TL;DR,
WELCOME TO ANOTHER ISSUE OF THE·BY·PRODUCT. A WEEKLY RECAP OF WHAT IS GOING DOWN & WHAT IS COMING UP ON THE INTERNET. THIS ISSUE I AM REPORTING REMOTELY FROM AMERICA’S MAJESTIC MIDWEST. GET OUT AND ENJOY THE SUMMER VIBES, AND AS ALWAYS THE·BY·PRODUCT IS A PRODUCT OF PRODUCT INC. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TODAY. NOW, LET’S GO TO THE LINKS.
CATEGORY: INTERNET ARCHIVAL
Heraclitus of Ephesus is famous for his quote, “No one ever steps into the same river twice, the only constant is change”. I love when notions from the past still ring true with every technological leap forward we make as a society. That being said, do you remember Facebook before Newsfeed? Didn’t think so. But I do remember a world where we had to intentionally choose what music to buy, what news to read, and what friends to talk to online. Then, on September 5th, 2006, Facebook Newsfeed launched, using AI to promote what it deems most relevant to you at any given moment. Editor’s Note: Invest 20 minutes and watch this film. / Via Dis
CATEGORY: BETTER BUSINESS
I have long since believed that as humans we have two ears and one mouth and what that means to me is that we should always be listening twice as much as we speak. It leads to more thoughtful conversations, and ultimately leads to better results. For the most part people often speak to hear their own voice and say the same thing that was just stated by another in the meeting, or they feel the need to speak up to look informed. Neither helps move the discussion forward. I read a piece back in 2020 about how this applies to the workspace and meetings, whether they are internal or client facing. That article recently popped up again in my Linkedin feed and thought it was high time to share it again. Knowing when not to talk is an art. / Via Medium
CATEGORY: RADICAL TRANSPARENCY
Longtime homies (Mark, Alex, & team) over at Stink Studios, just dropped a deeply thoughtful, transparent and insightful impact report on Linkedin late last week. ICYM, it is chock full of learnings the studio has gone though in the past few years and it puts itself under the microscope to the nth degree. Honestly this is something every shop, studio, and agency should be doing. Kudos to the whole team.
The first-ever Stink Studios Impact Report summarizes all the steps that we're taking globally to improve our impact on the world. This inaugural report for 2022 is broken into three sections: Diversity Data, Social Responsibility, and Climate Impact.
”We will continue to release this report annually to share the actions we're taking with our teams, clients, and peers around the globe, as well to hold ourselves accountable for the future we want to create.” — Mark Pytlik / Via Linkedin
CATEGORY: QUESTION REALITY
In today’s digital world, you can never quite be sure whether what you’re looking at is true or not. With constant information merging with unreliable sources – and the means of anyone being able to take a picture and share it – the theories of fact and fiction have never been so intertwined. This is a concept explored by Andrea Orejarena and Caleb Stein, aka Orejarena & Stein, in their latest series American Glitch. / Via It’s Nice That
CATEGORY: MEDIA BUYS
When everyone is trying to avoid ads, brands have to get creative in how they can take center stage, according to NYT. Product placement is helping brands get eyeballs on products while helping studios lower production costs. Even as the film and TV streaming industry gravitates toward pushing ad-tiers to jumpstart subscriber growth, savvy product placement may still be the only way to guarantee that an audience will actually pay attention (at least subconsciously) to what brands are pushing./ Via Future Party
CATEGORY: MODERN LIVING
Two centuries ago, as the mob bayed for bread outside the Palace of Versailles, Marie Antoinette lay cowering in her bedchamber, waiting for her luck to change. Barefoot and brazen, she slipped into disguise and slid open a concealed door. When the mob reached her apartment a few minutes later, the queen was nowhere to be found. Today secret spaces are making their way back into modern living. / Via FT
CATEGORY: WORK SPACES
People around town talking this and that about how the pandemic will result in “the death of the office.” However, for many jobs, working from home just doesn’t cut it. Working from home has its benefits—freedom to “WFE: work from anywhere” and alternate “wardrobing” may be in the rear-view mirror just yet. One solution for the future is an organized hybrid model that recognizes the benefits of flexibility on the productivity and overall well-being of employees. / Via FastCo.
CATEGORY: RETAIL BRANDS
If it weren’t for Ron Rice (1940-2022), there might not be a Tiffany Trump. Confused? Let’s begin at the beginning: Rice grows up poor in the mountains of North Carolina. At some point, the family scrapes together enough money for a vacation in Florida. Rice sees the ocean, is smitten, and vows to return someday. After graduating from the University of Tennessee, he lands in the Daytona Beach area, and cobbles together a four-figure-a-year income coaching high-school football, teaching chemistry, and working as a lifeguard.
This does not satisfy him. Also, what doesn’t satisfy him—especially during his lifeguard stints—is the limited choice of suntan lotion available at the time. Like Walter White—that other enterprising chemistry teacher—Rice decides to take matters into his own hands. He gets a garbage can and a broom handle and stirs up a concoction of mineral oil and aloe, and, for good measure, tosses in coconut oil. / Via NewYorker
CATEGORY: THE INTERNET
Ok, so check this out… “I wanted to write something about how web pages suck as content delivery platforms and TikTok is taking all the attention and how new research from Reuters suggests that young people are tuning out the news and rarely use websites and all of that, but I got so bored and thought you would too. Why spread that thought into 2000 words when you can just do it in one run-on sentence?” — Troy Young / Via People vs Algorithms
CATEGORY: NOSTALGIA FOR THE FUTURE
The Rotary Un-Smartphone is a followup to a personal project by Alastair Reynolds. It's a production-ready ground-up design with all new parts (yes, the rotary dial too) and many neat bells and whistles. I am considering ordering ASAP. / Via Skysedge
CATEGORY: SPACE
Leave a message in the dust just for me. If I don't see it I'll be waiting for you
On the dark side of the moon. This rarely visited section of the moon is about to get some new visitors. In 2009, a 2-ton rocket smashed into the moon traveling at 9,000 kilometers per hour. As it exploded in a shower of dust and heated the lunar surface to hundreds of degrees Celsius, the jet-black crater into which it plummeted, called Cabeus, briefly filled with light for the first time in billions of years.
The crash was no accident. NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission aimed to see what would be kicked up from the lunar shadows by the impact. / Via Wired.