• Google PowerMeter - Save Energy. Save Money. Make a Difference. - The awesome Google are up to some energy saving stuff…

Ah come on!!! It’s a gig, and if I can’t even bring my Glock, I want my money back. NOW!

• Flattirl - Flattr goes IRL - Get paid for your offline stuff, online. Flattr IRL.
• YouTube - Steve Jobs Oldie but Goodie - Steve J and the background to "think different".

Last week me and a couple of dudes chatted over lunch about how your Facebook friends are in a group, which you treat in a certain way (unless you’re really good with privacy settings and group, which I think more people will be sooner rather than later). One guy said that it’s unthinkable to date a girl you already have as a Facebook friend. She’s been categorized. I don’t feel the same way and I think it’s quite funny, but the certainty he said it with was striking. That was just how it is. Different rules, norms and ways based on different environments and situations.

In wired Mag U.K., Warren Ellis, in his column about writing for TV, and people (and companies) being OK with streamed versions of it where “they’re certainly fine with streaming it for free and spending attention-economy currency on spreading the word and supporting the work”.

That attention-economy currency is in the works on a platform like Facebook too. And there’s an interesting back-side to that currency coin too. I mean I don’t congratulate people on their wall on their birthday. I don’t mind people doing it on mine, but I don’t necessarily think of them as very thoughtful and caring just because they do. It’s all automated. It’s brought to my attention whether I want to or not. I see all the time whose birthday it is, and the ones I really care enough about (I’m out on a limb here), I’ll text. Or call (actually I’m really bad at this). That takes energy. The barrier to posting “Hey beautiful!! Hope you have a fab birthday!!!” is just too low for it to really mean something.

Automating rituals/communications that has to do with thoughtfulness and caring will not make you more so. Caring that is. Going more analogue, using up some time and energy, will. More so than ever. That’s attention-economy currency + time/effort currency or whatever we might call it.

Quite frankly, a comment on a meaningless post means more than a “congratulations”. Because it certainly doesn’t require a comment from you, most don’t even expect it (thought they hope for it). You’ve actually read my meaningless babble and commented on it!? You’re too nice.

Another ethnologist, Stefana Broadbent, presented some findings (google translate from Swedish) about Facebook being more of a name book than a platform for communicating with more people. She says that whether it’s phone, mobile phone, texts, mail or Skype; it’s the same 5-10 people we communicate with 80% of the time.

Facebook doesn’t change everything but it changes some things. I think the most dramatic change is the feeling and notion that we can communicate with more. Everything at our finger tips. But, if you really care, you’ll probably congratulate your friend via text or a phone call too. A one-to-one, intimate and private channel. I think that’s a nice counterweight in the hyper fast automated-always-connected world.

• 500 Internal Server Error - 500 Internal Server Error
• The Heart of Innovation: 50 Ways to Foster a Culture of Innovation - A good list of some thoughtworthy advice on keeping organizations innovative and creative.
• 500 Internal Server Error - 500 Internal Server Error
• BBH CCO Kevin Roddy says creative directors need digital help | Creativity_Unbound - Edward Boches sums it up in the quote "“But if you knew what was actually possible, wouldn’t you think up even more interesting ideas?”. Like I've said for 321 years; "the one who knows most wins", which really means; the more you know, the greater the ideas you dream up. Word!
• adliterate: Nostalgia brands - what to do if you spot one - Some clear, to the point reasoning about nostaligia brands and the tricky situation they can find themselves in; lots of love and respect, but shit sales because of low relevance today.
• Why Social Media Projects Fail?! – A European Perspective -
• The Rap Map — Mapping the Gangsta Terrain of the Planet | Rap Genius - hip hop lyrics on google maps.

Brooks: Edwin Land, inventor of the Polaroid camera, once said that his method of design was to start with a vision of what you want and then, one by one, remove the technical obstacles until you have it. I think that’s what Steve Jobs does. He starts with a vision rather than a list of features.

From wired.

Isn’t that exactly how Apple products feel? It sure does to me.

• A Location-Aware Music Video - PSFK - Simple enough, and fun enough. A music video with your local, present, weather as background.
• KnowEm Username Check - Secure your Brand or Online Identity on Social Media - Make sure to get your name.
• Media’s Various Roles Beyond Planning & Buying « BBH Labs - Some good stuff from BBH on media's part in planning and creative creation. Not that it feels like it hasn't been like this at all.

Who the hell calls a land line these days? I e-mailed a company asking for info and/or a meeting. They e-mail back and say they’ll contact me tomorrow. They keep calling my landline, which I never pick up. Why would I want to have to sit there and talk? Stuck. It never entered his mind to try my mobile so I ended up calling them. Who the hell calls a land line?!

I have taken my landline number off my e-mail signature and hope it never rings again.

• BBC News - Cult of less: Living out of a hard drive - BBC on digital living and minimalism.
• A Digital Home For 21st-Century Minimalists - PSFK - Wow, how this feels like me. But more extreme (still, but for how long?).
• BBC - Dimensions - Index - Cool way to make abstract stuff more real.
• 500 Internal Server Error - 500 Internal Server Error
• En fjärdedel av svenska företagsledare osäkra på vad som skapar lönsamhet i företaget - Svenska företag dåliga (som sjutton) på att veta vad som driver lönsamhet. Och inte stor tilltro har vi till innovation, till skillnad från världen i stort.
• 500 Internal Server Error - 500 Internal Server Error
• Your Brain on Computers - Studying the Brain Off the Grid, Professors Find Clarity - NYTimes.com - More on the brain and attention, in the NYT.
• YouTube - Rory Sutherland: Sweat the small stuff - Rory's at it again.

• Social Bikes: GPS-Tracked, Phone-Controlled Rides in NYC | Gadget Lab | Wired.com - Great GPS use, track rental bikes.
• Attachable tablet adds digital data to cemetery headstones - Springwise - Awesome stuff. Not only transcending online/offline gaps, but life and death. 3 000 years of NFC life should do it too.
• foursquare Online Store - (as usual) online/social behaviors and traditions transcends into offline world. It's more fun that way, and doubly real…
• Facebook Pages Become Customer Support Centers - A natural service on the facebook platform. Many clients have problems with FAQ that they have to answer over and over.
• Power | frogMob - Smart (and not so smart) ways of keeping everything clean and working at home. Crowdsourced suggestions at FrogDesign.
• Cubicle Spy: At Work with David Berkowitz of 360i [PICS] - Director of Innovation David Berkowitz and his (mandatory) playful office space and gadgets.
• Persuasion: The Third-Person Effect — PsyBlog - The third person effect explained clearly and simple. But it's probably nothing for you, only others.
• YouTube - Vital statistics for B2B Marketers - B2B and social media. Misunderstood, misconceived and clearly missed. Or?
• Findings - Discovering the Virtues of a Wandering Mind - NYTimes.com -
• Mobile Internet More Popular in China than in U.S. | Nielsen Wire - Nothing new about china, japan etc having higher penetration and usage of mobile internet. Now with bunch of numbers.
• Welcome to the London Datastore | London DataStore - Another sweet data store available for tech savvy citizens to bring to life and make useful.