insights from the digital future
With the snip of a lock and the opening of a “mystery box” that had been sealed since SXSW, TOMS Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie revealed the next chapter in the Santa Monica-based company’s one-for-one mission: Eyewear.
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Continue reading “Interview + Photos: TOMS Announces One for One Eyewear”
Self-portrait of the author pretending to sext.
Life in Southern California comes with various aspects you can depend on for better and worse: Abundant sunshine, salacious celeb gossip, consistent traffic and government over-legislation.
While we can leave the future of foreskin up to city government (thanks San Francisco and Santa Monica), it appears that what our children can and cannot do with their mobile devices while in class will be determined not on a case-by-case basis or by school principals but in Sacramento — by the California State Legislature.
Senators unanimously passed a bill that would make sexting an infraction for which school officials could expel students.
Continue reading “Legislating Sexting: Another Rant Against the State”
With Twitter becoming more and more of an echo chamber and LinkedIn lacking in conversation what it offers as a networking tool, it can be difficult to find a place on the web to provoke frank conversation, receive honest feedback, and develop professional relationships for co-creation.
Namesake, a Los Angeles-based startup, is hoping to fill that void. Founded in January 2010 by entrepreneurs Brian Norgard and Dan Gould as a place for professionals and creators to match ideas with opportunities and resources, Namesake.com is still in private beta (to get in now http://nmsk.co/gRsIvp).
Based in a small office in the Hollywood Hills, Namesake is the third startup for Norgard and Gould, who previously cofounded NewRoo, a content aggregator acquired by News Corp in 2006, and Twitter advertising tool Ad.ly.
As a Namesake user, you can build a profile with a full bio and embedded video, or choose to keep it simple. Users can follow conversations passively, participate, and initiate their own. Conversation activity on the site streams in real time on the main page.
Questions and topics recently active in conversations on the site range from the Peter Thiel-inspired “What is it about the world that you know is true that everyone else doesn’t understand?” to “…here’s my washed, dried Beef round top round steak, what shall I do with it?” and “Anyone got tips for staying active in social media… while still being productive & getting tons of stuff done?”
Namesake also features live chats, one afternoon for example, author and USC Marshall faculty member Dave Logan is leading a conversation on tribal leadership. A live chat earlier that day featured LA-based serial angel investor and BetterWorks founder Paige Craig.
Try Namesake out for yourself — get in while it’s still in beta by visiting http://nmsk.co/gRsIvp.
Originally posted May 26, 2011 at LAist.
National Geographic may be one of the longest-publishing magazine in history — first printed in 1888 — but that isn’t keeping it from taking a front seat in the industry-wide drive to innovate for the digital age.