Five things on Friday #134

Things of note for the week ending July 24th, 2015.

Before we crack on, my friend Sarah and I have just finished our latest playlist, ‘A Full Day of Music, Vol 2‘ – 8hrs of awesome music that’s ready for your listening pleasure.

Didn’t want to blog it until I gave it you lovely lot first.

Listen now on Spotify

If you missed Vol. 1, that’s still available – here.

Right, shall we?

1. FACEBOOK V YOUTUBE (CONTINUES)
Sorry to keep wanging on about it but the predictions made at the end of last year (about 2015 being the year of the VIDEO ROYALE) just keep on coming true.

This latest validation of our Mystic-Meg-like abilities comes in the form of Facebook [once again parking its video tanks on YouTube’s lawn by] giving its bajillion users a set of new video publisher tools.

These tools include:

• The ability to block embeds on third party websites (just like YouTube)
• Mark videos ‘secret’ shareable / viewable by a single and direct URL (just like YouTube)
• A new ‘video library’ to help users organise their videos properly (just like YouTube)

There’s a theme here (you might’ve picked up on it already).

Business Insider has more (via my trend-writing partner in crime, Marshall Manson).

(and yes, I know I like parentheses – deal with it)

2. LETTER FROM HELSINKI
Regular readers will know of my own long-term love affair with Finland. Here’s another POV on why it’s one of the best places in the world.

If you’ve not been, go.

If you have been, go again.

Whatever, just go.

PS. Visit Finland, if you’re reading, I’m available any time you want.

3. #CHUCKII
I’m still not entirely sure if I’m allowed to talk too much about this quite yet but screw it, you guys won’t tell anyone – right?

Converse announced its new shoe yesterday:

The Chuck Taylor All Star II.

We’ve been working on some of the awesome social/content parts of this launch since January (I know some of my sharper-eyed Instagram followers out there definitely figured it out – the trip to the shiny new Boston HQ was so awesome it hurt) and it’s the most exciting project I’ve ever had the good fortune to work on, let alone lead.

The big reveal happened yesterday (read all about the shoe here and here) and some of our teaser stuff is already out in the wild – and there’s still a whole bunch more to come.

Get ready for more.

#Proud

#Ogilvy4Life

4. STEWART LEE ON THE BBC
Earlier this week, Stewart Lee wrote an opinion piece that criticised not only the proposed reforming of the BBC but also the nature of how said reform might take place.

At this point in FOTF, I would normally quote the article that I’m waxing lyrical about to give your fine eyes (yes, they are lovely – and you do look great today) a taster for what they might see in full should they click through BUT this is Stewart Lee we’re talking about here and if you know anything about Stewart Lee then you know he is almost nearly always unquotable. In that his words (and comedy for that matter) are best experienced in full.

In short: read this.

5. NOKIA MAPS, IN YOUR AUDI – WHAT?
There’s a rumour floating around that Nokia’s [actually very good] maps service – aka ‘HERE Maps’ – will be sold off very shortly. For a while, many thought it would go to Uber but the latest hints/news reports point to a triumvirate of Audi, BMW, and Daimler AG (read: ‘Mercedes’) agreeing to purchase HERE Maps in its entirety.

Why is this interesting?

Two reasons.

First, it’s another chapter in the final days of the Nokia that I used to love. Believe it or not, at one point, HERE/Nokia Maps was better than Google Maps (some might argue that it still is – and they’d probably win). It’s definitely better than Apple Maps. But whatever – the maps product here (no pun intended) is solid. It’s a shame that it’ll no longer be a Nokia product per se but it’ll ultimately wind up somewhere it’ll get used widely and properly.

Second, many cars already come with Google Maps onboard. This move towards owning a maps product [as opposed to rent one] is certainly a smart one however what it’s really saying is that these car manufacturers (and there’ll be more than the three mentioned) are happy to move away from Google and its services. Moreso when you cast that against the backdrop of Google’s own automotive ambitions (see self-driving cars etc).

Big companies discovering that trusting Google might not be a good thing for them in the long run? What a surprise…

__________________

Bonuses this week are as follows:

• Pixar’s next film ‘The Good Dinosaur’ has a trailer.
• While we’re at it, Bond’s got one too.
• Tainted Love, via Twitter profiles (this is genius).
• 100 years of Kafka (I’m a fan).
• Useful digital resources  – seriously, bookmark these.

STOP THE PRESS:
HOLY WHAT NOW NASA HAVE DISCOVERED ANOTHER EARTH WHAT?

WHOOOOOOOZH!

AMAZING!!!

…

Whatley out.

If you loved me, you’d click this.

Last updated by James Whatley at July 24, 2015.