Politics of history + more things

The Politics of History: Why Anniversaries Matter in China | Macro Polo – great reading

Liu Cixin’s War of the Worlds | The New Yorker – interesting reading material about China and the US. Read this in concert with the Macro Polo article on the politics of history

On the Mac Pro, the G4 Cube and Their Shared Vent Design – 512 Pixels – interesting breakdown on details. I expect the difference is down to the explosion in CNC capability unleashed by the iPhone

Why PMI is doubling down on wooing Cannes | Marketing | Campaign Asia – feels like snake oil, disappointed to see Cindy Gallop participating in this, given her role in steering the moral compass of the ad industry

Report: Chinese spend nearly 5 hours on entertainment apps daily | TechCrunchChinese internet users now spend an average of 4.7 hours on their handsets a day just for entertainment purposes, according to new data (in Chinese) collected by research firm QuestMobile. The number is up from the 4.1-hour average from a year ago. By ‘entertainment’, QuestMobile is counting services like e-reading, music streaming, online karaoke, video streaming, mobile gaming, live streaming, and of course, short videos that are taking the world by storm. The total screen time could be much higher given the country now prefers taking QR code payments instead of cash, not to mention eyeball time contributed by children using smartphones to do their homework and housewives searching for the best deals on ecommerce platforms

Why Mazda is purging touchscreens from its vehicles | Motor Authority – really interesting from a UX perspective, I was surprised car companies hadn’t got to this conclusion faster

100 Radical Innovation Breakthroughs for the future | European Commission – where the EU is likely to be placing big bets, a good read, better than the latest Mary Meaker analysis (PDF)

“Six Stories of GORE-TEX Products Vol. 2”: ACRONYM | GORE-TEX Brand – interesting interview tie Errolson Hugh

Huawei Testing Russia’s Aurora OS As Complete Android Replacement, Report Claims – this makes more sense than Huawei’s home brewed OS

242 Year Old Birkenstock is Not Interested in Being on Fashion’s “Trendy Punch List” — The Fashion LawBirkenstock also turned down a collaboration with Supreme, which could very well be the buzziest streetwear brand in the world, with its bouncer-flanked stores and incessantly sold-out wares. “It was never about function for them, just logos,” Klaus Baumann, Birkenstock’s chief sales officer, speaking about Supreme, which regularly draws long lines of consumers outside of its store every week on Thursday when it “drops” new products, including collaborations. “These were not product people.” Birkenstock’s management is seemingly unimpressed by such antics.  Not mincing words Baumann states, “If I put a bouncer outside our doors on Saturday and regulate letting people in, I too could have a queue outside.” – more on luxury here.

HOW TO PISS OFF A CREATIVE – BBH – epic