This Week’s Top Ten Stories from The Digital Filter

1) Facebook buys Oculus Rift for more than $2 billion. Why? So you can take a Virtual Vacation – This is what Zuck had to say – “Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face – just by putting on goggles in your home.”
And here – some of your Oculus Rift questions answered 

2) Why is Snapchat so valuable? It’s All About Attention When someone sends you an image/video via Snapchat, they choose how long you get to view the image/video. The underlying message is simple: You’ve got 7 seconds. PAY ATTENTION. And when people do choose to open a Snap, they actually stop what they’re doing and look.

3) Turkey’s ban on Twitter does not seem to be working 

4) Missed the Guardian’s Changing Media Summit? Videos of the event are here 

5) Twitch : When watching people play games beats playing them yourself – The 100 or so Twitch employees work to make sure the service runs smoothly, even when it’s being slammed with traffic. In an average month, Twitch broadcasts more than 6 million videos and fans watch 12 billion minutes of footage. As of the end of 2013, more than 45 million people watch Twitch streams every 

6) Interesting piece from the FT on The Joy of Stress 

7) Here is a first-person look at the experience of BASE jumping off the new Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center 

8) Brilliant – Male university students in North Korea are required to get the same haircut as Kim Jong-un 

9) Have you played the addictive ‘2048’ yet? – Gabriele Cirulli, who just turned 20 after making the game 2048 last month, perhaps received the best birthday present of all when his creation made in one weekend in February, hit 10 million unique visitors this month.

10) Finally – I really like this quote from Scott D Antony’s Little Black Book of Innovation – ‘Leaders trying to ignite innovation have to move from rewarding innovation outcomes to rewarding behaviours consistent with successful innovation.’ ht @neilperkin for this.
Exactly the approach I emphasise in my creative thinking training sessions