Hi Steve,

I just wanted to say “thank you” for all of your work. Your influence on computers, design and business has had a major affect on my life.

I learnt how to use an Apple Mac when I first started working at the ad agency Tequila in Cape Town in 2000. Despite the fact that the machine was already 3 years old, it felt right for doing design work and made me feel really inspired with my new career.

I moved to London and bought an iBook which made me feel like a global citizen on the move. All my pics and music in a fancy white laptop and I could work on it too!

Back to Cape Town where I started building the Refresh business with Crute. We kept buying Macs with a few PC’s here and there too. Crute and I both read a book about you called iCon: Steve Jobs, the greatest 2^nd act in the history of business. Fascinating reading for internet entrepreneurs like ourselves.

Its also amazing how often our clients use the Apple website as a reference for web-design. They point at the logo too and say how much they like it. I also like it, although I’ll never stick that white logo on the back of my car.

At Refresh we are still getting our heads around how to build apps for the iPhone and iPad. The fact that they don’t run flash means that we have ended up with more work too. At home, my wife has been using the iPad to spread the news of our new daughter’s development. All emails have a footer which declares “Sent from my iPad while breastfeeding.”

I sincerely hope that your health improves and your company continues to influence my life so positively.

Best regards,
Graham Shillington

PS. Also loved all the Pixar movies.

#1 Coalition of the willing

Coalition Of The Willing from coalitionfilm on Vimeo

#2 Take part – the Future is in our classrooms

The Future is in Our Classrooms – Pledge version from TakePart on Vimeo

#3 anatomy of a computer virus

Stuxnet: Anatomy of a Computer Virus from Patrick Clair on Vimeo.

#4 what is google chrome OS

#5 Reinvent the toilet

#6 Where good ideas come from

#7 Water changes everything

#8 How your money works – Green Investments

How Your Money Works from MUSCLEBEAVER on Vimeo.

#9 Good: Jail Birds

#10 This is You

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

After hearing Clay Shirky speak at Tech4Africa last year, I was keen to read his new book Cognitive Surplus. I borrowed a Kindle for a test-drive and decided that a book on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies, was the perfect topic.

Shirky tells a whole bunch of stories to support his idea that modern society has a lot of free-time on their hands, which represents huge potential given the technology and media that is currently available. He makes the point that the 2billion hours of TV that Americans watch every year is roughly equivalent to the amount of time it would take to write Wikipeadia 2000 times over.

Using the police detective approach of means, motive and opportunity, Shirky goes about dissecting the problem of what can be done with all this cumulative free time.

Means

The button called “Publish” has given us the means to express ourselves online. Shirky also points to icanhascheezburger.com and ushahidi.com as the two extremes of how people can use their time.

Motive

Shirky has some interesting stories on how financial remuneration can often interfere with more important incentives like: autonomy & competence; membership & generosity; and feedback loops.

The feeling of competence is often best engaged by working at the edge of one’s abilities.

Opportunity

This quote from the book below illustrates the role of opportunity:

The rise of music sharing isn’t a social calamity involving general lawlessness; nor is it the dawn of a new age of human kindness. It’s just new opportunities linked to old motives via the right incentives.

Clay Shirky also has some useful tips for starting out on a project to take advantage of cognitive surplus:

• Start small
• Ask why. This allows you to determine the actual motivations
• Behavior follows opportunity

It doesn’t matter how much you want users to behave in a certain way. What matters is how they react to opportunities you give them

• Default to social

The Macbook chopping board. You can buy it here.

You can’t buy the iPad-Typewriter – its an April fool’s joke.

USB powered rechargable AA batteries. Read more here.

The Mac bookbook.

floating point from Samuel Cockedey on Vimeo.

Shot on a Canon 5D by Samuel Cockedey.