Everything. All The Time.
Press Clippings: Google’s decision to sell Motorola to Lenova has everyone’s ears perked up. What does it mean for: Motorola? Google? Lenova? Apple? Samsung? Sony? Mobility? Cell phones? Too early to tell and the transaction still has to pass government scrutiny, but there are some reasoned responses out there and one of the best can be found at Bloomberg.com. Give it a read and be the most informed person in the room on the ins/outs and implications of the transaction.
Paying Attention: One of the most incredible new business case histories is the one provided by Everpix, an internet based photo storing and sharing site that shuttered itself in November, 2013.
Everpix failed but not because the product wasn’t great, the entrepreneurs not experienced, the software not good. Sometimes, you can be very good at something, just not good fast enough. That was Everpix’s story.
Incredibly, the founders of Everpix have sanctioned and produced a case history of the company, how it came together, and the VC and business nuts and bolts that built it. This is compelling, incredible reading.
Since the first quarter of this year is dedicated to the theme of “Get Your Startup Going”, this is information you should read. Start with this great piece on Everpix from The Verge.
Then, move to this set of metrics, data, and documentation on Everpix at GitHub.com to get one of the most in-depth views of what it takes to get a startup in motion. All of this–the article and the data– is a complete education you should take advantage of. And thanks to the founders and executives at Everpix for sharing this incredible story.
Press Clippings: Investing is an important component of modern life. Whether you were born with money or made your own, the sooner you start investing, the better off you’ll be.
Bloomberg.Com has just produced a very informative slide show that tells you which companies are projected to increase dividends the most over the next three years. When you click to the piece, be certain to read the methodology involved, and be comfortable with it. As always, seek the advice of an investment professional before you invest in anything but if you’re investing in stocks, stocks that pay dividends as well as appreciate in value, should be on your radar.
Paying Attention: This weekend, Apple will have a big celebration for the Macintosh computer, which was announced 30 years today, 24 January 1984. Since it’s creation, the Macintosh–it’s spirit, technology, innovation and attitude– has propelled Apple into a mammoth business that operates in industries ranging from software to music distribution and cell phones. Even though Apple has a market cap of approximately half a trillion dollars, it somehow manages to maintain an intimate and highly personal personna and brand. One of the early writers/followers of Apple was Steven Levy, who wrote a very nice piece about being there at the beginning for WIRED. Here’s a link to Levy’s article; it’s also advised that you read his book on Apple, Insanely Great: The Story of Macintosh, The Computer that Changed Everything. Apple is celebrating the Mac’s birth with its own lineup of photos, video, and key points in the product’s history. You don’t have to be an Apple fanboy to appreciate what they’ve accomplished and the impact it’s had on our world.
Below, the schedule for the 52nd running of the 24 Hours at Daytona, now called the Rolex 24 at Daytona (you will remember the iconic Daytona Rolex watch, eh?…made massively famous and desirable by Paul Newman, who raced at Daytona). Risi Competizione, the Houston-based Ferrari GTLM sports car team will be running the race in the no. 62 Ferrari F430GTC (drivers: Fisichella, Bruni, Malucelli, Beretta). More detailed information on the race, drivers, car, etc. is at the Risi Comp site. Select journalistic coverage will be displayed here as well.
Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona
Tudor United Sports Car Challenge Championship
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“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its’ own reason for existing.”
Paying Attention: There is so much press today about the importance of design in our lives, that it might be a good idea to verify that we’re all on the same page when it comes to an understanding of what design is and how it works.
Design is not just graphic design–the arrangement of elements of art, type, photography–on a page. And it is not simply the shape or outline or form of something, although that’s certainly an element, especially in areas like industrial design which, although one of the most esoteric areas of design, has been the major driver of the current renaissance of interest in design.
Design–graphic, product, industrial, architectural, interior, exterior, mechanical–is first and foremost a thought and research project, in which the designer (regardless of discipline) takes apart the elements of a given design assignment, rethinks the entire set of variables that exist, creates new elements that do not currently exist, and then pushes everything together into a final design that is unitized, beautiful, elegant, simple (it’s hard to make complex things simple, as we all know…but that is the mark of the gifted) and effective. Really good design has a massive “Oh, yea, that makes sense” element to it, the visceral reality that the design is so pure, it couldn’t be any other way (until the next disruptive design comes along).
We can thank Apple for pushing design out to the masses, but before Apple there was SONY, JBL, Herman Miller, Knoll, Ray and Charles Eames, Mies, Ettore Sotsass, Pininfarina, Milton Glaser, Herb Lubalin. All brilliant designers of their times and simultaneously ahead of them.
A very good and enjoyable design brief is Peter Smart’s overview of a new design for that most common of worldly objects–the airplane ticket. Read it, take in it’s multiple messages, and enjoy. And then–as it’s the weekend–play around with a little design of something yourself for an hour or two.
Paying Attention: What most of the media have missed about Apple’s iPad is how well it works for creative people. The change in GUI/interface and the freedom created by a switch from a keyboard and mouse-based input model to touch screen input, enabled software engineers to re-think a lot of the software that was being used for creative purposes. The result was an integrated piece of software/hardware that functions more like a digital sketch pad than a traditional computer. There are less commands but more freedom. And most importantly, the change in input strategies and platform necessitated a complete re-thinking of the creative process.
Creativity is by character anarchistic; it is going against traditional thinking, challenging the old assumptions, pushing out the boundaries. Artists take chances. Some of these chances succeed in major ways, some don’t. Some are commercial and some are not. But the status-quo is not a status that art and artists and creative directors can ever be comfortable with.
Albert Einstein once said that “We can’t solve problems by using the same type of thinking we used to create them”. He’s right, of course, but some need the outside stimulus of a difference in thought process to spur them into more creativity. And that’s what the iPad does (if you get past using it just as a window into media, which is another area in which it’s quite effective).
The wide variety of creative software developed for the iPad can be used to help you push your own creative boundaries. With a dominant market share and coming off of a rather startling and innovative TV commercial for Christmas , Apple has doubled down (again), with a TV commercial named”Your Verse”. It’s unique in a lot of ways–for one thing it’s 90 seconds long– and ties lots of imagery together with a very non-technical voice over.
The main theme of the commercial is creativity on the iPad, specifically, photographic creativity (didn’t know you could hook an iPad onto a tripod? With an outboard microphone?). The iPad generated 76.1% of tablet originated traffic at Christmas (Source: Chitika) and although that’s down 10% from their numbers in July, it’s still massively dominant in the tablet market. No doubt Android tablets are increasing market share, but despite what some pundits believe, that’s not really the correct way to ascertain who’s winning the tablet battle: the goal is to increase user experience and creativity…..and that’s where Apple is winning in a major way. By asking questions no one else asks, and creating opportunities no one else is creating, Apple continues to predict the future by inventing it themselves. They really do play the game at a different level from everyone else.
Press Clippings: From Golf.Com comes this very, very funny overview of the latest slang used to describe various shots, personalities, and situations encountered in playing golf. Whether or not anyone is actually using these terms is not under consideration.
Press Clippings: How Chrysler came back from bankruptcy. Great piece from Bloomberg on Chrysler’s return as an automobile manufacturer. The main architect, Sergio Marchionne, the chain-smoking head of Italy’s Fiat automotive group, had an industry rep for making risky situations pay off. All of his talents would be necessary to save Chrysler. Ironically, Marchionne would become–as you will remember–the second person of Italian heritage to save Chrysler, the first being Lee Iacocca whose parents emigrated from Italy. The story-and it’s not short-is from Bloomberg and it’s required readying. Link to it here.
