The following infographic is pretty eye-opening, as it shows you the ‘illusion of choice‘ we have when it comes to our media outlets.The simple fact that 6 companies control 90% of the media in the U.S. is baffling to say the least. Does it matter?
Check out the full infographic here.
Faris Yakob recently gave a talk at Mashable’s Media Summit on the Importance of Being Awesome, as it relates to media, design, code, and more. Check it out below.
The Social Good Summit presented by Mashable, 92Y and the UN Foundation starts today and if you’re interested you should check out the Livestream of the conference.
Here’s an excerpt of what the Summit is all about:
The Summit unites a dynamic community of global leaders to discuss a big idea: the power of innovative thinking and technology to solve our greatest challenges. It ignites conversations between a live audience in New York City and thousands around the world participating via Livestream.
The most innovative technologists, influential minds and passionate activists will come together this September with one shared goal: to unlock the potential of new media and technology to make the world a better place.
Some of the speakers include Desmond Tutu, Dr. Muhammed Yunus, Randi Zuckerberg, and more.
It’ll be streaming live starting today, Monday September 19th until Thursday September 22nd, from 1 PM – 5 PM (est), so be sure to check it out.
Link: http://livestre.am/870
Small businesses are the heartbeat of the economy and true entrepreneurship. Unfortunately we often focus on the few startups that make it big, turn into gigantic corporations and file for million dollar IPO’s down the line. In the meantime, the hundreds of thousands of smaller businesses are overlooked. I feel like its often the same in government, as they focus on bailing out the major corporations, giving them incentives and tax breaks, but we’d be served well not to forget about the little guys. In the following infographic we get more information on small businesses in America and the Hard Facts if you will.
Infographic courtesy of Focus.com and the U.S. Department of Commerce.
In the following TED Talk, Sheena Iyengar talks about choice, cultural differences, and assumptions about choice. The assumptions covered are as follows:
1. Make your own choice
2. More options = better choices
3. Never say no to choice
She explores these assumptions in regards to trivial issues, such as preference between Coke or Pepsi, as well as more profound ones that have driven her research over the years. Overall its a very well delivered talk with some great insights into ‘the art of choosing’. Enjoy!
Throughout this War on Terror, we’ve followed what our people have experienced: losses sufferred, hearts broken, and lives lost, but how often have we thought of the other side? What about all the innocent bystanders in these countries that have had their lives drastically changed from terrorism as well? What might their perspective be on the war and actions taken by the US and other countries? In this TED Talk by Sam Richards, we experience an exercise in empathy to try and better understand the other side of the story.
The following infographic shows us why sitting is detrimental to our health. Some interesting facts include how often we actually sit (9.3 hours!), the affects of non-activity (decreased calorie burn, no muscle activity, etc), and how to overcome these potential issues. If you think about we sit all the time: for our meals, at work, while watching TV, in the car… basically everywhere, so its clear that the potential threats of constantly sitting need to be taken seriously.
In short, be more active!
The problem with news syndicates now is that they are largely biased one way or the other. So most people watch news that resonates with them and what they believe in, which really defeats the purpose in the first place. If you’re simply watching news that you agree with, then what value does it serve?
Despite this, one of my favorite shows is the The Daily Show and I think Jon Stewart is brilliant. It also surprises me how the team at The Daily Show is able to regularly come up with material for his show, as it seems there is always something ridiculous happening. Of course a lot of his show has one source for their material being Fox News and their over-the-top, irrational stories that can only make you laugh.
A recent piece on Fox News just baffled me, as they criticized Michelle Obama for having Common as a guest poet at the White House. Basically, they portrayed Common as violent and misogynistic, conclusions drawn from a few lines of a single poem, largely ignoring the rest of his work. This was the focus of yesterday’s The Daily Show and you can watch the clip below to get a better understanding of the situation.
I just don’t get it. This is the kind of stuff that is covered on the news now? And it’s not just Fox News, but the overall quality and value of the news is deteriorating and it’s quite sad to say the least.
The following video created by the RSA is based on a lecture from Dan Pink and his book Drive. In the book he basically explores what motivates us and how what we think we know about motivation is far from the truth. He covers topics such as incentives, rewards, growth, punishment, and more. In the lecture he focuses on the dynamics of rewards and punishment, which you can check out below.
A lot of interesting things to think about here. I’ve always found these topics fascinating and this in particular reminds me a lot about the area of behavioral economics, which is essentially about the irrationalities of our behavior. Check out Dan Ariely for more about behavioral economics and for more by Dan Pink, visit his blog.
Recently LinkedIn examined their network to get a better understanding of how your name relates to your status in the professional world and came up with some interesting results. If you want your child to be a CEO name him/her Peter or Deborah. Four letter names also increase your chances of being a CEO. Overall it’s an interesting way to look at things, but does it really mean that much? I don’t think so.
What’s more interesting is the potential LinkedIn has with its network to make even more intriguing analyses into the professional lives of its users. I’m excited to see what else comes from them in the future. Check out the full infographic below.
And thanks to LinkedIn Insights for the infographic!
