Blackout ribbon: Avoiding grim news and spoilers

This entry is part [part not set] of 18 in the series The Idea Liberation Project

I’d like to designate a coloured ribbon that would be as universally recognized as the yellow or pink ribbon campaigns. See someone wearing this ribbon, and you know that they don’t want to discuss the latest grim news stories. A more elaborate version could prevent spoilers, too.

The Genzlingerizer: An app to enhance offline reading (and an IFTTT workaround)

This entry is part [part not set] of 18 in the series The Idea Liberation Project

I want to set up rules for the publications I read in print, specifying the authors or topics that qualify as must-reads. When said publication appears at my door, I want to launch an iPhone app that tells me which pages to look at in this morning’s New York Times, this week’s New Yorker, or the latest Entertainment Weekly. Then I want an easy way to take whatever I’m reading in print, and convert it to a set of links that are ready to share online.

A bird’s eye view of hashtag diffusion

What’s it like to be on a panel with rock stars Peter Shankman, Julien Smith, Chris Brogan and Russell Bowers? For all who have wondered, I can answer that question with a video — at the same time, answering a question that came in on Twitter during...