Wow, what a metaphor about consumer culture…
“What caused the problem with movie theaters is not Netflix, but YouTube,” she says. “What is making the old temples crumble is not smaller temples, but it’s rather this kind of polytheism—you know, you make your own gods.”
Airbnb has released a revision of its site, which is very 2014 modern in its flatness and active card based structure. It’s interesting, but nothing revolutionary or forward looking inside the Silicon Valley bubble. The best aspect is that we’re finally seeing the transition of the cards interface from services to actual physical interactions / products.
The more exceptional part of Airbnb’s visual revision is how they are treating their otherwise lukewarm logo. Airbnb is a confederation of hosts and potential users. While it has to be centralized in terms of the service, listings, etc the very nature of the business is to be democratized. It’s interesting to see their logo embracing that and making the decentralized nature of the business part of its core identity:
“The most revolutionary thing about this brand evolution is we are giving it away to the community,” Mr Conley says. “We are moving from an era of mass production to more individualised production… This is an extension to that. A host with a singular listing in Notting Hill could create their own logo and now we’ve created a micro-entrepreneur with their own brand.”
via Airbnb says its new logo belongs to everyone | Tech blog.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved Delicious way back in the mid 2000’s. But you probably don’t remember that site or the commotion it caused over something as simple as bookmarks. But bookmarks are important. I have over 7,000. It’s my personal interweb intersearch. And that’s why I love Pinboard.
I found Pinboard just 4 days after it launched (my stats say July 14) in 2009 and quickly signed up. I can’t believe it’s 5 years old today.
I keep all of my bookmarks private and Pinboard brings in not just things I star etc on the web but also favorited Tweets, private notes etc… it’s literally one of the best records I could ever have of myself over the last five years. I only hope it’s around for fifty more.
If you’re looking for an amazing bookmarking experience that is quick, safe, secure, and easy (and is a literal archive of your web experience), check out it out.
Congrats congrats congrats to building an awesome site that bucks the trends…
The Internet is strewn with the corpses (or in some cases, zombies) of sites that once promised to save your links forever. As people keep discovering, building a bookmarking site is easy, but making a business of bookmarking is hard. Like one of those leathery, spiny plants that is able to thrive in the desert where everything else dies, I have tried to find ways to adapt to this hostile business environment. And I have feasted on the flesh of my rivals!
I’ve been using a desktop and a phone as my main “computers” for the last several months and haven’t looked back.
When I’m on the road for client work, I’ll take along a Chromebook and have no issues getting “real” work done. Evidently I’m not alone…
And, globally, in a reversal of fortune, low-end PCs are eating into tablet sales.
“One encouraging factor was a good intake of lower-end systems, including Chromebooks, which coincides with the recent slowing in tablet growth,” said IDC analyst Jay Chou.
via PCs see surprising gain in US as global decline slows, but Apple slips – CNET.
I’ve had every model of iPad and use a Nexus 7 now when I need a tablet. But I mostly find myself using this desktop and my phone (Nexus 5) more than anything else. Looks like I’m not alone and Google was wise to plug the low-end price point with its Chromebook lineup.
When Chromebooks first started getting traction, there was an incessant meme of their nature of “just being a browser.” Turns out, people like having a simple (even web based) OS with a keyboard over a tablet with limited apps and no keyboard. iPad sales continue to slow from their high point last year.
Wonder how this impacts iPad’s marketing for the coming holiday season?
The first image is the site of Dura Europos from June 28 2012 and the second image is from April 2 2014 (notice how many looting holes there are now):
Dura Europos is located right near the border of Syria and Iraq on the Euphrates and is an archaeological record of the strife this area has faced for millenia. The little fort town only existed as a functioning place for about 500 years, but was controlled by the Macedonians, Persians, Parthians, and Romans before finally being destroyed and left for us to recover by the Sassanians around 256 CE. We’ve discovered incredible records of our shared human culture such as the earliest depictions of Jesus, a full Mithraeum, a rather intact Roman citadel, and a “painted” Jewish synagogue complete with depictions of Hebrew Bible / Old Testament narratives that still cause wonderment from scholars.
It’s sad that we’re not hearing more about this cultural loss.
From the US State Department regarding looting at Dura Europos and many similar (very important) archaeological sites in Syria…
This unique Classical-period site, founded in the 3rd century BC and occupied until the 3rd century AD, demonstrates the diversity of the ancient Middle East. One of the world’s earliest churches was discovered here, as was one of the oldest preserved synagogues and numerous temples devoted to polytheistic deities. This important site of approximately 150 acres (60 hectares) is now covered by looters’ pits.
via Imagery of Archaeological Site Looting | Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
The “holes” in the inset picture are looting holes from the area near the main agora at Dura Europos. Sadly, we haven’t properly excavated much of that area.
This literally breaks my heart given that we’ve properly excavated such a small amount of Dura Europos and we’ve learned so much about Judaism, early Christianity, and a plethora of other 3rd century religions flourishing under Roman rule in Syria…
We need to act rapidly against a situation that is becoming noticeably worse. In fact we are faced by a volcano in permanent eruption with a mixture of hate and horror. It is breaking down Syrian society and its values through the violent and systematic destruction of its heritage. The situation is comparable to a boiling crater of lava. Around this volcano, archaeological heritage is suffering eruptive blasts, with the population hovering between expectation, anguish and hope.
via Syrian Archaeology, ‘Scale of the Scandal’ | The ASOR Blog.
History and our cultural heritage matters.
I had a friend who changed his home’s wifi password every night at bedtime to make sure their teen wasn’t “vamping.” Turns out the teen realized the power of turning your phone into a mobile hotspot (water flows down hill).
“Sometimes I look up and it’s 3 a.m. and I’m watching a video of a giraffe eating a steak,” he said. “And I wonder, ‘How did I get here?’ ”
via Vamping Teenagers Are Up All Night Texting – NYTimes.com.
Email newsletters seem like such a quaint and out-of-date form of marketing, but they are incredibly effective because 1) people still rely on email more than most anything else for relevant info and 2) email has a personal connection in the same way our phones once did.
That doesn’t mean that blasting out emails with no relevancy or context is a successful strategy. Like anything else in the world of marketing, connection matters most.
The NY Times agrees…
With an email, there is a presumption of connection, of something personal, that makes it a good platform for publishers. Newer email newsletter outfits like TinyLetter, which MailChimp owns, are simple, free and easy to use. TinyLetter has over 100,000 users who reach 9.3 million subscribers, and it has had an increase of 15 percent in the number of newsletters sent in the last year.
via For Email Newsletters, a Death Greatly Exaggerated – NYTimes.com.
We’re big fans of MailChimp at Harrelson Agency and use their services for a number of our clients. If you want to get your start with email newsletters, they are a good place to start (and understand the power of mobile!).
My friend Stacy with an amazing, and completely self-giving, post…
So I remind myself, I am not a “that.” I am a woman. I am a child of God. I am a friend. I am a sister. I am a caregiver. I am an advocate. I am a daughter. I am a preacher. I am a confidant. I am a dog mom. I am a geek. I am an auntie. I am a teacher. I am an author. I am a disciple. I am a badass. I am a scholar. I am a chaplain. I am an ally. I am a feminist. I am a peacemaker. I am brave, I am resilient, and yes, I am sexy — on my own terms. I am no one’s object. I am so much more. I am me.
via I Am Not a “That” | chaplainjesuslady.
I celebrate the type of religion and Christianity that does not objectify people but instead points them to the wrestling that is found in places such as Romans 7:15-25.
If only we had more clergy willing to make such brave posts and statements.
Thank you, Stacy.
Almost missed it…
Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Latin for “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy”, often referred to as simply the Principia, is a work in three books by Sir Isaac Newton, in Latin, first published 5 July 1687
via Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.