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:
- Frankenstein Reassembled: Monster – Eyestrain Productions. "My good friend, Shane, has a newly-tweaked blog, which every reader of these links should subscribe to because Shane is brilliant and funny and subversive. This week he dusted off a comic of a story he wrote, which he can now publish online, about Frankenstein. Seems appropriate for Halloween, or as some call it, ‘Goth Christmas.’" (Alistair for Hugh).
- Nordtsrom’s Big Data. "I was at Strata in New York this week. Since we launched the event two years ago, it has grown from 500 to nearly 3500 people, driven by a burgeoning interest in Big Data across nearly every industry. One of the companies that presented was Nordstrom, and they took us behind the scenes of how they analyze data. It’s fascinating–and beautiful. They also posted their content on GitHub for all to see." (Alistair for Mitch).
- U.S. drone operator says he’s haunted by time in squadron that killed 1,626 by remote control: ‘The number made me sick to my stomach’ – National Post. "President Obama, it turns out, is the most ironic winner of the Nobel Peace Prize since Kissinger. Obama has expanded and embraced a policy of global assassinations the likes of which we have never seen, with ‘unmanned drones’ – pilotless aircrafts - raining down death on bad guys and children alike. Historians will someday debate whether the tradeoff between dead jihadists and terrorized civilians was worth it (Pop quiz: how many jihadis do you create when a drone strike kills an innocent family? Answer: who knows?). But regardless of the morality, or effectiveness of American drone assassinations, one thing is sure: drones make pretty grim work for the people who wield the joysticks back in Nevada and Utah." (Hugh for Alistair).
- Researcher Controls Another Person’s Brain Over the Internet – The New York Times. "In another decade or so, we’ll be saying: ‘Remember the quaint old days when people used to complain about the lack of jetpacks? Who needs a jetpack.’" (Hugh for Mitch).
- How the TED website is being rebuilt from the ground up for a new generation of people and devices – TNW. "If you had to build a website today, would you just build a website? Of course you would not. Now, people watch videos on their smartphones, iPhones, websites and more (think Apple TV, etc…). So, when it was time for TED to think about what their digital experience should be, they went deep. Very deep. This isn’t just about building something that millions of people can use. It’s about thinking differently about what consumer’s need in this world. I called this ideology, The One Screen World in my second book, CTRL ALT Delete. Thrilled to see the people at TED embracing it and sharing their thinking with others, because every brand needs to start acting this way." (Mitch for Alistair).
- Remembering Lou Reed – Grantland. "For my dollar, Grantland could be one of the most fascinating online spaces for creative journalism and op-ed writing. Seriously. I was heartbroken to hear about Lou Reed’s passing (as others were). The difference for me is that I had the chance to meet him a couple of times over the years, when I was working in the music industry back in the nineties. Beyond having a deep respect for his work, I have to admit that I was never a fan of his work. I knew it, but it just wasn’t my genre (as I got older, my feelings have changed). In this awesome piece, Chuck Klosterman (who is awesome), pays respect." (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.
Stumbled over Nicholas Carr (of “The Shallows” fame) writing about the perils of robotics and automation in The Atlantic. The more we off-load to technology, the higher the potential that we’ll lose our ability to reason, think and actual perform many tasks. A well-researched and decent read. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/the-great-forgetting/309516/