If you’re like us, you’re feeling angry and a bit ashamed of driving a VW TDI diesel. You thought you bought a “clean diesel” only to find out it was a SHAM. Now there’s an easy way to express your frustration. Display one of our quality 3″ x 9″ car magnets and let everyone know you’re more pissed off than they are!
To make up for your pollution-spewing TDI, we’re donating 10% of our net sales to the International Council for Clean Transportation, the not-for-profit that exposed the VW SHAM.
And these are quite wonderful.
Know someone with a VW? Maybe get them one of these 😉
2. PENULTIMATE HALLOWEEN THINGS
As promised, here is another Halloween-based thing before the big blowout next Friday.
In short: just don’t.
Shall we just move on real quick? OK!
3. RISING FROM A WATERY GRAVE Because of a recent drought, the water level in the Nezahualcóyotl reservoir in Chiapas state recently dropped by a staggering 25m.
When the locals went to visit, this is what they saw.
Incredible.
The church, known as the Temple of Santiago or the Temple of Quechula, has been under nearly 100ft of water since 1966. Believed to have been built by Spanish colonists, the church measures 183ft long and 42ft wide, with a bell tower that rises 48ft above the ground – and is easily my favourite thing this week.
4. CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE I love this kinda stuff. Terence did it first (let’s not forget) and there have been many homages since. Converse did it remarkably wellcough and Land Rover did it terribly.
This next one isn’t branded (yay!) but still manages a fresh take.
“A tragic love story interpreted and represented in real life. Georgian sculptor Tamara Kvesitadze has created in real life the two characters who, despite their love, cannot be together. The sculptures are made out of metallic discs and are moving daily, embracing each other and parting in different ways.
Tamara Kvesitadze’s ‘Man and Woman’ installation depicts Ali, a Muslim boy and Nino, a Christian Georgian princess. It’s a symbolic representation of the Soviet Russia invasion which forces the two lovers to separate and leave for opposed directions. This tale is inspired by a novel by Azerbaijani author, Kurban Said.
The sculptures are 8 meters (26 foot) tall and are moving every day at 7pm for 10 minutes in the seaside city of Batumi in Georgia. If we look at the video above, we notice that as the sculptures move the metallic discs fit together and the bodies merge. The purpose behind this installation is to illustrate how elements, within a world where everything and anything is moving, can be synchronized and create attraction.”
It’s Sunday night as I write to you. Truth be told I had the things lined up earlier this week but I couldn’t find the oomph to pad them out with enough of stuff to warrant publishing/sending. Then, when I did have the get up and go to crack it out, I didn’t actually like said things.
So I re-wrote them.
Like, just now.
SO LET’S GO!
1. BEING A MAN – BAM The BAM conference is back next month and tickets have just gone on sale. Last year, said event got superb write-ups across the board and this 2015’s efforts are expected to hit the same high standard (if not better).
Tickets for a three day pass are literally a mere THIRTY-FIVE POUNDS. Social Media Week was ten times that and then some. For reals.
I urge you, dear reader, get yourself to London for the last weekend of November and go to BAM to learn about the challenges and pressures of what it means, and takes, to be a man in the 21st century.
3. PLAAAYED
What happens when an ex-video-games-website-designer sees his love killed by its parent [company]? Well, he cries a bit, then he grows, he learns, he completes his hero’s journey, and he creates something new.
We all have busy lives, and more and more the things we want to entertain us feel like another job – keeping up to date with everything in the games world is impossible when we have careers to further, kids to look after, and lawns to mow (or, TV to watch, homework to do, and people to party with). Plaaayed is here to take that job from you – let us pick out the important stuff that’s happened while you’ve been busy and feed it back to you.
Try it.
4. MORE HALLOWEEN STUFF
As your protagonist’s favourite holiday of the year creeps ever closer, the continual posting of related linkography (yes, that is a word) increases with it.
No spoilers but number one on this list is Jesus Christ. I mean, if you’re going full Zombie Jesus then I can see why some people would get offended. But legit Jesus? What’s he ever done? Why’s he so offensive?
OK, but I promised you another Halloween link! Earlier this week, someone had the bare-faced audacity to retweet this next item into my feed.
It’s a Buzzfeed item. And, if you’re a regular reader you might already know that sometimes and only sometimes I like to Buzzfeed articles. You’ll also know that when I do I tend to apologise for doing so. I apologise because there are some awful, awful posts on Buzzfeed and this, dear reader, is one of them.
5. BRAIN CRUNCHINGLY GOOD CONTENT This is pretty chunky. I wrote about Oliver Sacks’ recently, back in FTOF #138. His last article for the New York Times, Sabbath, moved me in a way that I find hard to describe (if you haven’t read it, then please do so – at once).
His passing, shortly after… He knew it was coming.
His words, his efforts, his life is/was incredible.
Much of that work is hidden behind University firewalls and research servers etc but, on December 1st, that will change.
There are NO bonuses this week. Instead, as we approach FTOF #150, I’d love it if you could share this post/email/newsletter with a friend or colleague or five (thousand) and give the gift of sharing.
Click this button and bonuses shall return next week.
Promise.
Whatley out.
——————
Ps. Thanks to all of you that seemingly voted for me in The Drum’s Digerati Top 100. I didn’t even know it was a thing and SHAZAM! out of nowhere, I’m in at number 22and the 21 above are unbelievable!
Things of note for the week ending Friday October 9th, 2015.
Things of note for the week ending Friday October 9th, 2015.
Well paint me blue and call me Shirley, FTOF is late again. Ah well. Honestly, this week has been – how the kids might call it – ‘Cray Cray’ (or simply ‘Crayfish’ – you know who you are).
Therefore, as I hit the M4 at 13:36 on a Saturday afternoon, with a 4hr drive ahead (another story for another time) I have plenty of time to get this wrapped, shipped and out to you over the next 100 or so miles…
Hurrah and hurrah again.
‘Thanks James!’
‘You’re all good, brah.’
Shall we?
1. WHO OWNS ANTARCTICA?
The idea of ‘ownership’ when it comes to one of Earth’s last great natural wonders makes my skin crawl slightly but still, this is actually quite interesting.
For example:
While no one country “owns†Antarctica, a total of 52 nations do have joint international control over the region. The world’s struggle for a piece of the frozen pie began with the increase in Antarctic expeditions at the start of the 20th century. In 1908, England made the first attempt by laying claim to a significant portion of the mainland and several surrounding islands. In response, several other nations scrambled to secure territories while there was still land left to claim. Those nations included Chile, Argentina, Australia, France, Norway, New Zealand and even Nazi Germany.Â
Amsterdam-based artic, Max Siedentopf, just launched his latest project, ‘Slapdash Supercars‘ – and it is brilliant.
The one thing that Max doesn’t mention on his website is whether or not the owners of the above vehicles were willing participants in his upgrade project.
One hopes that the whole thing was done in over one night, with different people coming down to their cars in the morning to discover the amazing upgrades they’d been gifted with.
4. THE MERMAID ECONOMY
This wins the prize for the most out there article of the week. I saw a few of these lovely ladies at SXSW (see below) and, according their manager (sorry), merfolk are big business indeed.
…There’s been an explosion of professional mermaids, buoyed, you might say, by massive popular demand. Today, there are close to 1,000 full-time mermaids and mermen in the United States, according to the estimates of various experts I spoke with in the mer-community. These merfolk spend their days modeling in shimmering tails, performing for audiences in underwater tanks, and delighting children by making surprise appearances at their pool parties.
The whole article takes an in-depth look at the mermaid economy (yes, it’s an actual thing) and tells you exactly how, where, and why this trend is only set to grow and grow.
I read this when it first published at the end of August and, bizarrely after seeing one of Mo Farah’s stupid TV ads for Quorn, I remember I hadn’t shared it. It is the best thing ever.
Things of note for the week ending Friday 2nd October, 2015.
Things of note for the week ending Friday 2nd October, 2015.
Hello, welcome to October (I know we’re a day in but seriously – it’s my second/third favourite month of the year and it’s already gorgeous and lovely and generally just quite awesome) – I hope you have a good one.
1. DEFENDING EDWARD.
No, not this one.
This one.
Thing is, no one told HLN News.
In this epic piece of trolling, ‘Snowden supporter’ Jon Hendren is asked to give his opinions on Edward Snowden joining Twitter. But Jon had other ideas…
Brilliant.
Well done, Jon.
*Salutes*
..
2. SEE MACBETH
He’s a mardy bugger, isn’t he?
Admittedly I haven’t seen it yet but, on the strength of the absolutely stonking reviewsit’s been getting, Macbeth has jumped straight to the top of my MUST SEE list which I’ll aim to tick off by the close of the weekend.
So yeah, you should too.
3. THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP Brain Pickings is one of the best websites I subscribe to and I have NO IDEA how the author keeps it going with such endlessly interesting content. The piece I’m highlighting for you today is is relatively short (for BP at least) and looks into the science of why we sleep and what happens inside our brains when get our snooze on.
4. AMAZON BANS CHROMECAST/APPLE TV
I say ‘bans’, what I mean is ‘has banned the two companies’ respective TV streaming products, aka Chromecast and Apple TV, from being sold anywhere on Amazon’.
Third party sellers just received an email from Amazon with orders to clear out their Google Chromecast and Apple TV inventories by October 29. The more specific reason for the purge is the fact that Chromecast and Apple TV don’t support Amazon Prime Instant Video. Nevermind the fact that Amazon sells the Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, two products that compete directly with Chromecast and Apple TV. Amazon wants everyone to know that it has the customers’ best interests in mind.
Well ain’t that swell.
You kinda get why it made the decision to do this (Gizmodo spell it out clearly enough above); at the end of the day it’s a business decision. However depriving consumers of choice never really worked out for anyone. Thing is, it’s not like Amazon banned the sales of iPhones and Android devices when it launched the Amazon Fire Phone. But then again, the Fire Phone is probably Amazon’s biggest embarrassment to date.
And I’m certain this TV decision isn’t a petty way to get back at the big kids that sell more phones than Amazon does… right?
Of course not.
Right?
…
5. FACEBOOK, BUT FOR WHEN YOU’RE DEAD
This week, in ridiculous Facebook stories (no, not video profile photos – which I’m not even linking to because I’m sure you’ve all done it already, I mean, this guy’s nailed it), the big blue behemoth will soon let you create your own legacy content.
Yes, that’s a thing now. LEGACY. CONTENT.
Snark aside for a second this is actually a good thing. We are mere flesh and bone and alas, our tiny containers of liquid and emotion only really have an 80 year (ish) shelf life. Some of us may never know when our time will come. Others will be given notice. Either way, the end result is as saddening as it is inevitable.
We will not live forever.
I will die some day.
You will too.
If that deafening dose of reality doesn’t wake you from your screen-staring slumber, then I don’t know what will. Hug your loved ones tonight and embrace every day.
And when you’ve done that, update the new legacy content section of your Facebook profile so your friends and loved ones can all remember your personally edited history of your best bits. It’ll be like your own version of the ‘here’s who died this year’ section at the BAFTAs.
Things of note for the week ending Friday 25th September, 2015.
Things of note for the week ending Friday 25th September, 2015.
I’ve not been well this week. Not at all. Which has meant I’ve not really been online that much… Which means FTOF will be a bit lighter this week. I’m sure you won’t mind. Y’know, it’s not like EVERY OTHER PERSON WANTS TO SEND YOU EMAILS / NEWSLETTERS / BLOG POSTS ON FRIDAY BECAUSE HEY IT’S FRIDAY, ISN’T THIS AWESOME etc… is it?
I’m also sleepy (ill = not sleeping much either, bah). Good news is, I’m on the road to recovery. Better news is, I am scheduled to be taking annual leave today. That means that you get this written to you Friday morning fresh – and not Friday night/Saturday morning rushed.
Huzzah!
Right then, shall we?
—
1. HOW’S THE WEATHER UP THERE, DARLING?
You know the AMAZING and SPECTACULAR Rosetta mission to the comet known as 67P? You must know it… It’s been a helluva journey so far.
First there was the ten years its taken for the thing to get there. TEN. YEARS. That’s 6.4Â billion kilometres. Then there’s the whole actually rendezvousing with a comet in actual space part whichi is the equivalent of throwing a small car at a floating piece of rock from about 800 million miles away, with one eye, while you’re looking in the other direction. THEN (and you must remember this) we nearly lost the landing probe (little Philae!) back in November for it to suddenly woke up over the summer (this link is an update on that btw). And now… there’s more!
This week, the Rosetta spacecraft provided scientists with enough evidence to prove the existence of a weather system on Comet 67P.
Ahem.
The team studied a set of data taken in September 2014, concentrating on a one square km region on the comet’s neck. At the time, the comet was about 500 million km from the Sun and the neck was one of the most active areas.
As the comet rotates, taking just over 12 hours to complete a full revolution, the various regions undergo different illumination.
“We saw the tell-tale signature of water ice in the spectra of the study region but only when certain portions were cast in shadow,†says Maria Cristina.
“Conversely, when the Sun was shining on these regions, the ice was gone. This indicates a cyclical behaviour of water ice during each comet rotation.â€
The data suggest that water ice on and a few centimetres below the surface ‘sublimates’ when illuminated by sunlight, turning it into gas that then flows away from the comet. Then, as the comet rotates and the same region falls into darkness, the surface rapidly cools again.
Best. Thing. This. Week.
Period.
2. HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT IN 4 EASY STEPS
Hey! Wait! Don’t go anywhere! Before you click off and think ‘Oh my God, Whatley’s been hacked’ – stay there! I’m being serious…
Aaron Bleyaert published this handy guide back in February but for some reason it only really seemed to go viral get itself internetty famous this week.
I promise you: it is fantastic and easily the best thing you’ll read today/this week/this month/this year about how to go actually lose weight.
3. TWITTER’S NEW BUTTONS
Got a website? Write things? Do you visit websites and sometimes read things? Well, if you’ve said yes to any of those questions you’ve probably seen the ‘Tweet!’ button.
This week, Twitter announced it was changing that button!
(old, left – new, right)
‘BUT THIS ISN’T NEWS, JAMES!’ – I hear you cry in unison.
“Tweet buttons make authoring a Tweet from the context of a current webpage quick and easy. We are simplifying the Tweet button by removing the share counter displayed alongside the button. This new display removes the count and counturl display parameters, and will render in the same pixel dimensions as a Tweet button configured without a share count today.
The Tweet button has displayed share count over the last five years by querying a JSON endpoint hosted on various domains. These private JSON endpoints have been used by third-party developers over the years to retrieve a simple share count of any URL. These endpoints [read: ways to gather share counts from articles] will be shut down next month when the Tweet button removes its share count feature.“
Thing is, Twitter changing a useful tool/piece of code that other users/developers had come to rely on should really not longer come as any kind of surprise.
The real question is: why doesn’t Twitter want you to know how many people are sharing articles through its platform?
One to noodle on.
4. DEATH TO POWERPOINT
‘Bored students is the least of it’ writes Andrew Smith ‘the bullet point-ization of information is making us stupid and irresponsible’ – the man has a point.
On the classroom, he adds:
‘Where the space around and between points on a blackboard is alive with possibility, the equivalent space on a PP screen is dead. Bullet points enforce a rigidly hierarchical authority, which has not necessarily been earned. One either accepts them in toto, or not at all. And by the time any faulty logic is identified, the screen has been replaced by a new one as the speaker breezes on, safe in the knowledge that yet another waits in the wings.’
And that really struck a chord with me.
In school, there was never any PowerPoint. There may’ve been the occasional use of an overhead-projector (‘James, could you run and fetch the OHP?’ – memories!) but never PowerPoint. We even had one teacher (economics) who told us that our exercise books were for homework and that we were never to open them in class. Instead lecturing us on the structure of a free market and how supply and demand really works…
When I reached college none of my lecturers used PowerPoint. NONE. All of them spoke to us and lectured us on the topic(s) we’d arrived to hear about.
Later in life, when I had to give public presentations/speeches for an on behalf of the company/ies that I worked for, I constantly argued against the need for PowerPoint. I hated it. I convinced myself I had a fear of it (which I then got over) but wherever possible, have since tried to not use any kind of bullet system and instead rely on pretty pictures of animals as talking points. I’m not kidding – this actually works.
5. FIVE KEY TAKE OUTS FROM SMWLDN
Item four: moans about bullets. Item five: here’s a list of bullets. Ha! But they’re not bullets, they’re a collection of paragraphs of things wot i wrote during Social Media Week London 2015. All collected up and published, by request, on the Guardian.
The above link there is a main overview of the main trends spotted as gleaned from the talks available to attend. It is also an edited down version of a longer article examining how ‘Social Media Week: the week long event of social media fun’ is transforming/has transformed into ‘Social Media Week: The Conference’. It’s less of a five day celebration of all things social and more a three-day business summit focused on brands, agencies, and platforms.
The content has improved enormously because of it but, since the article went live yesterday, I’m left wondering if the event will ultimately lose some of its magic in the process.
Things of note for the week ending Friday September 18th, 2015.
Morning. It’s 6:36am on Saturday Sept 19th and I’m writing this to you from my bed. It has been a HELL of a week but as Churchill said ‘If you’re going through hell, keep going.’ – we kept going this week and we made it through.
If you’ve had a tough week/fortnight/month (delete where appropriate), I salute you. Take solace in the thought that you are not alone and that you are, at least I hope you are, enjoying the respite of the weekend.
In last week’s edition, web readers may of caught an amendment. Item one in FTOF 141 was supposed to be a provocative look at the truth behind online video (and now is so if you missed it, go read it). Newsletter readers however would’ve seen item one read something like ‘Paperdashery, do this on Thursday’ – congrats/apologies to those of you that caught that.
In short, I had made a note to myself to do a thing as item – and then work got crazy so I couldn’t do the thing. Then I forgot about the note to myself about the thing and then the next thing I know I’d hit send and well, the rest is history. Three people unsubscribed.
Costly costly mistakes…
Here’s what item one should’ve looked like 😉
1. PAPERDASHERY
It’s quite nice being a blogger / newsletter writer with a blog/newsletter that people read. People send you stuff. Pancakes to eat, muffins to try, phones to review (although that takes place on the podcast these days). And this past week something new turned up at the office…
(I work at Ogilvy London, wanna send me something? Send it there – it’ll get to me).
Check this out:
That’s right, it’s an ORIGAMI BATMAN.
Oh heeeeeeey…
Anyway, this arrived on my desk from the lovely Gude from Paperdashery, a new service for all things super pretty. And the reason Gude was getting in touch is because…
I have to tell you to go check it out – and to keep it front of mind when you’re next on the hunt for something a bit different for that someone special BECAUSE GUDE SENT ME A PAPER BATMAN.
3. PRIME JOURNALISTIC DUTY
Probably my best/favourite read of the week. Glenn Greenwald over on The Intercept discussing the BBC’s continual scrutiny of ‘one’s own side’.
Excerpt:
That event for me demonstrated a critical point: It’s so fun — and so easy — to highlight and protest the bad acts done by the countries declared to be the Bad Ones by your own government. It’s not quite as fun or easy to highlight and protest the bad acts done by your own government itself or its closest allies. Yet as O’Brien pointed out, journalism is far more valuable, and the public interest served far more, by doing the latter rather than the former.
4. SCREW YOU, SCALPERS
Oh you want to buy the latest shoes/games/gig tickets only to then sell them on again on ebay? Well, some people have had enough.
Want to purchase a pair of uber limited edition OVO x Air Jordan 10s? That’s FINE. They just have to be on your feet when you leave the store.
I’m not so much of a shoe nut that this would bother me but I know that some of you are. What do you think? Good thing or bad thing?
I’m landing in the former…
5. WOOING MR GAIMAN Joe Quesada is one of the world’s most famous comic book people. Editor, writer, and artist, Quesada has had his hand in many of the biggest and best comic books of recent history.
Now enjoying his retirement, Quesada’s blog is an absolutely joy.
This week he wrote about ‘that time we tried to get Neil Gaiman to come write for Marvel’ – and not only is it awesome. But he also drops some never before seen Wolverine art with it.
“Here’s a never before seen sequence that was never meant for publication.
Sometime around 2001-2002 we were in secret conversations with Neil to do a project or two for us at Marvel. Neil is a dear friend and around that time we were tossing around the idea of a possible X-Men story that he would write and I would draw.Â
In my zeal to try to land one the best comic writers of all time, I wrote and drew this three page vignette, had it inked (Danny Miki), colored and lettered and sent it off to Neil to let him know how badly we wanted him at the House Of Ideas. What can I say, I was excited. Unfortunately the lettered version and the original script have been lost, and I barely remember what I wrote, but I believe the basic gist of the story was…Â
Wolverine addresses Neil directly. He points out how blank the panels are and how empty his world is and that Neil needs to stop dawdling and get to work because those panels aren’t going to fill themselves. Wolvie continues harassing Neil, goes to light his cigar, realizes it’s a nasty habit and that there’s no smoking in Marvel Comics and stomps it out. He then holds up a Marvel Comic, makes references to the Editor in Chief being a big loser, unwraps his hands, pops the claws and then says something snarky as he leaves the scene.
Regrettably the timing didn’t work out for either of us on the X-Men project but Neil later came up with 1602, which was outstanding and he ended up with a much better artist in the process, Andy Kubert.”
I’ve got 1602 and it’s ACE – so this just makes me beam from ear to ear.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the amazing work Ogilvy had done with Converse for Chuck II. The person who appointed us to do that work is a woman called Rebecca Williams. This week, Beckie and I spoke together at Social Media Week London at a talk we called ‘A Series of Provocative Statements (and all the dragons that await therein)’ – and the video is available to watch right now [sidenote – full write up (including slide uploads plus presenter notes) coming soon/later this weekend].
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.
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.
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.
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.
______
‘Hey Bob, when’s the big Apple announcement?’
‘You missed it, Larry. You’re gonna have to listen to The Voicemail instead.’
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.
‘Top marks for another fine edition!’ – Richard Emes
‘Fave part of Friday!’ – @DarkStarSteph
_______________________
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!
1. IFA 2015 This item gets quite geeky quite quickly. If it’s not your thing, feel free to skip to the next item, I won’t be offended.
The Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin is an annual tech conference that tends to carry a good couple of announcements and is potentially on its way towards perhaps over-shadowing Mobile World Congress as the big mobile-tech conference of the yearly calendar. Maybe.
And as this edition of FToF goes to press, and with a huge thanks to Lenovo UK, I will be on a flight backin a car on my way home from aforementioned gathering after having spent a healthy couple of days in the presence of predominantly brand new and super-exciting technology.
Hurrah and hurrah again.
The majority of the news from this trip will be covered in episode 139 of mobile tech podcast, The Voicemail (recording this Sunday – subscribe via iTunes), however there’s no reason why I can’t give you lovely lot a very quick run down of what was cool / awesome about my three day jaunt to IFA Berlin.
Shall we?
Cool / awesome IFA thing ONE:
From Lenovo, the new Yoga Tab 3 Pro and the new Moto 360 smartwatch were the highlights for me.
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The former because, in the main, it feels like the Yoga Tab Pro models have finally come of age. This new one sporting a less-cumbersome 70″ projector (yeah, I know), a sleek new colour, and a fancy leather back. Launching imminently for around $499 US. I’ve got a silver Yoga Tab Pro 2 at home and it gets used regularly. While the much neglected tablet-version of Android can be frustrating at times, the hardware is par excellence. Good to see that aspect following through in this new version.
For the latter, the 2nd gen Moto 360, the thinking is fairly similar as in, never being really one to jump onto 1st gen products, the next gen of this smartwatch is much nicer.
With a thinner/smaller edition ‘for women’ as well a new selection of rose gold straps also aimed at said market; a wider selection and a maturity in its approach to its audiences has resulted in what can only be a step forward for this still quite nascent tech category.
Side note: If you’re reading this in the newsletter, do the embedded tweets work or are you seeing crap bits of code/images? Answers to the usual address (hint: just hit reply), thank you.
Cool / awesome IFA thing TWO:
From Sony, the new Xperia Z5 Premium is VERY fancy high-end device (with a high-end price to match). I’m rocking a Sony Xperia Z3 at the moment and, aside from a current hardware fault where an awful amount of dust has got underneath the lens (A common problem – GRR! – but Vodafone are replacing it under warranty, which is nice) it is a fantastic phone – see this example of the best photo I’ve ever snapped with a phone ever – from SXSW earlier this year. I digress.
The Z5 comes in three models, the Z5 Premium, the Z5, and the Z5 Compact. In reverse order, the Z5 compact will probably be quite popular as the Z-range compact models have often been in the past as Sony refuse to tow the line of creating ‘Mini’ models (reducing features and spec with size) and instead keeping the high-end elements and merely reducing the phone’s body. Very impressive.
The Z5 is very nice and – for Sony fans at least -will probably be many folk’s next phone when it launches this November. It’s smart, pretty, and feels fantastic in the hand. I liked this a lot.
Then we get to the Z5 Premium. Slightly larger and the absolute top top top spec, it comes with a 4K screen (which many are calling out as utterly superfluous; who needs that many pixels on a 5.5 screen) and a stunning build that, on the chrome edition at least, is reflective on the back.
— Hilariously, Sony’s global PR just RT’d this and now it’s going nuts —
It may look cheap in the image but when you see it in the flesh, it really does POP and it definitely makes you go ‘Wow!’. Worth a look when it launches, definitely.
Sony (and Motorola for that matter) could be about to go through somewhat of a renaissance. With Samsung/Apple fatigue setting in combined with a compelling range of devices marketed to different hands and handbags, 2015/16 could be when mass-market consumers finally catch on to what they’ve been missing out on.
Side note: almost every Android phone I saw in attendance was a Sony Z3. It was everywhere. Alright I own one but I really do think that, if you know your tech and you prefer Android, Sony really is the best in show right now. And from my anecdotal data points of ‘I counted quite a few’, IFA attendees clearly agree with me.
Cool / awesome IFA thing THREE: Last one, promise.
Finally, also from Sony, yours truly managed to have a sneaky go on the upcoming PlayStation 4 VR peripheral, ‘Project Morpheus‘.
About which I am very excited.
LOOK AT ME WEARING IT, LOOK!
AND IT WAS AWESOME.
SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO GOOD!
And, depending on how abhorrent the pricing is (or isn’t), I may well be first in line when this bad boy launches in Europe at some point next year.
Here’s a video outlining the experience that I had (from a different event, but the demo is the same).
And here’s another video of me this time actually playing said demo – yes, I look like a wally but I was having so much fun (thanks for the footage, Nick x).
Google Cardboard withstanding, this was my first go on any real kind of consumer-facing modern take at VR so I didn’t really know what to expect. There’s still some work to be done (collision detection etc) but the best description I can give you is that I came out of it with the kind of exhilarated grin that is only really reserved for when I get to the end of a rollercoaster – such was my enjoyment.
And you can’t get a better seal of approval than that.
—
So yeah, that was a cool trip. Once more, thanks to Lenovo for flying me over, putting me up, and generally keeping me fed and watered throughout. I had a great time.
Again, as mentioned, expect more in-depth coverage in the next episode of The Voicemail.
Right then, that’s IFA done. Shall we continue with FToF?
Let’s.
2. BATMAN ANIME FOR THE WIN Christ, are we only at item 2?!
Wowsers.
Anyway…
There’s a website that I read from time to time that specifically covers redesigns and re-imaginations of comic book heroes and villains called Project Rooftop. If you fancy seeing some wicked art, I can suggest heading over right away and taking a look.
This next bit is not from that but it reminded me of it.
Live for Films recently published this concept of an anime Batman a couple of weeks back that I liked so much I didn’t want to just shove into last week’s bonus section so, here it is in all its glory.
There’s much more at the link (including a brief explanation of the approach as well as a fairly awesome mecha-Superman), so go check it out.
3. ONE MINUTE TIME MACHINE
This popped up on my feeds this morning and I think it’s my favourite item this week. A five minute short film called, you guessed it…
And it is wonderful.
It’s slightly NSFW in its use of language at one point but it really is laugh out loud funny and if, like me, you love a good sci-fi ish yarn, you’ll enjoy this quirky little number.
4. TODAY DO THIS
This is your Twitter follower recommendation of the week: @TodayDoThis is my kind of Twitter account. I shall let the ‘founder’ (haha) describe what it’s for:
‘TodayDoThis (@todaydothis) is a daily nudge towards making today slightly better than yesterday. Each morning – 8am UK, NYC and Sydney time – a simple suggestion is posted. Something you can easily do that day should you so wish. Something that might make your day better, or someone else’s (and often both). There’s no specific subject matter, there’s no agenda. Just things to do that might make today a good day. Because if you can do one thing today to make it a bit better than yesterday, then maybe you’ll be open to doing more tomorrow…’
Little moments of inspiring betterment, delivered right into your Twitter stream.
5. CHARLES ARTHUR’S OVERSPILL
As a writer of collated content, I tend to dig it when I find other collators who also do the same. Both from a MOAR CONTENT perspective as well as a ‘Ooo, I wonder how they do it’ angle.
One that I’ve recently been growing fond of is that of master collator (and ex-tech editor at The Guardian) Mr Charles Arthur.
His latest ‘Overspill‘ is quite excellent and there is much there I could link to (from great Google car encounters to the very latest Ashley Madison discoveries) but instead I shall just link you to the article in its entirety and you can go digging yourself.
Y’know, just in case you haven’t had enough STUFF this week.
😉
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Bonuses this week are as follows.
Please vote for my SXSW Panel. Please. Today (Friday) is the last day for voting.
I may’ve mentioned this in an earlier edition but Social Media Week London is just around the corner and the collection of COMPLETELY FREE events that Ogilvy is putting on each morning really is quite superb. Each talk/panel/presentation takes place between 9am and 10am which means that, if you can’t get out of the office for the whole week, you could probably come along to ours and then just tell your boss the bus was late. Winner.
There are 200-year-old tunnels under the streets of Liverpool and no one knows why.
Eight questions you’re afraid to ask Tattoo Artists [video].
This past weekend my dear friends Mark & Isolde made their wedding vows and I wanted to announce their nuptials like this is some kind of newspaper announcement. So consider this that. It was wonderful, and I wish them much love and laughter for their future together.Â
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Testimonial time!
‘The best thing about about FToF is that I usually know one of the five, or sometimes none. Never more. HTF do you do that?!’ – Pedro Stephano
‘I anticipate and appreciate every issue of Five Things on Friday. Getting this in my mailbox makes my Friday even more Fridayer.’ – Jim Gibson
‘Five Things is a dishy selection of culture, tech, social and news organically curated – always something that surprises – Â an enjoyable pre-weekend read!’ – Susi O’Neill
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And that’s it from me.
See you all next week?
Whatley Out.
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PS. If you’ve enjoyed this, please refer it to another; a tweet will do.
Things of note for the week ending Friday August 28th, 2015.
Things of note for the week ending Friday August 28th, 2015.
Yeah, I thought it might be late this week.Â
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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:
LOOK! IT’S THE NEW TESTIMONIAL SECTION! __________________
“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.
Things of note for the week ending Friday August 21st, 2015.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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