Month: June 2015

Things of note for the week ending Friday June 26th, 2015.

Batman: Arkham Knight is out this week and, aside from a few STUPID install issues, it’s a pretty solid game. So yeah, get it.

Right, on with the things!

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1. FACEBOOK’S NEW AD UNIT(S)
Two interesting new things from Facebook this week. First is a new 360 / interactive ad unit which, if you ignore the terrible Michael Kors example shown, could be used quite well in regards to STORY-TELLING and stuff.

Check it:

Re/code has the write up.

Moving on…

If you’ve ever heard of Lead Generation Twitter Cards (here’s a handy guide on how to set them up – you’re welcome) then you’ll know that they can be quite useful for… generating leads / email addresses etc (e.g.: if you just happen to run a semi-successful newsletter and are constantly looking for new ways to sign people up).

Well, the news is, it looks like that Facebook wants a piece of that action and is following suit with its own lead gen unit.

While this is only in test phase at the moment it’s quite good to see further parity between these two social platforms. And hey, it’s ANOTHER WAY TO TARGET YOU.

This time around, Adweek has the write up.

2. THAT RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK STORY
You’ve all heard about it. You must’ve done. You know the one I mean, right? The way that the thing that was scripted got changed on the day by another thing that was unscripted. You know?

No?

Well, here it is, direct from the director himself.

(I love this).

3. MACCY D’S MCBIKES
Say what you want about McDonald’s (secrets and everything) but sometimes they come up with some really interesting bits and bobs that are actually quite handy.

Example? This ‘McBikes’ packaging that’s just been launched in Argentina.

Super simple. Super smart.

I like.

Source.

 

4. SIT DOWN FOR THIS ONE
No seriously. Sit down. This might be the most amazing thing you read this week.

Ready?

I’m not kidding.

Seriously.

OK.

SCIENTIST’S HAVE DISCOVERED A NEW PART OF THE HUMAN BODY.

100% not kidding.

Why this isn’t bigger news, I don’t know.

Researchers at University of Virginia’s School of Medicine recently discovered a long-hidden system of vessels they’ve coined the “central nervous system lymphatic vessels,” which drain lymphatic fluid from the brain to the surrounding lymph nodes.

And:

This find is the neuroimmunological version of stumbling across a unicorn. Not only had the system gone undiscovered until now, but textbooks argued against its very existence. As a result, neuroimmunologists have struggled to understand the mechanisms of brain drainage and inflammation.

Still amazing.

Mind. Blown.

It’s hardly worth carrying on.

But I will.

For you, dear reader.

For you.

5. TALES OF GLASTONBURY, 1989
The weekend of the UK’s biggest festival is upon us (no, I’m not going – been a few times though – much fun, foggy memories, etc) and to celebrate, I thought I’d share this awesome photo set from Dylan Martinez of Reuters.

Photos courtesy of Reuters.

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Bonuses this week are as follows:

• Best original (Read: non sequel) video games from E3 (there be gold in them hills).
• The making of that Tango ad (sooooo advertising).
• Russian Space Shuttle Ruins!

See you next week.

Ps. Liked this? Tell a friend.

Apologies for the delay this week – zero dead time plus Father’s Day weekend meant there were many many other things to do before I could get to these things.

Shall we?

Things of note for the week ending Friday June 19th, 2015.

1. ZOO KEEPERS OF JURASSIC WORLD

I saw Jurassic World last week and, aside from the EPIC PRODUCT PLACEMENT throughout, it’s actually a very good summer blockbuster (and absolutely well worth seeing at the cinema).

Now that the movie is on general release, some lovely little memes are popping up, such as this lovely little one entitled ‘Zoo Keepers Posing Like Chris Pratt‘.

LOOK!

So much fun.

PS. Even my friends are getting in on the act.

PPS. There’s a cool ‘Making of’ video re the animatronics said uber sequel. That’s pretty good too.

2. VIDEO ROYALE (MORE PROOF)
When the end of the year rolls around and Marshall Manson and I have to see how many of our 2015 trend predictions came true, we’ll be able to point to the bad boy below as yet another piece of evidence to support the social media platform ‘Video Royale’.

That’s right, Twitter has rolled out Autoplay.

3. CHEAPS BY DRE

Own Beats headphones?
They saw you coming, man.

In these headphones, 30% of the weight comes from four tiny metal parts that are there for the sole purpose of adding weight. [It is] estimated that the COGS without labor or shipping is $16.89 – yet Beats is able to successfully retail these headphones for $199+. This is the power of brand.

Ouch.

4. TAXIDERMY
Ever wondered what happens at the World Taxidermy Championships?

(Yes, they’re an actual thing)

Wonder no more.

5. STEALING TIME
A guide (that I practice), by Warren Ellis.

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Bonuses this week are things that have genuinely made my jaw drop:

• The Microsoft/Minecraft Hololens demo – if you haven’t watched this yet then seriously, you should [start watching from about 2mins onwards].
• Mario Maker – Somehow this had completely slipped under my radar. Looks AMAZING.
• Body parts – blame Charles.

Until next week.

Things of note for the week ending Friday June 12th, 2015.

1. ENGINEERS IN THE MIST
Regular readers will know how much of a passion I have for the words that appear on the website social-creature (the author of said words isn’t so bad either) however, the latest post ‘Engineers in the Mist‘ covers five days of hanging out with the startup millennials of San Francisco; their loves,  lives, passions, desires, sexual habits, and more.

Example:

We wake up in a Mongolian yurt. It’s sunny and warm out here in Colfax, and we are sitting by a pool waiting for breakfast as hawks fly overhead.
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People are talking about working at pre / post IPO companies as different career strategies; “making money off the speculation;” “upside.” People are talking about deciding whether to work at Stripe, Slack, Reddit. People are talking about strategically deciding to work at a series B company; “career scoping.”
–
This is how people talk. And oddly it already feels less grotesque than it did yesterday. We become accustomed to things. These are just the elements of their actual lives. They can’t help it any more than you or I can help the inevitable echo chambers of our lives. We are all stuck in our own myopias.

A better insight into this absurd life of the cali-culture perhaps there has never been.

Honestly, this is one of the best things I’ve ever read.

2. THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

Back in the day, four crazy mobile geeks used to a weekly half hour show about the most exciting things happening in mobile technology that week (seriously, it’s nuts when you think about it now).

The trio of presenters (above) were Ben Smith, yours truly, and Dan Lane. We each had our specific areas of expertise and for the latter, Dan, his thing was being a back end kinda guy. He knew, loved, and worked in the tech that went into the actual telecommunications business.

Such was the breadth and passion of Dan’s techno-know-how, he once actually tried to set up his own mobile network.

Not. Kidding.

This is his story.

3. HANNIBAL
So Hannibal is back on TV. Season 3 kicked off in the UK this week and, of course, it is AMAZING.

If you want to know why it’s so good, just go and watch it (see item 3 in FOTF #77 for my last ZOMG HANNIBAL IS AMAZING outburst) but that’s not why it’s here this week. No no.

To celebrate the return of this incredible show, some genius (also ridiculously in love with this fantastic series) over at Grantland has gone and made a mini Hannibal colouring book.

And it’s awesome.

IMAGE

The My Little Pony is a nice touch.

4. BLACKBOARDS
This is wonderful.

While undergoing renovations last week, workers at Emerson High School in Oklahoma City made a surprising discovery: when removing several old chalkboards they found an even older set of chalkboards hidden in the walls. Apparently the school didn’t remove or even bother to erase the oldest boards they replaced back in 1917, leaving various lessons and illustrations untouched for nearly a century.

I have no more to add. Just go and look at the pictures.

5. WATER TOWERS

I spent my childhood admiring the water tower in the above photo but not once did I ever stop to wonder how it work or what it was for (instead opting to create large drawn out fantasy fiction stories about how evil wizards and dragons lived therein).

Fortunately, Mental Floss have answered the question I’ve never asked:

Exactly how do Water Towers work?

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Bonuses this week are as follows:

• APPLE STUFF AND NONSENSE

Is Apple Music / Beats 1 the end of radio/Spotify? No, of course not. Is Apple Pay coming to the UK a massive deal? No, of course not. But if these things are of interest to you, then please, by all means, go and listen to the latest episode of the five star rated podcast, The Voicemail.

• MEX SHATTERED DREAMS

The actual name of this piece is called ‘shattered images’ but I prefer my title. Whatever. This is taken from the MEX newsletter (an excellent read) and covers a core 21st century issue for the clumsy and the unlucky. Give it a go.

• AMAZON STUDIOS FINDS DON QUIXOTE

Terry Gilliam is at last being given the opportunity to create the forever-unfinished cinematic work of ‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’. I’m including this piece of news for two reasons. One, this is great news (I love Gilliam and his work); two, if you haven’t seen it then please do seek out the documentary about his last [failed] attempt to make said film, Lost in La Mancha.

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Right then, the weekend is here.

GO GET IT!

 

Things of note for the week ending Friday June 5th, 2015.

1. HAPPY FERRIS BUELLER DAY
If you’ve ever received an email from me or, better yet, we’ve ever spent any time hanging out, you know how much Mr B resonates with me.

Well, friends, it’s true: today (Friday June 5th, 2015) is a GREAT day.

2. PAM DOOVE
This is so old but it recently came up in conversation with a friend of mine recently and it’s still brilliant. Enjoy.

3. THE ORIGIN OF THE SHARED UNIVERSE
These days, the idea of films existing in a ‘shared universe’ is pretty par for the [summer blockbuster] course. While this trend has been predominantly superhero-led, the roots of this way of thinking (on-screen, at least) can be traced back quite a way. iO9 has taken a look back at some of our current cinematic cultural forebears, Stargate and Star Trek.

It’s a very good read.

4. DISCOVERING MANHATTANHENGE

‘Manhattanhenge‘ is a quasi-natural phenomenon that can probably be best described as:

A special day (that) comes twice a year, when the setting Sun aligns precisely with the Manhattan street grid, creating a radiant glow of light across Manhattan’s brick and steel canyons, simultaneously illuminating both the north and south sides of every cross street of the borough’s grid.

And it is STUNNING.

Discovered by Neil deGrasse Tyson himself, and as part of their ‘Creation Stories’ series, Fast Company has a wonderful video of exactly how this happened. NdG was 15yrs old when he first ‘discovered’ it; amazing.

5. IN SEARCH OF THE RED CROSS’ $500M IN HAITI RELIEF
Back in 2010, an earthquake of devastating proportions pretty much levelled Haiti. In a matter of days, millions of people all over the world donated to the American Red Cross. Now, five years later (and as NPR has discovered) it’s difficult to know where all the money went.

Bonuses this week are as follows:

• Do you use Hola VPN ‘for better Internet’? Yeah, uninstall that.
• I have a new phone. It’s a Sony Xperia Z3. It’s not a review unit and it wasn’t sent to me by a PR company; I bought it with my own money. Wanna know why? Listen to Episode 126 of The Voicemail and find out.
• Alastair Campbell’s words on late Charles Kennedy is a great tribute. If you haven’t read it yet, you should.

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Finally, thanks to all of you that got in touch re the above bonus section last week; it’s probably the best response I’ve had to any blog post ever. Warm words abound and I feel all gooey inside.

Lovely stuff.

Have a great weekend everybody!