Paul Wallbank – Brilliant Communications

Author: Paul Wallbank

  • Links of the day – hanging Churchill, resisting Russia and expensive places to live

    Links of the day – hanging Churchill, resisting Russia and expensive places to live

    Today’s links include a look at the complexities of the Charlie Hebdo discussion, how Lithuania intends a passive aggressive response to a Russian invasion and how Winston Churchill was not always Britain’s most admired figure.

    Should we hang Mr Churchill?

    The New Statesman has delved into its archives to find its articles on Winston Churchill, it’s an interesting article that shows the complexities of the Churchill myth and legend.

    Lithuania’s plan of passive resistance

    Having the Russians occupy your country is a living memory in Lithuania. With the troubles in the Ukraine, the Lithuanian authorities are planning for a future invasion. Their advice is to be passive aggressive.

    The world’s highest cost living

    Which countries are the most expensive for a British expat to live in? Switzerland and Norway top Movehub’s list with the UK coming in tenth, New Zealand seventh and Australia sixth.

    No, I am not Charlie

    A British cartoonist’s view on the Charlie Hebdo murders illustrates the complexities beyond the facile soundbites.

    The popping of the tech startup seed bubble

    Has the tech startup mania peaked? The funds being invested into startups at seed stage seems to falling away, which may not be a bad thing suggest Alex Wilhelm.

    What’s your password?

    The Jimmy Kimmel show went onto the streets asking people what their passwords are. The results, sadly, are not surprising.

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  • Links of the day – Mind games, wine growers and the Naples mafia

    Links of the day – Mind games, wine growers and the Naples mafia

    Mind games, wine growers and the Naples mafia are among today’s links along with last person in Britain who lived under Queen Victoria passing away and a touching series of portraits showing the end of the film photography industry.

    Cutting out the middle man

    Reka Haros is a wine maker in Italy’s Venuto region. Like many small producers her winery struggles with distribution and sales in a crowded market. Reba’s solution of going direct to the customer is one that many businesses should be considering in a noisy world.

    Life in protection

    I don’t fear death, I fear being discredited. The story of Italian journalist Roberto Saviano and his eight years in protection after writing about the Naples mafia.

    Picturing the decline of film photography

    Canadian photographer Robert Burley travelled the world with his 4×5 field camera to document the end of analogue photography. It’s a poignant portrayal of how an entire industry comes to and with one technological change.

    Last of the Victorians

    Ethel Lang, the last surviving Briton to live under the reign of Queen Victoria, died last week at the age 114.

    Manufacturing false memories

    A frightening physiological experiment shows a cunning interviewer can convince most of us  we committed crimes which we are totally innocent of. This truly is a disturbing story.

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  • Daily links – Chinese tourists, mars landers, Zappos management

    Daily links – Chinese tourists, mars landers, Zappos management

    Where do Chinese tourist like to travel to? One of today’s links looks at where the modern PRC tourist likes to go. Other links include how jaywalking became a crime, Samsung’s attack on the low end Indian smartphone and how disguised Starbucks may be popping up in your suburb.

    Kicking off today’s links is an examination of how Zappos’ CEO and founder Tony Hsieh is carrying out a daring experiment on the management structures of his company.

    Zappos’ strange management experiment

    No-one can accuse Zappos’ founder Tony Hsieh of thinking inside the box, his experiment with new form of management called holacracy is another example of how he tries to do things differently. Whether it will be successful or not remains to be seen.

    How Jaywalking became a crime

    Vox tells of how cars took over our cities’ streets during the early Twentieth Century. It’s an interesting description of the political, social and economic forces at work as the effects of the automobile started to be felt by our communities.

    Lost spacecraft found on Mars

    “It was a heroic failure.” Britain’s Beagle space mission to Mars ended in mystery when the lander vanished just before Christmas 2002. Now it’s been found. I find this story quite touching.

    Your local cafe might be a stealth Starbucks

    Like McDonalds, Starbucks is facing structural changes in its market. One of the ways both companies are responding by launching experimental new stores. Some of which might be near you without you knowing.

    Samsung launches a sub $100 Tizen phone in India 

    Just as the car changed the Twentieth Century the smartphone may well be one of the critical technologies that shapes this era. Cheap phones in emerging markets are the equivalent of the Ford Model T a hundred years ago.

    Samsung’s move is a response to the Chinese manufacturers who are dominating that market. That Samsung is using their own Tizen operating system rather than Android which most of the Chinese companies use is something worth watching.

    Where are Chinese tourists going

    As Chinese manufacturers look to emerging markets as their economic future, the country’s tourists are exploring the world. This article laments how those PRC travellers are ignoring London and the UK but also has some interesting observations about the destinations they prefer.

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  • Daily links: The IoT goes to sea, building the innovation state and Boko Haram

    Daily links: The IoT goes to sea, building the innovation state and Boko Haram

    The scale of the carnage Boko Haram has inflicted on remote parts of Nigeria is becoming more apparent every day and satellite imagery shows just how much damage the insurgent group is doing to communities in its territories.

    Closer to home, Google’s Project ARA gets another outing, we look at how economies can deal with the jobless future, what a terrible aunt Ayn Rand was and how the IoT is going to sea.

    The IoT goes to sea

    At the CES show two weeks ago Ericsson launched their new maritime cloud service that promises to connect ocean going ships to the same services available on land

    Google unveils more about Project Ara

    Project Ara is Google’s attempt to reinvent the smartphone, the project came a little closer to completion with the company showing off some of its progress

    Creating the innovation state

    What do we do in a world where most people’s jobs have gone? Create an innovation state rather than a welfare state could be an answer suggests one economist.

    The extent of Boko Haram’s massacres

    Words fail to describe the horrors being visited on the people of Nigeria.

    Ayn Rand was a terrible Aunty

    What happened when one of Ayn Rand’s nieces asked aunty for a $25 loan?

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  • Daily links – Twitter founder on social media, teenagers online and tech employment

    Daily links – Twitter founder on social media, teenagers online and tech employment

    Links today have a bit of a social media theme with Twitter co-founder Ev Williams explaining his view that Instagram’s numbers don’t really matter to his business while researcher Danah Boyd explains the complexities of teenagers’ social media use.

    Apple’s patents and why the tech industry is firing, not hiring, round out today’s stories.

    Feel the width, not the quality

    Twitter co-founder Ev Williams attracted attention last month with his comment that he couldn’t care about Instagram’s user numbers, in A Mile Wide, An Inch Deep he explains exactly what he meant at the time and why online companies need to focus more on content and value.

    Apple gets patent, GoPro shares drop

    One of the frustrations with following the modern tech industry is how patents are used to stifle innovation. How an Apple patent for something that seems obvious caused camera vendor GoPro’s shares to fall is a good example.

    Why is the tech industry shedding jobs?

    Despite the tech industry’s growth, the industry’s giants are shedding jobs. This Bloomberg article describes some of the struggles facing the tech industry’s old dinosaurs.

    An old fogey’s view of teenagers’ social media use

    Researcher Danah Boyd provides a rebuttal of the story about young peoples’ use of social media. “Teens’ use of social media is significantly shaped by race and class, geography and cultural background,” she says. Sometimes it’s necessary to state the obvious.

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