davaidavai.com » World

A Collection. Links for Your Inner History Nerd.

Gerald — Tue, 22 May 2012 16:12:00 +0000

People who know me personally also know my enthusiasm when it comes to bizarre niche history knowledge. History is hardly a hot topic across the web. History (as well as my other favorite topic politics) traditionally has not got a reputation for being extremely digestable…or even entertaining.

This has changed a lot lately. More and more people with a very distinct taste in niche history topics popped up recently and created impressive, inspiring and sometimes just very interesting places for people like me (and potentially you). Most of the people driving the following links are not just very entertaining but extremely knowledgeable in their specific niche.

Even though I follow so many inspiring history nerds I would just like to highlight a couple of sources that I regularly use and that I find absolutely remarkable. Of course this cannot even come close to a comprehensive list. But I am always happy to learn about entertaining, smart historical online sources that I haven’t heard of. Just leave a comment underneath this article (please).

Four great blogs on history

Of course I have to start up any list of my favorite history sources with Retronaut. The blog is a steady stream of quality historical content – sometimes random but always smart and interesting. Its focus definitely lies on the last 200 years, primarily snippets from the lifes of ordinary people as well as celebrities.

Retro Future has a slightly different approach to history. Its founder Matt Novak has launched a platform that exclusively features future visions from the past – a history that never was. Paleo Future is now part of the Smithsonian family of blogs. And Matt has additionally started to feed a very interesting Youtube channel around the same topic.

Letters of Note again follows a completely different route to explain and feature historical events. The site collects and displays some of the most remarkable and – at the same time – least known letters of famous people. It is simply a delight to find out that even Abraham Lincoln had very worldly problems when he recommended his bankrupt step-brother: “You are now in need of some money; and what I propose is, that you shall go to work, “tooth and nail,” for somebody who will give you money for it.” Touché Mister Lincoln.

(...)
Read the rest of A Collection. Links for Your Inner History Nerd. (404 words)

© Gerald for davaidavai.com, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Blogging, Creativity, Facebook, history, Links, pinterest, Twitter, World

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Man-Machine Interfaces. Learning From the Death of Air France 447.

Gerald — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:47:43 +0000

I don’t like to fly. Being constantly quite anxious in planes I once started to try to understand plane crashes. The objective: to get to the roots of my fear. I was particularly moved by and interested in the horrific crash of Air France 447 in 2009 that cost 228 people’s lifes.

After recovering the lost flight recorder after months of desperate search from the depths of the Atlantic one thing became terribly clear: the series of flaws, mistakes, and misconceptions that lead to the disaster were connected (among other things) with the user interface design of the super modern Airbus Airbus A330-200.

At heart, the problem was one of feedback. In a world of flight dominated by computers, Airbus designs its planes with less tactile response (in the name of pilot comfort) and less potentially overwhelming information (in the name of clearer pilot decisions). In the case of Flight 447, some of the plane’s ducts froze up, removing the information of airspeed, and forcing the plane out of autopilot. In response, a pilot named Bonin pulled up on his stick, gaining a bit of altitude to, presumably, safely keep the plane in the sky. (via)

He didn’t.

The story of this fatal flight should make anyone interested in user interface design think.

Time to share four recent links on this topic – one of them is actually an interview with a friend of mine who is a pilot himself.

Fastcodesign: How lousy cockpit design crashed an Airbus killing 228 people
davaidavai.com: Hooked. Alex Wipf and his theory of flight.
Worldhum: Malcolm Gladwell on Aviation Safety and Security

Just another chapter in the neverending story of how we expect technology to be fail-proof. Most of the time it is. Up to the point where technology and humans interact. Titanic anyone?

© Gerald for davaidavai.com, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Air France, Design, Flying, Interfaces, Planes, Strategy, Tech, Tools, UI, UX, World

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Study Proves: Yes, Money is the Root of all Evil.

Gerald — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:54:55 +0000

Marketing would only be half the fun if people were not as greedy as they are – even though the world would be more fun I guess.

One of the ~~funniest~~ most interesting research pieces in this field was conducted by Dutch primatologist and ethologist Frans de Waal. He and others (like M. Keith Chen and Laurie R. Santos) taught Bonobos and Capuchin Monkeys the value of currency to better understand moral behaviour and sharing. And they behaved quite human-like:

The monkeys learned how to gamble, and showed a human preference for bets with an apparent upside. They tried counterfeiting the money with cucumber slices. They stole coins. And when a riot broke out, one enterprising female found a way to capitalize…

How? That’s simple.

As soon as they learned that coins had value, one of the male capuchins gave a coin to a female in exchange for sex.

So yes: Essentially money is the root of all evil. It turns peaceful primates into criminals with a clear preference for ~~bitches and bling~~ exchanging food for sex.

Oh…and then there is greed. The following clip, which is by Frans de Waal, shows two different monkeys eating two different foods. The first monkey, is given cucumbers and the second monkey is given grapes. After the first monkey sees that the other is getting grapes guess what happens next? Exactly: they essentially turn into members of the board of the Bank of America in less than 5 seconds.

Good news is: we may not be so bad after all. According to de Waal monkeys and apparently even us show some sign of morality and a sense of sharing if they perceive injustice. Read more about his study results here.

© Gerald for davaidavai.com, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: biology, Business, Creativity, crime, ethnology, Experimental, Experiments, Funny, Money, monkeys, science, World

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Global Brands. The Illusion of Choice.

Gerald — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:09:39 +0000

Click the image to see it full size.

© Gerald for davaidavai.com, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Brands, Business, Diagram, products, Truth, World

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Awkward Badges. I want Foursquare to use these!

Gerald — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:51:19 +0000

Tastefully Offensive has just posted a set of potential future Foursquare badges that might breathe in new life to the…kind of…stagnating platform. Also easier to get them.

© Gerald for davaidavai.com, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Cool, Creativity, Fake, Foursquare, Funny, Ideas, Location, People, Truth, We like, World

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

The Jig Is Up: Time to Get Past Facebook and Invent a New Future.

Gerald — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:05:26 +0000

From the great article ‘The Jig is Up: Time to Get Past Facebook and Invent a New Future‘ (The Atlantic)

‘It slipped into parody late last year with the hypothetical app, Jotly, which allowed you to “rate everything” from the ice cubes in your drink to the fire hydrant you saw on the street. The fake promo video perfectly nailed everything about the herd mentality among startups. Its creator told me to watch for “the color blue, rounded corners, SoLoMo [SocialLocalMobile], ratings, points, free iPads, ridiculous name (complete with random adverbing via ‘ly’), overpromising, private beta, giant buttons, ‘friction-less’ sign up, no clear purpose, and of course a promo video.”

And then, the hilarious parody ate itself and my tears of laughter turned to sadness when the people behind the joke actually released Jotly as a real, live app.’

Here is the original video. Isn’t it ironic? Revolutions always eat their own children. Did anyone say google Glass?

Jotly, the Ultimate App for Sharing Everything with Everyone (Psych!)

© Gerald for davaidavai.com, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Experimental, Facebook, Future, Ideas, People, Prediction, Social Influence Marketing, Social Networks, Tech, Tools, Trends, Truth, World

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

1974. The Day Mr Clarke Predicted the Internet.

Gerald — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 08:22:24 +0000

The following video shows British Sci-fi author and futurist Arthur C. Clarke in a 1974 TV interview in which he pretty accurately describes the future. The future in this case is 2001 and Clarke thinks that regular people will then have personal computers that communicate and retrieve information like bank statements, theatre reservations and other things.

Sounds familiar?

Thanks to Laughing Squid. If you enjoy stuff like that, go check out Retronaut.

© Gerald for davaidavai.com, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 1970s, 1974, 2001, Future, Internet, People, Prediction, video, World

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Googopoly. The Future of Search and Social.

Gerald — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:26:09 +0000

The problem with the artist formerly referred to as Social Media is – besides many other things – that it is in the agency business commonly understood as some crazy shit that you stage on Facebook to win a Cannes Lion in the end.

That of course is wrong. Specifically if you take a look at the rarely talked about opportunities of intertwining the worlds of search and social.

A while ago I had the pleasure to get to know Tom Smith, founder of Trendstream, the company behind the GlobalWebIndex and the great Wave studies conducted on behalf of McCann.

Tom’s following presentation, given at the International Search Summit in Munich, discusses the idea of what he describes as the ‘Googopoly’, where Google has risen to control most of what we see and do online.

Even though I doubt the relevance of google Plus I found Tom’s key takeaway extremely smart: It is not just about google+. It is about how google cements its position with a multitude of tools like Chrome, Android and many others in order to enforce search thinking into anything that’s social nowadays.

Great presentation. Thanks to We are Social for the link…

(...)
Read the rest of Googopoly. The Future of Search and Social. (19 words)

© Gerald for davaidavai.com, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Facebook, google, google plus, Insights, People, Prediction, Presentation, Report, Reports, Social Influence Marketing, Social Networks, Study, trendstream, World

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Agreed. Photo of the Day.

Gerald — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:02:16 +0000

Thanks to Andrew Dallos for the Photo

© Gerald for davaidavai.com, 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: photo, PIPA, Politics, SOPA, Truth, World

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Facebook’s 1 Billion. Right Before the Mayan Apocalypse.

Gerald — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:30:16 +0000

Silicon Alley Insider’s Chart of the Day. iCrossings says Facebook will probably reach 1 billion users sometime in August 2012. Hardcore.