Sunday, March 29, 2009

Why I Like Pictures More Than Words


Neuroscientists have labeled parts of the physical brain as the new brain, middle brain, and old brain.
The new brain THINKS-it processes rational data.
The middle brain FEELS- it processes emotions and gut feelings.
The old brain DECIDES- it takes into account the input from the other two brains, but the old brain is the actual trigger of decision.
The old brain is a primitive organ, a direct result of the basic evolutionary process. Some scientists refer to the old brain as the "first brain" as it appeared first, before the middle and new brain, and is the only one still present in reptiles. Recent studies show that the new brain also isn't fully developed in humans until the age of 24. The old brain is well-named as it dates back to about 450 million years ago. The old brain is concerned solely with survival decisions. The old brain is what decides what data will ever even reach the new brain, i.e., which decisions will ever be accepted for further processing. Neuroscience professor at USC says, "Emotion, feeling, and biological regulation all play a role in human reason. The lowly orders of our organism are in the loop of higher reason." In other words, survival-related functions play a role in the decision-making process. In Emotional Brain, Dr. Joseph LeDoux points out that the amygdala-located in the old brain-"has a greater influence on the cortex than the cortex has on the amygdala, allowing emotional arousal to dominate and control thinking."
So, with all this scientific evidence, the CHALLENGE IN SALES AND MARKETING becomes: how do we address a brain that is 450 million years old? Educators, sales people, and even politicians can testify how hard it is to convince people by simply using words. Words have been around for only about 40,000 years. Before that, man's communication was limited to a few grunts or gestures. It is even more difficult to try to influence your audience using written words. Why? Because written words have only been around for about 10,000 years. That means that the old brain is 45,000 times older than written words. The result- written words have not been around long enough, in evolutionary terms, to make an impact on our old brain. To motivate and inspire our old brain, we must first learn to speak an entirely new language. WHAT TO REMEMBER: researchers have demonstrated that human beings make decisions in an emotional manner and then justify them rationally. Furthermore, we now know that the final decision is actually triggered by the old brain, a brain that doesn't even understand words.

How we get the music we like

Pandora, the free radio provider developed a method of determining at least one match item corresponding to a source item. A database of multiple items such as songs was created. Each song represented by an n-dimensional database vector in which each element corresponding to one of n musical characteristics of the song. An n-dimensional source song vector that corresponds to the musical characteristics of a source song is determined. A Distance between the source song vector and each of database song vector is calculated, each distance being a function of the differences between the n musical characteristics of the source song vector and one of source database song vector. The calculation of the distances may include the application of a weighted factor to the musical characteristics of resulting vector. A match song is selected based on the magnitude of the distance between the source song and each database songs after applying any weighted factors.
And the Music Genome Project was born.
Cool place to purchase all your vintage posters. They've got ones you can't find on art.com.
http://www.galeriemontmartre.com/default.asp

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Google Zeitgeist.
So...what searches are most often queried in google?
http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/zeitgeist2007/showbiz.html
Seriously, why use the lame ass cards we all use? Why not spice things up with unique ways for your clients to remember who you are, what your company does, etc. When going to a business conference bring something that will help you stand out from the rest.
Why not follow in Lego's footsteps?
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/03/27/welcome-to-lego-thes.html
Or you might consider:
http://creativebits.org/cool_business_card_designs

Caterina Fake. Co-founder of the site many of us posts our pics on - Flikr. Her new project is a site called Hunch.com

What is Hunch?
Look. Decision-making is difficult, and decisions have to be made constantly. What should I be for Halloween? Do I need a Porsche? Does my hipster facial hair make me look stupid? Is Phoenix a good place to retire? Whom should I vote for? What toe ring should I buy?

It's dark and lonely work. Coin-flipping, I Ching consultation, closing your eyes and jumping, postponing the inevitable, Rock-Paper-Scissors, and asking your sister are all time-honored means of coming to a decision -- and yet we think there's room for one more: Hunch.

Hunch is a decision-making site, customized for you. Which means Hunch gets to know you, then asks you 10 questions about a topic (usually fewer!), and provides a result -- a Hunch, if you will. It gives you results it wouldn't give other people.

http://www.thecoolhunter.net/
A cool web site with a terrible name.