“The iPad took the top spot on kids’ Christmas wish lists in a Nielsen survey of 3,000 U.S. residents aged 6 and over, beating 16 other popular gaming and computing devices. The 13 and up set also favored the iPad over other brand tablets and computers.”

Silly Rabbit, Tablets Are For Kids. 

As I’ve personally observed parents give younger & younger children their touchscreen devices as a form of distraction, brands have obviously noticed as well.

While the Windows Phone shows off their “Kid’s Corner” capabilities, other marketers are coming out with entirely separate tablets for this greasy-fingered, accident-prone child consumer. 

Mary Meeker’s 2012 Internet Trends.
[technology / culture / resource / inspiration / trends]

As someone who sent this around at work said: Mary Meeker is smarter than you. Or at least she spends more time doing research. Last week she released her 2012 trends deck, which is pretty fantastic if you look past the design. After covering the bases with stats on everything from tablets to mobile to smartphone, Mary then re-imagines certain industries or themes and the ways they’ve changed as a result of technology. While some of the “re-imagination’s are a bit more obvious, the good stuff comes after slide 59 when she explores the sharing economy.      

Kickstarter: Funding revolution or digital panhandling?     [crowd-sourcing / creativity / funding / technology]I loved stumbling upon this article because I always say that instead of giving money to strangers on the street, I give money to strangers on the internet… through Kickstarter. I don’t usually do it for the products, though that’s often a nice bonus – Instead, I do it because I feel like I’m helping someone in need. Helping someone fulfill their dreams. But recently there’s been a rise in criticism around projects. Rob Fahey weighs in on reasonable criticism and arguments made up of nonsense. High-res

Kickstarter: Funding revolution or digital panhandling?     
[crowd-sourcing / creativity / funding / technology]

I loved stumbling upon this article because I always say that instead of giving money to strangers on the street, I give money to strangers on the internet… through Kickstarter. I don’t usually do it for the products, though that’s often a nice bonus – Instead, I do it because I feel like I’m helping someone in need. Helping someone fulfill their dreams. But recently there’s been a rise in criticism around projects. Rob Fahey weighs in on reasonable criticism and arguments made up of nonsense.

When the nerds go marching in.     [technology / inspiration / creativity]The tech team behind Obama’s campaign is incredible - and inspiring. As The Atlantic points out: They created the most sophisticated email fundraising program ever. They put Obama on Reddit. They built an analytical tool, which helped them buy TV more effectively. (On average, Obama’s campaign’s cost per ad was $594 and Romney’s was $666. Multiply that by ~550,000 ads and the difference is over $39MM.) And they seem like legit dudes ;) High-res

When the nerds go marching in.     
[technology / inspiration / creativity]

The tech team behind Obama’s campaign is incredible - and inspiring. As The Atlantic points out: They created the most sophisticated email fundraising program ever. They put Obama on Reddit. They built an analytical tool, which helped them buy TV more effectively. (On average, Obama’s campaign’s cost per ad was $594 and Romney’s was $666. Multiply that by ~550,000 ads and the difference is over $39MM.) And they seem like legit dudes ;)

Source The Atlantic

Uncover the truth about hotels with Oyster.com     [tools / technology / travel]Oyster.com has a team of “special investigators” who “visit, photograph, review and rate each hotel.” Why? Because, like people, hotels choose to put their best foot forward when it comes to selling their services. They share the most flattering pictures - even if they’re old or from an angle that doesn’t tell the whole story. (I’m looking at all you with Facebook profile pictures from more than a year ago!) Oyster calls them out and makes sure you aren’t stuck with a bad vacation. Hopefully, TripAdvisor buys them so we won’t have yet another site to visit before booking travel ;)  Side note: I still don’t understand why their website is Oyster.com. Can someone explain?? High-res

Uncover the truth about hotels with Oyster.com     
[tools / technology / travel]

Oyster.com has a team of “special investigators” who “visit, photograph, review and rate each hotel.” Why? Because, like people, hotels choose to put their best foot forward when it comes to selling their services. They share the most flattering pictures - even if they’re old or from an angle that doesn’t tell the whole story. (I’m looking at all you with Facebook profile pictures from more than a year ago!) Oyster calls them out and makes sure you aren’t stuck with a bad vacation. Hopefully, TripAdvisor buys them so we won’t have yet another site to visit before booking travel ;) 

Side note: I still don’t understand why their website is Oyster.com. Can someone explain??

An app that turns any surface into a keyboard… No projectors required!     
[tools / technology / mobile / creativity / inspiration]

Florian Krautli, a Cognitive Computing student at the University of London, has developed an app which transforms any surface into a keyboard. My first thought was that it must use technology like XBox’s Kinect to turn a surface into something interactive, but it actually uses vibrations from you typing on the surface. You’ve gotta see it to believe it. Very cool stuff.

 The world is not enough: Google and the future of augmented reality.      
[technology / mobile / AR / culture]

Seamless discovery. Manufcatured serendipity. The promise of augmented reality as a part of our daily lives seems far off, but then again Google’s Glass was named one of the best inventions of this year by Time Magazine (and we’ve been told we should be able to buy Google Glass as early as 2014.) But beyond manufacturing this product, there’s the content problem. As Hanke says, “You don’t want to show everything from Goolge Maps You don’t want to show every dry cleaner and 7-Eleven in a floating bubble. I want to show that incremental information that you don’t know. What would a really knowledgeable neighborhood friend tell you about the neighrhborhood you’re moving through? He wouldn’t say ‘that’s a 7-Eleven. That’s a fire hydrant.’ He would say, “Michael Mina is opening this new place here and they are going to do this crazy barbecue thing.” Loved getting a little bit of a sneak peek into how they’re thinking through these problems of both creating and serving content. 

We Are Legion: The story of the hacktivists. 
[hackers / anonymous / technology / culture]

“Remember, remember the 5th of November: gunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder & treason should ever be forgot.” As I watched the trailer for this documentary about online hacker group, Anonymous, the nursery rhyme repeated in my head. I’ve had this trailer open for days and how fitting that I chose the 5th of November to actually give it a go. [I’m sold. I’ve already purchased the movie (DRM-free) and plan to watch it on my flight this weekend.] While many members of Anonymous have been arrested, fined and even sentenced to jail, most are law-abiding citizens that see themselves as “activists and protectors of free speech.” We Are Legion is the story of Anonymous - from the early hacker groups to 4Chan and recent arrests. 

Sapient Nitro’s Insights Report - Redefining Experience: Transforming global business through connected thinking.      [marketing / technology / inspiration / culture]I’m a little late on this one, but some good stuff buried in here - from digital luxury 101 to the rise of the global consumer. It’s dense so take save it and come back to it when you need inspiration.  High-res

Sapient Nitro’s Insights Report - Redefining Experience: Transforming global business through connected thinking.      
[marketing / technology / inspiration / culture]

I’m a little late on this one, but some good stuff buried in here - from digital luxury 101 to the rise of the global consumer. It’s dense so take save it and come back to it when you need inspiration. 

Venngage helps you make reporting prettier.      [tools / technology / analytics / reporting]When data analysis tools first became available, it seems we tried to report on everything. But numbers without context are often meaningless. And reporting structured around providing the most possible data points often jeopardizes time that the team could be spending thinking creatively about your business problem. Pretty reports structured around storytelling often get passed around, helping you showcase your work within the organization. Venngage helps you do this, even if you don’t have access to a designer. (Did I mention they were the ones behind Vizualize.me, the site that turns your resume into an infographic?) High-res

Venngage helps you make reporting prettier.      
[tools / technology / analytics / reporting]

When data analysis tools first became available, it seems we tried to report on everything. But numbers without context are often meaningless. And reporting structured around providing the most possible data points often jeopardizes time that the team could be spending thinking creatively about your business problem. Pretty reports structured around storytelling often get passed around, helping you showcase your work within the organization. Venngage helps you do this, even if you don’t have access to a designer. (Did I mention they were the ones behind Vizualize.me, the site that turns your resume into an infographic?)

Stay.com: Create your personalized city guide.      
[tools / technology / travel / culture]

If you’re like me, you crowd-source restaurant recommendations whenever you’re traveling. It’s the best way to see cities you aren’t familiar with because you’re essentially guaranteed to have at least one amazing experience. (It’s how I ended up at Tickets in Barcelona over the weekend.) Stay.com lets you curate suggestions (from strangers or travel mates) into a customized guide book. Which is accessible, even without an internet connection. Awesome.

Unmasking Reddit’s Violentacrez, the biggest troll on the web.      
[culture / trolling / technology]

Adrian Chen, an editor at Gawker, uncovered the identity of one of the most notorious trolls on the web. And confronted him about, well, quite a bit of stuff that isn’t great to be associated with. The story is a fascinating read and a lesson to us all about what we say online - even when we think we’re anonymous. If you’re as curious as I was, you’ll also want to watch the CNN (video) interview.  

This text will self destruct: Snapchat sweeps campus.      [privacy / culture / selfies / technology]Talk about a false sense of privacy: Snapchat lets you send a message that deletes itself in a matter of seconds. The kids these days are using it to capture self-portraits, or selfies. Except that these aren’t your average selfies, these are really ugly selfies. According to NY Mag, they are “almost always of faces, and almost always comically unflattering.” And of course, for sexting. And while the image may delete itself, there’s no one stopping you from screengrabbing the image on your phone. A notification is sent to the sender if the recepient does so, but at that point there’s nothing that can be done to stop the spread if the recepient so chooses. Super interesting app that capitalizes on a great cultural insight. Thanks to my incredibly awesome boss, Orli, for sending this one around!  High-res

This text will self destruct: Snapchat sweeps campus.      
[privacy / culture / selfies / technology]

Talk about a false sense of privacy: Snapchat lets you send a message that deletes itself in a matter of seconds. The kids these days are using it to capture self-portraits, or selfies. Except that these aren’t your average selfies, these are really ugly selfies. According to NY Mag, they are “almost always of faces, and almost always comically unflattering.” And of course, for sexting. And while the image may delete itself, there’s no one stopping you from screengrabbing the image on your phone. A notification is sent to the sender if the recepient does so, but at that point there’s nothing that can be done to stop the spread if the recepient so chooses. Super interesting app that capitalizes on a great cultural insight. Thanks to my incredibly awesome boss, Orli, for sending this one around!