rob zand » ideas

“We have yet to take Google’s measure. We’ve seen nothing like it before, and we already perceive…”

rob — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:37:22 +0000

“We have yet to take Google’s measure. We’ve seen nothing like it before, and we already perceive much of our world through it. We would all very much like to be sagely and reliably advised by our own private genie; we would like the genie to make the world more transparent, more easily navigable. Google does that for us: it makes everything in the world accessible to everyone, and everyone accessible to the world. But we see everyone looking in, and blame Google.”

- Op-Ed Contributor - Google’s Earth - NYTimes.com

last.fm trending around a given track

rob — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 16:33:08 +0000

last.fm trending around a given track

“When we’re holding a GPS-enabled device, our identity isn’t a question of “who, what, where.” It’s a…”

rob — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:33:22 +0000

“When we’re holding a GPS-enabled device, our identity isn’t a question of “who, what, where.” It’s a question of “where, what, who.””

- Steven Levy on How Foursquare Melds Real and Digital Worlds http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/07/pr_levy_foursquare/

Article: Status symbol: Facebook is ubiquitous, but is it really an antisocial network?

rob — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 14:45:13 +0000

Article: Status symbol: Facebook is ubiquitous, but is it really an antisocial network?:

But here’s a secret early adopters know: You can’t. It is impossible to water everyone’s Farmville, coo over everyone’s puppy pictures or get annoyed by every inane status update.

Eventually, Facebook will fade into the background of your life, no longer new and perhaps actually boring — about as remarkable as a ringing telephone.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/22/AR2010072206154.html

“On the assumption that strangers may not make it easy for us to escape our pasts, Acquisti is also…”

rob — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:32:44 +0000

“On the assumption that strangers may not make it easy for us to escape our pasts, Acquisti is also studying technologies and strategies of “privacy nudges” that might prompt people to think twice before sharing sensitive photos or information in the first place. Gmail, for example, has introduced a feature that forces you to think twice before sending drunken e-mail messages. When you enable the feature, called Mail Goggles, it prompts you to solve simple math problems before sending e-mail messages at times you’re likely to regret. (By default, Mail Goggles is active only late on weekend nights.) Acquisti is investigating similar strategies of “soft paternalism” that might nudge people to hesitate before posting, say, drunken photos from Cancún.”

- http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/magazine/25privacy-t2.html

“Now, consider this. If I sound like I’m harshing on Apple — I’m not. Apple’s perhaps one of the…”

rob — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 03:35:20 +0000

“Now, consider this. If I sound like I’m harshing on Apple — I’m not. Apple’s perhaps one of the economy’s most radical companies and one of its most explosive outperformers. Here’s the point: It’s still not good enough — not enough to create jobs, meet the needs of tomorrow’s generations, give back to the natural world, spark higher-order innovation, or fuel a more authentic prosperity. If that’s the best that our economy can do, well, we’ve got to do better.”

- Apple’s Real Achilles Heel - Umair Haque - Harvard Business Review

Flickr’s version

rob — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 15:05:52 +0000

Flickr’s version

New Hotness: overlay tutorials

rob — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:57:34 +0000

New Hotness: overlay tutorials

“The English-speaking world tends to worry more about the semantics of the unspeakable place—is it a…”

rob — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:24:59 +0000

“

The English-speaking world tends to worry more about the semantics of the unspeakable place—is it a toilet, a loo, a lavatory, a lav, a bog, a restroom, a bathroom or a WC?—than its aesthetics. But never mind what it’s called, the loo is a hugely important part of a restaurant. It’s central to what marketing-speakers call the “total customer experience”: it tells you what the restaurateur really thinks of you; it’s a proxy for the kitchen (if the loo’s dirty, the kitchen will be too); and it is the acid test for the success of the overall look. If, as you leave the dining room and head off down the corridor, you find the decor regressing from Absolutely Now to Last Refurbished When Reagan Got In, the whole brand will be compromised.

…

Smart restaurants are now as fashion-driven in their loos as front of house, maintaining the brand statements and keeping the design magic going all the way to the flush…

”

- Little Room, Big Deal

hipstamatic nephew

rob — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 18:01:06 +0000

hipstamatic nephew