Category: 5things

Things of note for Friday September 11th, 2015.

This week’s edition of FTOF was written on a plane somewhere over the French/Italian Alps – isn’t that lovely?

Upside: peace and [offline] quiet. Downside: if you’ve emailed/pitched me anything to include in this week’s edition, I can’t get to it – so maybe you’ll see it next week. Maybe.

On that note, shall we?

1. THE TRUTH ABOUT ONLINE VIDEO
Provocative.

2. ON INSTAGRAM? I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE
Use Instagram? OF COURSE YOU DO. Got kids that use Instagram? MAYBE. Whatever, this is a hugely important piece of information and, I have to admit, for someone who is usually hot as s*** on this stuff, I missed it and have since fixed.

In short:

Until recently, once a user added their location to a photo they were posting, Instagram would take this as their default preference for all future photos they would post. That is, Instagram would tag all future photos with the location from which they were uploaded. This alone isn’t really the problem. The problem is that Instagram did not make this obvious to users — so what has transpired, is millions of people uploading millions of photos in the one place they use Instagram the most. Their homes.

Note: this happens irrespective of whether you add a location tag or not this is IF you have added a location previously.

The fix is available here.

You’re welcome.

3. SHIGERU MIYAMATO ON LEVEL DESIGN
Not just any level design by the way, but the level design of probably one of the most iconic and memorable levels in the history of video games:

Super Mario Bros, Level 1-1.

We’ve all played it at some point in our lives (and if you haven’t, just do this right now: shout out loud ‘Did anyone play the original Super Mario Bros on the NES?’ out loud right now, someone will say yes, guaranteed) and here, to the delight of all, is a video of arguably the world’s most famous video game designer, Shigeru Miyamato, creator of Donkey Kong, Zelda, Pikmin, Starfox, Donkey Kong, and of course, Super Mario Bros, discussing – with aclarity – the thought that went into make that level the classic that we know and love today.

There is so much to love about this.

• Shigeru Miyamoto, at 62, is still boyishly charming and fun in what is clearly the job he was born to do.
• Goombas started out as ‘bad mushrooms’ that a programmer thought looked like a chestnut. Chestnut in japanese is ‘Kuri’ which is why the name ‘Kuriboh’, which is Goomba in Japanese, came about.
• The wonder in which he talks about ‘working in the unknown’ – specifically in regards so Super Mario 64 – is inspiring.

Watch it.

4. FOUND THEM FIRST
On Spotify? Got a smug-resting face? This app is for you.

Tapping into the hipster zeitgeist (really? – Ed (do I really have an ‘Ed’?! – JW) (No, you don’t – this is literally a conversation with yourself) (OK, so not weird at all)) and allowing those who were, like, totally into, like, Boston brostep boybands, like, before anyone else to actually prove just how how much of a TREND SETTER they truly are.

Do you feel the validation? Do ya? DO YA? DO YA?

Anyway, it’s ace and, as you were wondering, my ‘discover score is’ 19. Huzzah.

Including being in the first 1% of listeners to Hozier, Major Lazer, and Mark Ronson. The experience is fun and you get bragging rights on your Facebook etc but there seems to be a couple of things up with it. First off, the ‘Tweet them’ button is hideously sycophantic.

And, while the output of this tool can actually a be new playlist based upon the discoveries that you’ve made, it doesn’t actually put together a playlist of anything mentioned in your list. Which is a shame because that would’ve been nice.

#entitled.

Seriously, tho, like, I was totally listening to Sam Street before James Bond even knew his name.

Like, yeah.

5. NEW DOCTOR WHO PROLOGUE
Not a Doctor Who fan? Scroll straight on to the bonuses (clue: they’re just a little bit past the koala). Still here? Right then, the new season kicks off soon and the Beeb have just dropped a 2min ‘prologue’ that’s actually pretty good.

As in: it’s a great piece to watch but ultimately tells you nothing. But the Doctor is in and Peter Capaldi is generally brilliant at everything so… y’know, go watch it and stuff.

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‘Hey Bob, when’s the big Apple announcement?’
‘You missed it, Larry. You’re gonna have to listen to The Voicemail instead.’

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Bonuses this week are as follows:

• Azeem Azhar’s Exponential View is worth a moment of your time (and even a sub).
• Two Voicemails in a week – what? As mentioned in last week’s FTOF, my friend Stefan and I recorded a bumper IFA episode of The Voicemail podcast (that I’m resharing as the downloads are considerably higher than usual – so we must be doing something right) covering all things at the Berlin-based tech conference. That’s two podcast plugs in a very short space of time. Next week: no podcast plugs.
• Another Nintendo bit, this time about Super Mario Bros. 3. Link.
• Cyclists vs Self-driving cars (expect more of this; the programmers’ laughter is the high point for me).
• The best #AppleEvent write-up. Period.

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TESTIMONIAL TIME!
____________________

‘TGIFToF!’
– Michael Underhill

‘Top marks for another fine edition!’
– Richard Emes

‘Fave part of Friday!’
– @DarkStarSteph

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And finally…

For the UK readers among you, the delightful team over at Shaken Cocktails have thrown me another referral link.

If you fancy joining the Shaken Explorer’s Club (and starting a journey into a world of amazing home-made cocktails) for £5 less than you usually would, here’s a link to do just that (you should spot a little blue pop up at the bottom of the screen when you open the page – you’ll see).

Said link has unlimited usage so if you don’t fancy it but you know someone who might, then do please forward it on.

Winner.

_______

Whatley out.

Ps. Gude, I got the Bat (it/he was amazing – thank you). Expect to see him (and your new venture) highlighted here next week. Woop woop!

Things of note for the week ending Friday August 28th, 2015.

Yeah, I thought it might be late this week. 

Want some choons to listen to while you read this week’s packed edition of things? OK! Here’s Acid Stag with it’s 40th volume of SERIOUS COVERS.

Shall we?

1.  NIKITA NOMERZ

Since 2010, Nikita Nomerz has been spending a fair old chunk of time trying to find the ‘inner soul’ of the abandoned buildings around him. The above (and below) are a result of that ongoing artistic search. And I love them all.

Creepy as hell but just so utterly gorgeous you can’t help but stare.

“I’m going to eat you…”

Web Urbanist has more.

…

2. SNAKE ISLAND

About 90 miles off the Ṣo Paulo coast is an island known as Ilha da Queimada Grande Рaka: the island of snakes so utterly dangerous that the Brazilian government strictly controls all visitors and literally NOBODY is allowed to stop there, even in passing, without express permission.

And if you do stop there then – get this – you must must must have a qualified anti-venom doctor with you at all times.

Why?

Because Queimada Grande is the home of a unique species of pit viper known as The Golden Lancehead (photo).

Why is this snake so dangerous? I’ll let Smithsonian explain:

Often, snakes stalk their prey, bite and wait for the venom to do its work before tracking the prey down again. But the golden lancehead vipers can’t track the birds they bite—so instead they evolved incredibly potent and efficient venom three to five times stronger than any mainland snake’s—capable of killing most prey (and melting human flesh) almost instantly.

That’s right, you just read the words ‘melting human flesh’ – from snake venom. If one of these things bit you, you’d have up to six hours to get off the island and to a hospital. Up to. It could kill you in an hour. You just don’t know. Terrifying. But amazing.

Oh, and the island also happens to contain highest density of snakes on the planet; a staggering five Golden Lanceheads per square metre.

Mental.

Anyway, while researching this it seems like there’s been a ton of coverage before. I’d never heard of it and thought it was crazy-ass awesome. SNAKE ISLAND. IT’S AN ACTUAL THING.

Brilliant.

PS. Here’s a VICE documentary I found on it too. Enjoy.

3. I’M A PIECE OF LUGGAGE! WEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Ever wonder what your luggage has to go through every time you check it in at the airport? The fact is: it gets to enjoy the best rollercoaster you’ve never been on.

True story.

4. FACEBOOK M
Surely you must’ve heard about this by now? No? Fine. Remember Facebook’s whole ‘the future is in our messenger app‘ pitch? Well, here’s another chapter in that story: Facebook M.

To use Facebook’s own words:

M is a personal digital assistant inside of Messenger that completes tasks and finds information on your behalf. It’s powered by artificial intelligence that’s trained and supervised by people. Unlike other AI-based services in the market, M can actually complete tasks on your behalf. It can purchase items, get gifts delivered to your loved ones, book restaurants, travel arrangements, appointments and way more.

Obviously only at test stage right now but it’s clearly doing well enough to show it off like this. I’d give it a year, tops, before you get to play with this…

5. VISION(ARY)
If you’ve seen AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON then you’ve seen Paul Bettany’s turn as The Vision. If you haven’t seen AOU then spoiler alert: Paul Bettany plays a character by the name of Vision.

In the comic books he looks like this:

And in the film he looks a little bit like this:

Which means at some point, Mr Bettany had to look like this:

Visionary, right? Ha ha ha ha ha… I kill me.

Whatevs. I thought it was cool.

And Entertainment Weekly has a cute little video to go along with it.

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LOOK! IT’S THE NEW TESTIMONIAL SECTION!
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“Almost everything item I see in FTOF are items I hadn’t seen before. And even when they are, they’re [given with] an aspect, or view, or news I hadn’t previously seen.”
– Roy Calfas

“It makes me smile and think. Thanks for writing it.”
– Finlay Edridge

“I get a lot of newsletters. I delete a lot of newsletters. Yours is the only one I ACTUALLY READ. Before deleting.”
– Karin Robinson

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Bonuses this week are, in memory of one of my favourite websites of old, a[nother] Tab Dump of what I’m reading/looking at right now (at 01:35 on Saturday morning)…

• Wal-Mart (in the UK, you know them as ASDA (keep that in mind for a minute)) is going to STOP selling Assault Rifles – y’know, so if you just nip out for some carrots and fancy picking up a weapon designed for killing lots of people in large numbers, your luck has run out. The fact that this was even a thing in the first place is beyond all known comprehension.
• Three pages (remarkably similar to how FTOF first started).
• Man on Fire AS MASTERPIECE (good point re: True Romance too).
  
• Japan’s annual Pikachu dance.
• Fake Apple Store as Art.
• I’m gonna getcha.

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And that’s me. I’m spent.

See you next week, chums.

Whatley out, x.

Things of note for the week ending Friday August 21st, 2015.

Your Friday wind down starts here…

1. OLIVER SACKS: SABBATH
I read this on the train to Northumberland last Saturday and, by the end, was in floods of tears. As the person said who recommended it ‘This reaches out and touches your heart’

It sits proudly at number one in this week’s Five Things and I implore you all to take the time out of your day and just read this.

2. FOURSQUARE / SWARM STUFF
I’ve got a fairly large network of ‘friends’ who live and work in social media. Of those several thousand people, there can only really be a small handful of people that are still investing time (read: bothering) with Foursquare and its [still oddly superfluous] check-in app, Swarm.

I count myself in that handful of people, and here’s why:

In the first instance, Foursquare can be incredibly useful when you’re investigating a new part of town (I trust it more than I trust Yelp, for example). The tips are pithy and gold is rarely far away (the occasional wifi password tip can be a God send) – in short: Foursquare, in its most recent form, is a pretty handy recommendation engine when you’re stuck in a strange place / at a point of indecision.

When it comes to Swarm, the use case is completely different – for me, at least. There used to be an RSS feed that you could use to pull into your calendar which retroactively put an event in every time you checked in somewhere.

But then that stopped working.

HOWEVER.

Fortunately, after tweeting about said woes, a wonderful person showed me another way to fix it. Hands together for IFTTT!

Look at the Internetty magic!

IF I check in with Fourswarm THEN an event goes into my calender.

Winner!

Why am I telling you this? Well look, if you’ve stopped using Swarm, why not give it another go? It really is quite useful being able to look back in your calendar and actually see where you’ve been.

While it might not be useful for stuff like this –

– it will/could be/is useful when you’re out and about in future and you’re wondering exactly where it is that you went for that lunch/cocktail that one time.

You know what I mean…

Give it a go.

3. THIEVE
I was directed to this delightful website several weeks ago (w_w) and finally, recently (thanks pay day) spent some money there…

What is it? Well…

And it’s that simple really. The best bits from the [amazing yet super bustling] Ali Express, curated just for you.

Go shop.

4. WOODSTOCK
Forgive me, I’m about to link to a Buzzfeed post (but for good reason); this week I found a ton of (by ‘a ton’, I obviously mean an arbitrary number that makes a good list, in this instance ’31’) awesome photos from August 15th, 1969.

And ^ this one ^ is my favourite by far.

WEEEEEE!

The rest are pretty darn good too.

Go see.

5. THE MOST IMPORTANT SUBJECT
I do love a good read of Intelligent Life from time to time; it really is a corker of a publication. To round off this week’s FTOF, here is an excerpt from the latest [online] edition – covering a fantastic question:

‘What’s the most important school subject?’

As IL says itself::

The Big Question: a little learning is a dangerous thing. So what should we spend most time studying? Philip Pullman, Rose Tremain and five others choose their favourite subjects—whether they already exist or not.

The Philip Pullman responds with ‘Music’ and his justification is a delight.

The half that’s thrown away is the body, and all the ways it can move and feel and be intelligent and cause delight. And of all the things the body can do, the richest, the most interesting, the most emotionally and intellectually fulfilling thing is music. Every child needs to encounter music as early as possible, and I don’t mean just listen and then answer questions: I mean make, with voice, with clapping hands and stamping feet, with instruments of every kind.

Go read.

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And that’s this week’s Five Things.

“BUT WHAT ABOUT THE BONUSES?” I hear the demons cry.

Here they come…

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After last week’s veritable banquet of bonuses, this week they are few in number (but no less of interest):

• Two screens good.
• Project Sunroof.
  
• Taking Negative Feedback
• Mortal Kombat: the untold story (of the movie)
• FYI: I rebooted the UK movie release date calendar this week so if you subscribe, keep an eye out for future recommendations in your g/iCal shortly – hurrah (if this is a new thing to you, and you like film, get on board).
  

You’re welcome.

Finally, this week’s minor-request-from-the-author-(in-exchange-for-a-rather-smashing-email-newsletter-blog-post-thing-that-gets-delivered-completely-free-of-charge-etc) is this:

I’d like to collate some testimonials on and about Five things on Friday. Some of you tell me on Twitter from time to time, others click the new ‘click to tweet’ buttons I’ve been playing with.

So please, this week, hit reply to this email (if you’re reading it online, ping me on fotf@whatleydude.com (or on Twitter – either works; pigeons imminent)) and tell me what you think of FOTF.

If it makes it past the censors, it’ll be included in a future edition.

Thanks y’all, x

Whatley out.

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Did someone send this to you? Did you like it? Do you want more? Are you sick of all the questions? Both from me and in life? Solve at least on of the these problems by subscribing to the Five Things on Friday newsletter TODAY!

It could change your life.

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Things of note for the week ending Friday August 14th, 2015.

(No I’m not going to talk about the Tinder thing but actually, as you were the one who brought it up, how many of you have actually read the Vanity Fair article? None of you? Some of you? Whatever, forget the Tinder PR stunt and actually seek out and read the original [and really good] article about what it’s like to date in 2015)

Shall we?

1. JACKANORY TIME
Sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin.

This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done.
And Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job.
Everybody thought that Anybody could do it,
but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it.
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody
when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

So please, everybody, vote for my panel at SXSW.

If it gets selected then not only will the uber-smart people I’m sharing said panel with get to tell keen folk about employing agile techniques to their day to day work projects but also… crucially… I will get to go to SXSW.

VOTE.

Thank you – much x

2. HAUNTINGLY BEAUTIFUL
This wins the prize for the thing I love most this week.

Enjoy.

Via.

3. NEARLY PERFECT PEOPLE
This thing is basically a review of someone else’s book review. BUT the someone else in this instance is Tyler Cowan and the book he’s reviewing (titled above) is subtitled ‘Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia‘ – and I just ordered a copy.

With sentences like this:

Right now, the Danes are especially preoccupied with role playing — dressing up like Gandalf or elves and acting out violent narratives deep in the woods with their foam “boffers” (the name given to role-play weapons).  There are also 219 folk dancing clubs in Denmark, but do not worry, as with the pigs, you very rarely see them.

Can you honestly blame me?

More here.

4. PHOTOSHOP 1 vs TERMINATOR 2
If you’ve been reading this stuff from me for long enough, you know that I’m a proper filmy. A ‘buff’ one might say. When a thing pops up (and by things in this instance, I mean ‘a piece of trivia’) that I didn’t know, I jump into it, feet first, and soak up the awesome geekiness of it all.

FOR INSTANCE.

Terminator 2 (easily in the top five best sequels ever made) was a phenomenal breakthrough in special effects wizardry. This much we all know. T2 changed everything. Specifically, the creation of the T-1000 changed everything.

Liquid metal that could take any shape it wanted as a visual effect? In 1991? Are you kidding me? Cameron had a few issues.

As the story goes:

Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) called in lots of people to help, with scientists dropping in to the company’s offices to try and grapple with the mathematical challenges facing them [to make the software work]. But a major breakthrough finally occurred when an ILM employee in his 20s, John Knoll, joined forces with his brother Thomas, a University of Michigan PhD student.

They had come up with a new piece of software that could edit the necessary graphics and, they hoped, resolve the problem. That’s just what the software would go on to do, and when James Cameron saw the in-progress development of the T-1000, he finally dared to think that his imagined villain might actually work.

The name of the software? That’d be Photoshop, the very first version of the now industry-standard graphics and photo editing software.

Photoshop helped create the T-1000 and in return, T2 helped create Photoshop. Amazing.

Who knew?

More.

5. #FIELDWORKFAIL
These are blissful.

More.

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BONUSES THIS WEEK ARE LITERALLY EVERY TAB I HAVE OPEN TO READ BUT AM YET TO DO SO…

READY?

• First and Final Frames in cinema (video, 5mins)
• My life, standing on the shore (by Warren Ellis)
• The AI Revolution: The Road to Superintelligence (long read)
• Ed Balls: ‘I knew we had lost… (Telegraph)
• Instagram Takes on Growing Role in the Art Market (NYT)
• Uber’s Secret Weapon (Spoiler: Ryan Greaves)
• Audiophiles: are they hearing something we’re not? (Esquire)
• KFC has pink sandwich buns now (WHAT?)
• One [chat] app to rule them all (a16z on WeChat)
• The communications market 2015 (via Ofcom)
• The constantly changing rules of engagement (via Ogilvy Do)
• The new feminist plural (Marketing)

Yes, that’s right. You’ve had 17 things this week. Not five. 17.

Now do something for me (yes that’s me, above, as pictured):

Push the magic button.

Whatley out.

Things of note for the week ending August 7th, 2015.

First off: you lot suck.

Seriously. Last week’s Five Things went out a complete and utter mess and only one (you know who you are – thank you. Ps. I still have your birthday present) of you told me. One! For reals. Like, what? Were you all high last week? Did you all not notice that it went 1, 2, then 5?! What’s the point of it all if you’re not even paying attention?

Jesus.

OK. Fine. Whatever. I know I messed up too so I figure we’re even but still, just keep an eye out in future please. Thanks.

Shall we?

1. HAIM // TAME IMPALA
I wasn’t sure of this when I first heard it last night, but it’s growing on me.

Slowly.

Haim, covering ”Cause I’m a Man…’

Listen.

2. THE DAILY SHOW
By the time you read this, Jon Stewart would’ve recorded his last ever episode of The Daily Show and as a result, you can’t move for ‘We’re going to miss you, Jon Stewart’ posts right now.

THIS IS NO BAD THING.

My favourite [so far] came from the New York Times:

“The Daily Show” began in 1996 as a snarky chat show parody hosted by Craig Kilborn. But after Jon Stewart took the chair in 1999, the show began to transform into something more substantial: a nightly comic dissection of current events, politics and the media. As Mr. Stewart’s tenure comes to a close, “Daily Show” writers, producers and guests look back on key moments from the host’s 16-year run, and reflect upon his legacy.

‘Jon Stewart and The Daily Show: 9 Essential Moments‘ is essential reading. I’m guessing that you know who Jon Stewart is and what he has done in his 16 year tenure at the head of The Daily Show but if you don’t… it’s OK. I am both sad and envious.

Sad because you’ve missed out on so much!
Envious because you have so much to catch up on!

Go swim, and enjoy.

EDIT 1: Rolling Stone has ‘10 Times Jon Stewart Outdid Journalism‘ (also great).

EDIT 2: This tribute from Stephen Colbert is beautiful (watch it ’til the end).

3. MICKI KRIMMEL’S  SUPERFIT HERO
Question time, readers. Question 1: are you a woman? Question 2: if you’re not a woman, do you know a woman?

If the answer to either of those questions is ‘yes’, then this next bit is for you.

An old friend of mine (Nokia Open Lab, Helsinki class of ’08!), Micki Krimmel, is launching a new sportswear brand designed specifically to make women ‘feel supported and confident in the gym and beyond’.

Of course this is a Kickstarter and, better yet – it’s already fully funded (GO MICKI!) – which begs the question: why am I telling you about it?

Well, there are only a few days to go on the Kickstarter which means if you wanted to ensure you get your hands on any of this kit now then now is the time to do it.

Check it. Back it. Buy it.

SUPERFIT HERO.

4. HAHA, HEHE, LOL, AND EMOJI

In a week of interesting content from Facebook, it really is nice to see one that actually uses data to prove a point (and not marketing/fluff/jargon/spin etc – more on this later).

The above titled (and utterly pointless) deep dive on who uses what expression of which e-laughter how and when is just lovely.

It features charts such as…

THIS!

AND THIS!

AMAZING, RIGHT?!

So if you’ve spent the past week wondering about expressions of online mirth really do measure up against each other, then wonder no more.

I’m so good to you.

5. A GUY IN A CUBICLE
I may’ve told you about The Listserve before (in fact, I’m certain I have – see thing 3, FOTF #75) but it’s high time I told you about it again.

The Listserve is an email lottery. Every day someone wins. What do they win? They win the chance to write to everybody else who has signed up. There are currently around 24,000 subscribers and it’s kinda cool getting a new email from a perfect stranger every day.

I love it.

Why am I telling you about this again, a good year or so since I last mentioned it? Because this past week I read one that truly moved me.

Yesterday’s @thelistserve is so utterly beautiful, my heart aches. #lifegoals.

— James Whatley (@Whatleydude) August 5, 2015

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

If you’re not a subscriber, you probably missed it. Fortunately for you, there’s a Listserve archive website that captures all the notes that go out every day and this one, the one I’m about to link you to, is just beautiful.

So please, as we close off this week’s five things, go and read this piece. It’s utterly charming and it will make your heart melt.

It’s called, ‘A guy in a cubicle’

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Bonuses this week are all things that are fairly dated [in the one-week-equals-an-entire-decade-obvs realms of social-media/dog years] and that you probably already should have read already but if you haven’t they’re collated below for your perusal/last ditch attempt to say something smart in the office next week when someone mentions Facebook Video, Google+, or YouTube…

I’M TRYING TO HELP YOU HERE.

• YouTube creator, Hank Green, takes Facebook to task on its road to video victory (to its credit, Facebook responded (this is the other post I was taking about earlier) but of course got a right fisking in the comments shortly thereafter). Ah well. Expect a revisit on this from me at the end of the year. The Video Royale is far from over.
  
• Mashable posted an excellent long read (I know that sounds utterly absurd but trust me – it really is good, I couldn’t believe it either) entitled ‘Inside the failure of Google+, a very expensive attempt to unseat Facebook‘ and if you haven’t read it yet, I recommend you do. A while ago now, I said in a very public forum that ‘Google+ was the one to watch’ – I was so utterly and completely wrong but hey, it turns out Google was too. Hurrah…?
  
• Google/YouTube is saying goodbye to the mystic ‘301+’ views. Never heard of this? I’m sure you have. Whatever. Read the article and you’ll understand. As a side note: everyone is saying how awesome this is but for me, the magic ‘301+’ was always a good sign to look out for to try and tell if something was going viral at that point in time. First world Internet problems, I know BUT as someone who enjoys finding things first, the 301 was one of those dead certs.

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Whatley out.

Ps. Liked this? Tell your friends.

Things of note for the week ending Friday July 31st, 2015.

1. TRIBE LONDON

‘The very best of London with the very best of company. Tribe is an effortless way to date for those who are independent, unattached, and living in London.’

Set up by a dear friend of mine, Emma Forsyth, Tribe is a brand new take on dating that tailors relaxed, exclusive dates for two different groups of three friends.

Whether it’s taking over a kitchen at the latest pop up, boozy games of Pétanque, private sushi-making classes or exclusive late night whisky tastings; Tribe brings you a selection of the very best London venues each and every month.

I’m biased – of course – but honestly, if you’re single and in London; if you’re sick and tired of the casual swiping of Happen or Tinder; if you find yourself yearning for a different class of dating… then maybe Tribe is for.

Check it.

2. SPOTIFY THINGS
From classic literature to vintage radio, and perhaps everything Monty Python in between, this list of of ‘Awesome things to do listen to on Spotify that isn’t music‘ was a great little find this week.

Fancy learning a new language? Spotify’s got you covered.

Amazing.

Related: this is pretty interesting too.

3. MORNING COMPUTER
More Warren Ellis stuff (I’m a fan – so what?). This time around it’s taken from a post from his favourite blog of mine: Morning Computer.

Ellis, on writing –

A lot of this job is about learning how the inside of your own head works. You spend a lot of time alone, in small rooms, eyes closed or staring at the ceiling, poking around at the machinery and peering into all the nooks and crannies. Finding out how all the machines turn, and realising how little you really know about those machines. Picking through the litter of the culture that blows in through your ears and eyes and arranging it by date and colour and sound.

Unsurprising.

Related: I really liked this too. 

4. GOOGLE NOW STUFF
This is cute. And by ‘cute’ I mean ‘awesome because it applies a metric ton of anonymised data just so it can really quite useful for users’.

Google Now will now till you when your favourite coffee place will be busy. Hurrah!

Like this –

As The Next Web so eloquently puts it:

Google Search understands that you hate people. So, in a blog post today, the company announced that it will now show you the busiest times of the week at millions of places on Google Search. Simply type in the name and location of the place you want to go, and Google will show you peak times at these places throughout the week.

As mentioned, I like the way that Google is applying the data it secretly learns about you (because it’s basically Skynet) has collected for the good of all mankind.

How does it know? Well, you do know about the whole location history thing, right?

Think about it.

5. VICE ON *THAT* GLAMOUR ARTICLE
If you missed the furore earlier this week about the [since deleted] GLAMOUR article citing ’13 little things that can make a man fall hard for you’ – worry not! VICE has taken the initiative and not only re-published the thing in full but also deciphered the madness-inducing drivel into fully-fledged and totally legit life advice.

OBSERVE:

Told you.

SOLID. GOLD.

Go read.

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Bonuses this week are blog posts by me (yes, and?)

• Review: ANT-MAN
• Full Day of Music, Vol 2
• An Idea of London (this last one went down incredibly well earlier this week so if you missed it, please do check it out lovers, it’d be appreciated)

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Finally – thank you to all of you that shared last week’s Five Things on Friday.

You’re all lovely.

If you didn’t well, fine…

Whatever you do DON’T CLICK THIS.

Whatley out.

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…

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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.

Things of note for the week ending Friday July 17th, 2015.

1. SNEAKING INTO NORTH KOREA
Nothing says ‘Welcome to an awesome list of stuff’ more than an immediate link to a whole bunch of other stuff. But this is really interesting.

Mental Floss (one of my favourite sources for just random stuff) has published this list of ‘10 things to know when sneaking into North Korea‘ and it contains gems such as:

It occurred to Sweeney [the author] that his room might be bugged, and in North Korea Undercover he recounts an anecdote from Michael Breen, biographer of Kim Jong-Il. Two Danish engineers were working on a project in North Korea, and one night in their hotel room, began complaining about how bored they were, one of them wishing he had brought a deck of cards: “The next day at work, their minder presented them with a pack of cards. The creepy bit is that they had been talking in Danish.”

And that’s not even the nuttiest part.

Go read it and see for yourself.

Next!

2. EUROPEAN NATIVE AMERICANS
In the brilliantly titled ‘Last of the Munichans‘ Monika Bauerlein explores the German obsession with Native Americans.

She writes:

Why are Europeans, Germans perhaps most famously, obsessed with Native Americans? So many reasons: The chance to delve into a past where the bad guys are not your grandparents. A crowded continent’s longing for wide open spaces. A romantic attachment to an idealized “authentic” humanity, rooted in the anti-industrial backlash of the 1800s.

Go for the words.

Stay for the photos.

Go see.

3. LAND ROVER’S ADVENTURE GRAM
Ever since the exceedingly talented Terence Eden created the first ‘choose your own adventure’ story in Twitter (go play), brands have tried to replicate it across multiple platforms for myriad campaigns.

The latest company to jump on this social media brandwagon is Land Rover, with the rather beautiful (yet seemingly ineffective – we’ll get to that part) ‘AdventureGram‘.

There are to three things to do here:

• First: click on the Adventure Gram link above and go ‘play’ yourself
• Second: go read the Fast Company PR piece write up on the work
• Third: consume Mat Morrison’s data-rich analysis of the campaign’s ‘impact’

4. X-MEN: APOCALYPSE
You may or may not know but there’s a new X-Men film on its way out. It’s the third and final part of the First Class Trilogy – First Class being first, with Days of Future Past acting as part two. Those of you who were paying attention to the latter may have seen an odd after-credits scene.

This one, in fact:

That chap is known as En Sabah Nur, aka the first mutant, aka APOCALYPSE.

If you watched the excellent 90s X-Men cartoon, then you’ll know him as this guy:

Fans of the comic book will know Apocalypse as this guy:

He’s a BIG mutant.

Anyway, sorry – where were we? Oh, that’s right.

Following the pattern set by the previous films, Apocalypse takes place in a new decade (the 80s) and we’re promised another ‘period piece’ based upon that era.

Exciting!

Even more exciting, and literally just this week (yesterday even), the first press official shots were released and, if I’m honest, even if you have only a mere passing interest in this sorta stuff then you’ve probably seen them already.

Here’s one of them:

On the left? That’s Alexendra Shipp as Storm, looking great with a [completely on character] mohican. On the right, that’s the fantastic Olivia Munn killing it as ninja-badass-telepath, Psylocke.

But who’s that in the middle?

Is it perhaps one-time Power Rangers villain Ivan Ooze?

Or could it be Guardians of the Galaxy antagonist, Ronan the Accuser?

I mean, there’s no way it could possibly be Oscar Isaac as the 7″ tall, all killing, all dangerous master-race mutant, Apocalypse? I mean, surely not? He looks completely and utterly ridiculous (agree with me? RT this).

I mean, aside from EVERYTHING for one thing: surely he’s STANDING IN A HOLE. Marvel’s own Wikipedia has him pegged at being bloody massive.

So why is he smaller than Storm?!

Just look at how much better he looks simply by making him BIGGER.

Ugh.

And breathe.

OK OK OK – it’s just one photo. And Bryan Singer has done well so far, I’m sure even he can’t mess this up. Right? Surely?

Whatever.

Colour me concerned.

/rant

5. SOME POKEMON STORIES THAT MADE ME SMILE

I like video games. I appreciate video games. As a hobby, as a passion, as an art form; I like video games. I’ve made new friends because of video games and have had some of the most awesome shared experiences with friends because of video games (most recently completing Arkham Knight, 100%, full Knightfall Protocol ending – and being able to discuss the intricacies with friends is actually awesome).

But what I love more is that video games can be a total leveller. They can break down barriers in class, age, sex, and sometimes being just so good at one kind of game – or even one particular game – commands so much respect that it changes the game.

This past week, Kotaku published a series of short (and all wholly true – one even has video) stories about Pokemon and how this gaming phenomenon has changed people’s lives.

You don’t have to get Pokemon to enjoy it. Hell, you don’t even have to get video games. You’ll enjoy it because humans are awesome and stories like these always bring a smile to my face.

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Bonuses this week are as follows:

• Instagram released its UK monthly active user number (spoiler: 14m). 
• The FTC and the ASA are now super chuffed about how REALLY EASY it is, in the age of ephemeral content, chase down those evil unmarked social media ads. Right? #ad that.
• And if you’re only reading one thing this week? Make it this: The web we have to save. 

—

Whatley out.

PS. OH MY GOD THE ROBOTS ARE SO HAPPY!

LOOK AT THE JOY THEY’RE HAVING!

THEY ARE BOUNCING!

PLAY MUSIC!

DANCE!

Things of note for the week ending Friday July 10th, 2015.

1. THE [NOT SO] SECRET DIARY OF A GEN Z TEENAGE GIRL
If you work in any kind of comms and don’t read Stephen Waddington’s blog regularly, in short: you’re doing it wrong.

Now that’s out of the way, this past week @Wadds published a guest post from his 16 year old daughter. Covering everything from her opinion and usage habits of the latest/greatest/most popular social platforms to the difficulties of teenage life (that you and I are probably no doubt far away from) it is a great read.

2. E. E. CUMMINGS.
An girl from Indiana once introduced to the works of E. E. Cummings and I’ve never really looked at, or treated for that matter, poetry and grammar in the same way since.

[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]

A post on Brain Pickings this week goes into detail about the man himself and if, like me, you’re a fan of his work, then you’ll find the additional insight equally pleasing.

3. THE CUBAN INTERNET
This isn’t new news. But it’s still super interesting (moreso if you’ve never heard of it before) and it also shows how the same thing that I mentioned in a talk about four years ago, is still developing and changing with ‘modern’ times.

What am I talking about? The Internet in Cuba, aka – ‘Radio Bemba’

‘Huddled around a laptop at the bottom of a stairwell in Havana, a group of three teenage boys banter as they skip between video clips and music. A fourth arrives with some ice cream, which completes a scene reminiscent of teenagers killing time on YouTube. They play an amateur music video in which the singer, looking for a laugh, periodically bangs his head against the wall. Then Beyoncé. Chris Brown.

–

But this being Cuba—where the Internet is, for the most part, only available at some professional jobs, in foreigners’ homes, and in expensive hotels—this isn’t YouTube. What looks like a few teenagers surfing the web is actually a small part of an only-in-Cuba business that gives locals access to content from the Internet, offline, thanks to an army of human middlemen and thousands of flash drives.’

Still amazing. Even now.

4. UNSCRIPTED LINES
Building on the Raiders of the Lost Ark story from a few issues ago [item 2], this list features some of the more famous moments in film that were totally unscripted and completely improvised.

No?

Why not?

Oh. Like that is it.

Alright, I get it. Lists like these are ten a penny (for better or worse) but that doesn’t mean they stop being awesome. You will guarantee to know at least one of them so why not go read it and enjoy/marvel at the film knowledge geekerie you will be in possession of shortly thereafter.

Off you go.

5. THE DATA-DRIVEN MARKETING REVOLUTION
I was in the paper this week, The Guardian to be precise, and, silly jokes aside, the reason why I was there was actually really interesting.

A few weeks ago I was invited to join a bunch of people (all of whom were considerably smarter than me) for a Guardian ’round’ table (it was oblong) to discuss the future of data and what it means for media, marketing, and advertising.

The big news is the piece has gone live online so if you missed The Guardian on Thursday, you can now read up on all the smart things that the other people said.

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Bonuses this week are:

• A clever mural.
• Batman v. Superman [official trailer].
• Some new [pretty solid] social video research from Ogilvy.

Until next week,

Whatley out.