Engaged Reading Time - Issue #45
Hello, all.
Hope you’re enjoying some time off in August. Here’s a miscellany of links to keep you entertained this rainy weekend.
(If it *is* rainy where you are. It is where I am. But I hate to assume…)
A Circle of Words: emails to blogs to newsletters
How could I not start with this? An interesting short piece from Om Malik, pointing out that what became blogs started out as newsletters. And then came back to newsletters. And maybe will become blogs again when everything comes full circle…
Apple Transforms Central Park Into an Augmented Reality Gallery
Apple has been banging the augmented reality drum for years. This is the first experience that actually looks interesting.
Being open-minded literally changes the way you see the world
This is fascinating. Years ago, at TEDxBrighton, a speaker talked about the difference between young brains - open to learning - and “old” brains, which were closed to new ideas. Those categories had nothing to do with age. Those ideas resonate with this one.

REDEF ORIGINAL: The Absurdities of 'Franchise Fatigue' & 'Sequelitis' (Or, What Is Happening to the Box Office?!)
Beware of people predicting franchise movie doom - that’s won’t what the tickets reveal at all. The interesting changes are happening at the indie end. Follow the talent…
Buying Coffee Won’t Make You Poor
The author of this piece has clearly never analysed my buying patterns… (The piece is a takedown of the personal finance gurus and their obsession with coffees.)
Angry old internet man yells at digital clouds
The Internet that wasn’t
Short version: the internet was always full of lackwits, but the reasons why we see the early days as a golden age are interesting.
20 Years of Blogging: What I’ve Learned
Anil, whom I’ve met a couple of times, has just passed his 20th anniversary as a blogger. (For context, my 20th is 2 years away, but Dave Winer is closing in on 25…) Some interesting stuff here. And interesting to note that Anil has abandoned Movable Type, a platform he was the lead advocate for, and is now using Ghost instead.
What Was Instagram Like at the Start?
Well, it was originally called Burbn, for a start, and was a location-based game… But after that, the dynamics of the platform were very different from what we see now.
Good and bad
We’re told that too much screen time hurts our kids. Where’s the evidence?
My take: “screen time” is a useless metric - there’s just too much variety in what it can be.
Photographers, Instagrammers - Stop Being So Damn Selfish and Disrespectful
Narcissistic, rude, oblivious to others and disrespectful of the world we live in. How on earth have we got to this place, all in the name of social media?
Engaged watching time
Lovely short documentary from the NYT. The internet is the perfect place for these short stories - which work so much better at a tight 10 minutes than a whole half hour.
Cool Cosplay
That Star Trek fandom, of all groups, would have a problem with this cosplay is a real indictment of how bad the culture wars have got.
I think it’s awesome.
Nostalgia chas
Nostalgia chaser
Opening Day at Disneyland: Photos From 1955
A look back at the opening days of the Disneyland theme park, in Anaheim, California, in 1955. Sometimes 64 years feels like centuries ago.