What Are You Curious About? Discovery Channel Launches Curiosity

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Premiering this Sunday, August 7th at 8pm, Discovery Channel launches the ambitious series Curiosity with a companion website at Curiosity.com. 

Curiosity asks and answers the most fundamental questions facing the world today. Each episode of Curiosity will focus on a single enduring question in science, technology, and society. As is always the case, one single question cascades into several more, making each episode of Curiosity a rich and textured experience. From the micro to the macro, we tackle provocative and insightful questions.

Have you ever wondered why the sky is blue? Questioned how we age? Asked what makes us truly happy? More than just a landmark television series, Curiosity is an adventure of discovery, an expedition to uncover the truths behind life's most challenging questions.

I have high hopes for the series, it has the potential to be another great source of creative thinking fuel. If the following teaser clips are an indication of what is to come we should all tune in to the series and join the conversation on the website. 

 







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Antonio Ortiz

Antonio Ortiz has always been an autodidact with an eclectic array of interests. Fascinated with technology, advertising and culture he has forged a career that combines them all. In 1991 Antonio developed one of the very first websites to market the arts. It was text based, only available to computer scientists, and increased attendance to the Rutgers Arts Center where he had truly begun his professional career. Since then Antonio has been an early adopter and innovator merging technology and marketing with his passion for art, culture and entertainment. For a more in-depth look at those passions, visit SmarterCreativity.com.

The Filter Bubble In The [Google]Plex

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This week Google announced the ambitious Google+ project, their latest foray into the social web. This provides me with a great opportunity to encourage you to read two very relevant books that will influence how you feel about Google+.

In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, And Shapes Our Lives by Steven Levy
Steven Levy is a Senior Writer at Wired Magazine. In The Plex reads like the biography of Google, made possible by the rare access granted to Levy. In the book he reveals with clarity how Google came to be and in turn shows how the company works. He even describes the beginnings of project Emerald Sea, the code name for Google+. Levy also wrote an in-depth overview of the project on the day it launched. 

To further increase your curiousity here is Steven Levy in conversation with Kara Swisher of All Things D discussing the book:

 

The Filter Bubble, What The Internet Is Hiding From You by Eli Pariser
Eli Pariser noticed differences in search results based on an individuals past online history and set out to investigate why this was happening. In the following TED Talk from last February he shares what he discovered, giving you an overview of the book's content: 

 

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Antonio Ortiz

Antonio Ortiz has always been an autodidact with an eclectic array of interests. Fascinated with technology, advertising and culture he has forged a career that combines them all. In 1991 Antonio developed one of the very first websites to market the arts. It was text based, only available to computer scientists, and increased attendance to the Rutgers Arts Center where he had truly begun his professional career. Since then Antonio has been an early adopter and innovator merging technology and marketing with his passion for art, culture and entertainment. For a more in-depth look at those passions, visit SmarterCreativity.com.

Infographic: Facebook Is Winning Silicon Valley's Talent War

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Talent-War
via fastcodesign.com

It used to be that everyone wanted to work at Google, now everyone wants to work at Facebook.

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Antonio Ortiz

Antonio Ortiz has always been an autodidact with an eclectic array of interests. Fascinated with technology, advertising and culture he has forged a career that combines them all. In 1991 Antonio developed one of the very first websites to market the arts. It was text based, only available to computer scientists, and increased attendance to the Rutgers Arts Center where he had truly begun his professional career. Since then Antonio has been an early adopter and innovator merging technology and marketing with his passion for art, culture and entertainment. For a more in-depth look at those passions, visit SmarterCreativity.com.

Gaming the library: holding books hostage and seeing who comes to free them

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A couple of weeks ago while reading Jerome Lettvin’s obituary I noticed this gem:

“At MIT, his office in Building 20 was crammed with books, most overdue from the college library. Dr. Lettvin claimed he did not return them because the library would send him the students who wanted those books, and he would interview them as potential assistants.”

Jerome was gaming the library. He was holding onto resources that like-minded individuals desired in order to make professional connections. Cool.

via librarylab.law.harvard.edu

 

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Antonio Ortiz

Antonio Ortiz has always been an autodidact with an eclectic array of interests. Fascinated with technology, advertising and culture he has forged a career that combines them all. In 1991 Antonio developed one of the very first websites to market the arts. It was text based, only available to computer scientists, and increased attendance to the Rutgers Arts Center where he had truly begun his professional career. Since then Antonio has been an early adopter and innovator merging technology and marketing with his passion for art, culture and entertainment. For a more in-depth look at those passions, visit SmarterCreativity.com.

The Google+ project: A quick look

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It's official, Google goes social in their own way. Will this be a true Facebook competitor or yet another network at a time when the web is already socially saturated? It sure looks like Facebook, but emphasizes very different behavior, starting with a more microsocial view of the world and user-friendly privacy settings.

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Antonio Ortiz

Antonio Ortiz has always been an autodidact with an eclectic array of interests. Fascinated with technology, advertising and culture he has forged a career that combines them all. In 1991 Antonio developed one of the very first websites to market the arts. It was text based, only available to computer scientists, and increased attendance to the Rutgers Arts Center where he had truly begun his professional career. Since then Antonio has been an early adopter and innovator merging technology and marketing with his passion for art, culture and entertainment. For a more in-depth look at those passions, visit SmarterCreativity.com.