Emilie Sees, Hears, Smells, Tastes, and Touches

Emilie Futterman [eh-mi-lee] (noun) : A global cultural and product strategist, which is a fancy way of saying I like to think really hard about how people all over the world interact with culture and things.

[saysemilie]

SaysEmilie has moved to Tiny Letter! Subscribe at the link. This will now go back to being a personal tumblr :) 

[saysemilie]

SaysEmilie, vol 36

Human Curated News: A Great Curator Beats any Big Company's Algorithm - It’s been a while since I’ve published, so in defense of my value, I call upon other great newsletter curators. As companies are relying more and more on algorithms, it’s becoming increasingly relevant that the human element is irreplaceable when it comes to evaluation of quality, curation, and decision making. In addition to that Op-Ed, here’s an group interview with other newsletter writers/curators, here’s a Wired article about the need for a human element in big tech, and here’s a different Op-Ed on having TOO MUCH of a human element in Silicon Valley. Netflix: Netflix Wants to Usher in a New Golden Age of Nonfiction TV - Can Netflix get us to watch more documentaries? Maybe I’m just living in a bubble of education and privilege, but the rise in interest in podcasts (true stories) and long reads (also true stories), points to a larger trend that Netflix is using its large swaths of user data (and human intelligence) to intelligently jump on in. 

*Burritos: Dear Guy Who Just Made My Burrito - From the archives. If you spend any time in Chipotle (or another Mexican fast food establishment) and haven’t yet seen this comedy gem, click now. Also, if you want a buy one get one free Chipotle coupon, take this quiz. Food: State Tastes - Foursquare analyzed its data and came up with each state’s most popular food. No surprise California loves Chinese Chicken Salad, it’s probably all due to Comforts in Ross…   Food Porn: Taste of the British Isles - Just looooook at those veggies. Hamburgers: The History of the Hamburger - If you’re more of a hamburger person that a burrito or veggie person, Grubstreet has put together a very detailed history of the quintessential “American” sandwich, complete with pictures, anecdotes, videos, and animations. Side note, I love what publications are doing with their long-form pieces when published on the web. Grubstreet, NYTimes, Eater, and NYMag (among others) have all released truly interactive (but not aggressively so) long-form articles this year that take advantage of the web platform.  Instagram: Ballantine’s Instagram Magazine - Some of the most creative platform hacking I’ve seen has been on Instagram (I’ve shared some examples in the past), and this is the best hack I’ve come across so far. Ballantine’s used the grid format to publish an entire magazine on a series of dedicated profiles. It reads great on web and mobile, with even the number of pre-load images taken into consideration. Issue One is here - take a look. 

Snapchat: How Big Is Snapchat - Spoiler alert... it’s huge. Quick click, gives you a visual representation of its mass.  Facebook: When Will We Stop Using Facebook - Snapchat is growing and Facebook is shrinking. A statistical study of Facebook’s rise and fall which attributes lack of clear future vision and enduring consumer relevance, followed by privacy and advertising concerns as the cause.   Kids These Days: 18 in the Bay - Last Spring, Matter conducted an ethnographic study of 18-year-olds in the Bay Area by having them document their lives using a plethora of digital platforms including Snapchat, Tumblr, and Urban Dictionary. I don’t just like reading the results, I really love the methodology. Caitlyn Jenner: What Makes a Woman Is Less Important Than What Makes a Feminist - Ignore that this was published in Cosmo, it’s one of the more thoughtful and well-written pieces on the current “is Caitlyn a woman? Is her Vanity Fair spread in good taste or offensive?” controversy.   Mad Men: Mad Men With Google - Miss Mad Men? Google’s put together an in-depth retrospective on each episode, major characters, and major themes.  Design: The Dribbblisation of Design - Where’s the line between inspiration and copying? Between trends and lack of innovation? Dribbble is a great study of confirmation bias (love your work because it looks like mine), copycatting (I’ll design like you so that you like my work), and decline in creativity, all of which have resulted in a focus on designing to look great instead of designing to solve a problem. Music: Jamie XX - It’s been out a month or so, but it gets better every time you listen. Music: Ratatat - It’s been long since I’ve shared music, so here’s a bonus. Ratatat’s triumphant return is streaming on NPR. 

[saysemilie]

SaysEmilie, vol 35

Design: Milton Glaser - A New York Times video interview where, among other things, he retells the story of the iconic I <3 NY logo. Changing Language: Instagram Engineers Examine The Use of Emojis (open in Safari) - It’s a dense read, but one of the more interesting points is that the vocabulary of Instagram is shifting similarly across many different cohorts of users, with a decline in internet slang corresponding to rise in the usage of emoji. Video: Shower Thoughts With Anna Kendrick - That’s all.  Thoughts: Getting Lost - We’re slowly losing the ability to get lost and lose things, and it’s unclear what effect this is going to have on society and our psyches. By always knowing where we are and where the different elements of our lives are, are we slowly losing the ability to discover as well? Social Media and Society (L/R): Split Image - ESPN’s powerful read on how services like Instagram offer a curated look of the world, hiding what may be a person struggling behind the filters. NYC: Moments - Beautiful short film highlighting small moments in NYC.  *App: Timeline - Daily content that explores current issues and gives historical context and background in a way that is easily digestible. It’s my new favorite morning read (after The Daily Watercooler).  Homelessness (L/R): Homeless Millenials are Transforming Hobo Culture - Technology and connectivity are changing the way the homeless are interacting with each other and with the rest of the world: “Conventional wisdom says the Internet and mobile technology keep us in our own little bubbles, isolated and insular. And while perhaps that’s true for those with homes, Quain says it’s the opposite for hobos. For the itinerant homeless, traveling in groups makes sense for a bevy of reasons: safety, company and economies of scale, especially when it comes to digital devices.”

Good News: In the US, There Are More Museums Than Starbucks and McDonalds Combined - Hallelujah.  App: Robots - The lovely Leah’s company TinyBob just released their fourth app, The Robot Factory. I’ve shared their apps before, because they’re incredibly well executed, and great interactive fun for kids and for adults. In The Robot Factory kids can build thousands of different robots from 50+ parts — exoskeletons, zephyr mechanisms, hydrostatic tentacles, magnets, machinos locomotors, solartronics — but that’s just the beginning. Kids test their robots in a fantastical world full of obstacles. Whether their robots survive or combust, kids can rebuild and retest endlessly.  Language:The Languages We Speak Affect the Way We Think - 5 examples, including how whether or not a language has tenses affects financial planning. 

Video: Marble Race - Try to not get emotionally invested in the outcome of this race. It’s more stressful than the Preakness will be (maybe).  And because bacon is good for you, lets all do the bacon dance (thanks for sharing Becky!): 

[austinkleon]

Penelope Umbrico’s “541,795 Suns from Sunsets from Flickr (Partial) 1/26/2006”

As described by Teju Cole:

A decent photograph of the sun looks similar to any other decent photograph of the sun: a pale circle with a livid red or blue sky around it. There are hundreds of thousands of such photographs online, and in the daily contest for “likes” they are close to a sure thing: easy to shoot, fun to look at, a reliable dose of awe. The American artist Penelope Umbrico downloads such photos of the sun from Flickr — she favors sunsets in particular — and then crops and prints them, assembling them into an enormous array. A typical installation may contain 2,500 photographs, organized into a rectangular mural. It is the same sun, photographed repeatedly in the same way, by a large cast of photographers, few of whom are individually remarkable as artists and none of whom are credited. But, with Umbrico’s intervention, the cumulative effect of their images literally dazzles: the sun, the sun, the sun, the sun, in row upon brilliant row.

If you look close, you can see this isn’t a digital mosaic — it’s all printed out and stuck together with tape, which makes me like it more:

More work on her site, like these sunset portraits:

Filed under: photography

[saysemilie]

SaysEmilie, vol 34

Apple: Apple Watch - So the Apple Watch has been announced, reviewed to death, and released. The most interesting and comprehensive review is from The Verge, the most insightful examination of what the watch means for human behavior and technology is from Backchannel, and the cleverest parody review is from The Next Web. Climbing (L/R): The Heart-Stopping Climbs of Alex Honnold - Incredible account of Alex Honnold’s climbing career, complete with beautiful pictures and videos. If this doesn’t inspire you to get outside and enjoy nature (or at least donate to the Sierra Club) nothing will.  IKEA: Kitchen of the Future - IKEA, one of my top 5 favorite companies (yes, I actually have a list) teamed up with another of my top 5 favorite companies, IDEO, to concept out the kitchen of the future and the results are fascinating. My favorite product is the transparent individual food holder - it’s driven by the insight that people are caring more and more about waste and that one of the best ways to mitigate waste is to see exactly how much of something you already have. And in case you were wondering how exactly IKEA has achieved world domination, this report by Forbes is a highly recommended look into IKEA’s globalization strategy and development process.  Movies: Moviepass - Unlimited movie tickets for $30 / month. I know a handful of readers go to a lot of movies, so this is for you.  Cinema: First and Final Frames - For those same movie lovers - this video shows the not-so-evident artistic thought that goes into the relationship between the first and film frame of a film.  Tools: Toolr - Have a problem? Need a product to address it? Someone’s probably already built it. Search toolr. 

Product: Amazon Dash - A few weeks ago, Amazon introduced the Amazon Dash button, a single button that allows you to order a single product when pushed. It’s designed to be used for common household items that you don’t want to run out of but use frequently - like detergents, and coffee, and toilet paper. It’s simple and easy, and I want a million of them all over the place - but is it really a good thing to be able to purchase items so easily? Don’t we want some kind of accountability and process in our lives so that? As things become more and more simple, do we want to start thinking about going back to a culture where there is pride in mastering more complex things?  Food: The Good, The Bad, and the Hangry - As anyone who’s spent any time around anyone in my family around 5:30pm knows, you’re not you when you’re hungry. But to what extent? Apparently it’s actually a lot more than just becoming whiny and short-tempered, and some of it is actually positive. Globalization (L/R): I Followed My Stolen iPhone Across the World And Became a Celebrity - It’s all in the title, and it’s a great (true) story. Baseball: The Common Man’s Crown - Baseball’s back, so here’s the history of the baseball hat. 

Music: The Steal Your Song Chart: Measuring Some of the Greatest Rap Guest Verses Ever - Rap is poetry, and the guest verse is a time-honored tradition that doesn’t get enough recognition. TL;DR - Snoop Dogg was 20 when he dropped the best guest verse of all time on “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang.”   NYC: Cooper-Hewitt Outdoor Advertising - If you live in NYC haven’t seen some of these on the street yet, try to find them all. They’re very clever.  Game of Thrones: Valar Morghulis, An illustrated guide to all 456 deaths in “Game of Thrones” - GoT is back, and the best way to refresh your memory on what’s happened so far is to review all the deaths.  Sandwiches: Don’t Mess with My Breakfast Sandwich - Or any other one of my sandwiches for that matter. 

[saysemilie]

SaysEmilie, vol 33

Photography: Best Photos of 2014 - There are some beautiful images here, too beautiful not to share.   Food for Thought: The Cost of Paying Attention - As more and more of our time and attention is parcelled out and sold to brands for their ads, we should start to question the benefit of all this - does it really outweigh the benefit of silence? What about this constant communication is valuable?   Tech: Apple Watch and Disney Magic Band - We’ve all read about the Apple Watch, but Disney’s Magic Band? Infinitely more interesting and also very much used in practice in a controlled environment. Another long read, save it for the commute home.  Sports: Casual Spectator - A bi-weekly newsletter that does a great job of summarizing interesting and important sports news. Super simple, great to stay in-the-know with minimal effort. Now you all know my secret. Sports-ish: Golden State Warriors - Granted I’m sharing this because I’m a Warriors fan, but you don’t have to be a Warriors fan (or even a sports fan) to be interested in this small case-study on the value of eating as a group and how that positively influences team dynamics. BBC: Taster - The BBC’s new beta environment, where you can test a whole host of new things. Give it a look! I like this new approach to launching media products, especially because the BBC is a public company, paid for by the British government, and therefore the public should have some say in what’s being developed (right?). Evidently, like many media companies these days, the BBC is adjusting to the mighty presence of the Internet. “It’s about time!!! many will say (me included), but not rushing to be at the front of the parade seems to have largely paid off for the NYTimes which is slowly launching some pretty awesome stuff. (Though, I think BBC and Bloomberg are bummed they missed the early 00s and are intent on bringing the whole Nyan Cat look back).  Long-Read: Chipotle - A lengthy look at Chipotle’s history, and why it’s so much better than McDonald’s.  Humor: Creative Director Quiz - For my advertising agency readers. Have fun! (no offense meant to Creative Directors) History: A Visual Map of Empires from 2000 B.C.E. to 1931 - If you like history and/or infographics give this one 15-20 minutes of your time, it’s really well done and does a great job of showing how much modern society has splintered into many different empires instead of a handful of massive ones. Keep in mind this was created in 1931, in peak colonialism wave-two, so there is a lot missing.... Dance: Sergei Polunin, "Take Me to Church" by Hozier - A beautiful song with beautiful choreography. Humor: Lets Get Drinks - I have this exact conversation at least twice a week.  Game: Game About Squares - Super frustrating but a lot of fun.

Ad: Friends Furever - It’s been out a couple months but it’s so cute I wanted to make sure you all saw it. Happy St Patrick’s Day!

[saysemilie]

SaysEmilie, vol 32

Running: The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances - 10 minute read, great comic for anyone who's ever run long enough to consider the distance a feat. Video: Shit Girls Say About Hair - Shit Girls Say is back with an Aussie sponsored episode on hair (full disclosure, agency is mcgarrybowen - I would have shared it anyways though). Tech: Design Tech for Aging Boomers - I've long believed that the 65+ market is severely underserved in the personal tech space. This piece by NPR highlights that need, and what some people are doing to close the gap. 

Daft Punk: EDEN - If anyone knows someone in charge of press for the release of the French Daft Punk film, I would be eternally grateful for an introduction. I haven't been this excited for a movie in years (second to the Star Wars announcement, of course).

Language: Google Translate - In case you missed it, Google seriously upped the ante with translation tools. You can now do real-time audio and visual translation, all without connecting to a network. This means you can see a translation of directions as someone is giving them to you, then scan different signs to make sure you're going the right way, all in a foreign country without paying international data fees.  ---- Side thought, this all feeds into a very large and still growing trend of technologies and services that make traveling and exploring foreign places much easier for everyone. I'm unclear if this is a result of generation wanderlust, or if generation wanderlust is influencing the creation of these products. Might be a chicken-or-egg question. ---- Another side note, I can't find any articles on generation wanderlust with a quick search. Anyone have anything? 

Cuba: Cuban Youth Build Their Own Internet - Blocked from accessing the world wide web, Cubans have created their own mesh-network internet through which they communicate amongst each other.  Video: 2014: A Year in Video - Vimeo's favorite videos from last year. My favorites here, here, and here.  App: Goofy App - Love chatting with Facebook at work but hate how time-sucking and brain-melting a newsfeed filled with articles from Distractify and Buzzfeed on the top 45 ways to grill a hot dog with your eyes closed? Enter Goofy (name questionable at best), a Mac app that runs Facebook Messenger from your desktop. Thank you CBM for the reference!  Instagram: Duffy_Duffy (open on mobile) - I've sent out links of people who use the grid on Instagram to their artistic advantage in the past, but sometimes that results in peppering followers' feeds (the more common view) with random-seeming partial-pictures. Duffy_duffy has kept that in mind and instead created series of 3 or 6 pictures that work well alone, but together give his profile some character.  Music: Incrediblox - Make your own songs using acapella sounds. Strangely addicting.

Bad News Bears: No More Cadbury in the US - This is not a drill. Send all chocolate to mcgarrybowen, c/o Emilie Futterman.  Ad Agencies: Ad Agencies are Wrapping Paper - Ad agencies have always been the wrapping paper, but there's a shift in focus from the "wrapping paper" to the product within, which many agencies are honing in on (thankfully, because otherwise I'd be out of a job). But on a grander scale, I think this is just another example of the pendulum swinging from marketing to product, and that in another 7 - 10 years, when innovation in consumer goods slows and the market becomes saturated with look-alikes, the "wrapping paper" that is advertising will again be important until a new avenue of technology is discovered and consumer goods innovation speeds up again. There's much more to this thought than I'm going to put here.  Podcast: Invisibilia - A new podcast from NPR that focuses on the invisible forces at work in the world. Think psychology, but very applicable to the world around us. Also, if you had any question if podcasts are trendy, check out their sponsors: MailChimp, Squarespace, BlueApron... Happy Super Bowl Sunday

[saysemilie]

SaysEmilie, vol 31

Technology: A World Transfixed by Screens - A stunning, and somewhat sobering, photo series by the Atlantic that highlights how indispensable handheld devices have become worldwide.   Product: The Ara Project - Google released a video of their modular phone, and it looks pretty sweet. I'll say it now, I think this is going to be a pretty groundbreaking product, much more so than Google glass.  App: Pick - The app I've been waiting for. A mobile and web solution that determines the best time to schedule a meeting, get-together, etc, based on everyone's personal calendars. No more ridiculous back and forth trying to figure out when everyone's available.  YES: Ship Your Enemies Glitter - It's all in the name.  Shipping: Shyp - Speaking of shipping, Shyp makes it incredibly easy. They pick up your items, pack them, and send them anywhere in the world using the lowest cost, most reliable shipping option. And, with promo-code EMILIE, you get $25 in credits. I'm expecting a lot of packages from adoring fans, glitter optional.  Ad: Let It Fly, Virgin Atlantic - The ad itself gratuitously plays with your emotions in what I'm beginning to call the Nike effect, but the strategy of focusing on an airline's core purpose (to get you where you need to be) and basically forgetting the flight experience in favor of focusing on everything before and after it, is solid.  LOL: Penguin Slap - My friend Caroline came back from Antarctica and discovered this gem on her phone. Social Media: A Teenager's View on Social Media - It's nothing too groundbreaking, and some of it is incorrect (a consequence of a narrow sample size), but what's interesting is the focus on increased privacy and finely honed curation of content. Sent to me by the lovely Nicole Cifani (who is moving to SF at the end of the month btw so reach out to her if you're in the area!).  SF: Living in San Francisco Means - And, speaking of SF, here is a thought piece from The Bold Italic on SF living in 2015. It waxes a bit too lyrical at times, but it's fairly truthful all the same. 

Advertising: Robinhood Project - A site full of nothing but ads, with all the proceeds going to charity.  Food: Lucky Peach - A few months ago I sent out Lucky Peach, a quarterly journal of food and writing that was referred to me by my incredible chef neighbor Becky Frye. I've since become fairly obsessed. They recently relaunched their website, it looks awesome, and it features a ton of articles about ramen this month. 

Ad: A Cheesy Love Story - Doritos is all about fake ads, especially around Super Bowl time, but this is one they aren't too happy about. A little weird, a lot thought provoking.  NYC: Museum Hack - The day after Christmas I went to the Met for a special tour created by the art nerds over at Museum Hack. We sprinted through different galleries, stopping here and there to learn new things about old paintings and objects, and had a ridiculous amount of fun doing so. Highly recommended if you live in or are coming to visit NYC. 

And if anyone is wondering, this is where I'll be this MLK weekend:

[saysemilie]

SaysEmilie, vol 30

2014: Four Charts that Defined the Global Economy - 2014 is almost out of sight, but this article from the New Yorker does a good job of summarizing key 2014 trends that you shouldn't keep out of mind.  *Tool: Grammarly - After getting a few emails about typos in my newsletters (yes, I do make mistakes sometimes, but other than that I'm perfect), I found a Chrome extension to help (of course) and so far its workng grate.  Comedy: Brunch with the American Girl Dolls - From my lovely friend Leigh's supremely talented girlfriend Anni. For anyone who owned an American Girl doll, or who knew someone who owned an American girl doll, or knows anything about the different personalities of the American Girl dolls, this is for you.  The Internet: The Internet In Real-Time - The Internet is HUGE. This site is super fun to click around for a while, and makes you realize just how massive the internet really is (or how much content there is, and how much is completely useless). Only 40% of the world population is on the internet... Can you imagine if that number were flipped and 60% of the population were on the internet? Would size of the internet increase by 20% or is there a more complicated mathematical relationship between number of people on the internet and amount of content?  Language: What the World will Speak in 2015 - Increased connections between people is inevitably going to affect the way we speak to each other. This is a fairly long read, but a great dive into historical language evolution patterns and how these same patterns will continue in the years to come.  Resource: OpenStrategy - For the strategists / ad people. Launched yesterday, and already a staple of my day to day.  Game: MS-DOS Library - Oregon Trail. No further comments.  Video: Robin Williams Prom Proposal - It's going to be a little odd and very sad seeing the late Robin Williams in movies being released this year, but this video of him and Ben Stiller helping their co-star ask a girl to prom brings funny tears to eyes, not sad ones.   Killing Kim Jung Un: The Interview Review - In case you missed it, The Interview ended up being released on Christmas Eve. A crippled win for Sony, a win for Google and YouTube, and a win for free speech. That last win is especially important given yesterday's attack in Paris. That being said, the movie was pretty terrible, so just read the review.  App: RunPee - Before the start of The Imitation Game, a bladder control medication advertised their product and then finished up the spot with a plug to download RunPee, an app that tells you when it's ok to get up and go to the bathroom during movies. Great example of a company releasing products that are relevant to their brand and useful to consumers.  Food: Loc'l - My mother is working with the Cooking Project, an organization that is bringing cooking workshops to low income neighborhoods. The Cooking Project is also involved with a new fast food concept in SFs tenderloin that focuses on local and healthy meals. Keep an eye out for it if you're in SF, we've got high hopes.  Movie: Perception - Special effects have nothing on good old point of view and perception.  (L/R) Disruption: Among the Disrupted - Leon Wieseltier waxes lyrical about the loss of humanities and humanism in favor of science and business. Het gets a bit narrowly focused on the negatives at times, but it's a "stop and think" piece that's worth reading as we all geek out over CES this week. 

No GIF today, just this. #jesuischarlie

[saysemilie]

SaysEmilie, vol 29

Charitable Giving: mbhacktheholidays - For each post liked through 12.31.14 mb will donate $1 to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), up to $10k. Get liking people!  *App: MailToSelf - Similar to SentToMe, but instead it's an extension instead of a separate app, so it lives in your share drawer.  Lego: Daft Punk Lego Set -  We only need 4,000 more votes to make Daft Punk Legos a real thing. Come on team!

NYC: Reasons to Love NY - New York Mag's annual list of reasons to love New York. If this doesn't get you booking tickets to come visit, I don't know what will (if you don't already live here that is).  Urban Planning: Paris vs Gentrification - The City of Paris is making moves to prevent the creation of "ghettos for the rich" by requiring that buildings at specific addresses be offered to the city before being sold to the general public.  Time: What Colour Is It? - This is just cool to have up on your screen. Thanks Mara! 

EMILIE'S HOLIDAY SURVIVAL GUIDE 2014: Need a Last Minute Gift?: TMK Beauty - My lovely sister Hanna just helped launch a new green cosmetics company, and as thanks for years of providing me with samples and beauty reviews I told her I'd share the link and a promo code. 20% off on the entire site through December 25th with the code TMKLAUNCH Since Serial Is Over for Now: Here's a long read about why podcasts are so addictive. 

Now that 2014 is at a Close: Check out 2014 in Search to see what was trending all year, the good and the bad. Then if you just want to focus on the bad, get mad with Slate's Year of Outrage. Social media and the anonymity and exposure it provides has brought out the worst in many of us, lets hope 2015 is a bit more civil.  YouTube Video to Show Your Friends: Tis the season to be thankful one of these houses isn't on your block. However, this one is Star Wars themed so it can pass. Watch at 1:25, it gets awesome.  Something Interesting To Bring to the Holiday Table: Here's a new way of looking at Uber's impressive growth. Instead of simply being a product of a growth in the service economy, or of the ease of communication with smartphones, or a general fed-upness with broken and inefficient systems, this article argues that income inequality is the core driver behind Uber's rapid rise.   If You've Run Out of Hanukkah Songs: Jimmy Fallon is here to save the day.  If You're Like Me and Can't Wait to Get on the Slopes: Here's a beautiful new video taken on the slopes in Argentina with a dog in tow. 

[saysemilie]

SaysEmilie, Vol 28

Airbnb: Airbnb's Impact on Berlin - Pretty presentation, but the message within is clear - Airbnb is as good for communities as it is for the tourists visiting them. It paints an interesting picture of the impact Airbnb has on local economies and the changes in travelers' interests and habits that it has influenced. Currently Uber is taking most of the heat, but it wasn't too long ago that Airbnb was every city's worst nightmare. They're clearly putting up their defenses before the pendulum swings back their way.   *Food: Food Republic - Over the past few years many blogs have turned into content farms, publishing massive amounts of useless posts, usually with click-bait headlines (numbered lists "10 ways you will die this year", words with ALL CAPS "He wore the BEAUTIFUL shoes, you HAVE to see them", and/or emotion influencing "The most AMAZING things these mothers did for their one armed, blind, deaf, pet frogs. I cried at number 10" - I clearly do not have a future writing headlines) in an attempt to gather more views on their pages and therefore more ad revenue. Unfortunately, this has led to a lot of truly terrible content. Food Republic however, consistently posts interesting and well-written articles about food. The history of food, great recipes, restaurant reviews, pretty much anything related to the art of cooking and eating. It's one of the only blogs I still follow with any regularity, I highly recommend you do the same.  Language (L/R): The Rapid Evolution of Emojis - Great for a long bus ride. It's a comprehensive history of the emoji, and how it has influenced communication. The article also moves beyond emoji and explores the use of symbols over time, lightly implying that all these little images are just an expected, natural progression of human expression. 

Français: Le Petit Prince - The trailer for the animated film based on the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is out, and it looks beautiful.  Language: Lost in Translation - There are many many words in every language that can't be directly translated into others. These words are usually highly demonstrative of cultures and their values, so I love that Ella Frances Sanders has chosen to illustrate them.  Video: The Athlete Machine - Red Bull is king of branded content, so I always love sharing their stuff. This video is a Rube Goldberg-like set up using athletes as triggers and elements of the machine. There's a powerful metaphor here somewhere about the athlete, machines, and the human body, but I'll let you think that one out yourself. 

Advertising: Sainsbury's Christmas Ad - A touching spot about a Christmas story from 100 years ago. It's all true, as is the age-old adage that history majors make the best advertisers. Right? That's definitely a thing.  Passwords: The Secret Life of Passwords - Your choice of passwords reveal a lot about your personal life, your past, your hopes, your dreams, your fears, what's dear to you, etc. This makes sense - passwords protect things you need access to that are precious to you, and many of them need to be typed often. As much as everyone wants to be all safe and secure, it's much easier to remember the name of your first pet than it is a random string of characters. Look at the interactive bits in the article as well - the NYTimes does a great job at taking advantage of the digital platform.  Startups (L/R): Startup Factories - Technology has enabled companies to come to life much more quickly and painlessly than ever before. The timeline and pain points for product creation, distribution, and testing (especially digital products) have shrunk considerably, which has influenced much of the startup economy. Wired takes a look at the most recent phenomenon to sprout from this fertile ground:  startup factories, where second and third generation entrepreneurs (as in, they've successfully offloaded one or two startups already) pour their resources into a series of small products, all under a single shop umbrella.  Airlines: How airline seating reflects income inequality - Anyone who's ever flown has experienced the horribly depressing feeling of walking past all the first class passengers getting comfortable with their complementary alcoholic beverages in their spacious seats as you slowly make your way to the rear of the plane and your own cramped chair that will inevitably be in the immediate vicinity of someone that makes your skin crawl, doesn't have a working TV, isn't near any available overhead storage, and/or has a funny headphone plug that only works if your earbuds are plugged in 12.7mm. This article talks about that.  Fashion: Outft - My friend Kyle has launched Outft, a mens fashion retailer that curates complete and cohesive looks for any occasion. It's perfect for trying to figure out what goes best with that new jacket you really want but don't know how to style.  Music: DJ Earworm - It's that time of year again, the time for the DJ Earworm pop music mashup. I'm happy to report that the top songs of 2014 didn't sounds nearly as similar to each other as those of 2013. But yes, as my father has insisted on pointing out since I spent evenings arguing the merits of the Backstreet Boys vs NSYNC as a child, popular music all sounds the same. Good thing, otherwise DJ Earworm would have a much harder time putting this mix together every year.  

You've made it to Thursday. Nice.

[saysemilie]

SaysEmilie, Vol 27

Tech: Rebecca Minkoff's Digital Store - The designer teamed up with eBay to create a fully digital in-store experience. I expect we'll see more of this as companies try to seamlessly tie their online and offline experiences and also offer more personalized experiences to their customers. I'm heading over today, and I'll probably tweet about it. 

Design: TypeGenius - Font combo finder that's super useful for presentations, flyers, website work, etc.  Norway: Norway's New Passport Design - After a Kroner redesign earlier this year, Norway wins again with their new passport designs. If universal healthcare didn't have you applying for citizenship, the ability to pick the cover color of your passport might. Food Review: Dumpling Galaxy - It's not often that I read restaurant reviews, but if this gem of a review of Dumpling Galaxy doesn't make you want to go immediately then nothing will.  Gadget: Tiny Cardboard Battery is like a Vitamin for Your Smartphone - A dying phone battery is one of the most common problems everyone faces every day, and carrying around a heavy battery pack isn't fun for anyone. So here you go, a disposable, easily carried battery charge. Let's Kickstart this into a real thing please.  Star Wars: Behind the Scenes Photos from Return of the Jedi - It's all in the title.   Sexism: Barbie the "Programmer" - The worst. Sexism in tech is bad enough as is, we really don't need crap like this perpetuating those behaviors. Here are the best responses, because the internet is awesome sometimes.  Trailer: Jurassic World - I'm really excited, I'm not gunna lie. Dinosaurs are awesome! And the effects look great. 

FOR YOUR THANKSGIVING WEEKEND: Podcast for the long car rides home: Serial - Everyone's listening to it, everyone's talking about it, and for good reason. Reporter Sarah Koenig hosts this podcast about her re-examination of the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, a Maryland teenager, that resulted in the conviction of Adnan Syed, her former boyfriend. Every week she reveals a bit more of what she's learned, and it's fascinating. Highly recommended, by me and everyone else you know. 

Long read for flight to family that will help prepare you with an interesting dinner table topic: The Rise of WeWork - This Forbes article is a thorough look into the founding and meteoric rise of WeWork, arguably the largest and most successful co-working space network. It's fascinating to me that this industry of co-working spaces has ridden the startup wave by providing much needed space, services, and resources to startups large and small. Disruption indeed.

What you need to know about Snapcash (because everyone else is going to be talking about it):  - Snapcash announcement from Snapchat  - Article in TechCrunch that provides a great overview of what it is and what it means.  - EmilieNotes:  You can now send money through Snapchat. Three observations: 1) Snapchat getting into $$ may be a mobile payments gateway drug for many in the younger set. 2) Advertising. It's not hard to imagine being able to purchase advertised items, as long as Snapchat provides its advertisers with a robust purchase management backend (Snapchat x Shopify = Snapify?)  3) Given security concerns many have with Snapchat, this could either alleviate (if they're comfortable dealing with cash, it's ok for us to send pictures we don't want people to see) or aggravate them (Snapchat is easily hackable already, why would someone send money). That being said, the security is being handled by square so on a technical level this isn't relevant but from a user psychology level it definitely is.   Some Thanksgiving plating inspiration: Chef's Cut: The Art of Kaiseki with Niki Nakayama - A beautiful video on kaiseki, the Japanese art of plating a multi-course dinner. 

Long read for post "Scandal binge watching until there are no more episodes" survival: Valerie Jarrett, Obama Whisperer - Olivia Pope in real life. I don't talk about politics in this newsletter often, but this serves a reminder that when you elect someone you are electing their entourage as well. App to keep the children occupied: Homes - I used to work with a lovely lady by the name of Leah Feuer who left Fueled to go work at TinyBop, a company that makes very impressive educational apps for children. They just released their 3rd app Homes, and it's fabulous. Seriously. You can explore homes from different countries and cultures, from Brooklyn to Mongolia... for much less than a plane ticket! It's designed it for kids 4+, but there are lots of gems for adults too - find the record player in the brownstone living room and you'll hear hilarious, original Tinybop songs.

[saysemilie]

SaysEmilie, Vol 26

Friend Project: 24000 miles - My lovely friends Ele and Phoebe have left NYC to embark on a journey around the world (a distance of 24,000 miles). They're going to be interviewing people they cross on their journey to capture a portrait of the millennial generation globally. To do so they are raising funds (Kickstarter here) and working freelance projects as they travel. Please consider donating or hiring either one of them! Full disclosure -  website was created by yours truly, and I also volunteered to be a part of the inaugural round of interviews. 

RIP: Tom Magliozzi of Car Talk - You brought light to years and years of Saturday morning rides to the mountains and made hours of family car time more bearable. Thank you. #realDJing: Craze - New Slaves Routine - There's a growing discussion in the electronic music world about what it is to be a real DJ (#realDJing). Some big names (A-Trak on Instagram) have gotten involved in an attempt to educate the masses on the art, and shed light on the differences in the skills used by real Djs versus some EDM artists. Craze is a very talented DJ who released the video above as his own statement on real DJing. Drop the mic moment indeed.  Halloween: R. L. Stine Writes an Entire Story on Twitter - There's a trend on Twitter developing, where content creators, thinkers (especially in tech) and authors are posting content direclty to Twitter instead of just linking it from another site. By stringing many tweets together in serial form they are no longer limited by the 140 characters, and can actually create tension and anticipation à la 21st century Dickens. Music: T-Pain sans auto-tune - If you're anything like my father, T-Pain's introduction to the airwaves signaled the end of anything good in pop music. But if you're anything like my father you're all about NPR, so your faith in pop might be restored with this performance from the king of auto-tune, T-Pain.  Interactive Advertising: Honda / The Other Side - (Hint: hit R on your keyboard while watching to discover the interactive bit). Most "interactive" advertising isn't actually interactive. Case in point, the Cannes awards for interactive adverts tend to go to videos which are as interactive as watching a banana self peel - entertaining, but you're not about to jump in and get involved. This Honda ad is a step in the right direction, and also attention grabbing.  Wasting Time: Wasting Time on the Internet Course to be Taught at Penn - It's all in the headline. They should hire me as a guest lecturer. 

Happy Holidays: John Lewis Christmas Advert - Halloween is over, so it's basically Christmas right? John Lewis wins the holiday heartstrings award every year, and this year is no different. 

Video: Paris/New York - A bit of a time waster, but a truly well produced look at the two cities side by side. Particularly entertaining to me and fellow French/Americans who have spent time in both cities (salut les amis!)  Comedy: Wheel of Impressions with Kevin Spacey - This isn't news to anyone, but Kevin Spacey is one of the most talented actors working today. This bit on Jimmy Fallon is gold.  Business Culture: Spotify Engineering Culture - Being a member of a small agency or small autonomous department within a large agency has meant that I've been highly involved in process defining meetings and developed an interest in different production, engineering, operations and management methodologies. This Spotify case study is particularly fascinating, as it incorporates agile and autonomy in a fairly structured way. This is definitely a nerd-out video though, so I won't be offended if you find it dull. 

Unfortunate News: Netflix Adapting Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events - See what I did there? To the uninitiated, this is great news. 

Health: Find Purpose in Life - Nothing too groundbreaking, but a good reminder. My friend Lauren ran the NYC Marathon two weekends ago and wrote a fantastic essay on Medium about the experience, which corroborates a lot in the Atlantic article. Very much a recommended inspirational read.  AirBnb: The Future of AirBnb in Cities - As some of my more loyal subscribers know, I love AirBnb. I think it's a brilliant business model that has created a whole new economic model that is a great example of democratic capitalism. This McKinsey report isn't super new, but it does contain one interesting quote that I'll paste here for people to ponder: "So I think the biggest revolution will be in the biggest asset of all. The biggest asset is not a house. It’s not a car. It’s people’s time. People’s time may start with just gigs: waiting in line for you, delivering something for you. Over time, I think it’s going to move upmarket. And eventually, menial tasks become real trades, and real trades become art forms." GIFs: Subtly Animated Disney Posters - Yet another example of GIFs as an art-form.

[saysemilie]

Sunsets from the office @mcgarrybowen #nyc #sunset #friday #windowpanes #architecture #hudson #innovation (at mcgarrybowen)

[saysemilie]

SaysEmilie, vol 25

Shameless Self-promotion: Flat design goes educational: How the learning community has embraced the latest Web design trend - This month I look into flat design in educational materials. Good stuff! 

Presentism: Nothing You Think Matters Today Will Matter the Same Way Tomorrow - What a headline right? I strongly recommend saving this long-read to Pocket and tackling it this weekend. Our inability to accurately predict the future is something we're all familiar with, but again and again we try our hardest to anticipate trends and innovations. 

Star Wars: Star Wars and Real Life - Photographer Thomas Dagg edited images of real life and inserted elements of the Star Wars universe. Oh if only...  

Sneaker Culture: You See Sneakers, These Guys see Hundreds of Millions in Resale Profit - Ever wonder what those really long lines outside Supreme in Soho and other similar stores are for? Here's your answer. 

Architecture: Muji's Vertical House and Other Prefab Houses - First we had build your own furniture, now we have a similar concept but with housing. Is this going to make owning a home more affordable across the board or is this just a passing fad? 

App: Pingsy - The notification feed is slowly being leveraged in legitimate ways, a trend I wholly support. Pingsy is similar to Yo, but with more purpose, and a super sweet UX. It's not as much fun without a group of friends on it, but the product is solid in theory. 

App: Inbox by Google - In case you haven't been reading tech blogs these past couple days, Google has released a new Inbox app to a limited number of users and it's so popular invites are being auctioned on eBay. Email is a horrible but necessary experience, and Inbox is just another in a long line of products attempting to make it better. Here's a medium article that accurately sums up my experience with Inbox so far. It's much more of a conversation than correspondence, and I've already found myself responding without a salutation or signature. Is Inbox going to change email behavior? Maybe. Is it a big step in the evolution of communication? Absolutely.   Related: Would you pay for email? And if so, how much would you pay? Would people use email if it were no longer free? If not, what would they turn to?

App: Rooms by Facebook - It's been a bit week for apps. Facebook released Rooms, a throw back to old chat rooms, and it's picked up quite a bit of traction. The concept is simple - join a room via invite to discuss a certain topic, post images to that room, comment and like the images. It uses a cool Photo Roll feature to process invites that I've never seen before, and so far it's been a fun way to explore content you're interested in. It's also brought up some thought provoking pieces on privacy and community (Rooms for Those In the Closet), and organically influenced behavior on other social networks to spread room invitations (Throwing A Party Without the Host) 

Recruiting: Would You Fit in at 88 Creative? - Agency 88 Creative created a BuzzFeed community quiz to screen potential candidates. Clever use of the platform, and fun. 

Cats: Cat Pranks - Happy Friday! 

Productivity: What Successful People do the First Hour of Their Work Day - I don't think this works well for people on teams, or who have a lot of people to answer to, but psychologically it's a good idea.  

*Newsletters: A lot of my links come from newsletters, and today I've decided to be nice and share a few of them. On any given day I will read some if not all of the following: Need 2 Know / The Skimm / Quartz Daily Brief / Next Draft. This doesn't include weeklies, various tech newsletters, VC newsletters, and advertising newsletters, but it's a start. 

LETS GO GIANTS!

[saysemilie]

I LOVE YOUR TUMBLR AND I LOVE THIS HIP HOP PLAYLIST

:-D :-D :-D 

[saysemilie]

SaysEmilie, Vol 24

*Music: 1994 is the Greatest Year in Hip Hop - I've been sitting on this one for a while. The arguments in the article are fairly well laid out, but it's the Spotify playlist that wins the case.

LETS GO GIANTS: Is Bruce Bochy the Best Manager in Baseball? - If you've ever met me you know my slightly unhealthy emotional attachment to the Giants. That aside, this is a very well written and researched article that goes into the nuances of being a great baseball manager, a great read for anyone who loves the sport.

Startup: MorningPerson - Hire someone to call you in the morning and chat with you until you wake up. That's good and great, but take a look at the pricing - you can choose to pay $10 less a month to have a non-native english speaker call you. Outsourcing workers is common practice among cost-conscious startups, but I've never seen one make that choice a consumer one. I'm very curious as to which service people will ultimately choose. 

NYC: 30 Park Place - You rarely see marketing videos like this for new real estate developments. It's funny, it's cute, it's clever, and it's very well produced. Oh and the building looks incredible of course. 

Advertising: Google Outdoor Ads - Just like great product inserts itself seamlessly into your everyday life, great advertising can do the same.  Bacon: Why America's Favorite Food Mania Happened - A good subway read, filled with interesting facts about the one ingredient you can't seem to get away from. 

Global Culture: Parenting Around the World - As many know, I grew up in a bi-cultural household which probably accounts for my fascination with how seemingly mundane traditions and habits differ greatly from culture to culture. 

More Global Culture: Etiquette Tips for Doing Business Abroad - tl;dr American comes off as pretty disrespectful of personal boundaries, age, and the work-life balance. Even More Global Culture: School Lunches Around the World - I don't know what it was this week and last, but everyone was comparing and contrasting habits around the globe. This video covers lunch. It goes without saying that I always had the strangest lunch box contents in elementary school. Always boeuf bourguignon, never PB&J. 

Facebook: Safety Check - Though some may call this creepy, time and time again I've seen people turn to Facebook to make sure that a friend living in an effected area is alive and well. This is just a way of facilitating that existing communication and habit path, which is a great way to create and itterate a product.

Kittens: Regarding the Dog - Remember the Purina Dear Kitten content? There's more! And it's so cute! And funny! 

Zip Codes: What Where You Live Says About What You Buy - Interesting demographic information about zip codes. Apparently, I am a latte drinking Apple laptop user. .... Got me. 

Art/Spies: Modern Art was a CIA Weapon -  This quote is really all you need to spark conversations, but the whole article is fascinating:  "...in the propaganda war with the Soviet Union, this new artistic movement could be held up as proof of the creativity, the intellectual freedom, and the cultural power of the US. Russian art, strapped into the communist ideological straitjacket, could not compete." 

Logos: 40 Brand Logos with Hidden Messages - It's a game! How many do you know? 

Internet: The Internet Map - Zoom in and realize the jaw dropping expanse of the internet. You probably spend your time in a corner 1/32894732984723784 the size of the whole thing.