9th November 2018
So, the ‘search’ for Amazon’s HQ2 is over and the result looks like a tie– Long Island City in New York and Crystal City in Virginia. in this punchy Winners and Losers video piece, Scott Galloway denounces the process as a sham, and that he knew the answer all along’.
Will Mindful Technology Save Us From Our Phones—and Ourselves? ‘At what point does the cycle of new products and upgrades reach the point of diminishing returns? A minimalist tech movement is gaining steam, but not without a cost.’ ‘ The Palm is the latest entry into a new genre of hardware, one that attempts to limit the barrage of digital add-ons that consumers increasingly expect to find in their devices.’ ..And here is the NYT, on how to be more mindful at work.‘
NESTA’s : Ten Challenges For The Internet. Including – ‘isolated communities’, ‘isolated issues’, ‘data sovereignty’ and ‘searching for a panacea.’
We still live in the long shadow of Man-the-Hunter: a midcentury theory of human origins soaked in strife and violence’. Aeon, On the hunt for human nature.
Fairly long, but fulfilling piece from the How We Get To Next‘s newsletter. Samira Shackle asks – What makes humans violent to one another?’ Philosophers have long pondered this question. The modern debate in the West goes back to 1651, when Thomas Hobbes famously described the lives of humans in their “natural condition,” without a government to enforce order, as “nasty, brutish, and short.” In the 1700s, Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued instead that the human propensity for violence was shaped by civilisation, not by nature. Among philosophers, social scientists, and evolutionary biologists, this framing of the debate as being one of nature versus nurture, has continued ever since. (go to ‘One Last Thing’ at the bottom of the newsletter to read this piece).
A couple of interesting pieces from WARC this week.A rep ort on how to use creativity to drive effectiveness and an article on Spotify’s personalisation strategy.
According to Wired, you can now search insecure cameras by address. Just another chapter in the Internet of Things’ security problems.
Campaign Magazine on delivering a Brexit deal that works for UK Advertising. ‘As the UK’s departure from the EU moves ever closer, the Advertising Association’s Stephen Woodford looks at what UK advertising needs to see from Brexit negotiations so that it remains a leading creative force.’
How luxury brands use the psychology of sound to make you fall in love with their products. ‘For top-flight car and watch brands, every single tick and rumble is an opportunity to provoke an emotional response.’
In this video, a cat chases a rat, but immediately regrets its decision; whilst another feline friend is a ‘catwalk scene stealer’ at the International Fashion Show held in Istanbul. Finally… this dog sees a big body of water for the first time and has no idea what to make of it.