I don’t know This Freakonomics Radio podcast (and the new book from Freakonomics authors Stephen Dubner and Steve Levitt) says “I don’t know” are the hardest three words to say. Meanwhile, this post from The Upshot on New York Times says differences in how women and men express opinions, including when they say “I don’t know,” can affect poll outcomes. Powerup Grantland has an excerpt from Blake J. Harris’s new book Console Wars about the rise of Nintendo. Washington Post Bezos Next to journalists, PR…
Read MoreR2D2’s dad This interview with the set decorator from Star Wars is either entirely self-recommending or of zero interest to you: The man who literally built Star Wars. In this case, it’s easier being green Why do green olives come in jars, but black ones in cans? My password’s keeper Congratulations, you can now count yourself among the people who are tired of hearing me tell them they should use a password manager. If, for some reason, my word isn’t enough for you, here’s a…
Read MoreCopy that In the first of a new series, the New York Times has this dramatic reenactment of a firey transcript from an Ohio Supreme Court deposition—about what constitutes a “photocopier.” The Internet is coming NPR posted a scan of this 1994 staff memo announcing the arrival of the Internet (and email) to NPR’s offices. Be a good netizen and check it out. print(“journalism”); Nate Silver says young journalists should learn to code. He said his newsroom at FiveThirtyEight would be perhaps 50% developers in…
Read MoreDouble plus ungood Not that you were using it much anyway, but it seems that big changes are afoot at Google+. Vic Gundotra, who was in charge of all things G+, has left and Google is reportedly making big changes to the product’s resources. Behind the poll It seemed like every link I clicked this week went to The Upshot, David Leonhardt’s sub-site for the New York Times. Like this article, which explains how the opinions of 1,000 random people can accurately represent the entire…
Read MoreEach week I share articles we’ve read and discussed around the THP offices. We call it the HodgePodge. Today, we have five stories about (or purportedly about) innovation or innovators. BRBPOS Mashable recounts an epic story of getting their first and doing nothing with it in The Rise and Fall of AIM, the Breakthrough AOL Never Wanted. The newest Jimmy When Stephen Colbert takes the reins of CBS’ Late Show next year, he’ll be the king of a shrinking mountain, says the Onion A.V. Club….
Read MoreTake a moment between sneezes to read some of the interesting articles we saw this week. Like if you agree, share if you don’t Facebook recently made changes designed to de-emphasize “like baiting” posts. This is good news for both users and companies. Sunset With the official, final, we’re-not-kidding-this-time end of support for Windows XP, Ad Week looks at the story behind perhaps the most famous computer desktop wallpaper photo ever, Microsoft Bliss. Brazil or bust Maxim introduces us to the super fans of American…
Read MoreI recently attended an event where one of the speakers made an off-hand remark that implied LinkedIn company pages aren’t worthy of our attention or effort. The audience had a good chuckle, but I found the remark strange because Hodges has seen some great results for clients using LinkedIn for sales, recruitment and marketing. Whether or not LinkedIn is to your taste, responsible marketers owe their clients the best advice they can give, and for some clients, you may find that LinkedIn is a great…
Read MoreAs a firm named after a baseball player and manager, you can imagine that MLB’s Opening Day is a pretty big deal around here. In honor of this young baseball season, we’ve got a few interesting baseball stories plus a couple interesting unrelated items. Swing away The story of jazz and baseball, two of America’s greatest contributions to the world of disposable time, have some common history. The Smithsonian tells the story through some rare footage of Duke Ellington playing ball. Striking decisions MLB umpires…
Read MoreGood luck to all 40,000 of you who are running Monument 10k in the rain tomorrow. Here’s some things to read while you wait for your wave to start. Play ball Here’s a story about how NPR producer Theo Balcomb’s great-great-great-uncle introduced baseball to Japan. The Bourne McAfee USA Today’s Jon Swartz went on the road, and on the run, with John McAfee, the eccentric namesake of the anti-virus software, and it is pretty incredible. What is Jeopardy? Mental Floss (which is like an erudite…
Read MoreAfter an impromptu absence due to some scheduling conflicts, we’re back with another edition of our round-up of the most interesting news we’ve seen this week. Jony Time Whether you use Apple products or not, your world has been greatly affected by the work of Jonathan Ive, from the iconic bubbly iMac to the sleek iPhone in my pocket. If you’re interested in Apple, Ive, or design in-general, this Time piece is a must-read. It’s over Journalists, PR people and other AP Style Guide sticklers…
Read MoreEach week we bring you a few interesting stories we’ve read and discussed around the office this week. We call it the HodgePodge, because we’re clever like that. Parental advisory The Jerky Boys were immature and crude… and they influenced an entire generation of comedy before breaking up in the late ’90s. Can one half of the duo stage a comeback? It figures This photographer creates scenes staring Lego mini-figures and they’re pretty great. About a poster Fifty years later, Vanity Fair takes a look…
Read MoreEach week we bring you interesting stories we’ve read and shared around the office. Today, we have five articles that answer interesting questions. 1 It’s pretty common for people to describe music as a type of language, but what if that gets it backwards? 2 Why is North at the top of maps? 3 What does it take to make a Criterion Collection release? 4 Which sounds tug most at your heartstrings? 5 What’s it like being 93? Follow us on Twitter or subscribe to…
Read More