Month: April 2021

  • Porsche 911 GT3 & things that made last week

    Porsche 911 GT3 Yes the Porsche 911 GT3 is a car faster than most people can drive. Yes they all look very similar unless you are a truly devoted petrol head. But I was struck by this review of the Porsche 911 GT3 by Chris Harris.  In the early part of his review, he ran…

  • JTI + more things

    JTI Tobacco giant JTI placing stealth adverts for its brands on Facebook and Instagram — The Bureau of Investigative Journalism – some of this stuff by JTI is pretty fiendishly clever in strategy and execution. I would have expected to be done by the likes of JTI in emerging markets and Eastern Europe rather than…

  • Mi Air Charge & things that made last week

    Mi Air Charge Mi Air Charge is a smartphone controlled air purifier by Xiaomi. The ad promotes it as being an essential item in a dystopian austere bachelor pad. I am not sure why the Mi Air Charge was controlled by an app, except to sell more It reminded me of a product advert specified…

  • 911 restomod + more things

    911 restomod Perfect Porsche? This British-built 911 restomod comes close : CityAM – the idea of the perfect Porsche is contextual and highly personal. I would prefer a car that looks like an early air-cooled car, with no aerodynamic spoiler or flared arches and Fuchs wheels. There are a number of vendors doing a restomod…

  • Conglomerate discount

    Conglomerate discount wasn’t a concept that I was that familiar with. Conglomerates had gone out of style in the west during the 1960s to the 1990s. Western conglomerates Classic conglomerate examples would be Spivs and financiers bought in and broke them up into their constituent parts. Or a new CEO would do it themselves to…

  • New Zealand + more news

    New Zealand An end to cigarettes? New Zealand aims to create smoke-free generation | New Zealand | The Guardian  – banning tobacco sales to people born after 2004, will drive illegal sales. New Zealand could quite easily have a prohibition type situation on his hands with rampant tobacco smuggling and organised crime. New Zealand has…

  • Japanese insights & things that made my day this week

    Japanese insights Creative Culture ran a roundtable that provided with Japanese insights across brands and consumers. Well worth a watch. Key outtakes Kawaii or cute occurs in areas that you wouldn’t expect it. From Hello Kitty airlines and maternity wards to Miffy being used to sell mortgage services. Imagine 2060, more than 40% of Japan’s…

  • Metabolist architecture + more things

    Metabolist architecture kisho kurokawa’s metabolist ‘capsule house K’ from the 1970s to be preserved in japan – the metabolist group, formed by architects, designers and critics, imagined a world of flexible cities where buildings, like people, were transient and ever changing. designed and built between 1971 and 1973, ‘capsule house K’ exemplifies the ideas of…

  • Yahoo Answers

    Back in 2005, I worked in the search group at Yahoo!. One of the projects that I worked on was Yahoo Answers. 16 years later, Yahoo Answers is being closed down. I thought I would capture some of my memories and inside knowledge on Yahoo Answers. But first we need some context so that what…