Big Art 📬 😱 😍 #42

Big Art 📬 😱 😍 #42

5 Dec, 2017

Happy 2017!

I’m a fan of delighting people via postal mail.

Most end of year cards I saw this year were wrapped in thick, unrecyclable plastic so I ordered recycled paper postcards and got out the watercolours.

If you’d like a treat in your postbox, reply with your postal address before 16 December. Let’s have fun.

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Big Art.

I’ve had a great surprise this week: a bird’s eye view of a new, massive street art being painted and seeing focused artists Fintan Magee and Jason Parker. They’re painting in all kinds of weather, up and down and across in the cherrypicker (effortlessly working at heights) and their iPhones are getting workouts to check their plan. Seeing them write the original grid with numbers on the empty cement wall then filling in each section with such attention to the shading and colours has been so inspiring. Imagine doing a paint by numbers of this size, to this level of detail and with such success. Whoah! Talent!

Great to see they’re supported by Taubmans (I enjoyed reading links to street art and their history) with loads of paint rollers, brushes and sooo much paint.

If you’re in Melbourne, head down Little Bourke Street, just before Spencer, to see this and others painted. Otherwise, here are the photos as it comes to be (I plan to add photos to this link until the art is completed).

Thanks to Juddy Roller & crews for bringing this to be and to Sarah Moran for helping me track down the artists’ names.

Ease.

“Fin uses a combination of human and machine intelligence to provide high quality, on-demand assistance so you can focus on what is most important to you.” Product Hunt newsletter.

Excellent! This great product video shows how Fin is clever.

Fin could save you time and give you more ease. It’s a great time to try it out as “Fin is waiving the $120 monthly minimum spend for the Product Hunt community — you can signup here to pay per request.”

Ross Hill first mentioned using Fin so you could get in touch with him.

Favourite Reads & Listens.

Once again Cal Newport (author of “Deep Work”) has me captivated. In “So Good They Can’t Ignore You” he shares his observations of the 3 core traits in people he’s interviewed that love doing exceptional work:

(1) Impact
Creativity (2)
(3) Control

He debunks the passion hypothesis (that you need to follow your passions to find work you love) and courage culture (that you need to be emotionally brave too) and instead highlights people who have developed their experience and skills (career capital) prior to using it for greater autonomy, income, flexibility and more.

These summarised notes are worth a scan if you’re not going to read the book (the Audible version is short & engaging).

It’s a fascinating time as always. I’m curious to see what happens with Facebook’s Messenger for Kids and will be looking on to see what the main character in this street art has in his left hand (will let you know)! Haven’t yet mentioned anything about the Apple Watch 3 – after a couple of months I’m a fan!

That’s all from me for now. As always, shoot me a reply with topics you’d like to read – they add extra spark.

Have a wonderful time,

~ Sam

RunwayDigital.com

Extending Senses 🏃 🚚 👂#41

Extending Senses 🏃 🚚 👂#41

21 Nov, 2017

It was the “latte” in this Tesla semi post that made me grin.

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Books that you miss upon finishing.

I was entranced and entertained listening to Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

VR/AR leaders often recommend it to experience one of our possible futures: ultra-simulation (in 2045). The impressive narration by Wil Wheaton often had me chuckling, the detail in the book astounded me and of course it was fun to hear the vast number of (familiar) 1980’s references.

It’s also a Spielberg movie to be released next year.

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Kevin Kelly in Recomendo.

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Favourite reads & listens

  • What senses would you extend?Neil Harbisson talks about going from full colourblindness to installing an antenna so he could hear sound. Apparently the cleaning product isle in the supermarket is like a fun nightclub! It’s an uplifting, fascinating, futuristic, 9:35min watch. Actually even the first few minutes is worth it to imagine a new dimension for you.Photo credit: Ted.com
  • Rolling Stone followed Elon around for months.Here are a few quotes that struck me:



  • “The world is getting better at a stunning rate“. This report has “evidence of abundance” graphs and insights. Big thanks to Peter Diamandis and his team for showcasing how the world is improving. Here’s to balanced news.

 

 

 

 

 

  • Using algorithms and radical transparency at work may make your workplace even easier. (thx Jacqui Hocking)
  • The Websummit opening remarks are a great call for designers, creators, entrepreneurs and technologists to focus on building tech that is useful and fair for society. Included are: Stephen Hawking on AI, Bryan Johnson on HI, a regulator’s view of Facebook and other ultra powerful tech companies.

Great presence

  • Thanks for the laugh David Roberts (of Innovation and Disruption at Singularity University). Here is his bio: “His fascination with technology began In fourth grade after building a hovering electric drone, to carry his younger sister to the bus stop, powered by what was formerly his mother’s vacuum cleaner, and fortunately limited by the length of an electric power cord.”Have you added humour to yours?
  • Good fun at the London tube:

Have a wonderful week,

~ Sam

RunwayDigital.com

 

PS. One of the companies and experiences that have most impressed me in the last couple of years is Manly Ocean Adventures. Knowledgeable, exceptional value, and thoughtful, they’re advertising their incredible experiences (with or without whales) as great Christmas gift ideas. If you’re near Sydney or your people are… this could be for you!

 

 

PPS. in a previous email I wrote about the Apple Airpods. My update from a month of using them is that I’m still loving the earphones quick change between computer and iPhone and watch phonecall pickup. I am missing the ease of the Jaybirds hanging around my neck. The Airpods are a bit more of a cognitive load for me. They’re fiddly to remember where they are / to put in my pocket when I’m on the move and I sense I’ve a higher risk of losing them. Jaybird X2 Sport were around my neck all the time and I could use one or two earphones and never think about the battery or getting into the practice of taking out one Airpod during a long phonecall to make sure I have enough battery. The tech of the Airpods is beautiful and clever and it’s wonderful they can be used across many bluetooth devices – not just Apple’s. Airpods around the neck!?!

Elon 👽 ✨ 💐 #39

Elon 👽 ✨ 💐 #39

24 Oct, 2017

Ways to feel happy about your future.

Elon Musk says his massive visions are all about not wanting to feel sad about the future. He suggests people need things in our future to feel excited about (such as the real possibility of a civilisation on Mars). Such simple perspective that’s leading to significant global progress, innovation and inspiration.

“Fundamentally, the future is vastly more exciting and interesting if we are a spacefaring civilisation and a multi-planet species”

“You want to be inspired by things, to wake up in the morning and think that the future is going to be great. And that’s what being a spacefaring civilisation is all about.”

His insights have inspired me across topics from entrepreneurialism to intentional visions to being playful while aiming high – perhaps they will for you too via this easy YouTube playlist. Press play and watch each one.

One of the fascinating things is that Tesla’s mission is about influencing the industry (not just selling cars) and if they fail, they’ll have influenced other car manufacturers to progress their sustainable energy cars.

He recently promoted GM making electric cars:

Elon’s Top 5 Areas for Humanity.

The five areas Elon sees as important to work on now for humanity:
  1. Doing Artificial Intelligence (AI) “in a good way”
  2. Reprogramming genetics – including higher bandwidth to the brain.  Whoah.
  3. Self driving cars
  4. Sustainable energy
  5. The Internet

One for the history books!

Since we reuse airplanes, we might as well reuse rockets! Go SpaceX!

Favourite reads & listens

  • “Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy” by Adam Grant and Sheryl Sandberg is a guide for being a great human, a great friend, to those going through the grief of losing a loved one and tips for people who are directly going through mourning. There were snippets in there about resilience and adversity that could apply to other aspects of life though it was predominantly about Sheryl’s story of her husband unexpectedly dying at 47 years old and how she coped and performed with the help of supportive colleagues at Facebook, friends and family and includes the wisdom that helped. An emotional rollercoaster and a book for life that I recommend. 6 hour listen on Audible.
  • Melburnians – Dior is here ’til 7 November. The scale of this exhibition at NGV is brilliant as is seeing the House through the years. Worth a couple of hours. If you’ve seen the Dior and I documentary you’ll enjoy the familiarity. I was mesmerised by this Autumn/Winter 2017 show on the big screen:

  • Simple, short watch to support you and the other high achievers you know.
  • Ski like a girl talk by Lynsey Dyer. Lynsey started She Jumps which teaches girls and kids to: Find your own magnificence and sense of belonging through: 1. Have a goal 2. Lighten up on yourself 3. Be your own best friend 4. Listen to your intuition 5. Accept all the parts of yourself.   
  • My new airpods are as excellent as people say they are. Effortlessly (so fast) changing and connecting  between computer, watch and phone, and comfortable. Ohhhh yeahhh….
  • Enhancing Human Intelligence (HI) via a chip in your brain. What’s possible? Bryan Johnson provides food for thought and insight.
  • “Work should light a fire in your soul!” Go Tina.

Great online presence

  • It was wonderful to be part of Type.Human‘s launch today. Get in touch with them if the idea has you curious.
  • Oh NASA, of course, you’re AMAZING!

Blockchain and Cryptocurrency News

Remember that list I mentioned? The one with 25+ links of Blockchain and cryptocurrency insights? It has a few additions for you ~

  • a new, prioritised YouTube playlist,
  • a new video on blockchains for supply chains,
  • a new talk by Andreas about Bitcoin’s future. I particularly liked his analogy to not mistaking smooth sailing as a sign of great sailors,
  • favourite podcasts and newsletters you can subscribe to and more.

Click on those of interest. The YT playlist has a few short ones that are easy to pickup.

Shoot me a reply so I can improve the next email. Thanks.

Here’s to your wonderful week!

~ Sam

RunwayDigital.com

P.S. Like my new t-shirt?