This is what customers pay us for - to sweat all these details so it's easy and pleasant for them to use our computers. We're supposed to be really good at this. That doesn't mean we don't listen to customers, but it's hard for them to tell you what they want when they've never seen anything remotely like it. | | | | | Ethan Hawke in "Gattaca" (1997) (Columbia Pictures) | | | | |  | “This is what customers pay us for - to sweat all these details so it's easy and pleasant for them to use our computers. We're supposed to be really good at this. That doesn't mean we don't listen to customers, but it's hard for them to tell you what they want when they've never seen anything remotely like it.”
|
| |
| | rantnrave:// Curating like a mofo... In the digital media age, is there such thing as “bad engagement”? NETFLIX continues to take flak for seasons that are "longer than they should be". Shows like JESSICA JONES or LUKE CAGE should have been 8-10 episode seasons, not 13? But if a viewer watches all of it, is that bad? If a premium video service entertains with UGC, is that a problem? Similarly, the media business used to believe programmers were necessary to satisfy viewers and protect advertisers. But in the age of on-demand – where the viewer picks what to watch, when and how – does it matter? Viewers might “pick” content that’s “bad” or “racy”, but media is in the business of minutes via entertainment – not lecturing on what is or should be. Is it wrong to let viewers lead? FACEBOOK clearly doing very well without anything "premium". Most tech platforms fundamentally disagree with the traditional value of HOLLYWOOD content and many are getting their engagement without it. Lots to think about... More WESTWORLD: More human than human? Guests ask hosts if they are real. Does it matter? Even when watching it's easy to forget which are real. That confusion and trance are part of the point. And I love the old saloon-style takes on modern pop rock classics (ROLLING STONES, SOUNDGARDEN, RADIOHEAD) strewn throughout the episodes... Congrats to pal FISHER STEVENS on his new doc, BEFORE THE FLOOD. Along with LEONARDO DICAPRIO, the film presents "a riveting account of the dramatic changes now occurring around the world due to climate change"... PRESIDENT OBAMA discusses climate change with DiCaprio and DR. KATHARINE HAYHOE at SXSL... Excited for FALLING WATER and PASSENGERS... Acquisitions often fail in integration or because they were made to keep the asset away from competition... Don't mind negative feedback as long as it has details and reasoning. Any nitwit can say they don't like something... Know who people are, not what you want them to be. Then you can make clear decisions... Randoms: Single best purchase I've made this year... Happy Birthday to NORMAN PEARLSTINE and ROB ROSKIN. | | | - Jason Hirschhorn, curator |
|
|
 | Bloomberg |
| Mastermind or scapegoat, Tim Wiswell was at the heart of the bank’s $10 billion mirror-trade scandal. | | |
|
 | New York Magazine |
| All presidencies are historic. But no president since at least LBJ, and probably FDR, has arrived at a moment of greater historic urgency than Obama. | | |
|
 | The Ringer |
| What’s happened in Dillon since ‘FNL’ ended? We have a few ideas. | | |
|
 | Vanity Fair |
| The plain truth about the struggling social-media company has become clear in its highly public, and theatrical, auction. | | |
|
 | Vice |
| In the spring of 1979, a small-budget movie with a somewhat corny-sounding name was released in just a handful of theaters in New York and Los Angeles, only to be pulled a few days later due to concerns that audiences would riot. Based (loosely) on a true story about suburban youth gone wild in the suburbs of San Francisco in the early 70s, "Over the Edge" would never receive wide distribution. | | |
|
 | Cuepoint |
| Wonder’s recommitment to Berry Gordy was a commercial coup and a creative crescendo. | | |
|
 | Vox |
| Silicon Valley gurus think software can disrupt any industry. Here's what they're missing. | | |
|
 | The Daily Beast |
| Faith in news organizations is at an all time low, so it’s more important than ever for journalists to be tough and interesting. | | |
|
 | Fact Magazine |
| From Performer and Cubase to GarageBand and Ableton Live, we trace the evolution of music software. | | |
|
 | Freakonomics |
| To you, it’s just a ride-sharing app that gets you where you’re going. But to an economist, Uber is a massive repository of moment-by-moment data that is helping answer some of the field’s most elusive questions. | | |
|
 | Digital TV Europe |
| On-demand services that cater to particular interest groups have strong prospects, argues Bruce Tuchman. | | |
|
 | ESPN.com |
| This week, the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, is expected to decide the playing fate of the biggest tennis star ever caught using a performance-enhancing drug. The saga's most surprising element is not that a professional tennis player used performance-enhancing drugs, but that tennis' anti-doping efforts actually caught a marquee player doing so. | | |
|
 | Slate |
| The suburban monstrosities fit in a long American tradition of unnatural, ill-constructed, haunted houses. | | |
|
 | Vulture |
| In 2010, Lil Wayne spent an eight-month jail sentence at Rikers Island, where he prayed, worked out, and kept a journal. Here’s an excerpt from "Gone ’Til November." | | |
|
 | The Guardian |
| Human Rights Watch releases account of beatings and water torture but CIA spokesman says review shows ‘nothing to support these new claims.’ | | |
|
 | Footwear News |
| Is all press actually good? | | |
|
 | Charlie Rose |
| The first part of a conversation with Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn and a prominent Silicon Valley investor. | | |
|
 | Concurring Opinions |
| The headline in the "New York Times" read: “Trump Tax Records Obtained by The Times Reveal He Could Have Avoided Paying Taxes for Nearly Two Decades.” Here is how that story began. | | |
|
| The Guardian |
| Another intellectual rebellion, in which accepted realities became intolerable injustices, looks destined to take place this century. | | |
|
 | Billboard |
| The ticketing pioneer on why Pandora's $450 million investment was a "fair price," and the future of the secondary market. | | |
|
 | Traffic Magazine |
| The internet helped the media build bigger audiences than ever. Why aren’t those readers worth anything? | | |
|
 | Aeon Magazine |
| Groupthink can be stultifying. So how do the most successful groups elicit collective intelligence from their members? | | |
|
 | Rockpalast |
| | | | | | |
|
|
| © Copyright 2016, The REDEF Group |
|
|
