Oh Hello, Seven things on Sunday (FToF #202)

Things of note for the week ending Sunday November 13th, 2016.

Things of note for the week ending Sunday November 13th, 2016.

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Many things to cover off this week. Seven, at a minimum.

Shall we?

THING ONE: THE LONDON NECROPOLIS RAILWAY

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Ever hear about the train track for the dead? No? Allow me to enlighten you:

In operation from 1854 to 1941, the London Necropolis Railway was the spookiest, strangest train line in British history. It transported London’s dead south-west to Brookwood Cemetery, near Woking, in Surrey, a cemetery that was built in tandem with the railway. At its peak, from 1894 to 1903, the train carried more than 2,000 bodies a year.

It also transported their families and friends. Guests could leave with their dearly departed at 11:40am, attend the burial, have a funeral party at one of the cemetery’s two train stations (complete with home-cooked ham sandwiches and fairy cakes), and then take the same train back, returning to London by 3:30pm.

Amazing.

And guess what else? The station still operates today (only with less dead people).

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THING TWO: FINNISH EDUCATION

This week in interesting education news, Finland is looking like the first country to completely abolish school subjects.

Look:

The head of the Department of Education in Helsinki, Marjo Kyllonen, explained the changes:

“There are schools that are teaching in the old-fashioned way which was of benefit in the beginning of the 1900s — but the needs are not the same, and we need something fit for the 21st century.“

Instead of individual subjects, students will study events and phenomena in an interdisciplinary format. For example, the Second World War will be examined from the perspective of history, geography, and math. And by taking the course ”Working in a Cafe,” students will absorb a whole body of knowledge about the English language, economics, and communication skills.

This I find thoroughly interesting. Especially as Finland’s education system is already considered to be one of the best in the world. Why rest on laurels?

Education. It’s important.

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THINGS THREE: BEAGLE 2

Remember Beagle 2?

Beagle 2 landing craft disappeared on Christmas Day. Space. Mars
Beagle 2 landing craft disappeared on Christmas Day. Space. Mars

The lost British Mars lander that failed to do, well, anything after attempting to land on our distant red cousin of a planet back in 2003? If you’ve been following the story you may even recall that ten years later, NASA spotted it on the surface and the little lander had finally been discovered.

Well, the work didn’t stop there. After studying NASA’s images, and recreating what they could see using 3D printers, it turns out Beagle 2 was much closer to success than we originally thought.

Really interesting reading.

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THING FOUR: CLOWNS

No image here. Just a link: the case for not being scared of clowns.

Related: my favourite clown-related joke ever.

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THING FIVE: STORIES OF USE

Work in social? Getting hassled by your clients to tell them / convince about Instagram stories [and why they should/shouldn’t partake]? Then you need this really useful help manual, from Instagram itself, that you should lift freely from and pretend your amazing overview deck is all your own work.

Go on, off you pop.

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THING SIX: SNAP SNAP

They’re heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeereeeeeee….

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I said back in edition #194 that I thought the first hardware from Snap Inc., aka ‘Spectacles’, would be an interesting swerve for media creation and now, at last, they’re out for people to purchase. Alas, you can only purchase them in person and via Snap’s own travelling vending machine.

The Verge has a ton more on this (with a few good videos too), so you should go read that.

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THING SEVEN: SNAPCHAT / FACEBOOK FLASH

I’m not kidding. Facebook has made Snapchat. Like, actually and properly. WHAT.

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Bonuses this week are about the state of the world today:

  • Jonathan Pie is an acquired taste at the best of times. This on ‘Trump: How and Why?’ is actually really good. Give it a watch.
  • Azeem Azar’s always excellent Exponential View has a really good provocation this week re: Facebook’s role on the election. My favourite thing on this topic of Facebook’s ongoing mission to convince brands they can influence purchaser decisions through content / Facebook advertising is directly contradicted by its claim that they had no influence on the election result whatsoever (eloquently put in this tweet).
  • My writing partner at Ogilvy, Marshall Manson, put these reflections together – they’re well worth a read.

 

HEY LOOK: Five things on Friday #201

Things of note for the week ending Friday November 4th, 2016.

Things of note for the week ending Friday November 4th, 2016.

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1. WELL SAID, UNCLE MARTY

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What am I referring to? This:

“Facebook can’t really claim that a three-second view when 50% of the time the sound is off is the same as a 15-second, a 30-second, a 60-second TV ad or someone reading a The Times for 40 minutes.”

Well, yes.

Quite.

Aside from the fact that the 50% is closer to 95% (and I’d argue the remaining 5% are the brand marketers playing it with the sound on to ensure that the voiceover artist they paid for actually sounds OK) Sir Martin Sorrell makes a good point. Furthermore, and to build on the chart I shared back in FToF #199 (item 4), I do think we’ll see YouTube begin to take the fight to Facebook in very real terms, when it comes to meaningful metrics regarding video consumption.

With the industry still smarting from Facebook’s recent admission/discovery of its own mis-handling of measurement (funny how these things happen when you mark your own homework) and advertisers slowly beginning to realise that Facebook isn’t everything – 2017 could be YouTube’s year (again).

There’s more to this one to come, I’m sure.

Just watch.

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2. CHOOSE LIFE

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T2 Trainspotting. The trailer for this long-promised sequel to the seminal Danny Boyle slice of late 90s culture has been all over the web these past few days and, even though I don’t like to share stuff on FTOF that’s been overtly popular throughout the week leading up to publication, I couldn’t help it with this one.

I think this has the potential to be excellent. I really do.

1996 though? Where does the time go?

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3. NERD NERD NERD

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Please find herein just the right amount of photographs to support the headline of ‘Britain’s Best New Train Stations: In Pictures‘.

Super geeky.

Strangely enjoyable.

Sidenote: image shown isn’t actually of a station. It’s a shopping centre above a station.

JUST SAYING.

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4. HUWS AT TEN

Huw Edwards is the news anchor for the BBC News at Ten.

This is not interesting.

What is interesting however is that someone noticed that Huw happens to strike the exact same pose at 10pm, every night.

Observe:

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So of course there’s now a Twitter account dedicated to the damn thing and IT IS A THING OF BEAUTY.

Go see.

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5. DIGITAL TRANSITION AT THE WHITE HOUSE

Whatever happens at the upcoming US election there’s on thing that the incoming President will have to deal with, and that is the new and myriad digital and social channels that President Obama – aka @POTUS – will be leaving behind him.

“President Obama is the first “social media president”: the first to have @POTUS on Twitter, the first to go live on Facebook from the Oval Office, the first to answer questions from citizens on YouTube, the first to use a filter on Snapchat. Over the past eight years, the President, Vice President, First Lady, and the White House have used social media and technology to engage with people around the country and the world on the most important issues of our time (while having some fun along the way).”

Which is all fun and great and stuff but then, how on Earth do you handover the passwords? That’s not even the half of it. What about archiving? Or ensuring that the outgoing President’s contributions to the channels that he appeared on stay there?

How’s this?

“On Twitter, for example, the handle @POTUS will be made available to the 45th President of the United States on January 20, 2017. The account will retain its more than 11 million followers, but start with no tweets on the timeline. @POTUS44, a newly created handle maintained by NARA, will contain all of President Obama’s tweets and will be accessible to the public on Twitter as an archive of President Obama’s use of the account.”

This post, from The Whitehouse’s Deputy Chief Digital Officer, Kori Schulman, outlines exactly the processes that they’ve been working hard at creating for this unique handover of handles they find themselves in.

Good reading.

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Bonuses this week are as follows –

Until next time, fam.

Whatley out x

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PS. Found out this week I’m up for ‘social individual of the year‘ at the Social Buzz Awards (thanks you guys). Genuinely have no idea what I’ve done this year to deserve such a nomination so please, go and vote for someone who does.

x

FIVE THINGS ON FRIDAY: ISSUE #200

ISSUE TWO HUNDRED. WTF.

Things of note for the week ending Friday October 28th, 2016.

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TWO HUNDRED.

HONESTLY. TWO HUNDRED.

What started out as a 2011 round up and then a moleskine-based hobby to the mammoth newsletter it now is (hello subscribers!) has made it to its second century. Scha-mazing.

Enough navel-gazing for now though (mainly because as ever, I’m short on time and a) I want this to go out on time this week and b) the idea I had for an elaborate slow-motion gif of me popping party poppers in an endless circle of celebratory enjoyment got killed (and by killed, I mean I forgot to do it) and I’m annoyed about it) and onwards!

To the things!

1. ‘I GOT FAMOUS FOR LEAKING INFO FROM TOYS R US’

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This article, from Kotaku, is a first person perspective of what it meant to be a super leaker back in the early noughties. Imagine a SUPER LIGHT version of ‘As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster’ – it’s that, but for video game price leaks.

AND JUST AS COMPELLING.

Ahem:

In the 15 years I worked at Toys “R” Us, I sometimes leaked information about video game sales and posted them on message boards. I even took games home early to try them and then post impressions, which was very much against the rules. I did this because I’ve always been excited about video games and because, frankly, when your job is a grind, you will take chances if you know it’ll get your fellow gamers online to like you.

 See?
I’ve got a lot of time for this one. Mainly because a) I’m a gamer, b) this was genuinely helpful to people and c) well, that would be telling.

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2. MI MIX

So, this is bonkers. Introducing the new ‘concept’ near-bezel-less phone/phablet from Xiaomi, The Mi Mix.

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According to The Verge (emphasis mine):

‘Nothing says sci-fi like a bezel-less screen, and Xiaomi’s newly announced Mi Mix Android phablet is very sci-fi with its 91.3 percent screen-to-body ratio. This 6.4-inch device has just been announced as a concept phone by the Chinese company, but weirdly enough, it has a price, Â¥3,499 ($516), and a release date of November 4th in its home country.’

Just. Wow.

Richard Lai has one and has been Tweeting the occasional photo with/of it.

With rumours afoot that the new iPhone will just be one sheer piece of glass, and the Mi Mix ‘concept’ (I mean come on, it’s actually going on sale; it’s clearly a test bed to gauge interest for future devices) out in a little under a week, we could be seeing the next evolution of mobile hardware design.

At last.

What do you think of the Mi Mix? Want one? I mean, I’d love to play with one. But I’m wedded to my Pixel now (I mean, come on, the photos are incred) and I can’t see me moving for some time…

Ps. If you have questions about the Pixel, shoot.

Pps. If you have one, you can now use IFTTT with the Google Assistant. Woop woop!

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3. INSTAGRAM: GOING LIVE

July 2016. Facebook earnings call. ‘We see a world that is video-first with video at the heart of all our apps and services’. Over the past month or so I’ve been presenting a work in progress of the Ogilvy trends document for next year. This statement from Facebook is on one of the charts. At this point in the presentation I take time to explain exactly what ‘all our apps and services’ means. In short: not just the Facebook platform.

Last week, screenshots of something called ‘Go Insta’ appeared.

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Which, to me at least, means Instagram is testing Live Video in its Stories feature. Expect this to land within the next quarter. By the end of the year, at best. This, combined with Facebook actually launching a HUGE ad campaign specifically for its Live product further compounds just how much Facebook believes that LIVE is its future.

What social platform do you think of when you think of ‘live’? I’ll give you a clue, it’s blue and its logo is a bird.

Facebook is coming for the last piece of the puzzle.

One to watch.

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4. GO FOLLOW 100 WOMEN

No, not like that. Weirdo. I meant: on Twitter.

Here are 100 Women in Tech and Founders to Follow on Twitter.

What a great list!

Go on, off you pop.

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5. VINE DIED

Here’s a link to the news.

Here’s a link to my best vine (by loops).

Here’s a link to my best vine (by opinion).

A lot has been said (eg: this is pretty good). In fact, here’s a bunch of stuff I wrote on it earlier (I think the comments are being used for a trade and I’m probably being quite naughty publishing the whole thing here but hey, it’s Friday):

“Let’s get one thing out first: the shuttering of Vine is incredibly sad. Creators and businesses have been born on the service and many of those will now either pivot or find new platforms to produce/create upon.
 
For something that Twitter bought in 2012 for a rumoured $30m (mix of cash & preferred stock) and ultimately failed to monetise, it’s quite the costly mistake. Furthermore, the recent trade press about Twitter’s courting (and subsequent loss) of potential suitors for a sale have to be seen as a contributing factor to this closure. In short: Twitter is cutting costs and buttoning down for rocky roads ahead.
 
As the industry, the influencers and creators on the platform will move on (if they haven’t already – the rise of influential Snapchatters and Instagrammers of this world now far outweigh those on Vine) and brands and audiences will move with them.
 
Twitter will be flooded with ‘look at the amazing vines we’ll lose!’ cries right now. But in six months from now, who will remember? The interesting thing here is what’s next? Six months ago, I wrote that Twitter has changed and the industry should change with it. Twitter is still changing – it’s simplifying (something that arguably is long overdue). For example, now that Twitter has brought ‘Go Live’ into the main app – does this mean Periscope will be next?”
 
If it is, Twitter should move quickly. Facebook is stepping up its attempt of owning ‘LIVE’ and, combine this with the focus on one-to-one messaging with brands via Messenger, is encroaching on Twitter’s heartland once more.
 
In December last year, Ogilvy Digital Trends 2016 put forward a theory that Twitter’s place in the digital ecosystem could be eroded by its competitors. We didn’t want to be true then. We don’t want it to be true now. 

So yeah. In social media years, Vine lasted a lifetime.

But I guess, for now at least, its six seconds of fame will soon be over…

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Bonuses this week are:

  • I didn’t just catch gastroenteritis in Cairo, I also gave a keynote on the three trends that are incoming for today’s consumer. The trends themselves are pretty work in progress but the finished article(s) should appear at the end of the year when Marshall and I publish our next edition of the Ogilvy Digital Trends deck. So look our for that. In the meantime, here’s a picture of me stood next to a chart.
  • Do you use or are you considering using Snapchat for your business? Here is a REALLY QUITE BLOODY HANDY super guide to ‘Snapchat for Business‘ via Hubspot. Save. Add to bookmarks. Delicious. Whatever.
  • Obama on AI.
  • Occupants vs Pedestrians

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I’m not going to dick around. The only thing I should say, really, is: thank you, to all of you, that read this inane writing every week. The links are just stuff I find [interesting] and the growing list of subscribers, combined with the weekly emails, tweets, and general conversation starters that happen the week after, always make me smile.

So sincerely, thank you

Here’s to the next two hundred, I guess.

Whatley out.

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Many things on Monday (FToF 199)

Things of note for the week ending beginning Monday October 24th, 2016.

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Next  Later this week will mark the 200th edition of this here ongoing newsletter/blogpost/update thing. I’ve been considering a rebrand – a new name, look and feel, maybe even an update to the day that this thing arrives (SHOCK, FRIDAY?!) but I’m still undecided.

Opinions, please, dear reader.

On with the things!

1. CRAY CRAY

Look at this gif.

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Some cray mo fo jumping and falling 129ft straight down into a marina.

Like, what?

If you want to feel really sick, you can watch the full 2min video in 1080p and at 60fps over on YouTube.

Dare you to full screen it.

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2.  PINEAPPLE PEN

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Click the image.

Watch the video.

Thank me later.

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3. THIS HAPPENED

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5 inch 128GB. Couldn’t find the wodge (or the reason) for the £820 one. And that’s even after selling my Z5. So far, so excellent. Enjoying assistant (although there are a few Google Apps quirks that Google Apps users will know about) and the phone is generally gorgeous – to both use and look at.

I’m sharing occasional words and photos using the #madebygoogle hashtag – I also said a lot about my decision to purchase this phone the way I have on last week’s episode of The Voicemail podcast. Had some great feedback about that episode too so, y’know, if you haven’t listened before. Why not try now?

Any questions about the Pixel? Questions in the usual way please.

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4. YOUTUBE v FACEBOOK

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In the endless battle for VIDEO to be EVERYWHERE (not kidding) the bigger players like to have the odd dig at each other. This latest jibe comes from the tube of red and is aimed squarely at the book of faces.

Peter Cory, Google’s agency leader, picked holes in Facebook’s video advertising product, namely its autoplay feature that often substitutes sound for captions.

Sound, he claims, has a huge impact on advertising. It is a view shared by Snapchat’s Imran Khan, who last month went as far as to claim that muted video advertising is nothing more than “moving banners”. Both YouTube and Snapchat’s product offerings pivot around sound, so it is in their best interest to trumpet its worth.

Cory went on to claim that YouTube’s audience “continues to watch not scroll”, referencing how a user often stumbles upon video in Newsfeed, where on YouTube they have an average session time of 40 minutes.

Using an LG campaign that ran in September as an example, Cory showed that while Facebook wins in views; the campaign accumulating 7m views while YouTube has 5.2m; YouTube tops time spent with 72K hours of watch time versus Facebook’s 12K.

Via (and more over at) The Drum.

You should read more on the link above, there are some good numbers there. I was in a talk recently that demonstrated just how good YouTube can be at building brand awareness (given Facebook’s recent video numbers scandal – this couldn’t be more perfectly timed) and one particular slide stood out:

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Yeah. Makes ya think, right? Views (when using Facebook’s shonky metrics at least) aren’t everything…

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5. RESTART A HEART

This is excellent.

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Use the old favourite button – aka: the ‘heart’ button – to trigger this.

Super simple.

Super effective.

Well done.

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Bonuses this week are as follows:

  • Radical Candour. A very good read that starts off how you think and then works through a number of different ways of inspiring sharing and a culture of trust when it comes to making mistakes in the workplace; ‘Your Go To Question’ is a stand out for me.
  • What to Wear to get Laid made me chuckle this week.
  • Oh, and how’s this: on Saturday morning I tried to cancel one of the lines on my Vodafone contract via ‘live chat’. Have a guess how long it took me.

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Finally, a Monday edition is pretty darn late isn’t it?

Well, it’s here now and we can all breathe.

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Me? I’m going to go back to my gastroenteritis.

(same gif).

 

UNTIL NEXT TIME.

Whatley Out.

 

Seven things on Sunday (FToF #198)

Things of note for the week ending Friday October 14th, 2016

Things of note for the week ending Friday October 14th, 2016.

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A tech heavy edition this week; I make no apologies.

1. PSVR

Yeah, I got one.

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I don’t really know where to start on this one. The PSVR, to me at least, is the first true consumer-facing VR unit that is genuinely and truly accessible.

And. It. Is. Amazing.

It came with a demo disc (a ton of first levels from a bunch of game) and I bought VR Worlds (lots of different games) plus Arkham VR (you can be Batman); all of it is fantastic.

I wrote a lot of my pre-purchase PSVR action for Plaaayed way back when and stand by all of it. Arkham VR is a £16 game and you get to BE BATMAN. It’s so so so so so so GOOD. I also managed to get my hands on a copy of EVE: VALKYRIE and, as a space shooter, pulling barrel rolls, chasing down enemies – I have audibly wooped several times (here’s a gameplay video).

In short: it’s amazing. Any questions? Ping me. I have answers.

PS. I’ve let my son play on Google Cardboard but I doubt I’ll let him on PSVR (yet). That’s my decision though. Experts are working on their own opinions.

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2. PIXEL

I moaned about the price. But then I played with one and now I want one. And by want one I meant ‘I’ve bought one’ – it arrives next week (while I’m in Cairo – long story), expect more on this next week.

In the MEAN TIME, here’s a fantastic behind-the-scenes look at the Pixel, via Bloomberg.

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3. THE VOICEMAIL (181)

I do a podcast.

It’s called The Voicemail.

We just published Episode 181 (literally, like, two hours ago).

If you’ve never heard it before, why not try now?

Lots of VR talk, some Pixel chat, and a whole bunch of random other things too.

Yes?

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4. HILARY/TRUMP SHUFFLE

This is excellent.

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Hit the button and the website will find something from each of the candidate’s fifty year history.

Brilliantly done.

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5. RE-BALANCING TECH

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Documentally is giving up his iPhone.

Intriguing.

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6. SPEAK, MEMORY

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“It had been three months since Roman Mazurenko, Kuyda’s closest friend, had died. Kuyda had spent that time gathering up his old text messages, setting aside the ones that felt too personal, and feeding the rest into a neural network built by developers at her artificial intelligence startup. She had struggled with whether she was doing the right thing by bringing him back this way. At times it had even given her nightmares. But ever since Mazurenko’s death, Kuyda had wanted one more chance to speak with him.”

Dark.

Chilling.

True.

The Future.

More.

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7. THE END OF BLACKBERRY

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I had a running bet with a friend many years ago that Blackberry would be over ‘by the end of the year’. I think it ran and ran and ran – and I’m surprised it’s still going.

Only just.

This is a great read on the how and they why – and what happens next.

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Bonuses this week are all Ogilvy related:

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And that is me. I’m out.

It’s late.

I’m tired.

And I’m in Cairo tomorrow (long story).

 

Until next time x

 

Seven things on Sunday (FToF #197)

Things of note for the week ending Sunday October 9th, 2016.

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Yeah, we may as well commit to the whole ‘it’s gonna be on Sundays from now on’ thing. Maybe a re-brand around issue #200? What do you think?

While you mull over clearly the biggest decision in the world, I’ll crack on.

Shall we?

1. GOOGLE PHONES / PIXELS

I’m sure you’ve seen these already.

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Nexus phones are famous for their accessibility. Pixel phones however, not so much. The larger one of the two, the Pixel XL, (5.5-inch + 128GB) will set you back a cool £819 SIM-free (this is a LOT of money). Matching, pound for pound, the largest options available for iPhone.

I was not convinced.

On Friday I was invited to a private Google event to not only try out the new phones for myself but also try out Google Daydream VR (think Google Cardboard but with phone-sync and made from much nicer material with a remote control to help navigate).

It was a LOT of fun.

Sidenote: the Google Daydream VR experience had a teaser of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them VR experience and, in the secluded demo area, Google laid on individual free-spinning stools for the guests to sit on. A small touch but it made a huge difference and has made me reconsider how I might use VR in future. Food for thought.

Over the past month or so I’ve been using the Huawei P9 and, if you’re looking for a phone that takes incredible photos (and doesn’t cost a fortune), I’d recommend – and have been recommending – that to everyone.

However, if you’re a software-led kinda person. Wanting to experience the next baby steps in mobile VR as well as, of course, the new and improved Google Assistant (with a not a too bad camera at all) and you don’t mind paying for a flagship, then Pixel is an obvious choice.

Expect more on this on next week’s podcast (episode 181).

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The next three items are ALL TRAILERS.

Sue me.

2. POWER RANGERS

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That’s right, if you didn’t already know, there’s a new POWER RANGERS movie coming and, from here at least, it’s basically BREAKFAST CLUB but with SUPER POWERS (and then a dash of PACIFIC RIM) maybe.

See for yourself.

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3. IRON FIST

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This is the last piece of the DEFENDERS puzzle, after DAREDEVIL, JESSICA JONES, and LUKE CAGE (and maybe PUNISHER too, soon) for Netflix is IRON FIST.

Go watch.

Yeah, looks good right?

I have to confess: I’ve not actually found the time to watch LUKE CAGE yet but I’ve heard good things.

While we’re on Netflix…

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4. BLACK MIRROR

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Oh yes. Brooker is back. And this time it’s gone to Netflix (think: bigger budgets/stars) and it looks like, as ever, incredible viewing. I don’t have much else to say…

Just watch the trailer.

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5. MEN ARE LAZY AND WOMEN DO ALL THE WORK

At least, in the land of the squirrel…

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‘It is not clear what the males are doing above ground’

This is amazing.

Also: quite a good opportunity to share arguably the best photo of a squirrel eating a pizza I’ve ever taken.

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Brilliant.

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6. STIK IN SHOREDITCH

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The artist’s hidden tribute to a sold-off London.

Worth 9mins of your time.

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7. YELLING AT ALEXA

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I’m not sold on the new (for the UK at least) Amazon Echo. My life/house isn’t quite as automated as its imminent-future-proofed voice commands desire and, as such, I’m not wholly convinced I need* one [yet].

This write up both amused and spoke to me.

It may do the same for you.

*I mean, who needs anything like this. Really. But still. You get the point.

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Bonuses this week are random selections from the past week’s Twitter favourites:

Thanks for reading – I hope you have an awesome and productive week.

Much love,

James.

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Seven things on Sunday (FToF #196)

Things of note for the week ending Sunday October 2nd, 2016.

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1. FOR LUKE

A man I knew died. We weren’t huge friends. Acquaintances, at best. His imprint on the world will be long. And the sadness of his passing is immeasurable. For more reasons than are obvious.

I’ve said a lot of what I wanted to say already.

God this is painful. Darkness comes to all of us. This hurts so much. More so because I work – or at least feel like I work – hard at raising awareness around the issues on mental health. Specifically for men. And yet still. Yet still it happens.

If you knew Luke, or if he impacted your life in any way, Kai has organised a JustGiving page for the family he leaves behind.

And I guess – that is all.

Oh Luke.

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2. CHAMPIONS OF THE SHENGA

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So this is interesting. Champions of the Shenga is currently seeking funds on indiegogo.

What is it? Well:

A collectable card battling game you control with your emotions, played with a wearable sensor. This Emotionally Responsive Game brings your emotional state into the core of the gameplay by tracking changes in your biometric data. Unlock powerful spells, creatures, and weapons to defeat your opponents in a tournament like no other. Earn mastery through practicing mindfulness in the heat of battle and better equip yourself to cope with stress and anxiety in everyday life.

The video for this is the thing that clinched it for me.

Gaming as a way of finding calm, focus, and flow? I’m in.

There are potentially huge implications for how this could help in other ways too.

Maybe I’m over-thinking it.

Think on it.

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3. EVER CHEAT AT AN EXAM?

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I haven’t. But these people have.

Brilliant reading. <- Buzzfeed link. Sorry not sorry.

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4. STOPTOBER BOT

I’ve been working on a number of bot-related things of late. This one however, while originating from Ogilvy London, isn’t one of the them. That said, it is quite brilliant and I’m super impressed with what it sets out to do.

Introducing: Stoptober Bot!

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Stoptober, if you’re unaware, is a yearly attempt to help people stop smoking. It takes 28 days to form a habit and breaking one is just like forming one. It’s habitual to do something therefore to not do that thing would also have to be habitual, right? That sentence probably makes more sense in my head.

The Stoptober bot ostensibly takes the place of the SMS alerts you would get in the form of a Facebook Messenger bot.

Know anyone who’s trying to give up this Stoptober? Send the bot their way.

Thanks.

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5. THIS IS WHERE I WORK

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I wang on about working at the big O a fair bit but hey, I love my job so.. well, so there.

The new building is ace and, ten months in, Digiday came to find out how we’re all settling in.

Hmm. Lovely.

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6. HOW TO EMAIL

Do you send email? Yes? Do the world a favour and read this.

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7. WANT TO DATE MY FRIEND, WILLEM?

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I don’t know if this will work but I’ve got to applaud the effort. My dear, dear [single] friend Willem (you may remember I was on his podcast a while back) has decided to take a new approach to the dating.

And fair play to him for it.

Take a look and please, if you know anyone who fits the bill, do pass it along.

It’d make a helluva story for the grandkids.

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Bonuses are taking some time off this week. They’ll be back again next time.

 

This one’s for you, Luke.

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Safe journey onwards, old friend.

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Seven things on Sunday (FToF #194)

Things of note for the week ending Sunday September 25th, 2016.

Things of note for the week ending Sunday September 25th, 2016.

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It’s Sunday. It’s 19:23. And I’m settling down to write this week’s edition. There are a few things in my inbox that I’ve emailed myself throughout the week and a few other favourites/likes from Twitter that need to go in too.

Shall we dive on in?

1. SNAP / SPECTACLES (DON’T SKIP)

You may have been under a rock  this week if you missed this one. But stay tuned… there’s something really, really interesting here.

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If you did miss it however, in a sentence: Snapchat rebranded itself as Snap Inc and, at the same time, announced a new set of $129 glasses (nay – spectacles) that can snap a 10 second circular video that you can then share direct from your phone.

And it’s that last part that has really caught my attention.

A new video format.

Not landscape.

Not portrait.

Circular.

Why circular?

This is what it looks like in action:

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So simple. So innovative.

The landscape vs portrait argument: null and void in one fell swoop.

Well done, Snap. I’m certain that Spectacles will be a complete sell out (it helps when on limited sale) but it’s this video capture/sharing technique that’s the real thing to look at here. This will be copied and copied and copied.

Just watch.

Oh – and as a bonus thing here: if you’re talking to someone at a party/over dinner/in the pub and they say ‘Ewww, it’s just Google Glass but for Millennials’ – just reel off this perfect counter point after counter point.

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2. HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW MUCH EFFORT YOU PUT INTO NOT BEING ASSAULTED?

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Hard reading.

Incredibly hard reading.

So read it.

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3. I USED TO BE A HUMAN BEING

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Another day, another article endorsing the whole digital detox thing. In fairness, it’s barely been two months since OFCOM announced research stating that nearly a third of the UK’s internet users had ditched their devices – so it follows that a few more would be give it a go.

There may be a sense of mockery in the words above but they are merely in jest. I tried this (and dabble with it occasionally – maybe once or twice a year now) way back when I spent a month on the trans-mongolian railway… it was a refreshing experience. One I’d recommend in a heartbeat – both the detox and the train ride.

But this isn’t about me.

This is about Andrew Sullivan, in Select/All.

He writes:

“I had sensed a personal crash coming. For a decade and a half, I’d been a web obsessive, publishing blog posts multiple times a day, seven days a week, and ultimately corralling a team that curated the web every 20 minutes during peak hours. Each morning began with a full immersion in the stream of internet consciousness and news, jumping from site to site, tweet to tweet, breaking news story to hottest take, scanning countless images and videos, catching up with multiple memes. Throughout the day, I’d cough up an insight or an argument or a joke about what had just occurred or what was happening right now. And at times, as events took over, I’d spend weeks manically grabbing every tiny scrap of a developing story in order to fuse them into a narrative in real time. I was in an unending dialogue with readers who were caviling, praising, booing, correcting. My brain had never been so occupied so insistently by so many different subjects and in so public a way for so long.”

The man has a point.

Question: when was the last time you unplugged?

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4. EVER TRIED RIDING 2000 MILES WITH A BROKEN SHOULDER?

Laura Scott has.

I know Laura from the internet. We even met in real life once – shortly before Laura was about to set off on this journey. I followed it closely – across Twitter and Instagram – and the pain points along the way were palpable.

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This is her incredible story.

On personal note: I have so much respect for your commitment and effort, Laura.

I can’t wait to read about your next adventure.

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5. DID YOU ENJOY BEING A GIRL?

Plan International published its findings on what it’s like to be a girl in the UK today. The State of Girls’ Rights In The UK (PDF) is sobering reading (so I say to you again: make yourself read it).

Included in the paper are the top ten best and worst places to live in the UK if you’re a girl.

Emerald Street asked two writers what it was like growing up at opposite ends of that list; a stark comparison.

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6. A REAL AND TRUE THING THAT MIGHT ACTUALLY BLOW YOUR MIND A LITTLE BIT

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Did you know that Australia is drifting so fast that GPS – that’s the global positioning system – needs to be adjusted so it stays correct. Over the past ten years or so, the continent down under has drifted a little under five feet. As the director of cartography at the National Geographic, Damien Saunder, says: [it would seem] ‘Some countries are more stationary than others’ – amazing.

Amazing.

More here, via Nat Geo.

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7. ‘THE TERM ‘MILLENNIAL’ IS USELESS’

Shocker.

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Bonus items this week are as follows:

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PS. The keen-eyed among you will have noticed the odd numbering of this week’s issue. I numbered last week’s issue incorrectly. Normal service will return at some point soon. Although to be fair, ‘normal’ around these parts is fairly hard to come by.

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Last note: thanks to all of you for the emails, Whatsapps, Tweets, SMS’s, Voicemails (for real), Carrier Pigeons (this is a joke) of congrats re: the new gig.

You know who you are.

Yes, you.

Thank you.

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Super super excited and there’s a whole bunch of stuff I’ve been working on that I can hopefully start talking about soon.

Seasons change and, as I am wont to say: bring. it. on.

Until next time…

 

Whatley out x

 

Seven things on Sunday (FToF #195)

Things of note for the week ending Sunday September 18th, 2016.

Things of note for the week ending Sunday September 18th, 2016.

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Hello fam. I’m just back from a three day work trip to Barcelona (with the best looking team in the world) and it struck me that I hadn’t written this week’s newsletter. Bums. Please forgive my brevity. I am hungover, a touch sunburnt, and very very tired.

Normal service to resume next week. Although I don’t know what really counts as normal when it comes to this thing, mind.

Shall we?

1. WHAT IS SUPERMAN ABOUT?

Although it has a dig at the underrated Superman Returns (really), this piece on what Superman is actually for is pretty bang on.

I enjoyed reading this.

2. ZAPPED

Dave Trott on why he thinks we’re in ‘Generation Bland‘.

This made me think.

3. APPLE AND DIVERSITY

Apple wrote an email with the words ‘off the record’ in it. Mic published it. And it’s a doozy.

This made me say ‘fair play’.

4. MARS

The Mars Rover has been busy again. Stunning.

This one made say ‘Wow!’

5. TYPECAST AS A TERRORIST

Riz Ahmed writing in the Guardian. Best thing on the list this week.

This one made me go ‘Ach’

UPDATE: NOW WITH LINK.

6. SEX WITH YOUR PARTNER, EVERY DAY, FOR A YEAR

A good read on learning what you need.

This one stayed with me.

7. WANT TO SEE THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF SPACE EXPLORATION ON A SINGLE MAP?

Of course you do.

Bonuses this week are as follows:

And that’s me, done.

I don’t even have a gif for you.

Oh, hang on.

Let me check.

Yes I do.

This is basically me, in about 30 seconds (after I’ve hit publish).

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Have a great week x

 

 

Seven things on Sunday (FToF #193)

Things of note for the week ending Sunday 11th September, 2016.

Things of note for the week ending Sunday 11th September, 2016.

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1. 15

Fifteen years ago, I was working at Good Morning Television – aka GMTV – on London’s Southbank (literally five minutes from where my office is now).

Working in TV-land meant there were always TVs on everywhere. Everywhere. The one in my office was above my desk. It was coming up to about 2pm I think when someone said, ‘Oh my God, look’. I looked up, and everyone was looking up above me, at the TV.

We were watching a live feed from New York. I remember seeing the second plane hit, live, and being in shock. We had no idea what we were witnessing.

It’s a small, little known fact but back then, GMTV wasn’t just a TV show. It had its own news team, outside of ITN, Reuters, and the BBC etc. It was its own weird little entity.

Within the next 30mins or so, every news correspondent in the building must’ve come into our office demanding flights to New York. ‘We can’t get them. New York is closed.’ we’d say, and we’d carry on watching the TV. I remember a few days later, those flights finally took place (all except for one savvy correspondent, Lara Logan, who flew the other direction – to Afghanistan – but that’s a whole other story).

There were rumours we were going to be evacuated too. Every tall building was suddenly a target. We were right near Westminster, the building was filled with media / news etc… we were surely next.

The brain does funny things in crisis.

Waking up on the 12th was the first time I woke up feeling afraid. Terrorism was something I’d read about / barely remembered from the days of the IRA etc. The world was – and still is – a very different place.

This morning, Sunday September 11th, I woke up, made my son breakfast, drank some coffee and read this account of the movements of Air Force One by those that were either onboard or simply encountering her on that day. A long, sobering piece that you should find the time to read today.

Really.

I wept when I finished it.

A horrid, horrid day.

One that will never be forgotten.

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Hard to follow that.

I’m just going to publish what I’ve gathered this week below with no changes.

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2. WHEN INFINITY GETS BORING (+ PS4 PRO STUFF)

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Another week, another post/link/comment about No Man’s Sky (I think this might turn into a general gamery section actually – there are a few other bits to cover off).

New Scientists has published the above named article this week. Quote:

“All of the screenshots that came out to promote the game were phenomenally beautiful. But of course these shots were hand-picked to show the best that the game could produce. Not every world looks like that – and you don’t see such variety when moving from one planet to the next. You need to explore a lot of worlds to find those interesting places. But after a number of them –  20 or 50, wherever your threshold lies – the thrill of planet hopping fades.”

And, in all fairness, I think they have a point. I’m still playing – dipping in and out, trying to find the perfect ship etc – but it’s just a a grind now and I’m not enjoying it as much as before. I’ve decided to put it back on the shelf for the interim and wait for the next content update.

That said, the game is deeply tranquil and it is still quite enjoyable to just go and fly around for a bit, and find different materials etc… well, we’ll see. But my play-time has definitely dropped off.

Also this week: the PS4 Pro was announced.

The lack of a UHD Blu-Ray player onboard seems like a real misstep for me and was super close to being a deal-breaker. But then two things happened: first, my buddy, Matt pointed out that if anybody has any clear visibility on how well 4K blu-rays are selling, then it’s Sony. It might not be cost effective to put a high-end player in this machine if the whole world is going digital… and I think he might be right. The second thing (also via Matt) was that I watched this 4K Horizon: Zero Dawn gameplay trailer via the 4K YouTube app on my Sony TV – AND IT LOOKS RIDICULOUS. Honestly, if you’re reading this on your phone, then just add that trailer to your YouTube Watch Later list and find a way to see it at the highest quality available… it’s immense.

Can I justify a new machine right now? No, probably not. Especially with PSVR around the corner. Can I campaign my family and friends to get me GAME vouchers for my birthday and Christmas and put them towards this machine? Probably yes.

So let’s see.

PS. If you’re unsure about the PS4 Pro, Kotaku has a good take that’s worth reading.

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3. NEW PHONE TIME OF YEAR

I’m considering a new phone. My Sony Z5 broke and I managed to lay my hands on a Huawei (wah-way) P9 which is really, really impressing me.

It may still be a contender.

If you’re considering a new phone here are two things that might be of interest. One: I asked Twitter what phone I should get – here is what it said. Two: I asked Stefan – my podcasting partner in crime – which phone I should get on Episode 178 of The Voicemail and you can listen to that here.

Hope that’s useful.

Related: this made me laugh.

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4. DUREX EMOJI

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The Durex Eggplant emoji flavour story was pretty big this week but my favourite take on it comes from Fast Co Create:

“Last year the brand launched a campaign for a condom emoji, to give young people a way to talk about safe sex that didn’t involve actual words. However, the condom wasn’t added to the the Unicode Consortium’s official emoji alphabet, so the brand may have found the perfect troll to protest the decision. While the new flavor is still just a concept, the brand’s campaign for a safe-sex emoji continues. Until then, feel free to just use an eggplant + balloon.”

Good quick reading.

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5. MCDONALD’S + ADVERTISING

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You may or not be aware but apparently McDonald’s has just appointed itself an ‘agency of the future‘ model, via Omnicom. If you know everything or if you know nothing about this, these two opposing views on the news are well worth your time.

I must admit, I’m closer to the contrarian…

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6. NEW IPHONE THIS WEEK

Unsurprisingly, The Register was not invited. I’ve had my fair share of run ins with them but, that aside, I had to doff my hat to this epic trolling of Apple’s comms team.

Made me chuckle.

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7. CIALDINI’S 7TH

Familiar with Cialdini’s six six principles of influence? You should be.

Apparently he’s adding a seventh.

Details here.

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Bonuses this week are as follows:

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Right, I’m outta here.

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