“With or without this embedding problem, we’ll never get 50 zillion views on a YouTube video again. That moment – the dawn of internet video – is gone. The internet isn’t as anarchic as it was then. Now there are Madison Avenue firms that specialize in “viral marketing” and the success of our videos is now taught in business school. But here’s a secret: zillions of hits was never the point. We’re a rock band, and it’s a great gig. Not just because we get to snort drugs off the Queen of England (we do), but because the only thing we are expected to do is make cool stuff. We chase our craziest ideas for a living, and if sharing those ideas takes 40 websites instead of one, it doesn’t make too big a difference to us.”

I think this is the most awesome insight into the state of digital media and social engagement in a very long time. The entire letter is really great and is actually a very reasonable commentary on the state of the music industry as a whole, too.

Check out my Dopplr listings for the future (not much planned right now).

Republic/Springfield, MO*
Boston, MA*
Des Moines, IA*
Sacramento, CA
San Francisco, CA
East Hampton, NY
New London, CT
Wilmington, DE
Philadelphia, PA
Easton, PA
Providence, RI
Minneapolis, MN
White Plains, NY
Austin, MN
Osage, IA

Previous Lists:
[2008]

Well occasionally, they do cool things worth sharing and I think this one qualifies.  They periodically survey customers for feedback about various aspects of their services, financial feelings and overall consumer insight.  Well they recently posted some data from these surveys and the results are an interesting peek at how people think about their money and the context of their decision-making.

How are you feeling about…?

I think its interesting to see that while the respondents are slightly more pessimistic about the economy, they are overwhelmingly optimistic about their own jobs and retirement plans.   Feels a bit like a “Bad things will only happen to other people” kind of mentality. Though there is a noticeable shift in confidence from “My Job” to “My retirement plans” indicating that people aren’t too worried about losing their jobs, but aren’t too sure their 401K will be there to meet them at the end.

Would you rather permanently lose 20lbs or get $10,000 in cash?

This one doesn’t strike me as too shocking… I think that I could start going to the gym and eating a bit healthy and drop 20lbs for less effort than I would need to expend to earn $10,000.  I would definitely take the $10k… and then promptly stuff it in a mattress.

Would you rather retire modestly at 55 or retire wealthy at 65?

Given the option of retiring modestly at 55 or wealthy at 65 is a bit more complicated than it seems at first.  If you retire at middle class at 55, thats an extra decade of options as to what you want to do… though those options may not be as extravagant as they would be if you were wealthy.  But it seems that the happiness you would get from 10 years of not working would be a nearly equal substitute of self-perpetuating wealth; I suppose there is something to be said for the peace of mind you would have if you retired wealthy at 65.

I don’t know which I’d chose- I don’t know if I could ever just stop working all together but I think I would love the idea of having 10 years to work on whatever I want to in an attempt to get the happiness of doing what I enjoy along with the potential of achieving wealth sometime in the decade before 65.

I thought it was interesting data from their customers- though it must be said that I know very little about collection methods or anything else that would speak to the data validity- it does seem to me that it would likely be skewed to younger, higher-income consumers in more urban areas with unrestricted access to broadband so its likely not perfectly representative of the nation as a whole.  But good stuff to check out nonetheless.  Be sure to read their entire blog post on the survey.

Zach van Schouwen has created a very cool video showing the entire history of one block in New York City. He started out researching a five-story tenement building at 218 Eldridge Street which his great-great grandfather lived.

“With some help from Christopher Gray’s guide to researching New York City buildings, I discovered that the building had been erected in 1834, on the site of an old house. It was demolished in the 1940s; its lot later held a garage, then a housing project.”

I love these kinds of things… seeing how much the city has changed over the years from a farm to a row of small buildings to an empty lot and back again. The map below shows the block of Eldridge between Stanton and Rivington.

View Larger Map

Clocking in at 140 slides, it is long but is actually a very quick read.  Anyone who manages employees or is trying to envision where to take a company should really spend 5-10 minutes and take a look.

Once you log in, it takes a few moments to log into your account but then pulls in profile data and your photos and begins to integrate them into the game trailer… sounds elementary but go see your personalized trailer and tell me it isn’t skin crawling to see your photos included in the storyline for a post-apocalyptic virus scare.   Check it out on the Prototype site; I really think this is the future of social integration and is definitely the most original and impactful Facebook Connect site I’ve seen yet.

Well today, Hulu has surpassed even my expectations by releasing a beta version of Hulu Desktop.

Available on both PC and Mac, this provides a desktop-interface for perusing and accessing TV Shows and Movie on the site in a way that is compatible with your Apple Remote or Windows Media Center.  I haven’t tested it yet but from the demos Ive seen it looks incredible and exactly the kind of native platform integration a lot of users have been looking for.

Check out their demo video here: