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:

• It’s a beautiful thing when free data meets free analytics – GigaOm. "I hesitated to post something this hardcore geeky to our weekly list, but it’s worth the investment. Last week I sent something about Jaron Lanier, and his worries over the concentration of the data of the many in the hands of the few. GigaOm‘s Derrick Harris points out that BigML (a machine learning service) and Quandl (an open data provider) have teamed up. You may not know other open services like openstreetmap.org (an open version of Google Maps) and CommonCrawl (an open repository of the web’s contents), but collectively, tools like these create a ‘shadow’ version of the Internet tools on which we rely (think OpenOffice versus Microsoft Office). As people want to analyze the chaff of their digital lives–without the scrutiny and profiteering of commercial tools and social networks–these kinds of tools will become increasingly important." (Alistair for Hugh).
• Timelapse – Time. "This Google/Time Magazine interactive feature shows an amazing amount of detail on how our planet is changing. It makes me realize that, for maybe the first time, we have the visibility from space to see; the computing power to analyze; and the networking to distribute a truly global view of our planet. Some of the imagery is a sobering reminder that we’ve achieved such power at a high–maybe unrecoverable–cost." (Alistair for Mitch).
• Could IBM Be The Next Google? – Forbes. "Big data for the people (Google) vs. big data for companies. Is IBM (a company with astounding staying power) poised to bring big data smarts into their vast network of huge corporate accounts?" (Hugh for Alistair).
• Facebook users in Japan losing interest and heading for the exits – RocketNews24. "Facebook is invincible, right? How could a company that controls the online social interaction of 500 gazillion people ever lose relevance? Well, take a look at what’s happening in Japan: a 20% decline in Facebook users in the past 5 months. In it’s place, LINE has emerged as the dominant social networking site in Japan, with 41.5 million Japanese users (vs. 14 million for Facebook, down from 19 million at the end of 2012). Will LINE grab the imagination of Facebook users in North America? Maybe not, but something else will, eventually." (Hugh for Mitch).
• How does Apple keep secrets so well? – Quora. "I spent the past few weeks in Toronto doing media appearances for the launch of CTRL ALT Delete. I found myself one night in a restaurant sitting next to a couple. One of them works at a competitive agency and they’re pitching for the same piece of business. This individual was talking – in detail – about a lot of confidential information. Both about the agency they work for, their team members and the client that they are hoping to represent. None of it positive. It made me wonder how a company like Apple manages to keep things so secret and then – poof! – here comes this amazing little piece of content on Quora." (Mitch for Alistair).
• Is Quartz the Very Model of a Modern Publisher? – DigiDay. "I often get asked what traditional print media publishers must do to remain viable in this digital age. There are not many answers or examples to point to other than the Huffington Post or BuzzFeed (and those two answers seem to make hardcore journalists squirm). Quartz could be the beginning of an answer (the jury isn’t out yet). For my dollar, this is less about the content and how it looks on a smartphone versus a computer screen and much more about finding a sustainable business model that isn’t predicated on advertising as the sole (and greatest) form of revenue. Why? Because print advertising was based on a model of scarcity and the Internet is a model of complete abundance. Still, Quartz may have a shot, and here’s why." (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.