Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 310

Where Everybody Knows Your Name... And Face

Have you ever found yourself being tagged in a Facebook picture that makes you feel just a little bit uncomfortable?

Things just got a whole lot creepier. We live in a day and age when people rage against the machine when Facebook changes their terms and service and yet, the majority of these same people have no issue posting pictures of their children from birth on up to Facebook. Think about it this way: how comfortable would you feel knowing that photos of you from your birth to this very waking moment were all posted online for (nearly) everyone to see? I'm none-to-thrilled about some of the personal fashion statements that I made back in the eighties and nineties, and I'm sure you've got photo albums filled with awkward pictures you would like to forget as well. Well, what right do we have in posting our children's lives to an online social network, anyway?

First world problems in a hyper-connected society.

With all of the scrutiny from privacy advocates, Facebook continues to make significant and positive strides in assuring the population that our ability to tag (and untag) photos of ourselves that are posted by others in their online social network is easily done. Some might argue that Facebook could do more to protect these rights, while some would argue that the privacy settings are fairly straightforward and award a high degree of user control. Either way, in June of this year many digital media pundits did a double-take when the world's largest online social network acquired an Israeli facial recognition technology called, Face.com. While the $60 million dollar acquisition didn't get the same amount of press that Facebook's billion dollar acquisition of Instagram garnered, make no mistake about it: Facebook has a laser-like focus on how we are all connected to our mobile devices, social media and our passion to take and share photos (some stats state that over 250 million photos are uploaded daily to Facebook). Face.com's specialty is facial recognition on the mobile and smartphone platforms. In its simplest terms: imagine uploading a picture to Facebook and it can tell you who should be tagged (and these are people that you may... or may not... even be connected to).

Is this technology real or science fiction?

It is real. This past week, Facebook back-peddled on the integration of the Face.com technology by appeasing European regulators and ensuring that it would not only stop using what they were referring to as a "tag suggestion" when a user uploaded a photo, but that the company would also delete all data that was captured to identify Facebook members by their photos. Facebook seemed to have forgotten how much public uproar happens when surveillance devices are placed in public spaces (and it would not be hard to argue that Facebook is now a very open public space for the billion-plus members that it serves). It just creeps people out. While "tag suggestion" hasn't been live for any Facebook user in months, the company is now saying that it will only put it back online once the feature meets with the approval of regulators, both here and abroad.

Beyond the legal issues, this is a question scruples. 

Ultimately, we - the loyal and passionate users of Facebook - have to ask if this type of technology is right or wrong? Is it good or bad? You can think of countless examples where individuals could be captured, tagged and published in photos that are subsequently pushed to the Internet that could either harm them or make them feel uncomfortable. Media pundit and journalism professor, Jeff Jarvis, argues that we must re-define "privacy" in our socially connected iPhone totting world. His latest book, Public Parts, submits that privacy is no longer about closing the curtains at night and delisting our phone numbers, but in accepting that a public life creates a better life, mostly because nobody really cares about that awkward photo of you when you were sixteen or that you're married with three kids. There's just so much information being published in tweets, status updates and blog posts, that we're all snow-blind from the constant stream of digital bits of content about our mundane lives. Arianna Huffington from The Huffington Post claims that, "self expression is the new entertainment," and maybe she's right: we're doing it to ourselves. If we all post photos of ourselves and our children to the Web, we are creating a new, personal, media channel. To have the expectation that this information is privileged may be the core issue here. A friend recently said to me that social media is the best thing ever created... unless you have teenagers, then it's the worst thing ever created. Facial recognition technology is something that we're all going to have to get used to. The question becomes: how do we control information in a world where everything can be recorded in text, images, audio and video and instantly published for free to the world?

This all seems less about the technology and much more about the world we, the global citizens, want to create and inhabit.

The above post is my twice-monthly column for the Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun newspapers called, New Business - Six Pixels of Separation. I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure.

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Is Social Media A Farce?

Episode #324 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

When you publish a book called, Social Media Is Bullshit, it is bound to get some attention (and, some dirty looks, I'm sure). B.J. Mendelson (also known as Brandon) doesn't hold any punches in this book. He says that, "we live in a world where it's far easier to make money telling people how to get rich using the Internet than it is to actually get rich using it." Is Brandon wrong? It's not so cut and dry. On one hand, we do live in a world where any one individual can get a whole bunch of followers and suddenly proclaim themselves as some kind of wizard, but - on the other hand - it's hard to imagine that Brandon would have been as attractive to a traditional book publisher if he didn't have close to 800,000 followers on Twitter. Which, in and of itself, is a part of the issues and challenges that we discuss in this episode. Ultimately, the truth may come when Brandon shuts down all of his social media outposts, and can still sell books and create a viable business without them. 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 - The Twist Image Podcast #324.

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bj mendelson

blog

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podcasting

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social media is bullshit

twitter

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #118

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:

The Accidental History of the @ Symbol - Smithsonian . "This Smithsonian piece looks at how the oft-neglected '@' symbol rose to a place of prominence, in part precisely because of its obscurity." (Alistair for Hugh).

Police shame 80 ghouls who slowed down to take pictures of wreckage on motorway after smash left woman, 21, fighting for life - The Daily Mail . "In a thoroughly modern take on the traffic camera, police in the UK photographed passers-by who slowed to take pictures of a grisly accident. While they could have prosecuted them for using a mobile phone while driving, they chose to let public shame and outcry spread the message instead." (Alistair for Mitch).

Money and politics - The Economist . "It's possible I've sent this link before, but it's worth revisiting in this US election year: an article in The Economist looking at the return on investment of corporate lobbying in the USA. It's staggering. Strategas , an investment research firm, created an index of the American companies that spent the most on lobbying relative to assets. Results? Those companies beat the S&P 500 by an average of 11% per year. Quips The Economist: 'It seems remarkable that companies would do anything but lobby.'" (Hugh for Alistair).

How Google Builds Its Maps--and What It Means for the Future of Everything - The Atlantic . "What the title says." (Hugh for Mitch).

Can Kaggle Make Data Science A Spectator Sport? - GigaOm . "The term 'big data' has many people excited. In fact, it's being tossed around in meetings and conferences almost as much as ' the tipping point .' It doesn't take much to dig a little deeper before realizing that the vast majority of business professionals who think that they sound smart because they say the words, 'big data' truly don't even know how to define it. In fact, I'm humble enough to admit that with the varying level of discrepancies in how big data is defined, that I'm not even sure what it means. That being said, I've been fascinated with the work that Kaggle has been doing. I haven't had the chance to blog about it yet, but this article stood out as a great primer on how social media and big data can truly give a brand insights and understanding." (Mitch for Alistair).

Are Books Doomed? The Rise of E-Reading - Mashable . "Hey Hugh, what is a book? Just kidding :) It's been a long-standing debate (one that I flip-flop on from day to day). While this Mashable piece didn't add much perspective, there is a treasure trove of fascinating data points in the infographic. Ultimately, when I see a data point like '72% of American adults read a printed book last year,' I'm not sure that it's reflective of a trend that is growing or diminishing. But, I am  willing to place my bets on 'diminishing.'" (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.

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alistair croll

big data

bitcurrent

complete web monitoring

gigaom

google

google maps

hugh mcguire

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iambik

kaggle

librivox

link exchange

linkbait

managing bandwidth

mashable

media hacks

pressbooks

smithsonian

story

strategas

the atlantic

the book oven

the daily mail

the economist

the tipping point

year one labs

Technology Removes Technology

What do you make of the meteoric rise of the iPhone and iPad ?

People will talk about the cool factor, the sleek design, the speed of the computer processor, how many pixels the camera has, the connectivity and more. They're all valid reasons why these products (and a lot of what Google is doing with Android or what Amazon is doing with Kindle) have the exponential growth and economic engines that are making every other business jealous of them. I would argue that it's something else: these corporate designers have figured out something that other technology and consumer electronic goods companies still struggle with: Apple, Google and Amazon have done an amazing job of removing the technology from their technology.

Simple is as simple does.

If you want to make an anti-Apple fan roll their eyes and sigh ungratefully, just say to them, "it just works." This was the Steve Jobs catchphrase, and while it's not always accurate and can be questioned at any moment in time, at a macro level, it's spot on. But more than just working, Apple, Google and Amazon work extremely hard at stripping everything away to make their experience as human and intuitive as possible. No, we're not just talking about better user experience design, we're actually talking about removing as much technology as possible, so that what you deliver is an extension of how we behave and interact as people.

It's the hardest thing to do.

You can't throw a theory of relativity out there without hitting an Albert Einstein quote on "simplicity" and just how complex it can all be. As I stood watching the line-up for the iPhone 5 today in a shopping mall, I tried to analyze the people willing to stand there and wait on a Saturday for a smartphone that they could have ordered online, and had it delivered to their work or office in short order. What do these people all have in common? They're all not all power users. They're all not Apple fanboys/fangirls. They all love how great technology is really about the removal of technology.

It's almost sensual.

That was the cautionary message that Sherry Turkle delivered at the last TED conference in Long Beach last year (you can watch the video here: Sherry Turkle: Connected, but alone?). We touch, stroke and tickle our iPhones in a very sexual way. Don't believe me? Just watch someone at a cafe and how they manipulate their iPhone (or Android) as they sit alone waiting for a friend. The devices are much more than tools of communications. They are our companions. Dennis Crowley of Foursquare was recently featured in a TV ad for Best Buy where he boasts that his smartphone is the only thing that he'll go back home to get if he forgets it. Who amongst us would not agree with that. I've had friends forget things like their wallet, money or passport without worrying about going home to get it, but their smartphones? Forget about it.

Does your technology remove the technology.

Brands love to encumber a situation. They love to make things more complicated than what they need to be. I'm not sure why, but they do. Do you? Take a look at the Google homepage and then take a look at your web experience. Notice anything? Take a look at the Twitter mobile application, then take a look at your mobile experience. Notice anything? When you get to the office on Monday, before you do anything, grab a notepad and pen and start making a list of the things you could do - today... right now - to remove the clunkiness of technology from your customer experience.

Remember: if you're not making technology that removes the technology from your experience, either your competitors will... or a smart startup will.

Tags:

albert einstein

amazon

android

apple

best buy

brand

consumer electronic goods

corporate design

customer experience

dennis crowley

design

foursquare

google

industrial design

internet culture

ipad

iphone

iphone 5

kindle

mobile experience

online experience

sherry turkle

simplicity

smartphone

startup

steve jobs

tablet

technology

ted conference

theory of relativity

twitter

user experience

user experience design

web experience

The Tune-Up Of TV

How do you define TV?

Before a recent flight, I downloaded the BBC television series, Sherlock, from the UK. I bought the series on iTunes. I watched the series on my iPad. There were no commercials. It didn't happen on a set and specific weeknight. I could pause it, fast forward it, rewind it and more. That series isn't even available in this country. What made it TV? Nothing of the qualities that we use to define it as "TV" made it "TV." The show - in and of itself - was a three episode season, with each episode clocking in at close to an hour and a half. It wound up feeling like three movies. Not like TV at all. It was hard to even identify where the commercials would have gone, had I watched it on my television set.

It was just video.

Do we need to re-define what TV is? Is TV in need of a tune-up? Yahoo News ran a fascinating news item titled, Nielsen shows how people use TV differently, recently. Here are some things about TV that you need to know, according this article:

More and more US homes don't have traditional TV service.

That doesn't mean that they don't have TVs. They have TVs, they just aren't hook up to a traditional TV service.

Three-quarters of the estimated five million homes that don't get TV signals over the airways or through cable, satellite or telecommunications companies have televisions anyway.

Those TVs are used for DVDs, Netflix or Apple TV instead.

People with economical challenges see TV as "expendable," so more and more people are simply not getting it.

What does this mean?

According to the article: "Because of the changes, Nielsen is considering redefining what it considers a television household to include people who get service through Netflix or similar services instead of the traditional TV signals, Turrill said. During the first three months of 2012, the average consumer spent about 2 percent less time watching traditional TV than the previous year, Nielsen said. They more than made up for that by spending more time watching material recorded on DVRs or on the Internet through TVs, computers and mobile devices."

Nielsen is evolving its definition of TV... are advertisers?

Television is an advertising-driven medium. Nobody ever thought that anybody would pay money to watch TV shows. They were wrong. People bought seasons of their favorite shows on DVD and with the ascent of on-demand and digital downloads, the appetite to pay for TV programming has become more ravenous. Where does this leave TV advertising? By no means are we experiencing any semblance of a mass exodus away from our TVs, so that level of advertising is still powerful and prevalent. The question becomes: if the definition of TV changes as dramatically as it is, what becomes of advertising. Subscription-based models can work extremely well for television broadcasters, but it leaves traditional advertising out in the cold. Many will point to product placement and sponsorship as alternate marketing options, while some think that the advertising dollars will shift from TV to other formats (namely, the Internet).

Being complacent.

Because TV advertising is still such a robust and cash-rich business, there doesn't seem to be a sense of urgency from the media companies to figure this out now. It has a striking resemblance to the music industry in the pre-digital download days. The writing is on the wall and I am not the first to bring these issues to the frontlines. The music industry didn't listen to these challenges because the money was too good. It feels like the TV industry is doing much of the same. While the data doesn't suggest that TV advertising is going anywhere soon (and I happen to agree with that), there is no denying that it is changing (just re-read the quote above by Nielsen).

So, what's it going to take for us, as the marketing community, to re-think TV advertising models?

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television

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tv

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yahoo news

What Is Next For Twitter?

Twitter continues to be one of the most fascinating places online.

It could be argued that Twitter is not even an online platform anymore. It could be argued that Twitter is one of the first social media channels that is as much a part of our physical lives as it is a part of our digital lives. Built into the channel is the mobility of it. Twitter succeeds in a world where Facebook (and others) struggle to find their footing in a continually growing mobile landscape. I had the pleasure of visiting Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco this week (thanks, Sylvain!) and was not surprised by the electricity and passion of the people and the energy that exists in the building's lobby to the vibrant conversations and collaboration taking place in the cafeteria. This past week, Twitter's CEO, Dick Costolo, spent nearly an hour in conversation with Charlie Rose.

It would be well worth your time to watch it. Here's a teaser...

Get the full show right here...

Unfortunately, The Charlie Rose Show does not allow me to embed their videos (I wish they would!), so go here to watch the full conversation: Charlie Rose With Dick Costolo of Twitter.

Twitter continues to fascinate, doesn't it?

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charlie rose

dick costolo

digital lives

facebook

mobile

mobile landscape

online platform

social media

twitter

I, Robot

Are you fascinated with work and the environments we work in?

How we work... and how we are going to work is a huge component of my next book, CTRL ALT DEL (which comes out in May 2013). The concept of what a work environment is, has changed dramatically in a very short while. From working the land to working in offices, from cubicles to collaborative open spaces. We've moved from fixed locations (because we needed to have a fixed landline telephone and computer) to laptops, smartphones, iPads and remote offices.

The evolution continues.

About three years ago, I spoke at a Consumer Electronics Association industry event. I was fortunate enough to see a prototype of a telecommuting robot being introduced. It looked like a broomstick with a webcam stuck on it. It had four wheels for mobility and while the demo was impressive, you could tell that the technology was very nascent. Imagine being able to control this robot from a distant location. You could join meetings from home, roll into someone's office if you had an appointment and much more. It turned the notion of video conferencing and Skype-ing into a meeting on its head.

Now, watch this...

The iPad changes everything... again.

When I talk about technology, I'm always cautious about using new technology as a channel for traditional ways (look at the way the majority of newspapers would simply cut and paste their content for the Internet, instead of re-imagining the power of publishing). While you could easily dismiss the Double Robot as an iPad with video Skype mounted on a Segway, you would be missing the point. The iPad functionality removes the webcam part and suddenly (with FaceTime) this all becomes very real and human. It's about the interaction. It's about the ability to be far away, while being able to be extremely close and engaged in the work that needs to be done. Someone, jokingly, said to me that it won't work because the robot doesn't go up stairs, etc... They missed the point. You can have a handful of these on every floor or available in every major area of collaboration, and they are accessed by workers as needed. In fact, you could probably use the interface to switch floors/switch robots quicker than taking the elevator. In fact, it will take you as much time to get from an office in Los Angeles to one in Australia as it will to switch floors.

Imagine the possibilities.

The computer age has not ended, yet. We moved from hardware to software to Internet to social to mobile in practically no time. How long do you think it will be before robots (beyond the factory floor) move into the knowledge worker space? This about what this does for people with special needs. The first run of the Double Robot has already sold out. So, for under $2000 you can work anywhere in the world. It's not a steep price. I would argue that these are practically free. Don't believe me? How much do you think a business class ticket costs from New York to Los Angeles return?

Are you ready for the exciting possibilities?

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When Digital Just Won't Do

If you were looking to buy issue #11 of Marvel Premiere featuring Dr. Strange, where would you go?

To Google, of course. Buying collectibles isn't what it used to be. For comic book fans, you would have to go to one of a handful of stores in your city (if your city was even big enough to support a comic book store), and the arduous task of trying to hunt down a rare (or even semi-rare) comic book would then unfold. The store owner would have to have it in stock, and it would have to be in the grade quality that you wanted. If not, phone calls had to made, request letters had to be sent, and there was a general lacking of a unified inventory system in place to even know how far and how wide the book would have to travel to make it into your nerdy little hands... and we haven't even begun to discuss at what cost.

Comic-Con changed all that.

As the popularity of comic books began to take off, more and more cities would host weekend events where comic book dealers could buy tradeshow space and sell their wares to those who wanted to get their X-Men freak on. These comic book conventions were never meant to be the cool thing to do on the weekend (for reference, go back and watch the 1984 movie, Revenge of the Nerds). But, something changed. Geek Culture, Nerd Culture and the push of popularity due to TV shows like The Big Bang Theory, have suddenly turned what was a joke of movie title, Revenge of the Nerds, into a reality. Suddenly, it's cool to be geek. It's cool to read comics. It's cooler when comic book characters become runaway Hollywood movie blockbuster successes (The Avengers, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Batman, etc...). Is it any surprise that more that 30,000 people showed up at last weekend's Montreal Comic-Con to comic book bin dive?

What comic books are doing that books are struggling with.

It's hard to define "collectible." It's hard to define "fan." After walking the floor at Montreal Comic-Con for a few hours on Saturday, one thing became abundantly clear: the majority of the commercial activity that was taking place at this physical event cannot be duplicated or replicated in a digital format. You see, people weren't there to buy comics. Any serious collector knows where to find the true comic book rarities online and how to best negotiate the deal. The majority of attendees were there to be together. It wasn't just about snagging an up-skirt photo of the all-female Avengers that were prancing The Conqueror?). You can't buy these types of experiences in the online world, can you?

What all media can learn from Comic-Con.

True fans want more than content delivered fast, easy and cheap. We live in a day and age where brands are trying to become producers of content. Some have done it successfully, while the majority struggle to create something that isn't thinly veiled marketing muck. Whether it is comic books, science fiction or the horror genre, these brands understand that true commerce comes when you create something that your advocates can't get enough of. Close to 10,000 people waited over ninety minutes on a Saturday morning, and paid for the privilege of walking on to the Comic-Con Montreal trade show floor to wait in more lines to pay more money to meet, greet and get autographs and pictures of their favorite comic book characters and creators. They did this with smiles on their faces and with pride. It's not a zero-sum game where that industry is faced with digitization and shrinking revenues with no alternative money-generating streams. By cultivating true fans and giving them unique opportunities to connect, share and yes, even enlarge their collections through specialized and unique items, they're not only keeping alive a traditional media channel (or two), but they're inventing new and fascinating ways to extend their characters and build interest. You could argue that it's easy to do this when you have content that sparks the imagination. I would argue that if you have someone buying something from you, and it delivers (or over-delivers) on the promise, they have a keen level of interest for more. The only thing stopping them from buying more? The brand's ability to get creative and be compelling.

All people interested in media should take a field-trip to a Comic-Con in a city near you. Bring your wallets. 

The above posting is my twice-monthly column for The Huffington Post called, Media Hacker . I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original version online here:

The Huffington Post - What Digital Media Can Learn From Comic-Con.

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Amazing Things Will Happen

Episode #323 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

What you need to know about C.C. Chapman: if it weren't for him (and Joseph Jaffe), there would probably not be a Six Pixels of Separation podcast. The co-author (with Ann Handley) of Content Rules is one of the pioneers in podcasting, and he has had a pretty incredible career in new media. He still works on Digital Dads and is about to release a brand new book called, Amazing Things Will Happen. It's an interesting time for C.C. This book is not about new media. It's a book he wrote for his children to read when they get older and start thinking about their own professional careers. Along the way, he realized that others might benefit from his perspectives on success, motivation and doing your best to be the best. There's one other thing you need to know about C.C. Chapman: he is a kind soul and good friend. 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 - The Twist Image Podcast #323.

Tags:

advertising podcast

amazing things will happen

ann handley

blog

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cc chapman

content marketing world

content rules

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digital dads

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facebook

itunes

joseph jaffe

marketing

marketing blogger

marketing podcast

online social network

podcast

podcasting

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Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #117

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:

Black Swan Farming - Paul Graham . "The Godfather of startup accelerators, Paul Graham , explains why it's so hard to pick winners in the venture capital world. One of the best, and frankly obvious-in-hindsight, pieces I've read on what it is that creates truly great startups that change the world." (Alistair for Hugh).

Teaching the F.A.A. That Dogs Don't Buckle Up - The New York Times . "If you need a punching bag for bureaucracy, look no further than the use of e-readers on planes. A Kindle, with the wireless turned off, isn't safe; a gigantic dictionary that weighs ten times as much, is. If you've ever been infuriated (and forced to read Skymall) by the takeoff-and-landing procedures on an airplane, this will fuel your righteous indignation." (Alistair for Mitch).

A pong traffic light in Germany - Wimp . "Love this. At a busy intersection in Germany, they've set up a game of Pong on the traffic light post... pedestrians play against a stranger on the other side of the street while waiting for the crosswalk light to turn green. When it turns green, the game is over and you're a winner or a loser. Love the high-five as the adversaries pass each other on their way." (Hugh for Alistair).

Inside Forbes: Our Journey From Website to Platform, a 2-Year Interactive Timeline - Forbes . "There are a couple of 'old' print magazines that have really started to figure out how to make a go of the Web. The Atlantic is one. Forbes is another. Here's an in-depth view of how they've approached the Web in the past two years, and the results." (Hugh for Mitch).

This is What Happens When You Photoshop Celebrities Into Your Holiday Party - Twisted Sifter . "This intrigued me beyond words. This person knows how to handle Photoshop, so instead of making beautiful people more beautiful, they make their parties more beautiful by photoshopping celebrities into their pictures (some obvious... some not so obvious), so when they're sent off to everyone who attended the party, it's a whole other, different and exciting event unto itself. Brilliant. Creative. Funny. Sweet. Loving." (Mitch for Alistair).

This "lost" interview with Ray Bradbury is the best thing you'll listen to today - io9 . "The title says it. Literary legend, Ray Bradbury , does this 45-minute interview in 2010 at San Diego ComicCon. He was 89 years old at the time. Sit back, listen and marvel at the genius that was (and still is) Ray Bradbury." (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.

STREETPONG from HAWK Hildesheim on Vimeo.

Tags:

alistair croll

bitcurrent

complete web monitoring

forbes

gigaom

hugh mcguire

human 20

iambik

io9

librivox

link exchange

linkbait

managing bandwidth

media hacks

paul graham

photoshop

pong

pressbooks

ray bradbury

san diego comiccon

story

the atlantic

the book oven

the new york times

twisted sifter

wimp

year one labs