15th September 2016
From FT.com. ‘In the gig economy, companies such as Uber and Deliveroo manage workers via their phones. But is this liberating or exploitative? It looks like the jury is out on this, but however bad your current manager is, you may thank your stars that your boss in not an algorithm.
From @atlasobscura – the illustrated map of America’s worst utopias. ‘The road to weird food communes and sex cults is paved with good intentions’.
The Free Time Paradox. Which is the hardest working socio-economic group and where do they live? Somewhat surprisingly, the answer is rich Americans – elite men in the U.S. are the world’s chief workaholics. ‘They work longer hours than poorer men in the U.S. and rich men in other advanced countries. In the last generation, they have reduced their leisure time by more than any other demographic. As the economist Robert Frank wrote, “building wealth to them is a creative process, and the closest thing they have to fun”
What are the metrics you use in your advertising campaigns? Perhaps reach,or impressions, clicks or engagement? On the other hand, perhaps it is trust and loyalty we should be looking at and learning how to measure them better.
Nicholas Carr, author of ‘Utopia is Creepy’ , suggests that although technology promised to set us free, instead it has trained us to withdraw from the world into distraction and dependancy. As he sees it, this is the World Wide Cage.
It seems that scientists have identified why binge-watching “Game of Thrones” together brings couples closer. Somewhat spookily, the suggestion is that in relationships without many shared friends, the characters actually take on a similar role, providing a shared social world which…helps two individuals feel close and connected.
Nice piece on how some of the world’s most famous and impactful inventions were completely ignored at the time. The obvious succeeding question is, what major discoveries are happening now, but are also being ignored?
Sounds like fun? The proposition here is that ‘Play’ will be the dominant way of knowing,doing and creating in the 21st Century.The author – Pat Kane, is curating the Play theme at this years Future Fest, on this weekend. There are still some tickets left if you want to go along.
Google’s facial recognition software is misfiring somewhat, as animals faces are being blurred out on Google Maps. Nice to see they are taking cows privacy so seriously.
Looks like this young rugby player from Australia has a promising future. It also looks like few of his opponents fancy the challenge of trying to bring him down. And with good reason… (short video)