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Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #96

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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:

  • World War 3.0 – Vanity Fair. "Deciding who should control the flow of information is the defining issue of our time. Our society is mostly based on systems to overcome the coefficient of friction of physical things — representatives to Washington or Ottawa; goods to their destinations; etc. But when we deal with something frictionless like information, all those old power structures crumble. In this long, scathing, chewy piece from Vanity Fair, Michael Joseph Gross does a great job of explaining the issues at stake. It’s an investment in time that’s well worth it." (Alistair for Hugh).
  • Corporate Twits – tumblr. "Pranking customer support reps online, with varying amounts of success. A bit evil, and mostly funny." (Alistair for Mitch).
  • Today is not tomorrow (or, how to beat Amazon) – Baldur Bjarnason. "If you are at all interested in publishing, and the business of books, you may have heard this past week about a Department of Justice lawsuit against Apple, and some big publishers. And whenever you hear the business of publishing, you’re sure to hear about Amazon. This article might be a bit technical (talking about pricing, design, standards, DRM among other things), but it’s the best most up to date analysis of the ebook world you are likely to find." (Hugh for Alistair).
  • Whiteys Lindy Hoppers .. Helzapoppin. "Possibly the greatest thing I have ever seen." (Hugh for Mitch).
  • DARPA Humanoid Robot Climbs Stairs – Laughing Squid. "I think that Hugh once posted (a while back) a similar video where these freaky robots moved about like animals. Well, it seems like evolution is not just about human beings: now, these robots are evolving and starting walk upright. OK, this is not a perfected technology, but it’s pretty amazing. Watch this video… it will blow your mind." (Mitch for Alistair).
  • The Kindle Index – Priceonomics. "I don’t know where to begin on this piece. It is full of very surprising data and stories about our e-literacy. Which city do you think has the most e-readers? I bet you don’t know the right answer. Will Apple or Amazon win the e-reader war? All of this and more is revealed in this piece. Don’t miss it." (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.

5 comments

  3. While I can’t deny that some of them are very funny, it still upsets me to read that Corporate Twits tumblr. It took many brands a long time to embrace social media, to recognize the power of taking simple actions such as addressing genuine complaints about a business, or using outreach to engage and interact with a brand’s followers. And for the brands that have been brave enough to enter the space, we commend them.
    However, it is exactly these types of pranksters that burden resources which could otherwise be used to engage positively with the community, whether that’s with proactive outreach or reactive responses to genuine comments/complaints. Furthermore, they only exacerbate the hesitation of other brands from entering the space. They’re an unfortunate reality that come with the territory, but I don’t believe we (those that judge or condemn brands without a SM presence) should be encouraging them.

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