Percolate: Making Content Creation Even Easier

July 7, 2011 2 Comments

Upon arriving at my desk today, I found my Twitter feed ablaze with talk about Noah Brier’s latest startup, Percolate.  The startup, is essentially a microblogging platform that feeds you select content from Twitter and your Google Reader, and allows you to easily share your thoughts on that content with friends.

In a Fast Company interview about the project, Noah talks about the difficulty of facing the blank box every time you sit down to blog.  It’s daunting, I agree, and the relative isolation of our individual blogs can make figuring out what to write about somewhat difficult.  According to Noah, Twitter revolutionized the game, by shrinking the box.  Now, Percolate aims to get rid of it altogether, by providing you with pieces of content to write about.  Equal parts Tumblr, Twitter and News Reader, Percolate is divided up into a content feed, dubbed the “Filter” and your follower feeds (what people are saying) called the “Brew”.

At first glance this seems to be a worthwhile step forward in helping to make content creation a more accessible and social process, something that Tumblr made strides in but ultimately fell short of.  And isn’t that what all this is about?  Tearing down all the walls preventing us from becoming more informed and inspired human beings?  Kudos to Noah!

By the way, Percolate is still in its double secret alpha phase, so head to Noah’s blog and grab up one of the 30 invites he’s offering up.

Filed under Business, Ideas, Marketing, Media

The Atlantic’s 14 Biggest Ideas of The Year

June 23, 2011 2 Comments

I’m big Atlantic fan.  I think their content is balanced and well-researched, plus I’m always surprised by the topics and stories they choose to cover.  So, when I realized we were due up for their Ideas Issue, I got pretty excited.  While the issue is comprised of a lot of good articles, the bulk of it is taken up by a section called The 14 Biggest Ideas of the Year.  Lists naturally appeal to me, but tend to over-simplify, so I prefer to see this as simply 14 big ideas for 2011 which span finance, economics, politics, foreign affairs, social and environmental policy, sports, entertainment and more.

While I won’t break out everyone of them, I’ll pull out five that I found to be particularly thought-provoking and intelligent.

1. The Rise of the Middle Class (Just Not Ours) – If you read anything, you know the middle class in the US and Europe is shrinking rapidly, a bad thing by anyone’s standard.  However, there is a silver lining, and that is the fact that it’s growing exponentially in developing markets like Brazil, India, China and more.  This means there’s a huge opportunity to sell goods and services to these developing markets.  The question then becomes, are we up for it?  And, will we recognize the opportunity in time?

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Filed under Business, Culture, Ideas

RISD Artreprenuer Toolkits

June 22, 2011 Leave a comment

Even the Rhode Island School of Design knows how tough it can be to find meaningful employment after graduating in a recession.  To combat this, they’ve partnered with a number of companies to provide their graduates with entrepreneur (or artrepreneur) toolkits.

The kits “help these highly creative thinkers to maximize their potential for innovation and explore entrepreneurial possibilities”.  Included in them is a Square device allowing grads to process credit card payment via their mobile device, a six-month account from Prosite, the new portfolio platform from Behance, a 2GB Yousendit account good for six months, plus the possibility for an Etsy Fellowship for the graduate whose store shows the most potential.  Also worth noting is the Kickstarter section solely for RSID grads, enabling them to gain funding for their projects.

At first glance this may seem like nothing next to the price students pay to attend this prestigious design school, but in reality, these highly-creative graduates often need help with the left brain components of establishing themselves as entrepreneurs.  Plus, tools like this help to instill confidence that their degree and the knowledge that comes with it, can take them anywhere they want to go.  All universities could learn from this kind of tangible support.

[via Springwise]

 

Filed under Art, Business, Design, Ideas

Idea of the Week: Parent Partner

May 18, 2011 Leave a comment

This post will mark the first of what I intend to be a weekly installment in which I share an idea with the world.  My intention with this is two fold.  First, I hope to cultivate an openness to receiving new ideas, but also sharing them (good and bad) with the world. Until now, my coveted moleskin journal has been chock full of thoughts, ideas and solutions that never see the light of day.  I guess on some level, I believe that someday I’ll have the cahones and means to bring them all to life, but I’m probably kidding myself.  The second purpose behind this installment is to hopefully gain feedback from readers or better yet, excite someone enough that they’ll take action themselves.  Any way, I’d love your feedback on this and hope you enjoy it…

I call this first idea, Parent Partner (terrible name, I know).  It arose out an acute awareness at this point in my life that my parents won’t be around forever.  But, I’d like them to be around for as long as possible, so they can see and play a role in the lives of their grandchildren, etc.  But, over the years they’ve developed habits that are working against their health, and, now they’re forced to make changes.  As a 26 year old, I know how hard it can be to make life-altering changes.  I can’t imagine how hard it will be when I’m in my late 50′s.  Not seeing this as an issue?  Think of it in a broader context: the peak of the baby-boomer generation is approaching retirement and our health care system is in for a surprise, but that’s another post.

That’s the problem.  Here’s the half-baked solution: an online community that allows kids (and adults) to work together with their parents to help them achieve health and wellness goals pertaining to exercise, nutrition, stress management, whatever.  But, not in a “Hey, Dad.  You’re fat.  Go exercise.” – kind of way.  In an endearing, supportive, “I love you.  And want you around for a long time.  So, please let me play a small part in your health.” – kind of way.  I see this as a sort of Daily Mile meets Nike+, but with a wider focus.  Parents and their kids could set goals and track their progress together, receive support through a library of editorial content and community of experts, as well as send endearing and helpful notes via a variety of social channels. Thoughts?

Filed under Culture, Ideas

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