Greek Complexity

The Little, Big Idea

Excerpt: "My wife Emily had a Little, Big Idea recently. Subscription boxes are a big deal in the States, but not yet in the UK or Europe. She thought it would be interesting to see if she could get a craft subscription box off the ground. I spent a couple of hours making her a logo, she wrote one blog post, no website, no big plan required, and now she has a little business, the Crafty Fox Box, growing. She’s had to learn as she’s gone along, but rather than taking months to get the idea perfect, she just started it. It’s a liberating way of doing things, and she’s already started her second, a stationery subscription box: paper.do."

More: https://medium.com/editors-picks/271ae5edf93e

"Social operating platforms" for online ads

The evolution of online advertising continues apace. See this pitch by Unified Social:

Interesting that they chose so early in the game to take money from a strategic (as we say in the trade) in the form of publishing group Conde Nast.

via: Forbes: Unified Raises $14 Million to Expand Social Operating Platform

The Water-Repelling Spray That's A Mix Of Science And Outright Sorcery

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2013/06/the-water-repelling-spray-thats-a-mix-of-science-and-outright-sorcery/

Unbelievably effective. Gotta watch this.

Why Does My Kid Freak Out?

Excerpt: "Last month, I discovered (and then nearly peed in my pants as a result of) comedian Jason Good’s blog post 46 Reasons My Three Year Old Might Be Freaking Out. (The first three possibilities: His sock is on wrong. His lip tastes salty. His shirt has a tag on it."

More here: http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/the_kids/2013/02/why_does_my_kid_freak_out_the_science_behind_toddler_tantrums.html

This is an auto-generated post from my reading list courtesy IFTTT. See http://ifttt.com

Silicon Valley’s Start-Up Machine

Excerpt: "Michelle Crosby, an energetic 37-year-old lawyer in Boise, Idaho, applied for a loan last November from a local bank, Western Capital. She proposed to use the money, $10,000, to help start a new business, Wevorce, which could be described most reductively as an H&R Block for divorces."

More here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/magazine/y-combinator-silicon-valleys-start-up-machine.html

This is an auto-generated post from my reading list courtesy IFTTT. See http://ifttt.com

It’s My Birthday Too, Yeah

Excerpt: "By an amazing coincidence my sister, Cathy, and my Aunt Vere have the same birthday: April 4. Actually, it’s not so amazing. In any extended family with enough siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins, you’d expect at least one such birthday coincidence."

More here: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/01/its-my-birthday-too-yeah/

This is an auto-generated post from my reading list courtesy IFTTT. See http://ifttt.com

The "new" HP

Printers? Dying.

Services? Lots of pain.

PCs? Let's not even talk about it.

But, says Meg Whitman, "Cloud is a funny word, because when you say it, people think it’s all like Amazon’s cloud. But [HP's] private cloud business is much, much bigger than Amazon’s public cloud."

More from Whitman: http://allthingsd.com/20130612/more-questions-about-hps-business-for-ceo-meg-whitman/

The company's shares are up more than 80% this year, up about 11% over 12 months, down 48% over 5 years and up 13% over 10 years. Is that a confusing picture? I only mention it in passing. Look ahead, not back.

More Exits For Asian E-commerce Firms, But Valuations Still Small

Excerpt: "There has been a growing rate of exits happening for Asian e-commerce companies, but valuations remain small on average. Most are under the $50 million mark, according to CB Insights’ latest report."

More here: http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/11/more-exits-for-asian-e-commerce-firms-but-valuations-still-small/

This is an auto-generated post from my reading list courtesy IFTTT. See http://ifttt.com

Why people act out of line with their beliefs

Excerpt: "Ever been forced to defend a particular position and ended up believing it? You’ve succumbed to one of the most famous theories in social psychology. If at first you don't succeed, lower your standards. And if you find yourself acting out of line with your beliefs, change them."

More here: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130312-why-we-act-against-our-beliefs

This is an auto-generated post from my reading list courtesy IFTTT. See http://ifttt.com

TV remains King

But for how long?

Click to see original

There are many more households in the US with four TV sets than those with one, two or three? Wow. That certainly puts paid to the notion of TV time being family time.

Some of the stats here aren't explained in sufficient detail, but there's still lots to ponder.