Bombtune

The Internet is the new predator. The only way to encode data...

Sat, 18 May 2013 19:16:00 -0400

The Internet is the new predator. The only way to encode data is to focus so we can make short-term attention stick in the long-term.

Many of us (including myself) are thinking like computers. Pay attention and “control your mind.”

And take a break now and again. Walk without a connection.

Bike Rental on Flickr.

Sat, 18 May 2013 13:20:17 -0400

Bike Rental on Flickr.

THE DESIGN THAT CONQUERED GOOGLE

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:24:00 -0400

THE DESIGN THAT CONQUERED GOOGLE:

Google is a traditionally left-brain company now balancing analytics with the proper beauty of design with “cards.”

“The idea is that each card is a single atomic contextual piece of information; essentially, a suggestion, a prompt, a call to action,” said Duarte. “It boils down to focus: in a very constrained space, they can communicate one thing really well.”

Apple faces serious competition on hardware and software.

Hugh MacLeod, Ignore Everybody

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:11:30 -0400

Hugh MacLeod, Ignore Everybody

How the Internet Destroyed World Music

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:58:00 -0400

While searching for “world music” within Twitter one is most likely to find results about Justin Bieber’s “Around The World” track instead. A simple Google search for the same keywords brings up a variety of institutes, theaters, and World Music networks.

Pre-Internet, “World Music” fans mostly consisted of academic Westerners interested in the globe’s otherness. The music itself was essentially non-English and played with more natural, local instruments from Africa, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, India, and the Middle East. Celtic and Russian choir music could also be classified as World Music.

World Music still sounds native, unfamiliar, and far less digitized than mainstream music: Pop, Rock, and Rap. It has its own category in the iTunes Music Store and hours of streaming on Pandora.

But today, world music either gets mixed into mainstream culture and reclassified or goes buried in the troves of mainstream music which dominate social media chatter.

Those non-Western countries that are highly connected have a greater chance to crossover.

South Korean Pop artist Psy for instance is a World Music artist whose viral video “Gagnam Style” earned him mainstream, Western Pop success. YouTube backed Psy, the same way mass radio Westernized Ricky Martin and Shakira.

Conversely, the digital divide prevents World music artists from successfully marketing themselves. Not everyone has Pro Tools, an iPhone and high speed connectivity. This is where World music becomes more of a world aid program than about the quality of the music itself.

Bob Marley, Fela Kuti, and the Buena Vista Club all demonstrated how commercialization strengthened their local culture. The problem today is that the Internet just wants to Westernize everything.

For World Music, the digital era simply means it either gets absorbed and recasted or converted into an outreach program, known as World music.

(I originally wrote this piece for Flaunt Magazine but they never got back to me.)

THE DAILY RITUALS OF THE WORLD’S MOST CREATIVE PEOPLE

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:48:00 -0400

THE DAILY RITUALS OF THE WORLD’S MOST CREATIVE PEOPLE :

The busier people were less precious—you learn to fit [your creative work] in, and you don’t have these elaborate eccentric rituals if you have children or a day job. Someone like Joseph Heller wrote Catch 22 in the evenings after work. He’d write for two or three hours a night after his job as an advertising executive doing campaigns for magazines. He was not a tortured artist. He found as much joy in his day job as writing Catch 22 at night. “I couldn’t imagine what Americans did at night when they weren’t writing novels,” Heller said. Currey also notes in Daily Rituals that even when Heller quit his day job to write full-time, he still only worked on his novels for two to three hours a day.

I can’t imagine making art all day. I’d burn out. Right in line with Hugh MacLeod’s “Sex & Cash Theory.”

It’s easier to conform, harder to be unique. The weird...

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:23:38 -0400

It’s easier to conform, harder to be unique.

The weird stand out and get remembered.

(via Reid Hoffman, “The 3 Secrets of Highly Successful Graduates”)

"The people who control culture in China have no culture."

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:11:50 -0400

“The people who control culture in China have no culture.”

- Ai Weiwei

I controlled the rain yesterday at MoMA’s Rain Room. Art...

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:03:00 -0400

I controlled the rain yesterday at MoMA’s Rain Room.

Art is more than just staring at pictures within frames. Art is also about living with the experience and manipulating the ingredients.

Evidence on Flickr.

Sat, 18 May 2013 09:40:17 -0400

Evidence on Flickr.

"The myth of the overnight success is just that – a myth."

Sat, 18 May 2013 08:56:48 -0400

“The myth of the overnight success is just that – a myth.”

- Seth Godin

#rainroom (at Expo 1: New York Rain Room)

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:50:36 -0400

#rainroom (at Expo 1: New York Rain Room)

Urban Cowboy on Flickr.

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:40:26 -0400

Urban Cowboy on Flickr.

Briefcase on Flickr.

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:49:00 -0400

Briefcase on Flickr.

Yahoo Now Linked With Tumblr Deal

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:38:47 -0400

Yahoo Now Linked With Tumblr Deal:

fastcompany:

Where is Yahoo turning its attention to now? AllThingsDreportsthatMarissa Mayeris eyeing Tumblrwith hopes to land some sort of deal, be it an acquisition or a percentage stake.

More…

Not surprising. Tumblr is a hot property for teens. Karp is still hesitant to fully monetize the platform to avoid ruining the experience.

“someday” list = “research” list.

Fri, 17 May 2013 07:32:46 -0400

“someday” list = “research” list.:

“Avoid the clutter and guilt of a Someday/Maybe list and start working toward these projects in the present.”

Select something more specific and actionable. Any time you look at the end-result you’ll end up going nowhere.

The final result is the result of tiny actions, like practice.

Bullet Train

Fri, 17 May 2013 07:16:21 -0400

"Fashion fades, only style remains the same."

Fri, 17 May 2013 06:59:58 -0400

“Fashion fades, only style remains the same.”

- Coco Chanel

Pique-nique (1991), by Rafael Leonardo Black Mr. Black simply...

Fri, 17 May 2013 06:53:56 -0400

Pique-nique (1991), by Rafael Leonardo Black

Mr. Black simply puts images side by side and lets them talk, probably saying something different to you than to me.

"Notebooks might be as good as art gets in our time."

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:14:42 -0400

“Notebooks might be as good as art gets in our time.”

- Richard Hell