Finished reading: Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble by Dan Lyons, ISBN: 9781786491022
Notes
Fantastically helpful and informative @guardianclasses with @wstorr; just the right amount of insight, inspiration and encouragement I was hoping for. I can do this!
Today, I dip my toes into the world of journalism, prompted by a little side-project I have in mind. Can’t wait to see where this journey takes me.
Google Duplex
Demoed using Silicon Valley’s favourite first-world problem – booking a table at a restaurant in San Francisco – Google Duplex instead opens a can of worms. I agree with Ethan:
I think we’re well past the point where our industry gets a pass for launching products without thinking about their second-order effects.
A related anecdote. Having received far too many robocalls asking if I had been involved in a car accident recently, I took to making beeping noises down the phone to see how far I could progress through these annoying and false conversations. One day I almost – almost – started to do this before realising a real person was calling about a genuine issue. Had I made those funny noises, not only would I have been deeply embarrassed, it would have been pretty demeaning for the person on the other end of the line.
In a society where truth and trust are a scarce resource, this appears to be an incredibly foolish product to be bringing into the world. Talking of trust; I have zero faith Google will do the right thing with this technology, rhetoric about transparency or not.
Presentations from some of my recent talks can now be found on @benotist. Excited about the service @drewm and @rachelandrew are building here; it has the potential to be a fantastic resource for speakers and conference organisers alike.
I came for the alternatives to Google Analytics, but stayed for the oblique comedic reference 😂
With a client project briefly on hiatus, I’ve been using my free time to think about a proper redesign of my website. Looking at the 404 page – priorities! – I thought it was probably time to bring back this guy. You’ve been missed, little fella.
The Beauty of Transport is such a compelling read. @danielhwright’s latest article goes into fantastic detail about the sadly short-lived identity for Rail express systems, a programme I distinctly remember poring over as a 12-year-old train livery geek. So, so good.
The Birmingham Design Festival is shaping up to be a great event. The Renew/Rebuild discussion is of particular interest; especially relevant when many of Birmingham’s brutalist buildings have been demolished in recent years. Such a shame I’ll be on holiday when it’s on.
Watched Isle of Dogs. A fun yet timely story. An inventive example of stop-motion animation. A beautiful piece of graphic design. A work of art. A visual feast – with dogs!
Horsing around.
The slides and linked transcript from my talk at @CreateLeics are now available to read and digest at your leisure.
Having grown up just 50 miles away, somewhat embarrassed to admit that Leicester has been a bit of a revelation to me. This beautiful, historic and vibrant city has much to offer… and only an hour away from London on the train (like that should matter).
Thank-you @CreateLeics for being such a welcoming, friendly and engaged audience for my talk this evening. And a huge thanks also to the team at @bulbstudios for organising such a stellar event. Good things are happening in Leicester!
Finding Albert is a heartwarming family history research project, with the end result being a hand drawn graphic novel. I’m so happy @cole007 has met his funding target, but there are stretch goals. If you haven’t backed it yet, there are just a few days remaining; so go pledge!