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Contrary to the plan, technology has limited our choices. When you check boxes that define your preference in a date–say, Latina, between 24 and 27, loves birds, is a Unitarian, oh, and also should have hazel eyes–you’re narrowing your world quite a bit there. We no longer “happen across” anything; we Google. We don’t flip through TV channels; we look at the cable menu and choose by title–or watch things you’ve chosen in advance, then recorded. Don’t answer the phone without that caller ID. Don’t bother listening to that whole CD–you want to hear that one song you already like. In every corner of this newest of new worlds, very little happens that isn’t planned out. Technology has trumped serendipity.

–‘iBone‘ — by Marshall Sella; GQ Magazine, Oct. 2011
via Urban Suburban

Interesting thread on Quora on who designed the broken image icon:

Stefan Sagmeister tells us the 7 rules to being a happy designer (the title of this post is #4).
via Analogue

It’s pretty awesome watching an adult put a marshmallow in front of a kid and telling he/she they can eat it now, or wait and get two marshmallows. It’s apparently based on the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment of 1972 which focused on deferred gratification.
via magalomania

PSFK: How To Get Your Analogue Photos To Look Like Instagram Filters
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How postmodern.

Just A Car Guy ponders the insane raises some CEOs make:

TRW CEO John Plant got 510% raise over his 2009 salary of 6.7 million
Ford CEO Alan Mulally 524% raise… yet his company has 14 billion in debt
Johnson Controls’ Stephen Roell 424% raise

So… did those 3 companies make 4 to 500% better business decisions? Better profit? Better products?

Disgusting, but not surprising.

The AP is just the latest in a series of news organizations pulling off GroupOn’s business model and profitability masks to reveal shady Old Mad Smithers in classic Scooby Doo style:

It’s the latest twist for Groupon’s IPO, which was one of the most anticipated offerings this year. In June, after Groupon filed for the offering, the SEC raised concerns about the way it counts revenue. Then the stock market plunged.

Now Groupon faces concerns about the viability of its daily deals business model. The novelty of online coupons is wearing off. Some merchants are complaining that they are losing money — and customers– on the deals. And competitors are swarming the marketplace.

“Groupon is a disaster,” says Sucharita Mulpuru, a Forrester Research analyst. “It’s a shill that’s going to be exposed pretty soon.”

And how do small businesses feel?

Adding to growing customer discontent, Groupon, which was initially seen by small mom-and-pop shops as a way to drum up new business, was losing favor with some of them. Merchants began to do the cruel math on the daily deals.

Restaurants offering $50 of food for just $25 only collect $12.50 — not even enough to cover the cost of the food. Some businesses also complain that the deals for new customers anger long-time patrons. Others say that the bargains attract high-maintenance types who don’t turn into loyal customers.

“Your restaurants are full packed with people who aren’t making you any money,” says Paul Evans, a Kansas City marketing executive who advises clients against using Groupon.

To GroupOn’s brief defense, if you’re a small business doing business with anyone, do your fucking math. If it looks too good to be true, it usually is.

via Instagram

You know how exciting it is to tell a friend about your new idea for a product/business/invention?
Turns out, it’s better to keep your mouth shut:

Unfortunately the mind sometimes has a nasty habit of sabotaging our best attempts to control ourselves. Recent research by Gollwitzer et al. (2010) suggests that, in fact, making our goals public can have precisely the opposite effect from what we intend.
Across three experiments the link between making goals public and actually working towards them was tested. What they found in every study was that when participants had shared their goal with someone else, instead of increasing their commitment, it reduced it.

Seems the best way to approach your goals is to just do them.