May 2013
12 posts
3 tags
Priceonomics Blog: Saving The World By Helping... →
priceonomics:
The same gnawing uncertainty that keeps an amateur pilot from buying a plane without a logbook is the same uncertainty at work with every used iPhone, toaster, and bicycle. It’s why the value of a new car drops around 10% as soon as it is driven off the lot and why the market for used…
6 tags
Priceonomics Blog: Why is Science Behind a... →
priceonomics:
Scientists’ work follows a consistent pattern. They apply for grants, perform their research, and publish the results in a journal. The process is so routine it almost seems inevitable. But what if it’s not the best way to do science?
Although the act of publishing seems to entail…
if science evolved, it would flourish in communities like github, soundcloud, and tumblr.
...
Priceonomics Blog: The Motivating Power Of Teams →
priceonomics:
Grant’s research suggests that this desire to help co-workers is very powerful. Not everyone’s job will help save the world, but everyone can help a co-worker. In Grant’s words: “In corporate America, people do sometimes feel that the work they do isn’t meaningful. And contributing to co-workers can be a substitute for that.”
The Secret to Focus
Evidently, guarding yourself from potential distractions help you focus your energy.
the study called the On High Alert group, improved their score on the task by 43 percent over the course of two trials. They even outperformed those who were left alone without interruption.
“Somehow, it seems, they marshaled extra brain power to steel themselves against interruption, or perhaps the...
“People keep trying to describe bitcoin as an amazing store of value. Perhaps it...”
– Let’s Cut Through the Bitcoin Hype: A Hacker-Entrepreneur’s Take | Wired Opinion | Wired.com
Listen
Life is too short for 6 second videos. (Unless...
Unlike previous Vines from brands, these are designed to be useful. The effort, called “Lowe’s Fix in Six,” offers simple, everyday improvements that consumers will want (hopefully) to share with others.
It’s better than 6 second selfies.
“[They] taunt us with clues about the potential future of our species…. [Their]...”
– Octopus: The Footed Void by Caspar Henderson | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books
Incredible Octopods. With 10 senses and 8 tongues, the search for non-human intelligent life begins in the sea.
April 2013
10 posts
“Herndon found some hidden errors in Reinhart and Rogoff’s data set, then...”
– Grad Student Who Shook Global Austerity Movement — Daily Intelligencer
2 tags
Peter Thiel's CS183: Startup - Class 1 Notes Essay
blakemasters:
Here is an essay version of my class notes from Class 1 of CS183: Startup. Errors and omissions are my own. Credit for good stuff is Peter’s entirely.
CS183: Startup—Notes Essay—The Challenge of the Future
Purpose and Preamble
We might describe our world as having retail sanity, but wholesale madness. Details are well understood; the big picture remains unclear. A...
“I like what Rob Brezsny said about “pro-noia” being the antidote for paranoia....”
– Catching Up with Kai, the Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker | VICE Australia / NZ Wisdom of the Home Free
“cartoon contest winners usually generate lots of captions. Studies of creativity...”
– Roger Ebert Wins the Cartoon Caption Contest : The New Yorker
“Make no mistake, good science writing is medicine. It is a cure for ignorance...”
– Mary Roach - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
March 2013
27 posts
“He held it a moment too long, his thoughts unable to let go of this hand at...”
– How to Read The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil - Oprah.com
“{Are you comfortable outsourcing your intelligence?}
Tools like the fork...”
– Why Relying on Algorithms and Bots Can Be Really, Really Dangerous | Wired Opinion | Wired.com
File under: Smart Stuff Making Humans Stupid.
I used to think the challenge with artificial intelligence was making computers as smart as (or smarter than) people. Now I realize it’s equally about...
“There are no foolproof ways to fully prepare for the world of big data; it will...”
– With Big Data, we are creating artificial intelligences that no human can understand - Quartz
Fun fact: We still don’t know why a rogue algorithm caused a huge sell-off in the stock market. Big data is too damn big.
#blackswans #bigdata #algorithmist
Watch(via Tag Savage’s Sideways Brain by Stan Alcorn and Rebecca Davis - Narratively: Local stories, boldly told. - Narratively: Local stories, boldly told.)
Give your sideways brain a hug and slap a pigeon, funwise.
“One particularly stubborn myth is that leadership is something one naturally...”
– 7 Reasons You Can’t Learn Leadership on Your Own | Inc.com #youngturks #newtricks #leadership #entrepreneurship
“The schooling system in Hong Kong and the prevailing cultural mindset favors...”
– Initial Thoughts on Hong Kong’s Tech Ecosystem
““Retailers start with this philosophy of seeing employees as a cost to be...”
– http://qz.com/65322/the-economic-case-for-paying-your-cashiers-40k-a-year/
1 tag
“THE NEW RULES OF THE HYPER-SOCIAL, DATA-DRIVEN, ACTOR-FRIENDLY, SUPER-SEDUCTIVE...”
– The Nielsen Family Is Dead | Underwire | Wired.com
#greatread #culturevulture
5 tags
“The most successful businesses have an idea for the future that’s very...”
– http://www.inc.com/allison-fass/peter-thiel-mark-zuckerberg-luck-day-facebook-turned-down-billion-dollars.html
The Opposite of Fail: The story of FTL | Polygon →
But for the developers, Kickstarter success didn’t lead to a sense of relief or achievement. As the number on their fundraiser website ticked up, so did their sense of panic: How they would handle the thousand beta testers? How they would answer to the thousands of people that were now investors in their game? “We basically entered the public sphere of game development,” Davis...
“It was the longest boat ride I’d ever taken,” says Rasmus Stolberg,...”
– How One Band Turned A Ghost Town Into A Giant Recording Studio : The Record : NPR
A beautiful story about creativity. New places are catalysts for new ideas. Discovery and experimentation.
“CAUTION! Acme Klein Bottles are crafted from glass, an inorganic solid in an...”
– Specifications for ACME Klein Bottles
“Our cities,” complained Hotelling, “become uneconomically large and the business...”
– Hotelling’s Law: Why Everything Starts to Look the Same
“PROPS TO THE PEOPLE WHO EXPLAINED GROUPON FAREWELL MEMO”
– Andrew Mason – Groupon Farewell Memo | Rap Genius
RapGenius is genius.
1 tag
