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lizstless posted a photo:

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We are delighted to announce that electronic pioneers and the most influential band of their genre, Kraftwerk, will close Iceland Airwaves 2013!

Kraftwerk will perform their groundbreaking master works in 3-D vision on Sunday November 3. The show is included in the Iceland Airwaves ticket price and we will reveal more details later.

(via KRAFTWERK IS COMING!)

Anyone want to go to Iceland Airwaves? Probably easier than it was to get a ticket for the MoMA. 

“This year, he partnered up with a friend, Drew Breunig, to code an iPhone app called Reporter that would simplify the life recording process. Every 90 minutes, the app buzzes Felton—automatically snagging his coordinates while asking him the same questions: Where are you? Who are you with? What are you wearing? How productive were you today (on a scale of 1-5)?”

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1 | Nicholas Felton Unveils His Latest Annual Report | Co.Design: business innovation design (via memos-and-musings)

I have been wanting something like this to exist for years.

(via secondverse)

Buster’s been using Foursquare for this for years. I use a combination of Foursquare and Last Night’s Checkins, which I guess is like down now for everyone but me or something. I’ll ask Doug. 

I did an experiment and hit SXSW without saying anything on it on social media. I used Foursquare and GroupMe for some local action, so I could find friends and the like, but didn’t do anything on more widespread social media. I didn’t want to contribute to others’ FOMO. I did post a few pictures on Instagram, but they were only of non-human things, cute photos, stuff that could have been anywhere - a laptop stand, an oil painting, a statue. You know, hipster emo stuff. No bands, no friends, no panels, no action. No mention of SXSW. 

After doing so, I can now say it was really cathartic, and the world would be a better place if everyone did the same thing. 

We are, after all, being played. I sat down for a lovely interview with a reporter named Norene Malone from the New Republic, who expressed skepticism that all the marketing work there was worth it. I walked her through the numbers, both from an earned media perspective and a Tipping Point/brand influencers perspective, and assured her it was actually totally worth it for someone like GE to spend 200, 300 grand at SXSW, and how there’s even a pretty solid argument for a young startup to make a go of it. It really does make financial sense for these brands to be here. And it makes sense because we are all too happy to talk about it. 

Now, I mean, I’m not saying this in some curmudgeonly anti-advertising way, grumble grumble, get off my lawn. I don’t think advertising is evil. But man, it sure does feel weird at this level at SXSW. I can’t help but feel like we’re not only all being played, but we’re also helping brands figure out how to play everyone else. Why is that? I’ve sort of been mulling it over, and I think it’s because we view SXSW as a window into our future a bit. We try out these apps that need a high density of connected users all in one place, and we see if they work or not, so we have some insight into whether they COULD work in a world where millions of people have downloaded them. The whole place is a bit of a future lab. And when I think of SXSW that way, I LOVE GroupMe and Foursquare, but, man, Twitter sure gets annoying, and Instagram gets pretty insufferable - I don’t want all of my friends to be in the same place doing the same things one block up the road. I want them out in the world doing amazing different things. Whatever, I digress. The advertising, though, is terrifying, isn’t it? If that is our future? A future with a branded experience every 50 feet? I suppose it is. I suppose we’ll buy everything online and brands will need real-world outlets just as brand activators, points of interest to give influencers an anchor to their branded tweets. 

It’s interesting. Online, brands are getting smarter and better and learning to do awesome shit for us. But offline, they’re almost getting more annoying. No, no, that’s too harsh. A Samsung Galaxy Lounge™ is definitely less annoying than a giant billboard on the side of a building. 

This is the thing - all of this is really just being done so that brands don’t have to pay for media, so they don’t have to pay for our news. Yes, it’s more authentic to have a brand recommendation coming from a friend. Yes, I will listen to friends more. But can that be the ONLY thing? No. I want brands to support the media. I’m writing a whole book about it, but generally speaking when economists talk about whether advertising is good or bad for our economy, they agree broadly that it’s good, but the number one thing that puts it over the edge into the good camp is that it pays for our media. I am starting to think we should respect brands who are willing to pony up and support the NY Times and whatnot rather than just trying to leverage social. Because when they save that money, when they only have to spend $10 million on media instead of $100 million on media, where does that savings go? What happens to that other $90 million? Does it go to the customers in lower prices? No. Do the employees get raises? No. It goes to the shareholders. 

This reads more like an attempt at a manifesto than I mean it to. I am just saying, wow, it was nice to not tweet a lot about SXSW. And even though I was actually at SXSW, it was nice to not read about SXSW on Twitter the whole time. 

I WILL SAY, SXSW themselves? They did a great job. The conference has largely worked out its growing pains. Austin could use one or two more large hotels - the housing situation is a joke. A complete catastrophe, but that’s out of the SXSW’s control, I suppose. I thought it was going to be terrible, and it wasn’t. Congrats, SXSW. I suspect you’re plotting to move the whole thing to Vegas or something, but, really, it was a wonderful time in Austin, as always. 

lizstless posted a photo:

Awesome painting. (at DoStuff Media HQ)

lizstless posted a photo:

Texan monitor stand. (at DoStuff Media HQ)

lizstless posted a photo:

Swim with mermaids

lizstless posted a photo:

This place is crazy. (at Fortney Home Eclectic Furnishings)

secret-clubhouse:

Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space

God I love this poster. I won it in a scavenger hunt in 1997. It’s autographed. 

Emma peeking through the screens at secret clubhouse. (at Secret Clubhouse)

marissanewton:

my friend is from France and this is her map of the US omg

I don’t think I ever met a single French person in Alaska. I did take four years of French lessons, though, and my high school French class took a trip to Paris!

““If you have a little gold and a handgun, you can always get across the Canadian border.””

- Exclusive Excerpt: Roger Ailes Off Camera — www.vanityfair.com — Readability

““Short-sellers have been attracted to multi-level marketers the way drunken sailors are always attracted to dirty girls at the end of the bar,” explains that person. “It’s just a match made in heaven.””

- Bill Ackman, Dan Loeb, Carl Icahn, and Herbalife: The Big Short War | Vanity Fair

“71% of consumers feel positive about advertising as a profession
67% of consumers feel positive about the advertising they see around them
57% of consumers say advertising gives them something to talk about
39% of consumers love advertising”

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Consumers Like Ad Industry Better Than It Likes Itself | Special: 4A’s Conference - Advertising Age

Next time you hear one of those weirdos saying advertising doesn’t work, show them these stats. 

songhia:

Happy Birthday Blue Monday. This song is 30 years old!?

(via Happy 30th birthday to New Order’s “Blue Monday”; hear five different versions of the biggest-selling 12? of all time – Beatport News)

Woah. 

everygenerationbuysthelie:

2013

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