Here is the State of the Word presentation I delivered on Saturday, and the following Q&A.
If you just want to check out the slides, here they are on Slideshare:
Video Archives
Dan Gilbert on Happiness
This is an oldie but a goodie, Dan Gilbert’s TED talk on the Surprising Science of Happiness.
Arthur C. Clarke on Distributed Work
I saw the new Steve Jobs movie a few days ago, which I enjoyed as a movie even though the main elements were fiction and it should have been titled something else.
But they had an awesome video interview with the amazing Arthur C. Clarke in 1974, which I’ve embedded above, where he said the following right around 0:56.
Interviewer: I wonder though, what sort of a life will it be in social terms if our whole life is built around the computer, if we become a computer-dependent society, computer-dependent individuals.
ACC: In some ways, but they’ll also enrich our society because it’ll make it possible for us to live anywhere we like. Any businessman, any executive could live almost anywhere on earth and still do his business through a device like this, and this is a wonderful thing, it means we won’t have to be stuck in cities, we can live out in the country or wherever we please, and still carry on complete interaction with human beings, as well as with other computers.
Wow, extremely prescient. Remember, this was 1974! The dominant technology companies of today still follow the same office-centric model as when computers took up entire rooms, but the dominant companies of tomorrow will be built and grow in a completely distributed fashion. (And of course, we’re hiring.)
See also, from 2012: Automattic, Forbes, and the Future of Work.
Mario and NUX
In this video Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka discuss World 1-1, or the very first level in the very first Super Mario Bros. It’s fascinating how every element on the level is designed to introduce you to a mechanic of the game, or how Mario moves and jumps. This is interesting if you like Mario, but also important for any developer in any medium who is thinking about the NUX (new user experience) of their product. I sometimes joke that in WordPress we put people on the boss monster level the first time they enter the dashboard. There have been improvements but still so much to do to naturally introduce people to our interface.
HR Meets Science
Great talk on analytical HR at Google. Hat tip: Sara.
Super Impressive Mario
This custom Mario Maker level, and the skill required to beat it, is one of the craziest feats of Mario virtuoso I’ve seen.
1.6m Downloads in 23 Hours
23 hours hours ago, WordPress 4.3 was released. It’s already had 1.6 million downloads and counting. For a look at what’s new in this version you can watch the quick video above, or check out the blog post.
Artisanal Water
Many of my friends know how obsessed I am with different types of water, from Badoit to Hint Water (yum) to De L’aubier. This definitely hit close to home.
Hong Kong Morning
The upside of jet lag, like Om discovering the streets of Paris, are enjoying parts of the day you might not normally be awake for, like a beautiful sun rise. Here’s a time lapse I made of the Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong taken from the incredible view I have in my room.
Neil Gaiman Speech at University of the Arts
“Make good art.”
Obama Delivers Eulogy
Celebrating 10 Years
We did an official ten year post and video.
Funding Trends
I really enjoyed this presentation from Andreessen Horowitz on how funding has evolved, and the current tech situation vis a vis the bubble around the turn of the millennium. It’s a pretty strong case for there not being a bubble right now. Go full-screen to be able to read it well.
Undercity
Amazing Cover of Radiohead’s Creep
Jiro Ono and René Redzepi
An interesting and thoughtful conversation over a cup of tea between two food masters of our time, Jiro Ono and René Redzepi, from the MAD site. (WordPress-powered!)
John Oliver meets Snowden
John Oliver is pretty much always fun to watch, but you should especially send this episode to everyone you know, it’s important for people to see and understand it.
So This Climate Walks Into a Bar
Great talk introducing Grist.org and the state of the environment, including a number of things to be excited about.
Amazing Dance
https://vimeo.com/118946875
Incredible music (“Take Me To Church” by Hozier), incredible artist (the dancer, Sergei Polunin), and incredible photographer / director (David LaChapelle).
Find Fulfilling Work
Alain de Botton seems to be behind this fun series of videos that tries to apply philosophy to everyday life. This one I think is particularly important for founders, as I’ve seen many unhappy employees at startups because the founder was fundamentally unhappy because they were doing it for the wrong reasons.