This is especially fascinating if you consider that it’s still invite-only and available for iOS (no Android users).” (Mitch for Hugh).

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

Are you interested in what’s next? How to decode the future? I publish between 2-3 times per week and then the Six Pixels of Separation Podcast comes out every Sunday. Feel free to subscribe (and tell your friends ;):