FFascinating set of images over at 9-eyes.com

I do very little speaking these days, but last week I did a slot at IAB Engage – on digital disruption the next 20 years. Rather than make you endure the whole lot – these are the bits that got tweeted.

‘Success in the digital world has a half life of two years’

I saw a piece on slashdot by a tech recruiter saying that tech skills have a half life of two years. It made me think that in my experience the same is true of success in almost any digital environment. If you keep doing the same things, you’ll find they’re half as successful after two years. Which means you either have to do twice as much, or come up with something new.

Games consoles are the Trojan horses of disruption in our living room

It’s been remarkable watching the uptake of LOVEFiLM’s PS3 service. These devices are so, so powerful – and I think with the coming Xbox launch we’re only just scratching the surface of the disruption they might cause.

‘The best internet businesses make magic seem normal’

I’ve said this before, and it seems to strike a chord. Since I first typed it, I’ve been thinking about how some businesses fail to really break through to the mass market, because they do something that’s magic, but it still feels like magic. Augmented reality is one example. I may be way off the mark, but Siri might just be another..

The one I forgot to say..

‘Great digital work is forged by creativity and honed by data’

I’ll come back to that later..

Oh and my biggest laugh…

[Providing a bit of context for 1991, the year that the web was opened to the public]

1991 saw the death of Freddie Mercury and the birth of Pixie Lott…that wasn’t a very good deal, was it..?

Yes, I think my stand up career can be put on hold for now..

In true modern shopping style, I phoned up Evans to find the exact pair I needed were in stock; went to the store, tried them on – then whipped out my phone to show them cheaper on wiggle, and they instantly (and I should add very happily) matched the price; and did the same for a pair of cleats that went with them.

On one level – good for them. Great service – and I’ll happily shop that way again. But ouch on those margins.

OK, so I’m very, very late to the David Sedaris party (this is from 2007). But right now, after he recently popped up on Radio 4, I can’t get enough of him. Laugh-out-loud funny, beautifully written and read. A definite audiobook must-have.

Here’s a sample of  him over at NPR

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Thanks to Jeremy Keith for bringing the memory back.

So, I’m on the hunt quotes and insights from people who are much smarter than me.

First came Marc Andreessen’s Software is Eating The World; and now comes this neat piece in McKinsey Quarterly about the digital world as ‘The Second Economy‘.

I particularly like this description – and the words I’ve put in bold..

I’d say it is vast, silent, connected, unseen, and autonomous (meaning that human beings may design it but are not directly involved in running it). It is remotely executing and global, always on, and endlessly configurable. It is concurrent—a great computer expression—which means that everything happens in parallel. It is self-configuring, meaning it constantly reconfigures itself on the fly, and increasingly it is also self-organizing, self-architecting, and self-healing.

These last descriptors sound biological—and they are. In fact, I’m beginning to think of this second economy, which is under the surface of the physical economy, as a huge interconnected root system, very much like the root system for aspen trees. For every acre of aspen trees above the ground, there’s about ten miles of roots underneath, all interconnected with one another, “communicating” with each other.

via The second economy – McKinsey Quarterly – Strategy – Growth.

In a week’s time it will be two years since my mother died of pancreatic cancer. I’m ambivalent about the anniversary. I feel it’s wrong to ignore it; and at the same time, wrong to turn it into some sort of sacred day.

Anyway, on facebook, the other day a friend recommended this book – A monster calls by Patrick Ness. I just downloaded it onto the kindle, and by chance, read it in a day on a couple of train rides [it's quite short].

I didn’t know it was the story of a nine year old boy (Conor) who’s divorced mother is dying of cancer. Nor did I know that although it was written by Patrick Ness, it was based on notes by Siobhan Dowd who died of breast cancer in 2007.

I also didn’t know that it’s officially a ‘children’s book’.

It is deeply moving without ever being sentimental or mawkish. If you have lost a close relative or friend to cancer it will bring a lot back to you – much that you might rather have forgotten (yes, I cried on the 8.23 into Waterloo) .

It manages to combine being very modern with a mythical/ magical plot. So Conor uses Skype to speak to his dad and plays around online at night, but the whole plot hinges around his relationship with a monster who forms from a yew tree in his garden.

As I’m no book reviewer, I’ll steer you in the direction of Frank Cottrell Boyce in the Guardian and Daniel Hahn in the Independent, if you want to know more (they both loved it). But really, all I’m saying, is you should read it.

A Monster Calls: Amazon.co.uk: Patrick Ness, Siobhan Dowd, Jim Kay: Books.

Well, that’s been happening a lot recently with John Grant. I bought Queen of Denmark ages ago, but haven’t really listened to it. Just wonderful songwriting.

via John Grant – Where Dreams Go To Die Strongroom Session – YouTube.