Every week, Jamie Colonna, Monticello’s Creative Partner, shares an image that has – in one way or another – moved him.
Author: Monticello
Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone.
Every week, Jamie Colonna, Monticello’s Creative Partner, shares an image that has – in one way or another – moved him.
Risin’ Up To The Challenge Of Our Rival.
Every week, Jamie Colonna, Monticello’s Creative Partner, shares an image that has – in one way or another – moved him.
Oh Well I Never, Was There Ever A Cat So Clever?
Every week, Jamie Colonna, Monticello’s Creative Partner, shares an image that has – in one way or another – moved him.
The Happiest Days Of Our Lives.
Rufus Norris, for The Guardian, takes the Monticello approach that creativity can be taught to anyone. So why, he writes, isn’t it being prioritised in state schools?
The Jungle V.I.P.
The Brave New World marched on, as scientists in China cloned monkeys using the same single cell nuclear transfer technique that produced Dolly, the world’s first cloned sheep. Monkey see, monkey do?
Listen Like Thieves.
Apple released ‘HomePod’, its answer to Google’s Home and Amazon’s Echo. But if it doesn’t support Spotify, is the HomePod something of a(n admittedly beautiful) white elephant?
I Am A Rock.
Or Paper. Or Scissors. But beware – this ancient, universal method of dispute-setting is no longer the preserve of humankind. Yet again, the robots are coming….
You Can Check Out Anytime You Like.
Amazon introduced the first cashier-less supermarket. And we’re pretty certain it won’t be the last….
I Packed My Bags Last Night, Pre-Flight.
Elton John might have announced that he will be stopping touring. But, if certain AI businesses have their way, that doesn’t mean his avatar won’t be on a stage somewhere near you in the not-too-distant future….
Baby Baby.
We all remember being dragged round Mothercare when we were young. Not much seems to have changed since then. It is time that is does, before it’s too late…
It’s Californication.
In a clear nod to the development of new seats of influence and power, both France and Denmark have appointed two individuals to effectively be Ambassadors to Silicon Valley….
Personal.
Prospect Magazine reported that ‘Big Data’ means that retailers will be able to start making the prices of good personal to individuals. A smart leap forward, or another excuse to rip off the consumer?
Living In A Box.
No one needs reminding of the need for affordable, quick-to-erect housing. But might the beautifully-named Ten Fold Engineering and their range of foldable dwellings be at least part of the answer?
Roll Out The Barrel.
Happy Feet’s larger-than-life spiritual guru ‘Lovelace’ famously got his head caught in a plastic six-pack beer ring, highlighting the impact of plastic waste in our oceans. So Saltwater Brewery has come up with a biodegradable, edible alternative. Cheers!
Too Much Monkey Business.
Miriam Quick, for the BBC, took a look at business buzzwords. As you might expect, a thoroughly depressing affair.
Wearing The Face That She Keeps In A Jar By The Door.
Microsoft claims its Emotion App can predict the future. Or at least changes in Japanese monetary policy…
I’m Gonna Tell You How It’s Gonna Be
The BBC reported on the future of shopping. And the future of shopping, it turns out, is about pretty much everything except the act of actually buying things….
The Greatest Love Of All.
According to The Daily Mirror, the world’s first robot citizen, ‘Sophia’, has said that she would like to start a family. Time to be afraid?
Hands Across The Water.
Sally Le Page, an evolutionary biologist at Oxford, wrote a fascinating piece revealing the jaw-dropping news that certain water companies still use ‘divining rods’ to source the wetstuff that we all rely on. Crikey. Where to start?
Mr H Will Demonstrate 10 Somerset’s He’ll Undertake.
Our old pals at Boston Dynamics, creators of various terrifying robotic inventions, announced that one of their robots could now do back-flips. And not in a cute way….
The Fear.
Bill Taylor, for Harvard Business Review, wrote about the new cultures of experimenting – and failing – that firms like Netflix, Coca-Cola and Amazon are trying to develop….
Do As I Say, Don’t Do As I Do.
Tech Insider discovered that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs raised their kids ‘tech-free’. It’s almost like they knew something that we didn’t….
Every Time You Go.
Fecal transplants, the process by which you replenish your beneficial gut bacteria by inserting someone else’s poo into your body, have great results, but the physical activity procedure – perhaps understandably – apparently ain’t all that. Until now….
Five In One, Baby, One In Five.
FIVE IN ONE, BABY, ONE IN FIVE
When UK online supermarket Ocado first started, it could take packers up to two hours to pick and fill a 50 item basket. Now robots do it. In just five minutes….
Won’t You Take Me To A Funky Town?
The Guardian opined that Google’s ‘plan to revolutionise cities is a takeover in all but name’. A bold step forward or cause for concern?
Open The Door And Let ‘Em In.
Well, soon you won’t need to. Because Amazon is trialling a service that enables its couriers to open your front door. What could possibly go wrong?
Fish In The Sea, You Know How I Feel.
The government of Mexico declared the largest protected marine reserve in North America. Está bien padre, as they say over there….
You Don’t Own Me.
Car ownership, suggested Peter Franklin, for Unherd, will soon be a thing of the past. Automation, he argued, will see off that particular pesky human concept, just as it has done so many others….
Plastic Fantastic Lover.
Researchers from the universities of Cantabria and Cambridge have discovered that wax-moth caterpillars might be (a tiny) part of the solution to our worldwide addiction to plastic. Because, erm, they seem to like eating it….
Aire Gaditano.
An architectural restoration project in Cadiz, Spain, will be the first in Europe to feature air cooling with an energy cost of close to zero said El Pais. To which we say, ¡Olé!
All Things Must Pass.
The heyday of super profitable banks is over, said former Barclays chief Anthony Jenkins in The Daily Telegraph. And that, he suggested, is at least partly due to AI. Buckle up bankers!
We’re S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G.
How might the classic retail store fight back against the overwhelming reality of Amazon et al? The BBC had some interesting suggestions….
Careless Whisper.
Alexa and Siri are hackable. Seriously hackable, it turns out. FastCo reported that a team of researchers from Zhejiang University were able to translate voice commands into ultrasonic frequencies that humans cannot detect….
Love Cats.
Jaguar Land Rover announced that they will offer an ‘electrified’ version of every car in their range by 2020. At the same time, CEO Ralf Speth took a swipe at the UK government and asked a pertinent question about the futures of hundreds of thousands of lorry drivers….
‘Cause You Won’t Stop Talking.
The Evening Standard ran a piece on lost English words. Fascinatingly, so many of them seem so incredibly apt for our own age. We love ‘ear-rent’, for a start….
And We’ve Got To Get Ourselves Back To The Garden.
The Washington Post reported that millennials are filling their homes with houseplants. Nice. Until you read the suggestion that they’re doing this to ‘fill the void in their hearts’….
Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself.
Japanese drone manufacturer, ProDrone, has developed a ‘giant drone with dual robot arm’. No doubt it can and will be put to some great humanitarian use. But to us it just looks terrifying, and the music that the manufacturers chose to launch it with doesn’t help much….
Wasting Away The Moments That Make Up A Dull Day.
For The Guardian, Simon Jenkins wrote a withering opinion piece on that all-too-familiar phenemenon, the office meeting. If you’re due to go to one today, he suggests, don’t. And, frankly, he has a point….
It’s Time For Africa.
(And Asia). The future is not European, American (north or south) or Australasian. It is Asian and African. MapPorn featured an eye-opening illustration of births by continent in 2016 which proves this point beyond any smidgeon of a doubt….
Deutschland Uber Alles.
London might have said goodbye to Uber, at least for now. But might the app-led service be in danger of becoming irrelevant anyway? German firm Lilium certainly hopes so. Because they make flying taxis. Yes, really….
Ashes To Ashes.
Many people these days make (frankly terrifying) claims about human immortality being just around the corner. But no one yet, as far as we know, has delivered it. With the possible exception of the superbly-named ‘And Vinyly’….
It’s Probably Me.
Carlsberg blew us away with their brilliantly on-brand TEDxCopenhagen talk. Delivered by their 130-years-dead founder. If Carlsberg did Ted talks….
Smile.
Smile. In fact, we defy you not to cry when you watch these deaf people ‘hear’ for the first time. Tech, at it’s most human best….
Ghost Stories.
The British government put £8m into ‘driverless trucks’. The shape of things to come or an accident waiting to happen? Or possibly both…?
A Tribe Called Quest.
Or, better, a quest called ‘Tribe’. Nick, for The Marketing Society, explained why marketers need to think about how their brands can meet, not just generate, global demand. Because there is a new tribe in town, and that’s what they want….
It’s Oh So Quiet.
Does the constant jibber-jabber of your colleagues or the general hustle-bustle of your work environment drag you down? Then, at least according to its makers, you need the ‘Helmfon’. And, given the time of year, it can’t be an April Fool. Can it…?
Hit Me Baby One More Time.
If God doesn’t any longer ‘know all the secrets of our hearts’, Google sure does. Including how people like to, ahem, ‘get off’. Olga Khazan conducted a truly eye-popping interview with Seth Stevens-Davidowitz, a former data scientist at the tech behemoth. Don’t say we didn’t warn you….
Another Day For You And Me In Paradise.
Artist Abdalla Al Omari shocked us and many others with his disturbing ‘The Vulnerability Series’. All the more reason to check his haunting series of paintings that smash together, with mercilessly brutal effect, the weary, heart-breaking reality of refugees with the well-known faces of world leaders….
I Took Her To A Supermarket.
Amazon bought Whole Foods. And it’s a game-changer. The industry, still reeling from trying to work out which way is up in the 21st Century, was taken by surprise. But Wall Street approved, instantly adding a whopping $11bn to the retail giant’s market cap….
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