Notes From Akash: Archive

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Looking Up Once in a While

I’ve read a few things that inspired me lately and they actually fall into two themes. One is whether the Internet has depleted our capacity to think deeply or rather has it increased our productivity by allowing us to connect and produce with ease and immediacy. I am going to say that on a personal level it has allowed me to achieve much more but often times I do feel stretched and...

Jun 22nd

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Watch

Somewhat long video on the semantic web, including dissenters and theories on why it will be the next phase.

May 15th

What I Read this Week

NYTimes reveals that a pay wall will come to their online and other digital presences from Fast Company - http://tinyurl.com/3afzlkp With it’s distribution across models and networks Android platform surpasses the iPhone OS from NPD: http://tinyurl.com/23786d9 Scathing post from Jason Calacanis on “Getting Zucked” but it also features a nice set of reference links on the...

May 15th

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Weekly Roundup May 8th

Fascinating article about how we track and optimize our lives: The Data-Driven Life - http://nyti.ms/cf0OwX Check out Gillette’s mens grooming site, winner of AME award and from our Toronto offices, very helpful and entertaining - smart way to reach this target: http://bit.ly/iUgEx Great idea: a 23 year old just won a million dollars playing 2k MLB video game - http://bit.ly/cbYZMd Kudos...

May 8th

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Well now that you can embed slideshare presentations I might have found a new way to keep this blog fresh. Actually, this is a great read on why old communications briefs don’t work as well in the digital space. I recently went through unraveling this same issue, before I saw this presentation. I appreciate many of the thoughts in this presentation for that reason. I don’t agree...

May 2nd

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Weekly Roundup

As time gets tight, I’m toying with the idea of posting some of the most interesting items I find each week. So here’s this week: Apple buys mobile search service, mobile consumers are more likely to use search that delivers a specific answer vs. google several times to find an answer: http://bit.ly/bzEykj Nice collection of links and opinions on Facebook’s open graph...

May 1st

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I am late getting to this presentation from Netflix about the culture they aim to create and maintain at their organization. Regardless of being late to the party I found this read fascinating. It’s great that companies are rethinking the environment they are creating for their workers. Also it’s a careful coordination of what your organizational values are and how those benefit your...

Apr 17th

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Very creative video of a miniature NYC

Mar 13th

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Scarcity & Value

We are in for a long recovery, out of this there’s an interesting notion for businesses that companies and their brands need to be prepared to think about their value in a new way. I thought many of the questions that HBR proposes business leaders address are the challenges that we face everyday because of how digital has changed media and consumer behavior, namely: value, innovation and...

Mar 13th

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2010 Interactive Annual from CommArts →

CommArts 2010 Interactive Annual, has a few nice picks including the Puma Lift and Nike Chalkbot ideas that I highlighted here.

Mar 3rd

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Famous Literary Drunks and Addicts →

I think a better list would be non-addicts that were famous literary figures

Feb 20th

HBR experiments with Net Promoter Scores for... →

Really interesting experiment from HBR that puts up a Facebook page for a small cafe and starts to engage with fans in several ways. They then report on a Net Promoter Score for the effects of this little experiment with positive results. Problem being it’s a very small scale experiment.

Feb 19th

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Feb 14th

“BBH’s pitch began with digital. “It’s not often that you have agencies come in...”

– advertising: Sprite Launches First Global Ad Campaign - Advertising Age - News (via paulisakson)

Feb 12th

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Zagat expands mobile efforts into Foursquare →

Feb 10th

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Who says the future needs an ad agency →

At times this seems self-serving because a non-big agency digital person is the author but at times it just feels brutally honest. Enjoy, I did for its faults and all.

Feb 9th

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Feb 9th

Feb 6th

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Feb 6th

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Watch

Glimpse of the future

Feb 6th

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Yelp's Divide between Consumers and Businesses →

Interesting post here, I’ve often thought about this as I review places on Yelp. I try to be constructive or at a minimum couch what I say in the context of my likes/dislikes. I can’t say that all consumers will put this much thought into what they choose to review, but then again 10 years ago businesses didn’t have an incredible powerful ratings tool that anyone could access.

Jan 21st

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I feel I have let my industry down, 1.2MM donated... →

Jan 14th

During the Holidays I had some time to record...

Jan 8th

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NYTimes 2009 Year in Ideas →

This is one of my favorite annual articles from the NY Times. I highly recommend reading through all of it, and this year they have a great interactive piece, which allowed me to sort by topic. Notables from my first glance through the Technology and Business sections: Good Enough is Great Man Made Greenery Printable Batteries (Magazine’s latest savior) Web Searches in Real-Time ...

Dec 11th

Food and Drink Apps for Locals

foodie Local writer (and occasionalTOCcontributor) Ari Bendersky rolls out an iPhone app this week that offers its members exclusive Chicago dining opportunities. Around 30 participating restaurants (including the Bristol, Spiaggia and Green Zebra) will use the app to send out word of special offers like bargain prix fixes, which #foodie members can jump on by paying 99 cents to reserve a spot....

Dec 11th

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Do musicians fare better in a world of file... →

Post that describes how revenue from live performances continue to climb while revenues from recordings continue to slide. I wonder if this is news to independent artists or have they realized this for many years. It does seem, without any statistical evidence to support, that there are move live shows going on in Chicago than ever before.

Nov 16th

Nov 15th

Is being a non-profit the future for newspapers... →

Great piece by Steve Coll in the New Yorker. In this piece, he cites a few presigious college investment managers that have said being a non-profit with endowments like colleges/universities might be how newspapers like the Post survive. Following the newspaper industry as it struggles and having posted on it before I thought this piece was particularly intriguing.

Nov 7th

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Sep 1st

Last week I posted quickly in reference to the Tour De France Nike Chalkbot idea, about how after some brainstorm sessions I started to question how we’re coming to tactics first vs. strategy or ideas. And of course two people have gone out and expressed in more depth what I find at fault about this practice. First Seth Godin: In my experience, people get obsessed about tactical detail...

Aug 10th

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Aug 6th

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Starbucks looks to go lean, be more like Dunkin... →

Reading this made me think about where SBux is now. A company that used to stand for quality, customer service and wanted me to enjoy having some coffee at the store is taking it all back, now they want me in and out as fast as possible. I hope more companies when they focus on value creation stick to their philosophy ten years down the road. In Starbuck’s case it’s do or die as...

Aug 5th

The start of an argument for the interactive... →

Aug 4th

This American Life had an episode not too long ago where they featured an advertising copywriter. Absolutely worth listening to, and it’s act one. Act One. Mad Man. TAL producer Sarah Koenig tells the story of her father, Julian Koenig, the legendary advertising copywriter whose work includes the slogan “Timex takes a licking and keeps on ticking” and Volkswagen’s “Think Small” ads. For...

Jul 10th

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Jul 10th

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Jun 18th

how to properly use technology like augmented... →

Jun 13th

Nice visualizer of US health data from GE →

Jun 8th

Jun 4th

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Watch

Dan Ariely talk at TED, imagine if always took the time to do what he says when developing experiences for consumers. I know my experience design friends would be happy — if we’re still friends that is.

Jun 4th

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Cheat Codes Revealed

The NY Times Bits Blog writes a post about a company called Redfin making a case for not having an ad-supported site. The idea of people and companies finding something so useful that people must use it, must have it, is everywhere. Google rings a bell although that’s monetized through ads, but what about Angie’s List and Flickr with Pro accounts. In this month’s Wired, Kevin...

Jun 3rd

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Watch

Just read this story of how Jorge Colombo created the June 1 New Yorker cover using the Brushes iPhone app. It illustrates that if you put something useful out there, the creative, talented folk of the world might just take it and run with it. The trick in an increasingly crowded space might be where and how quickly you can create it more than what.

May 27th

May 22nd

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Curating the Best of the Web: Video →

Great idea that turned out to dissappoint because the Nizmlab.com features more commericals that anything else. Chunnel.tv was slightly better as I found this Disney video, and who doesn’t love an ironic truth.

May 18th

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May 12th

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“I had a recent debate over whether a border should be 3, 4 or 5 pixels wide, and...”

– From Google’s top designer commenting on his leaving Google for other opportunities. Rumors are he’s going to Twitter no idea what design challenge he’ll have there — good luck. This did remind me of some discussions I’ve had in the past so thought I’d post. At...

Apr 29th

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Apr 29th

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7 Things This CEO Hates About Business →

5. Meetings. Or shall I say “Meetingitis” (this use of Business-speak is warranted). Most business people spend half their lives in meetings. Why?

Apr 22nd

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Apr 20th

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Apr 13th