We’ve often talked about Minority Report and how it demonstrated predictive law enforcement — that is, to statistically predict when a crime might occur based on pattern–matching with previous crimes. For example, there might be a statistically increased chance of a burglary in your home on the nights before Christmas, and more so, in area X and at time Y.

Predictive law enforcement makes for a good Hollywood movie, but what about predictive healthcare? With the announcement of Apple’s Health Kit, Apple Watch and Apple Pay, it’s becoming clear to me that as time goes we will soon have predictive healthcare.

High-Risk

You are a middle aged man, you are over-weight, you don’t workout according to Apple Watch, it’s Monday, it’s the morning, you have a family history of cardiovascular disorders, you buy a lot of red meat and never purchase dental floss with Apple Pay, and you’ve had more...

You are a high-risk patient. Your heart is beating normally. Apple Watch knows this. Your heart starts to beat irregularly. Apple Watch knows this before you do. Suddenly, you feel a sharp pain in your arm and chest. You’re having a heart attack. You fall to the ground. Apple Watch senses the fall. Your pulse is weak. Apple Watch detects this. Your not moving. Apple Watch senses this.

Apple Watch estimates that you are having a heart attack. Apple Watch instructs your iPhone to call emergency services. Siri clearly and calmly tells emergency services who you are, what happened, and where you are. Siri also speaks 8 major languages, so this will work while you’re traveling alone, on a stressful business trip, or on a remote hike in a foreign country. Emergency personnel can ask Siri questions at any time. Siri simultaneously calls nearest next of kin. If distraught or unable to travel...

People are refreshing their feeds, but there are no new tweets to show. So, what does Twitter do? They bag up an imitation product, dye it blue, and call it New Twitter — but, perhaps there’s a side to this no one has considered.

Earlier this week, I questioned Twitter’s CEO Dick Costolo about Twitter’s new feed algorithm. He explained that if a user pulls-to-refresh when there are no new tweets, Twitter takes this as an opportunity to inject new tweets into their timeline. Tweets favorited by people you follow are now sometimes promoted into your main feed.

In a response to Dick’s explanation I theorized that if Twitter were to remove the refresh interaction altogether they may solve their supply and demand problem. You should read that post, it seems to be very popular. I still believe in this idea, and I feel it would be a good experiment for Twitter to conduct.

However, after...

I would like to share two short anecdotes about Jimmy Iovine, the founder of Beats by Dre and Interscope Records. Both stories emphasize the tenacity required to build future empires in the face of past failures.

Bono’s Yacht

In 2008, a friend of mine worked as an assistant to Jimmy Iovine. While on board Bono’s yacht, Iovine passed Bono a pair of Beats headphones which he encouraged Bono to wear while walking around the deck. Iovine wasn’t taking a backseat on his new product. The result was free product placement for Beats by way of paparazzi photographs. Candid celebrity endorsements went on to become the primary advertising model for Beats headphones.

Music Videos

Between 2010 — 2012, I directed a number of music videos for well known Interscope artists. During this I learned about creativity within the music industry, and perhaps more so about how record labels were scrambling...

Loren Brichter integrated the scroll and refresh events into one single action, and so pull-to-refresh was born. At the time, pull-to-refresh was regarded as an innovation, but has it lost its purpose? and worse, has it inadvertently produced a nasty side-effect that could change Twitter forever?

Personally, I never quite liked pull-to-refresh. It makes me feel uneasy. Just look at the top of this post, a tension is created. A slot machine of sorts, will I or won’t I have something to look at? or worse, feel good about. “Loading…” Just one more second. It silly to me that we ever used it, but more so that we continue to – especially given the efficiency of instant messaging. There’s a reason why we don’t pull-to-refresh in WhatsApp or iMessage.

Pull to refresh is a hack. I never liked it as an interaction. pic.twitter.com/U9lLV34uub

— Youssef (@YS) December 30, 2013

Twitter...

When assembling a team, you should be primarily concerned with finding excellent people you are very happy with. Because if you are not happy, you will never be, and here is why.

People rarely change, and this works both ways. The person you are unhappy with is unlikely to change, and the things which make you happy are also unlikely to change. This creates a dysfunctional stalemate.

The right teams build the right products, the wrong teams build the wrong products – and when it comes down to it, your team is all you’ve got. There is a direct correlation between the quality of a product and the quality of the team who built it.

Have moments of divergence, but never compromise your fundamental expectations of your team. And if ever you have to convince yourself that they are good people, or that maybe it’s you, or that maybe you can be the change you want to see, know that this is a...

This is not normal, yet somehow it is. Cameras are these amazing devices that can capture the life of a moment, yet, we refuse to use them as such. Let me explain a little more.

I’ve thought about this a little more; I’ve taken time to research it and I’ve even talked to my Grandmother about her first memories of being photographed. She is now in her 80s, but clearly remembers gathering in front of the lens with her family and extended family —the perfect Kodak moment(!)— at the age of 6. I think, if we take a moment to understand the origins of photography, we may shine a light on the everyday phenomena of posing.

The invention of photography was truly revolutionary; it changed everything. The first photograph is understood to have been produced in 1826. The word produced is key here. Photography as we know it, is incredibly fast, it certainly doesn’t feel produced, it feels...

This is one of the easiest and most under appreciated negotiation techniques I know. I’ve used it to get into celebrity parties and to negotiate better salaries. It works for anything whereby you need to get something beyond what is initially on offer.

So you arrive at the picture framer.

Walk directly to a member of staff who looks qualified enough to issue discounts but inexperienced enough to draw an hourly wage, and thus not invested in the notion of profit. These people are the most common type of employee.

Start by saying you’re interested in getting 5 X $50 picture frames built – secretly of course, you want 15.

They will give you an initial quote.

5 @ $50 = $250

Feign a ponder. Ask arbitrary questions. Ask for the price breakdown again. Then ask for a discount, you should be able to get an easy 10% off the top. Most places account for this in their pricing so it should be...

Earlier today, I Tweeted this:

I would like to purchase a small amount of @Bitcoin instantly. Like, right now. Anyone selling? I can settle via Paypal.

— Youssef Sarhan (@ys) February 7, 2014

No reply, so I Googled “Instant Bitcoin”, which lead me to LocalBitcoin.com. At first, I thought their site looked a little rough around the edges, so I proceeded with caution. On Local Bitcoin there’s a list of people in my city willing to sell Bitcoin for cash.

I called a guy who had his cell number listed on his profile. We chatted for a bit, he seemed legitimate, friendly and experienced with cash transactions. His user reviews corroborated the way I felt about him. An hour later we met in person and in public. He scanned my QR code, deposited the amount I wanted to buy and I handed him the cash. The transaction took about 10 seconds. It was a relatively small transaction, but I’m...