Faster, bigger, better, MOOOOOOORE

Picking up the ideas from the last post on convergene and pace of change;
then again - like the brilliant The Pace of Modern Life shows, we have felt for a long time that the past was a lot simpler, the pace more bearable, the interactions more meaningful and deep.

Perhaps it is like Agent Smith implied in the Matrix, feeling a bit miserable and nostalgic is part of the core of the human spirit and our underlying "OS". We fill whatever time is available to the brim and then some, and then we look at change as something unnatural when it is the only constant.

Reboot?

Quick meta note; this should go out as post 26 for June, and 46 in total - making the first half of 2013 match the total for 2012 - meaning also that we are on good track to finish on par with the 06-08 run of around weekly post on average, at the very least.

Fragment my convergence

Mobile and digital is making everything possible, and breaking down boundaries between products, services and utility. And it is happening at speed.

This is not about media convergence. It's about something bigger. Things change. Things change so fast that sometimes, it's hard to see it. We tend to think about our businesses and our lives in terms of keeping up with change.

The New Convergence by Mitch Joel, ends on the question: what do you think?

I think it will go to pieces for a while

In that the world we've had for a few years now, with Google and Facebook dominating the web, and Apple driving mobile and apps forward is changing into a plethora of markets, devices, ideas and changes.

Kickstarter is one force driving that forward. Products like the Pebble e-paper watch sold for $10 million unseen, untested and with out reviews. It could have sucked. But it still got made and changed how a watch and a remote and a sensor display is viewed.

Sure it has a lot of potential for improvement, but compare the Newton to the iPad and add in innovation at a digital pace - and five or ten years down the road you might be able to "drag" any app from your main device onto one or more support devices, to show the data you need right now just right.

Platforms like Arduino and the Raspberry Pi are making the "somewhat smart" gadget even more affordable and providing a huge step up to total diy. We put up a Pi showing 3 twitter feeds on a dedicated screen, at a fraction of the cost of a whole laptop, and also a lot cheaper than trying to get a  better gpu. Because it was disposable, we might as well give it a shot.

Mobile is back in the trenches, Android gaining ground as the smart phones move into mass market and lower income brackets, and as the top of the line models outstrip the 5 for power, style and innovation. Microsoft still pushing, with some Nokia steam. Blackberry not so much in Europe, but die hards in the US pushing pushing. And Samsung? Making everything from TV to fridge, and a lot in between. Will they make a substantial move, or continue to play the horses?

And startups? With Amazon, Google, Microsoft and more pushing the cloud solutions onwards, upwards and all over every day, the barriers to entry are mostly about attention.

So, change is here.

It will be here for a long time.
It might not get faster - at least not on the same scale as the last two decades,
but it will certainly be stranger.

Music makes me take control

Bodum Pavina - double layer for extreme isolation and clear taste

Two things for inspiration and finding the flow - coffee and music;

The coffee has reached room temperature. The bitter bite reminds me that it is time to refill the cup again. Morning will not move forward without this action. Refilled I can once again type. Let the words pour forth with the hopeful goal of something worth keeping.

Like the post on toes in the grass, this one called Finding the Flow came up over the weekend, by another member of the rat pack of social and digital media - aka Media Hacks.

CC is clearly carving his own path, doing speaking and books, along with being a dedicated dad, rather than working for an agency. Pushing the podcasts every now and again, as another item in the content mix.

And that is part of the joy of reading his post, hearing his thoughts and reflecting on his questions.

He brings another view and vibe, kicking it up with the music, relaxing with a cup, and generally bringing a smile.

I've had a lot more fun with music over the last few months, after I (finally) got on the streaming bandwagon and subscribed to Wimp (similar to Spotify, Norwegian based rather than Swedish, paid only and more focus on blog and recommending music across genres, less cover bands)

Rather than having it as background while doing things, I've used it to explore new ideas and themes, and to have a jump back into years long gone - songs that played on the radio that never bought, artists that seemed strange at the time but grew into something more.

Not simply a tool to tune out and zone in, it has added a little bit at times when that was needed. And all for one less pint each month. While feeling sort of good that some of that money is being kicked forward.

Unnamed idea

"I know who I want to be. Do you? An important part of discovering / creating your own future is to find out, or plan, who you are going to become."

From the aptly named Untitled Essay - by the foul mouthed media hack extraordinare, Julian Smith. Currently making the world (or at least the US for now?) a bit of a saner place with Breather, basically a half way house between hangign in the nearest coffee shop and taking into an hotel for a full day.

It all seems so simple when people like Seth spell it out. Be the linchpin. Make the purple cow. Fly high towards the sun.

Yet it is hard enough that most people never do, try or imagine a reality like that.

Then there are books like the last manifesto in the Domino series. Flinch by Julien. Still free for Kindle thanks to generous sponsorships. And listed as "best books of 2013 so far" - despite coming out in december 2011....

Walk the talk, and those who can do - are perhaps trite, but in this case it fits. Julien took his own advice to heart, built a future he wanted and a service he felt improves the world a little bit every day.

Sure, Breather might fail, or it might be a tiny tiny niche even years down the line. But he stood up, faced the darkness, the voices inside and said; lets do this.

How large of a buffer do you need?
How many hours of planning, dreaming and doodling?
How many stories of "rags to riches" to make it better than playing the lottery?


Along with Pressfield, Flinch is on my re-read for summer list. And pushing content here five times a week on average is a step on the way to that end.


Then, come summers end?

...?

idea?
plan?
action?
ship?

Feels like clover

I read recently that the very simple act of walking barefoot on grass is a powerful and natural stress reliever.

Brogan post, via Pocket, The Business of Simple - and also testing a bit of typing with the touchfire, since it seems that the web version on blogger works passably well for basic use in chrome on the iPad. (Meaning I'll add in the links later, just doing placeholders and typing out the ideas for now)

With summer more or less in full effect the outdoors is an ongoing topic of interest for several blogs, this one resonated well with my own feeling of bliss sitting in the playground earlier as junior ran around enjoying life.

Walking barefoot in the sand or in high grass gives extra texture to life, reminding us of something more than just the digital grind and the laptop. It shifts around, it teases and touches us. Shifting but constant at the same time.

Looking in close at something so seemingly simple and uniform as sand is also a good way to appreciate complexity.

The myriad of small crystals that make up a simple handful is staggering.

A good way to test your digital camera, in terms of resolution, sharpness and stability. Get down there and discover the magic.

In a sense that is a benefit with the keyboard here as well, giving that little bit of tactile feedback during the typing, means that the speed is almost up to my normal typing on a smaller keyboard. With a bit of predictive type ahead, it works out reasonably well overall.

Minor gripe that I'm now typing unseen, behind the keyboard, had to do a double finger scroll to get back in screen, but still a lot better than any previous blogger iOS experience. Guess that says a lot about understanding mobile and tablet, and why Android is still filled with 3rd party "skins" on top and fragmentation like nobodies business. I mean, Samsung is releasing 3 tablets - using two differnt versions.

Better to have than never?

Just a short post, going out directly not from a draft but from a too long open tab, as summer vacation takes it toll on the posting streak;

Now or never, now or never, now or never—the words niggled at me like a song stuck in my head.

The quote is from the intro to the story in PodCastle 219: The Circle Harp - and you can listen in full, for free as with all the goodness from Escape Artists. The theme is about taking a chance or sticking to what you know.

At what point will it be better to go for something "a bit over the moon", rather than playing in the same small pond? Is it better to lose in the big leagues, than to dominate in the minors?

Can you develop your art without stretching beyond the comfort zone? Do we need to push it into the next gear? Or is there a place for doing it good enough, providing what is needed and valued by the audience we have? Trade off or cop out?

- ...and the sun is promising a warm wonderful day of summer, and 7 new drafts made it into the backlog via ifttt ...

Democracy, because you're worth it

"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want 

and deserve to get it good and hard."

via Quotes of the Day, one of many attributed to H. L. Mencken - listed as US editor (1880 - 1956) and it is the second to last of the draft backlog here. Fitting in a way.

It certainly reflects on thoughts going back to Plato and others, that the masses are more or less stupid, and giving them the full power will give them what they "deserve" rather than what they "need". Guidance rather than understanding being the defining bias. Some know better, and they should not only be elected, but preferred.

Democracy is not a single thing, and every nation that has at least one version running, does it differently. It is the ultimate open source forking model. Some states run things differently for different levels. Local, regional and national each having their rules and measures.

So it is a "broken" concept, yet it is vastly better than the alternatives seen so far. We can live with the small "injustices" of uneven representation or extended campaigning over political labour. And come fall here in Norway, the whole spectacle will get into gear. Because we deserve it. Because it is worth it.

Dumb and dumber? D'oh...

Well now, as Wordpress would say, this is a bit embarresing... down to the last few drafts and then there is this;

Ben canosha:

1. Review information omnivore ?

2. "web makes smart people smarter, dumb people dumber..."

- need skill to get value  Easy to fall through auto cracks?

So, it looks like I wanted to write something about Ben. Casnocha that is. Most likely after hearing him on SPOS #310 a year ago. But trying to find the book review he talked about is turning up as little now as it most likely did then. 

Guess we'll have to run with part two - more or less a qoute at that;

"web makes smart people smarter, dumb people dumber..."

If you just let the sites serve up what ever makes their ctr go boom, then you might not be getting all the value you could from the web. It is still a slightly lean forward proposition, at least in terms of curating your curators.

Of all the millions of twitter accounts you can follow, how many add value, for you, in your position at your skill level and in that industry? Or the industry you want to get to? 

Make a list, or three. And then cull it every now and again, removing those that no longer add to the flow.

Same goes for blogs and assorted sites - get a reader, like feedly, set up with a handful of starting points. Then follow links and add in the good ones you find.

Supplement it with a semi-smart tool like Zite or Flipboard, but spend some time pushing the direction you need to go up front.

Find three or five key areas you are intrigued by, and that will help stretch you. Find a few at the edge of comfort, and at least one just beyond.


Then take a step back, add a list or two just for fun stuff, and do the same for blogs or topics. Be it specialty coffee, ManU or Dilbert. Every diet needs a bit of sugar and dessert.

Urgency is a state of mind

Of course you need to click and get all of it from Seth Godin: Urgent, please read asap

That's what gets done, of course. The urgent. [...] The problem, of course, is that the queue of urgent never ends, it merely changes its volume as it gets longer.

Stay the path

Back? Yes, you need to finish up here, then on to the next post or the next feed. Then that other app. And then newspaper. Quickly back to the inbox, skim a few more messages.

Fire off a reply, forward another message and push the third into the todo folder. Not the urgent folder, or the current project. Just the todo. For those days that never come.

The daily uploads to YouTube are probably more minutes of video than you will watch. Same for the snaps on insta. Not to mention the number of newspapers and tv channels around the world.

There is no way you can see, read, understand or watch it all. FIlters and priority is a fact of life. No one is going to celebrate if you give it the extra 5%. They will just assume you have yet another 5% and continue to push things your way.

Me? 

I turned off my work email on the iPad since that is my main device for consuming news and secondary for books. Set up auto away mode on the phone, and if I'm off for more than a weekend I'll turn off push notifications on the phone as well. Made 8 subfolders under to do, all for storing ideas and links that might be useful, depending on which project actually has priority at any given time.


How are you swimming in the currents, playing with the flow and surfing the expectations?
#urgenttodo

-...and the sun will shine, and the rain will fall, and we'll be here, through it all ...

Snap your way around

There is no better way to change how you experience the place you live, than by getting out the camera - and going for a walk. And since I like a lot of others use my mobile as only camera, the first part is easy.

Stuck in time

The second part - the walking - might require a bit more effort. Hopefully summer will grace us with some suitable days, but if not - then a large umbrella and some boots will make the experience as memorable.

For some having a clear path is the best way to get to it. Personally I prefer the random stroll, letting the images build the story and the path.

Pick a place you often walk past. But stop there. Try to take ten snaps, at least five different subjects - right there. 

Then pick one of them as a theme for the next hour or so, and off you go.

Remember the "keeper ratio" - one in fifty might be the one to print and hang on the wall. Five can go on insta. Burn the others to a disc for eternity and beyond.

Post inspired by CC, namely the Wandering and Wondering;

Never forget that we don’t need a map to find our way. Yesterday, as I took my camera for a walk along the coast of Victoria, British Columbia I had no purpose beyond enjoying every minute of it.

Factual dreams - a true oxymoron

Sometimes it is easy to forget how "magical" current tech would seem to a visitor from the pas, or even ourselves enough years ago. 

Sitting here typing on a laptop with glowing keys so the light can be down and the sky outside can set the mood (scheduling pub time, summer dusk at present) 

With music coming down from the cloud, landing on my small slab of a mobile (or smart glass, or mini computer) and out via the connected speaker.

 Eva & The Heartmaker: Live fra Rockefeller http://wimp.no/album/20517767

And then glancing down at my e-paper watch to see the track title, and maybe skip or pause. 

In another ten or five years, the keyboard might be connected to the phone-slab as well, with the screen being multipurpose, rather than welded onto a battery and cd combo. Or the phone will be gone, replaced with a small biometric knob - able to connect to assets at home, at work and in the coffee shop.

Or not. It will change, but how it will transition is still thankfully unclear. We can dream, play, test and explore our way forward. Ipad,Air or MS Surface - will they become one or will all three have their niche? 

Why am I writing this on the big MBP, and not the iPad - or even over at the workhorse stationary pc? Full size keyboards on both, but the immediacy of the mid sized screen up close, as opposed to the vastness of the 24'' might be part of it. Or possibly the avoidance of distractions - games are lined up over there, a backlog of golden rpg games, bought digitally to fill in the gaps in the collection. Same goes for the iPad, the lack of full on keyboard (despite the nifty Touchfire needing some love) and an abundance of consummation apps makes other uses better than blogging. 

And still I lust for a brand new Air. Not because I need more gear. Nor because it is time to replace the latop. But because it is new. And shiny. And better than the one I lusted over last year. 

Solved it then by having a friend buy one with myself as advisor during the test and purchase. Not to mention rebooting the iPad2 for a forth gen. A cheap perk for my employer, considering the hours spent reading and staying up to date, on my own time. For now blaming the lack of instant OS update might be enough. Hassle free being a key decider in anything that will be just for fun and on my own time.

On that note it seems right to get around to the quote that started the tangent off:

This is the challenge of the Kickstarter artist, the growth stock CEO and the well-published author. Dreams are irresistible, but they will never match reality when it finally appears.

[seth G, my link added]

And that is why Kickstarter is the ultimate "weird" shopping experience - you get to play along with the process, so by the time you get the product you are vested, and using it feels a lot more natural than something you "just" bought in a store.

For some products the experience up to the product might be enough in and off itself. The feeling of being a patron of the (creative) arts making a transaction justified even if you don't really need the product that much.

Might also be why I had more or less shifted into digital only projects. Until a weak moment saw a dual dose of robots getting some support. So by xmas there should be a Sparky trotting along with some sort of BrickPI creation. Provided they both make it past customs and survive shipping.

Think bad thoughts, it is worth it

Ending the weekend with a "live" post - more stream of consciousness than overly planned. The quotes were trimmed down a few days ago, so we'll see if it still makes sense now. More scheduled stuff coming in the next days, counting down towards zero in the backlog of drafts!

Started reading "Random Acts of Violence", about 1/3 of the way in, and it still is a bit unclear how to describe the book... it is sort of a typical "YA" diary, growing up story. But every few pages there are drops of something darker, more sinister in the background than just plain vanilla NYC.

But it none the less ties nicely into the post by C.S.Penn that initailly sparked the title;

An odd metaphysical thought (re)occurred to me last night while reading some of the day’s news stories. Maybe a contributing reason to why it feels like we’re experiencing more trouble in the world is because we’re actively wishing for it. [src]

Do we make the world we want? Or are we just flowing along in a comfort zone until it all breaks apart?

News and images coming in from Turkey over the last few weeks seem to enhance the "shit hits the fan" theory. Been there for vacation, and got more or less the same vibe as the majority of Mediterranean spots - secular, modern, a bit pushy and "fast and loose" with the stories.

Today the "official" protest is reported at a million in attendance... austerity in Greece, minor collaps in Cyprus and all out war in Syria. Now try sitting in the middle.

Our politics are more about putting the other guy/gal/party/ideology down than they are promoting what we believe in, so much so that we define candidates by what they oppose instead of what they support. [ibid]

Typically US? Or spreading a little bit every day? We are heading into election season in Norway, a slow simmer during the summer then some crazy weeks in early autumn. So far it looks like a lot of "name calling" dressed up as "taking a stand". On both sides. Both the incumbent coalition, and the opposition trying to figure out what kind of constellation they might win with and live with.

How will the overall tone be?

Last election was local, and came not to long after 227. So it was strange and respectful at the same time. This time it is national, and the stakes are higher than in a long time.

8 years of rule that has in most ways kept us out of the Housing/Euro/austerity crisis rolling across Southern Europe and the US.

But how much would really change? In the largest city in southern Norway, the two main opposing parties ruled together last term - because they both had issues with their respective coalition partners. And the direct changes in the budget (ie above and beyond the running costs and long term agreements) is tiny.

If a company or organization does something good, does something constructive, then reward them with your business. Be especially vigilant about rewarding people of opposing viewpoints when they do something that’s good – recognize that even in your differences, we all share the same common hopes and dreams. [ibid]

So play nice, reward nice - and think about the choices you do make - be it of action or omission


The post How to starve trouble appeared first on Christopher S. Penn : Awaken Your Superhero - read it in full there!

It's all about the execution, stupid

Not really, since Strategy matters more than ever:

When everyone is playing the same game, your execution is critical. [...] Not changing your strategy merely because you're used to the one you have now is a lousy strategy.

Yup, Seth again, this one from July 23, 2012 - such a treasure trove. The gift that keeps on giving.

Does digital open up for more copycats, or does it force us into our own path and localized maximum?

There are probably more Groupon clones, than there are active users of coupon services. But there are still more other start ups playing in the distribution, rewards and benefits arena. And as the different ideas gain traction, it makes a lot more sense to do it differently, rather than trying to "out Amazon Amazon"

Not even sure if Google or Microsoft* can do that in terms of cloud offerings - AWS is THE dog, it plays for scale and pushing costs to zero. Having services like Netflix does a bit for your volume and requirements.

Same way YouTube totally dominates in video hosting, distribution, monetization and partially creation. Pushing the scope ever outwards, doing hangouts on air, paid channels, longer clips, higher quality. Step by step eating up the niches. Vimeo made sense in a more constrained time for the "above average" video producer, but now?  

The same digital flexibility is what you need to play around with, map out not THE path, but a set of options, interconnected or related, and figure out how you might need to pivot up front. Just like playing chess - if competitor X launches this, we'll do ..., but if competitor Y appears, we'll just ...

Run the scenarios. Describe the story. Map the future. 

Rinse, repeat. Because in 6 months there will be new players, models and options.



* love how the blogger dictionary doesn't see the need to capitalize Blogger or Google, but microsoft gets a red line

-...and the sun has been staying around in the early days of June, here's to hoping for many more lazy days and late warm nights...

Share a way, then I can find my way

[chris brogan] did a post called "Owners start with recipes";

I’ve made a mistake over and over again. I continue to believe that we don’t want recipes, that we don’t want leaders. But neither are true.

[...] If I don’t show you what I know, and if I don’t show you how to cook a “something,” you might not feel confident enough to first replicate that something, and then vary and create your own magical dish.

It feels so right when you read it like that.

Not everybody is an explorer.

We can't all make our own MVC javascript framework (or we shouldn't - but that's for another rant)

But at least some thing are better off with a bit of guidance.

I had played around with d3 a bit - but it was only with Scott Murray's brilliant book that I both sat down for some extended time - and got a lot of ideas for minor tweaks, and then put some into the wild, and got more ideas by seeing other projects. All because I knew I had the "basics" in hand should I need to reboot.

The book is both a contained entity, promising that you can get through it and on to your own playtime, and a natural progression - chapters and pages flow from the barest basics to fully working and useful examples

Also probably why business books will continue to sell well - there is always a need for some handholding, just getting a consistent story and a feeling of "overview".

Not to mention consulting. Having someone who tells you that "this is the way it is done in business A and market B" makes for a good starting point.

But for both books and consulting, the difference between wasted time and world class can be hard to spot - since it depends a lot on your own situation and level;

- how far along are you on your journey from reading the FAQ to writing it?

Some lines are there to cross, others to sharpen the image

The power of zero spend [src];

Rigidity is rarely your friend, but well understood boundaries make decision making a lot easier.

Two Seth quotes almost back to back, but they are from months apart initially. This also marks a push of the draft box into single digits. And that is a nice simile here - having pushed a lot of links partially out by lack of proper draft API, it was time to clean up the blog. Doing that by focusing on getting out at least 5 posts each week, and mainly by eliminating the backlog has made for a bit of extra structure and push.

Same goes for getting a project off the ground - set some (arbitrary) ground rules;

• we'll be testing 3 ideas at a time, but revise that to 2 if the differences are large enough during first runs
• each period will be more or less a week, so we have time to get data, make new ideas and run the numbers
• keep the numbers simple, and consistent - do initial comparison within each test, then combine and compare after 3-4 runs

SImple steps, but makes the difference between going all ad hoc, and being to rigid to flex out the time. 

Had a similar experience in terms of design constraints - a subcontractor just blew past the boxes that had been set up. But the end result was so much better, and inline with the actual goals (rather than the guides), that is will serve as a new template - at least for now.

Some boxes you play nice with, others you just rip apart, and use the shreds to pave a path forward.

But how do you figure out ahead of time which kind of box you are in?

This is MY place - for now

@avinash sharing Baekdal quoting Avinash,  with the subtlest prompt:

[If you read only one thing in Jan] *Rented or Owned: Where To Focus Your Brand Content*  

[src]

A good piece with some nice charts for illustrating how you can think about what content goes where, and why you should have a clear understanding of it. Still a must read for anyone doing more than "just" blogging for their own benefit.

As I've stated before lately, this blog goes back to pyralabs era, and the current google focus and understading leaves a bit to be desired. So I keep on pulling down a back-up, and playing around with WP options (occupational hazard at the moment as well) - and with a Kickstarter donation to Ghost (one of 5000 - yay!) I'll have to give that a spin in the fall.

27,000 code additions to the core repository in the last month (Ghost update)

Still it feels open enough at blogger, to let things roll along, at least the web interface works well enough for simple writing - and that should be the focus above all. Content, content, content. Then a sprinkling of links, and a small drop of design.

So the traction gets a bit harder, the volume a bit higher, and the swap is postponed once more. Until the fall at least, to see how far this "streak" of publishing can be extended. To see how "post Reader" Google behaves. 

i'm not young enough to know everything

- that's an Oscar Wilde quote taking the place of the title, having just heard it on Podcastle as I jumped off to get some thoughts in line here. Just realized the backlog and schedule was all out of content. But there are still a handfull of drafts to go - and then Pocket is filling up with good ideas and inspiration, so it looks like 2012 will be passed in terms of actual posts by the end of June.

Summer is a time of long afternoons stretching right into the night - half an hour to go for midnight, and still pretty light outside, a grey and rosy tint to the clouds. It is also a time for more reading of books on the Kindle in the sun, than skimming twitter and the web on an active screen like the ipad or laptop.

That might be why this quote is so suitable, from yet another Seth Godin post;

If you're upset that the hoi polloi are busy doing what you used to do, get better instead of getting angry.

Sure, you might feel entitled because you spent a lot of time (and perhaps a bit of effort) learning or getting access to things that were special - publishing a book, writing for a paper, designing visual or actual stuff - the list goes on. But now "everybody" can do it.

Doesn't mean they are going to be good at it.
Nor that they will be able to charge for it.

But it does mean that your nice little superior niche is busted wide open.
For some areas it means a lot more business - how many people make a living brewing coffee today?

For others it means a changing relation - being a wedding photographer amidst instagram and vine means you have to bring something more to the shoot, be it composition, scope or storytelling.

Just do it? Smarter, not harder.

Who's your master?

Been thinking about this post on and off for some time - partially based on the post [six pixels - Mitch Joel] - but also as I attended a "MOOC" on the Functional Art by Alberto Cairo, via Knight.

With so much information and insights all around, how do we best structure and create learning for ourselves and our peers?

Reading books, blogs, reflecting on them both in posts of our own.

Are blog posts the natural next level for term papers and other more scholarly deliverables? When we can discuss in forums online, do we need in class interaction - at all or for the same things?

In a single post you can explore an idea. Then across a series of posts you can start to get a grip on a topic. You can discuss quotes and include video snippets to set the stage for those reading at a later time, or simply to make the points more clearly.

You can edit. Sometimes almost to easily and carelessly. Wikipedia handles this by having the story right there, and WP3.6 is supposedly revamping the versions.

But can we all just choose and pick? Or are the ones who are able to just grab some books, read some articles and then just do it - the odd ones out?

How many of us are curios and driven, for how long? Is it school that "destroys" the lust for learning, the exploration and playfulness? Or is it something more at the core of each of us? Are we blaming the nearest and only common cause, rather than looking inside? Is it "the resistance" that drives us to prefer shelter and structure over "snacking" and exploration?


I'll let Mitch close this one out - not with his "punchline", but with the part that resonated the most for me:

Do not wait for a course to give you the answers. The answers are everywhere. Dive in. Be curious. Show up. Be serious. Be passionate. Be open.

taxi, taxi driver - drive me a story tonight

The result - a "moving" piece

Sometimes the simplest question begets the most amazing results. And this interactive represents one of those cases.

The background (as retold to / on Source) was simple enough, but represents a novel twist on the "and why should I care" conundrum;

My goal was to give the reader the experience of being down $120 and needing to earn that money back

How do you do that? Well, step by step is a nice starting point - and having a "running" meter beneth the map is a great way to connect the real world taxi with the visuals in the story

     var line = new Polyline();
        requestAnimationFrame(function() {
          var point = getNextPoint();
          line.addPoint(point);
        });

And here-in lies the beauty of the simple done good enough:

Speaking of judgment: this code is super duper non-optimized. It could be several orders of magnitude faster by throwing in some clever tricks and caches. But the fact is it works, and it works across platforms. That’s the most important requirement you face in a newsroom!

Everything could be made better, re-factored  generalized. But often times having that luxury would take time away from the functionality at hand. Just like a piece of journalism generally reads differently from a novel, and a studio produced movie looks better than a snap of a goal in a football match. Given the right time and resources everything can be polished, but often good is good enough. And something new every day is even better.

[src, via Source]

Kindle Reads? Good Fire?

The post on Open City, and thinking a bit more about openness, insights and sharing lead to this little wish list. Namely, how I'd love for Amazon and Goodreads to play together - for my reading, sharing, exploring and remembering pleasure.

Idea 1: wish shelf

Having the option of syncing each wishlist with a shelf, so one for non fic want to read, one for general genre fic, and one for darker tales.

Ideally books bought would move to another shelf, or into the "to read" mode.

Idea 2: my good

kindle.amazon works like a charm for looking up highlights, and for quickly updating the status of purchased books. It should be opened up or merged into Goodreads. Perhaps in an IFTTT kind of way, opening up the API for other stores as well.

Idea 3: wish buy

Not really related to Goodreads directly, but I find it really hard to understand why Amazon at all times neglects my purchasing behavior and signaling intent by using wish lists. 9 of the last 10 books bought have spent time on my wish list prior to the sale.

Then it would make sense to use that list as a basis for recommendations  It works that way for the regular cart.

But Kindle books don't play nice with the cart. Which is in a way another minor gripe, as I often buy 2-3 at once; why separate check out and receipt mail, not to mention separate debits of my card?

Idea 4: good app

Reading with the Kobo app can be a lot of fun, because it binds together the social, the metrics and the reading. It is no big deal, but having charts like Runkeeper for books and pages read, quotes shared and discussed would be nice. And pushing it into Goodreads with an open API would make even more sense, since readers are a small niche to begin with, the more the merrier.

What would you like to see? #kindleGood ?

- ...and the sun was away as this got underway, a small evening shower on Monday (still doing that schedule thang, and loving it) - but still warm enough by far to sit outside on the balcony letting the thoughts flow ...

The truth in fiction

You can get a lot of truth from a made-up story.

Another great card / image from Indexed, a book tells a story openly, but perhaps the best insight we get from it is the story that plays out inside our head.

Spinning on the ideas the book delves into, or simply how it relates to our own stories.

Finished Open City by Tehu Cole on the balcony over the weekend, and one of the highlights is right in line with that same sentiment.

on to a bit of longer a side note, 

Open City was one of those books that made it's way onto my radar, then picked up kindle ed and read almost instantly - in less than a month in total. Which is high "praise" in this day of digital access and overview. 

At any given time my two main wish lists for kindle books hover at or around titles 20 each (non fic and genre respectively , with another 6-10 ongoing or waiting in line in the app, and a total of 40-50 in a more long term limbo of assorted niche list.

back to the story

Our narrator reflects on a meeting with his neighbour [SPOILER - ALBEIT SMALL], and learning that the wife has passed away.

I didn’t switch on the light. A woman had died in the room next to mine, she had died on the other side of the wall I was leaning against, and I had known nothing of it. I had known nothing in the weeks when her husband mourned, nothing when I had nodded to him in greeting with headphones in my ears, or when I had folded clothes in the laundry room while he used the washer. [location 291]

A feeling of both being so close, yet closed out at the same time. The city is open, But are we, the people living in it? How can we live within a few feet of each other, and yet hardly interact? How many of your ten or hundred closest do you know at all? A friendly nod? A name? Some story or context?



-...and the sun is making art outside as this is written, painting the clouds in shades of yellow, gold, orange, pink... it is summer at last, and fully

I want to do it all, and then some more

How do you decide?

Chances are there are more thing you want to do, than people to do it.
More ideas than project teams.
More bugs than developers, never mind testers.

Should you focus on those big things that "wake up the neighbors" - attract a lot of attention and flair, preferably within the niche or market you play in - or should you do a lot of smaller, unknown and unknowing tests? Build the future stepwise, or stay the course first and foremost?

How do we find a balance? 

Can we?

Should we even try?

One reason that incumbents are so often defeated by newcomers is that the incumbents put their best people and their urgent focus on the stuff they used to do (like winning Pulitzer prizes, selling ads to cosmetic companies and counting dead trees) while the new guys have nothing but the new thing to focus on.

[seth, who else?]


Are you doing it wrong if you do what you know, what makes sense right now, and what "everybody" else is doing? Is radicall innovation and transformation advisable, never mind possible? Is it right to say to your current customers "sorry, we want someone else, so you'll be getting an inferior product - but it will be a lot better in a while, albeit something completely different"?

Apple could do the iPhone because they didn't have a phone business, didn't have telco relations to maintain, and an upgrade path to stick to. 3g, 4, 4s, 5? Incremental wrapping and icing on the cake.

Apple could also do the iPad, because they had 10% or less market share for laptops. Microsoft couldn't for the same reason. They had too many partners to placate, making the assorted touch screen laptops never-rans.

Facebook bought Instagram. Even if they had the bigger volume of users. Even if they had apps and were THE photo destination. But they didn't have or get mobile. As a core. As the only thing. Do they now? At least a bit more than before the 1 bn.

Just right, just so?

Not what I expected - but summer reading

But it is what it is. And this image from [Indexed] - posted on xmas - makes for a good reminder.

The tagline for the post was "may you live in interesting times" - so a natural summer reading recommendation would be:

Interesting Times - discworld novel #17, a bit of travel, some intrigue and politics, but most of all a great read.

I just finished novel #38 -Unseen Academicals, a great riff on sports, crowds and dreams, so I'm a bit fuzzy on the details for I.T - having read it back in '97 or '98 - but seem to recall it being a bit free standning, in that Rincewind takes a trip to the Counterweight Continent, making it both a jumping on point for new readers (where have you been hiding? 70 million books sold or so? Get with the program!) and a change of pace from the more connected story lines involving the Watch and the Witches.

For a full overview of the Discworld books and their internal principal connections, the LSpace has a "map".

And for some colorful background on the quote or curse, Wikipedia has the goods.

Give me an L, an O, N

Map of the Week: London Typographica showcases crowdsourced images of lettering and typefaces around London. It uses styled maps to both provide a clean background to display their markers and to allow people to navigate to areas they may want to explore.

[src]

via Google Geo Developers Blog - love the concept, and the execution of the map itself. Also a big up for having made an app for gathering the images directly with geocoding included. They have even made two different styles for the map, overriding the default google zoom detail levels.

What i miss as a user is some sort of guidance - a path or five through all the images.

• How do I find all the A's?
• Where are all the serifs? 
• The block fonts? 
• The signs rather than the street art?

Apparently, there is something in the works - or at least the idea is there - one image had this;

Tags: lettering, caps

So, I'll check back in another couple of months (GGDB post from Dec-12), and keep playing with my little statue location info app.

Consistency is a drag

"This is the best I can do" vs. "It's not good enough."

[seth]

Yes, it is another Seth Godin quote, there were a few in the draft backlog - deservedly so. Topic is failure to launch, innovate, improve and otherwise change.

For some it is due to a complacency - "if it ain't broke" type mentality. Change is hard and painful  Launching is scary. So it is a lot better to stick to the course, keep churning out the widgets / 30 second spots / 300 word pieces. We lull ourselves into thinking that we have tried and discussed other ways, but this is the best for the time we are in in, the people we have, the customers we serve.

For others it is due to perfection - it could be a bit better, the design needs some work, we have to get another blurb, run another focus group, wait for a better window, avoid this week, don't compete with that event. When there is no deadline, it is all to easy to let it be dead on the line instead.

The way to improve, is to change. And to change we have to get feedback. And to get feedback? Launch. Get it out there. Call it a beta or a soft launch, but get it out the door.


one caveat; make sure you set aside time to listen, evaluate and then re-launch or re-boot.

Summer reading - comic; Looking for Group

That’s right boys and girls, we are pleased to announce that LFG Volume 5 (in beautiful hardcover action) is now available for pre-order.

For the last books (vol 3 and 4) I re-read the previous collections before diving in. This time I've just left it a bit to really enjoy it during what will hopefully be some leisurely summer days. Have pre-ordered all five as they became available, so a signed collection

If you are new to Looking For Group, it is a webcomic, available to read for free - or you can pick up an omnibus edition for a mere $40 and support the artists. It is an epic fantasy comedy / parody / slightly twisted telling - and often "laugh out loud" funny, in a literal sense, not just LOL tweet.