Brad McCarty:
I had my first quarterly review a few weeks ago. Things didn’t go very well. Though I had exceeded a few of the goals that we set up when I started, there was one key area in which I had undoubtedly failed. That failure led to a stern discussion with my VP of Biz Dev (my direct boss) and the CEO (his boss).
Incredibly open article.
According to research from Parks Associates, Apple is the top brand in a wide range of categories, including tablets, laptops, smartphones, home networking routers, MP3 players, and streaming media devices.
So basically, Apple isn’t the top brand in cars and hockey sticks.
Businessweek:
Over the last two months, Bloomberg Businessweek spoke to dozens of current and former BlackBerry employees, vendors, and associates. Here is their account of the thrill of BlackBerry’s ascension—and the heartache of watching its demise.
Not a pretty story from RIM insiders.
Very sad.
Observatory:
Here’s my JCP story. It’s loaded with the things we love about this business: drama, crushed dreams, out-of-control egos and unintentional comedy.
Segall is a guy who was there and his timeline of the frequent missteps at JCP show a company and a board of directors that has no idea what they are doing. I predict JCP will not be around in less than ten years.
He leans forward. I can feel his breath in my ear.
“I’ve touched everybody on the nose, man,” he says, quietly. “There ain’t nobody I can’t touch on the nose.” He tilts to one side and says, “I know what you’re thinking. Just relax.” A while later, he says, “If I can touch you, I can kill you.”
Holy shit that must have been scary. The article is seven pages long, so plan ahead.
There’s a “View All Images” link on the page so you don’t have to go through the slideshow.
In this issue Brianna Wu looks at the status of women in the gaming industry; Matt Gemmell explains why he likes analog tools like pens and notepads to plan; Matt Dusenbury talks about how technology is supposedly helping our health; In New York, Seamus Bellamy takes a trip around town to all the pubs his favorite writer visited; and Steven Aquino talks about why he loves subscription music services.
Hey, now I can draw a butt! Heh.
Wall Street Journal:
China Mobile Ltd. has signed a long-awaited deal with Apple Inc. to offer iPhones on its network, a person familiar with the situation said, an arrangement that would give the U.S. technology giant a big boost in the world’s largest mobile market.
Take this with a tiny grain of salt because of the “a person familiar with the situation said” line but we’ve been expecting this deal for several months.
Mashables:
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences on Tuesday revealed the new inductees into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The 27 recordings inducted bring the total in the hall to 960, including albums and singles that span from Hoagy Carmichael’s “Georgia on My Mind” (1930) to Run-D.M.C.’s cover of “Walk this Way” (1986).
Like most lists of “Best of…” this one is likely to cause at least a little controversy. Which of these songs do you think don’t belong in the Grammy Hall of Fame?
A global ad campaign to promote Samsung devices, involving soccer stars and an alien invasion story, instead revealed that the fantasy campaign’s star manager Franz Beckenbauer tweets from his iPhone, not a Galaxy device.
Perfect.
I love reading Hemingway’s letters.
It’s $49,999, but I want it badly. I’ve heard great things about The Music Zoo—I’m going to buy a guitar there someday.
Jim and Dan talk about Apple’s stock movement, Apple acquisitions, the Beard Calendar, Amazon’s Drones, Slash’s pickups, and more.
For the new PlayStation 3 racing game Gran Turismo 6, the Mercedes-Benz designers have developed the visionary concept of a super sports car – the Mercedes-Benz AMG Vision Gran Turismo.
Imagine driving that in real life.
Read this XKCD cartoon, then change your weak passwords, then read the linked article.
Spotify prefers to break down payouts in terms of monthly activity. In July, a “niche indie album” garnered $3,300, whereas a “global hit album” awarded the unnamed artist $425,000. Based on the company’s projections, these numbers will increase exponentially as the subscriber base grows.
I have to admit, this is pretty good. I’ve been vocal about subscription services and making sure artists get paid, so these numbers are interesting. One question I do have—for Spotify or the artists—why is there such a difference between these numbers and the reported “$10 for a million plays” type of stories that were making the rounds.
I wasn’t going to watch the video, but I’m glad I did. All of the teddy bears are donated to local charities.
Mobile Miniatures, as the Spektral Quartet has dubbed its ear-tickling project, is part of its mission to provide living composers with new platforms for their music to be performed and heard.
Love it.
Very interesting article. Abdel Ibrahim has been updating it with recent fluctuations.
Bloomberg:
Icelandic police shot dead a man who refused to stop firing at them with a shotgun in the capital of Reykjavik earlier today — and then they apologized. It was the first time that anyone in the country was killed by police gunfire.“The police regret this incident and wishes to extend its condolences to the man’s family,” said national police chief Haraldur Johannessen.
Details of the event have yet to emerge, but this much is clear: Iceland is a weird place.
Sad that you have to describe such a peaceful country as “weird”.
All profits from this issue of Five out of Ten are in aid of SpecialEffect, a charity that works to improve the lives of people with disabilities.
A great cause and an interesting magazine from Alan Williamson.
Not only that, according to the original report, the customer noticed that it was a demo unit after inspecting the sticker on the bottom, but instead of simply returning it to Target, she decided to call a local news agency. You know, for justice.
Sweet Fuck, people are stupid.
PDF Expert 5 is a must-have app for anyone who reads, annotates or edits PDF documents on the iPad. It allows you to markup documents with highlights and handwriting, insert text and stamps, sign and even merge PDFs. Moreover, PDF Expert is the best choice for filling out PDF forms right on your iPad.
Looks like a great app.
Go paperless with Doxie – tiny and beautifully designed mobile scanners that scan everything, starting at just $149.
Doxie scans your paper: simply and automatically. Battery power and built-in memory means you can scan anywhere, then tuck Doxie away when you’re not using it. Once you’ve scanned everything, Doxie’s included Mac software makes organizing it all easy. Save, share, create searchable PDFs, and send to the cloud.
The Loop readers get free U.S. shipping and Guaranteed Christmas Delivery for all orders placed through December 19th. Order your Doxie today and give the gift of paperless.
Brent Simmons:
I don’t know how I could tell Amazon’s harmless, happy-day drones from Google’s real-time people-watchers — or those of the police or the NSA. It’s best to shoot them all down.
I laughed out loud when I read that. Seriously, how are they going to stop people from shooting them down. It’s got to be a problem, right?
Poynter:
When Planet Money embarked on a massive reporting project tracking the making of a simple T-shirt — from the cotton fields of Mississippi to Bangladeshi garment factories to shipping containers crossing oceans — an interactive, documentary-style presentation seemed like the obvious end result.
The NPR story is interesting in its “interactive documentary” style but this “story behind the story” is just as interesting.
BTW, the NPR story looks great on an iPad.
While its interactivity may be limited, you’ve got to admire the guy for the effort it must have taken to create this resume.
Rock on little girl.