Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 115

SPOS #742 – Victoria Montgomery Brown On Big Think

Welcome to episode #742 of Six Pixels of Separation.

Here it is: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #742 – Host: Mitch Joel. I’ve been following the Big Think videos since they first started. Always fascinating perspectives, insights and stories from real leaders in business, life, entertainment and beyond. The truth is, that I knew nothing about the Big Think story. Until now. Victoria Montgomery Brown has built and run Big Think for the last 12 years (along with her co-founder, Peter Hopkins). It’s become one of the leading digital media knowledge company, making people and companies smarter and faster. The company wasn’t a venture-funded tech darling, born and raised in a Silicon Valley incubator. It’s a scrappy, creative, labor of love that was born in a New York City bar, and raised in a rented closet in someone else’s office. It’s had to fight for its existence most of the time. And now, Victoria is not only telling the story, but taking her life lessons to help other female entrepreneurs get started. Her just published book is, Digital Goddess – The Unfiltered Lessons of a Female Entrepreneur. “This book is about dealing with the way things are, even when you don’t like it, and being yourself, even when it seems like a drawback. It’s about sucking it up, making the hard choices, and dealing with the consequences. It’s about being honest no matter what is going down,” according to Victoria, who has been called, “the anti-Elizabeth Holmes.” Victoria prides herself on being nothing like the ill-fated Theranos CEO. Enjoy the conversation…

Running time: 59:18.
Hello from beautiful Montreal.
Subscribe over at iTunes.
Please visit and leave comments on the blog – Six Pixels of Separation.
Feel free to connect to me directly on Facebook here: Mitch Joel on Facebook.
or you can connect on LinkedIn.
…or on Twitter.
Here is my conversation with Victoria Montgomery Brown.
Digital Goddess – The Unfiltered Lessons of a Female Entrepreneur.
Big Think.
Follow Victoria on Twitter.
This week’s music: David Usher ‘St. Lawrence River’.

Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #742 – Host: Mitch Joel.

Before you go… if you enjoyed this, please subscribe (all new content arrives in your inbox). It’s easy, it’s free and it’s right here.

Six Links Worthy of Your Attention #535

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: 

Tech & VC: The Foundation – Notion. “Paige Doherty created a living document in Notion (a shared document tool) that tries to explain everything about technology investing and venture capital. It’s got a great reading list, plus suggestions for how to break into the field. Plenty of gems collected in one place for anyone trying to understand venture investing or raise money.” (Alistair for Hugh).
Confronting Conor McGregor – Vidgeo . “This is likely the weirdest thing I’ve ever shared. It’s a mashup of videos of controversial MMA star Conor McGregor, punching, well, everything. Car chases; people in other memes; I’m pretty sure I saw Jeremy Corbyn crying at one point. My point in sharing this is that it’s a perfect example of the memetic petri dish the Internet has become. Shitposters and redditors, mashing up mashups, thousands of new creations a minute as grist for the upvoting mill. Warhol was more right than he knew: In the Attention Age, each of us gets fifteen seconds of infamy. To reiterate, this is a weird clip. But for future anthropologists—or visiting aliens combing through the wreckage of a civilization—it’s a time capsule.” (Alistair for Mitch).
History on Wheels: Roller Skating – Godberd . “What it says on the tin: a brief history of roller skating.” (Hugh for Alistair).
Qantas seven-hour flight to nowhere sells out in 10 minutes – CNN . “Truly, we live in strange times.” (Hugh for Mitch).
Substack Is Doing to Blogs What TikTok Did to Instagram – Yeti Distro . “You can keep all your hype about TikTok. I’m more excited about Substack. I’m not using it (yet). But, I am very excited about this. Truth is, I’m always excited about new ways to publish content (text, in particular). Looking for what’s next in content? Check this out…” (Mitch for Alistair).
Why Books Don’t Work – Andy Matuschak . “You might think that this is just another tech enthusiast (true, he is a software engineer) waxing poetic about how tech is so much better than other ways to do… well… just about everything. But this is a very fascinating (and long) read about how books are not all that they’re cracked up to be. You may not agree with the author (I don’t), but it’s a perspective worthy of reading… line by line… like a book ;)” (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 ;): 

TikTok Trouble And More On CHOM 97.7 FM

Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am on air at CHOM 97.7 FM radio out of Montreal (home base). It’s not a long segment – about 10 minutes every week – to decode the future. We discuss everything that is happening in the world of technology, digital media and culture. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly on i Heart Radio, if you’re interested in hearing more about what’s happening in the transformation of our digital world. I’m really excited about these weekly hits, because this is the radio station that I grew up listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry DiMonte morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.

This week we discussed:

Apple had their semi-big launch last week. No new iPhone (which was expected, but still a surprise). But we did get new iPads and a new Apple Watch. The biggest excitement seems to their new Apple Fitness+ (and Apple’s push further into the services space). The announcement shook Peloton‘s stock. Gyms need to also pay attention to this.
What’s going on with TikTok? Is it banned? Nope. It looks like that has been delayed. Is it sold? Not exactly. Oracle (with Walmart) with TikTok will start a new company called, TikTok Global, that will be headquartered in the US. “TikTok’s data would be stored by Oracle, which would have the right to inspect its source code,” says the BBC. Is President Trump happy about this? According to his Twitter account, he has given this deal his blessing, and said that the new company will be “totally controlled by Oracle and Walmart”. But in a joint statement on Saturday, Oracle and Walmart said they were together investing to acquire 20% of the newly formed TikTok Global business. So… here we are. Lots of drama, and it’s mostly about the trade dispute between US and China. Are we going to lose TikTok in Canada? Doesn’t seem like it.
App of the Week: Krisp – mute background noise in any communication app. 

You can also listen in via I Heart Radio.

Mitch Joel · CTRL ALT Delete – CHOM FM – September 21st, 2020

Before you go… if you enjoyed this, please subscribe (all new content arrives in your inbox). It’s easy, it’s free and it’s right here.

Alex Kantrowitz On Big Tech And Day One – This Week’s Six Pixels of Separation Podcast

Episode #741 of Six Pixels of Separation is now live and ready for you to listen to.

Since this pandemic started, I have been grappling with reading books (which, before all of this was never an issue). Alex Kantrowitz‘s debut, Always Day One – How The Tech Titans Plan To Stay On Top Forever, was one of the few books that got my reading gears going again. Alex is the founder of Big Technology, a newsletter and podcast about Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and the other tech players. Alex is a journalist by profession, and has worked at places line CNBC and BuzzFeed, before deciding that he wanted to become an independent journalist and publisher. He graduated from Cornell University‘s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Alex had unprecedented access to some of the biggest names in techs in the writing of this book. Enjoy the conversation…

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation #741.

Before you go… if you enjoyed this, please subscribe (all new content arrives in your inbox). It’s easy, it’s free and it’s right here.

SPOS #741 – Alex Kantrowitz On Big Tech And Day One

Welcome to episode #741 of Six Pixels of Separation.

Here it is: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #741 – Host: Mitch Joel. Since this pandemic started, I have been grappling with reading books (which, before all of this was never an issue). Alex Kantrowitz‘s debut, Always Day One – How The Tech Titans Plan To Stay On Top Forever, was one of the few books that got my reading gears going again. Alex is the founder of Big Technology, a newsletter and podcast about Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and the other tech players. Alex is a journalist by profession, and has worked at places line CNBC and BuzzFeed, before deciding that he wanted to become an independent journalist and publisher. He graduated from Cornell University‘s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Alex had unprecedented access to some of the biggest names in techs in the writing of this book. Enjoy the conversation…

Running time: 1:01:09.
Hello from beautiful Montreal.
Subscribe over at iTunes.
Please visit and leave comments on the blog – Six Pixels of Separation.
Feel free to connect to me directly on Facebook here: Mitch Joel on Facebook.
or you can connect on LinkedIn.
…or on Twitter.
Here is my conversation with Alex Kantrowitz.
Always Day One – How The Tech Titans Plan To Stay On Top Forever.
Big Technology
Follow Alex on Instagram.
Follow Alex on Twitter.
This week’s music: David Usher ‘St. Lawrence River’.

Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #741 – Host: Mitch Joel.

Before you go… if you enjoyed this, please subscribe (all new content arrives in your inbox). It’s easy, it’s free and it’s right here.

Six Links Worthy of Your Attention #534

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: 

How a Massive Bomb Came Together in Beirut’s Port – The New York Times . “I try to avoid posting links that are paywalled behind a limited number of views, but I’m making an exception, because this is one of the most extraordinarily well-designed pieces of reporting in a decade. It details, in painstaking, frame-by-frame detail, how Beirut exploded. Knowing that a reader will spend half their time looking at the stages of the devastation, the article is the toolset. From annotated frames of high-speed footage, to zooming into buildings, this is extraordinary. Find a way to view it (or dare I say, subscribe).” (Alistair for Hugh).
A principles-based approach – LTSE – Long Term Stock Exchange . “The funny thing about finance is that much of it is detached from reality. For example, we tax capital gains (money made from investment) less than earned income (money made from doing actual work and making actual things). Reversing that would fundamentally alter how companies deployed their capital. There are a few basic levers by which we can steer the ship of free-market capitalism, albeit with Titanic slowness. Last time I talked with Eric Ries—the author of The Lean Startup, which spawned a book of my own and thousands of other startup initiatives—at any real length, he was trying to fix capitalism. But you can’t eat an elephant all at once, so he was tackling the short-term mindset of stock markets. Flash trades and arbitrage based on algorithms, rather than whether a company creates actual value, has made fewer and fewer people richer and richer producing less and less actual products or services. So he’s founded the Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE), an exchange designed to attract a certain kind of company. Here’s how they’re different.” (Alistair for Mitch).
The Allure of QAnon – Deep Background with Noah Feldman . “Adrian Hon, tech think and alternative reality game (ARG) designer, talks to Noah Feldman about QAnon and the way it functions similarly to ARGs.”  (Hugh for Alistair).
Pete Townshend and Paul Holdengräber – Who Is He? – The New York Public Library . “Paul Holdengräber asks Pete Townshend (of The Who): Who are you? PS Mitch is a big The Who fan.” (Hugh for Mitch).
Stream Like a CEO – Matt Mullenweg . “OK, this whole work from home/remote work/virtual office is going to last a little longer than anybody had hoped/thought. We’re all tired of crappy Zoom calls. Let’s make them better. This isn’t for the faint of heart (or the cheap of wallet), but this would be the right way to make you look great, sound great, and get a studio-quality output from your home space. I’m currently working on the audio part (because it will improve my podcast as well), and will then move towards the video/camera part. Shout-out to Harley Finkelstein from Shopify, who not only has a great set-up, but pointed me to this great set-up.” (Mitch for Alistair).
The Joy of Watching Old, Damaged Things Get Restored: Why the World is Captivated by Restoration Videos – Open Culture . “I. Can’t. Stop. Watching. These. Videos. First off, the production on some of them is off the charts. If you’re like me, and shows like American Pickers always piqued your interest, this is for you. If you have kids, this is for you. You will be mesmerized… nay… hypnotized by how these master craftspeople bring back objects from our history in such an educational and fun way to watch. Down the rabbit hole you will go…” (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 ;): 

The Social Dilemma And More On CHOM 97.7 FM

Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am on air at CHOM 97.7 FM radio out of Montreal (home base). It’s not a long segment – about 10 minutes every week – to decode the future. We discuss everything that is happening in the world of technology, digital media and culture. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly on i Heart Radio, if you’re interested in hearing more about what’s happening in the transformation of our digital world. I’m really excited about these weekly hits, because this is the radio station that I grew up listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry DiMonte morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.

This week we discussed:

The massive C2 business and creativity event that usually takes place in May – and turns Montreal into a circus of excitement for business – was (obviously) postponed this year due to Covid-19. Well, it was just announced that they’re doing something online called, Resilience. The event will take place from October 19th – 30th. While many more speakers will be announced in the coming weeks, they’ve already hooked up Malcolm Gladwell, Gary Vaynerchuk and Esports Professional, Stephanie “missharvey” Harvey. Along with that news, I’m hearing murmurs that the event business may take 2-5 years to recover, which is having a massive impact on places like the Palais des Congress. They just announced their Palais + business restart program, in the hopes of getting people back to that venue. As a professional speaker, I can tell you, the conference and business event space is in ruins, with no perspective on when it might reboot.  
If you’re looking for something to watch – and are looking to get even more depressed – check out the recently released documentary, The Social Dilemma. It’s all about the addiction and problems of social media. Director Jeff Orlowski doesn’t hold back, and it’s a stunning indictment of social media and our digital selves. More on the dark side of social media.  
App of the Week: Capture – Logitech‘s all in one content creation software… which means a free and easy way to record your virtual presentations without needed complex video editing software.

You can also listen in via I Heart Radio.

Mitch Joel · CTRL ALT Delete – CHOM FM – September 14th, 2020

Jonah Berger On Being A Catalyst For Change – This Week’s Six Pixels of Separation Podcast

Episode #740 of Six Pixels of Separation is now live and ready for you to listen to.

Any day is a happy day when Jonah Berger publishes a new book. And here we are. The bestselling author of Contagious and Invisible Influence is back with The Catalyst – How To Change Anyone’s Mind, and I hope you are as happy as I am. Jonah is a marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a world-renowned expert on change, word of mouth, influence, consumer behavior, and how products, ideas, and behaviors catch on. He has published over fifty articles in top‐tier academic journals, teaches Wharton’s highest rated online course, and popular outlets like The New York Times and Harvard Business Review often cover his work. He’s keynoted hundred of events, and often consults for organizations like Google, Apple, Nike, and the Gates Foundation. Now, let’s into this discussion about the trials, tribulations and opportunities that come from the notion that, “change is hard.” Enjoy the conversation…

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation #740.

Before you go… if you enjoyed this, please subscribe (all new content arrives in your inbox). It’s easy, it’s free and it’s right here.

SPOS #740 – Jonah Berger On Being A Catalyst For Change

Welcome to episode #740 of Six Pixels of Separation.

Here it is: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #740 – Host: Mitch Joel. Any day is a happy day when Jonah Berger publishes a new book. And here we are. The bestselling author of Contagious and Invisible Influence is back with The Catalyst – How To Change Anyone’s Mind, and I hope you are as happy as I am. Jonah is a marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a world-renowned expert on change, word of mouth, influence, consumer behavior, and how products, ideas, and behaviors catch on. He has published over fifty articles in top‐tier academic journals, teaches Wharton’s highest rated online course, and popular outlets like The New York Times and Harvard Business Review often cover his work. He’s keynoted hundred of events, and often consults for organizations like Google, Apple, Nike, and the Gates Foundation. Now, let’s into this discussion about the trials, tribulations and opportunities that come from the notion that, “change is hard.” Enjoy the conversation…

Running time: 55:05.
Hello from beautiful Montreal.
Subscribe over at iTunes.
Please visit and leave comments on the blog – Six Pixels of Separation.
Feel free to connect to me directly on Facebook here: Mitch Joel on Facebook.
or you can connect on LinkedIn.
…or on Twitter.
Here is my conversation with Jonah Berger.
The Catalyst – How To Change Anyone’s Mind.
Contagious.
Invisible Influence.
Follow Jonah on Twitter.
Follow Jonah on Instagram.
This week’s music: David Usher ‘St. Lawrence River’.

Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels of Separation – Episode #740 – Host: Mitch Joel.

Before you go… if you enjoyed this, please subscribe (all new content arrives in your inbox). It’s easy, it’s free and it’s right here.

Six Links Worthy of Your Attention #533

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: 

And The War Came – De Civitate . “Oh, wow. I’m going to break my politics rule, bigly. A friend dropped this very long post in a WhatsApp group, and many of us took the time to read it — in several chunks, because it’s immense, and wearing. I’m both glad and sorry that I read it. It’s a very well researched, and frighteningly plausible, future history. It doesn’t take political sides. In fact, it’s about an inability to choose a side. And it’s definitely worth reading.” (Alistair for Hugh).
Sounds of the Forest – The International Forest Festival . “Okay, that was heavy. Here’s something lighter. A festival celebrating forests was cancelled in 2020; so they launched a global forest soundmap in the meantime. Twice in the last week, I’ve hiked into a forest, broken out my Zoom H4 recorder (with its astonishingly sensitive microphones) and recorded the sounds of the forest around me. It made me actually listen—and realize just how rare pure nature, without humans or car noise or myriad other encroachments, really is. It’s a sort of reverse geocaching, in which players hike to an obscure location, then make it easily accessible. Since you like your morning hikes, Mitch, this one’s for you.” (Alistair for Mitch).
Insect Flight – Capturing Takeoff & Flying at 3,200 FPS – Ant Lab . “Incredible slow-mo footage of flying insects on take-off.” (Hugh for Alistair).
Rush – The Making of YYZ – YouTube . “Per Alistair’s post above, it’s pretty hard not to get lost in an avalanche of stress these days. Music helps, and mini-documentaries about music maybe even more. I was never a huge Rush fan, but I appreciate their music, and I had a short obsession about 20 years ago with their instrumental track ‘ YZZ’. Find out how it came about.” (Hugh for Mitch).  
Are office spies and sterile spaces the future of work? – CBC News . “I like going to the office. Mine and yours. I actually like the idea of office space, how it functions, what it serves, and how we innovate together. Some hate going to the office. Some would prefer to never go back to their office space ever again. I can understand why, but that’s not me. I believe that we need great places to work and that our best work (meaning true innovation and striving verses a place where the stuff gets down) happens there. This piece makes me realize just how much those office spaces will change. If you thought taking off your shoes at the airport really changed the travel experience, just wait and see what your ‘return to work’ looks like. Hint: not so much fun.” (Mitch for Alistair).
Chuck Palahniuk, Author of Fight Club — A Masterclass in Creative Living and Dangerous Writing (#457) – The Tim Ferriss Show . “I love a conversation about creativity, writing and how to turn ideas into something more. This chat between Tim Ferriss and famed author, Chuck Palahniuk, had me hitting the pause button and grabbing my notebook many more times that I expected it to. His idea of ‘dangerous writing’ is wroth the price of admission alone (and, it’s a podcast, so that price is free). If you’re creative, a writer or anyone interested in figuring out how ideas become an actual thing, listen and learn…” (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 ;):