- Remember the old line about plastic Monopoly money? Prepare to can any quip about ‘plastic money’ forever, bury it in the backyard and slide a huge rock on top because if the new Canadian C$100 bill is any indication, we could all soon be stuffing our wallets with polymer and not paper notes.
Over a week and no linklist. Not that many would demand it, but an apology nonetheless. Sometimes, life can come in the way of linklists. Hopefully, that won’t happen too often (at least for a couple of weeks).
That set, lets get roaring into today’s awesome reads:
- OnStartups, one of my favorite websites on, well, startups, marked its 6 year anniversary with a recap of some of the best posts on the site over the past six years. Bookmark it. Read the posts over the weekend. Take notes. And then thank yourself for not wasting money on business school.
- Here’s to the anti-perfectionist (i.e. the literary cousins of imperfectionists) who go by the motto: whatever works. In a culture where we worship the perfectionists (Steve Jobs, for instance), it is refreshing to see a contrary viewpoint which speaks a cold hard truth: in 95% cases, just going with ‘whatever works’ is far better than finding the perfect solution. I can relate to this because I come from a country where ‘jugaad’ – a Hindi term which roughly translates into: “made of odds and ends, but in working condition” – is the norm. If you can punch it out quickly, perhaps not only will you have the time to revise future iterations, but might also learn from user experience. Famous example of a site that was punched out in days? Facebook.
I have no idea what this is..oh wait, it's just some cucumber.
- NaNoWriMo, in case you didn’t know, is National Novel Writing Month – where you punch out a novel in one month, no matter how good or bad (mostly bad). Won’t bag you the Pulitzer prize, but will at least motivate you enough to get off your ass and start working on those novelist dreams of yours. One week into the NaNoWriMo, how are your novels shaping up?
- Tweet of the day goes to Alpha-Apple fan, John Gruber, “Steve Job’s biography is written by a man who thinks Mac OS X is named ‘OSX’”. Oooh…epic geek burn.
- Big news story of the day: Groupon’s IPO launch. It was the biggest IPO launch after Google went public in 2004. The company has raised a staggering $700M in financing and is leading the charge in the daily-deals space. It’s been a success, with the stock closing at $26.11 – 31% above its offer price of $20. The champagne is out, and so are the hopes of the tech industry.
Here's Jack Nicholson as the Joker. You'll never be as cool as him.
- 6 volunteers, a fake spaceship, and 520 days of isolation: no, it’s not the plot summary to Star Trek, but the Mars500 mission which locked up six volunteers in a fake spaceship in a Moscow parking lot to examine the effects of long term confinement on an individual’s physical and psychological health. Volunteers had to eat meals out of a can, shower once a week, and die a little each day. Can we say Worst Job in the World? The Wired reports.
- Movember. You know, the month where you stash away the razor blades and grow manliness (read: a mustache). To honor this ancient and noble custom, Mr. Clean, the 54 year old icon for the Procter & Gamble brand, will grow an awesome mustache, the ferociousness of which will be decided by the number of fans to P&G’s Facebook page. After a hooped pirate earing, a mustache would be a fitting accompaniment in Mr. Clean’s mid-life crisis, me thinks.
- Microsoft has released a 6 minute long video of its vision for the future. It’s slick, on the cutting edge of technology and not more than 5-10 years into the decade. I, for one, found it impressive, if a little cold. A lot of others agreed, including Ian Douglas of the Telegraph.
Daily Bites is a new section on Avocado Press that collects linkworthy content from across the internet on technology and startups. Think of it as fiber for your brain.
- There’s Steve Jobs and there’s Steve Jobs. The former is the innovator, the genius, the legendary hardass who terrified employees and intimidated competitors into submission. The latter is the man behind the genius which so few knew about. Mona Simpson, Steve’s biological sister, was among those few, and she’s penned easily the most moving eulogy to the man that gives a rare glimpse into the life of a man who, despite his celebrity, remained a figure shrouded in secrecy. It is, by far, the best thing you’ll read this week, and perhaps even this year. And by the way, Steve’s last words were Oh Wow Oh Wow Oh Wow!. That seems strangely uplifting. Perhaps the other side isn’t that terrifying after all.
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