Thoughts on Quibi

Quibi was ambitious in thinking that the format of content should adapt to how we watch (whether portrait or landscape) and empowered users to watch in the format of their choice. 

However orientation is barely scratching the surface, what they failed to consider is that context and co-creation matter more in a short attention format.

Consider

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Everything old is… old (for now)

As author Stephen King wrote in The Colorado Kid,

“Sooner or later, everything old is new again.”

It maintains some truth if we look back at the Spanish Flu pandemic, a time where some defied face mask usage and individual cities tackled the pandemic in various ways.  However, there are some things that just feel old now.

If you watched Jerry Seinfeld’s comedy special on Netflix, “23 Hours to Kill” it was very apparent it was filmed

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Restarting the Global Economy

Following up from my previous post on the Test of Modern Capitalism. I decided to look into what would an economic restart look like and what new behaviors, costs, and actions would need to be considered to reimagine businesses in a Post COVID19 world.

Let’s start by looking at some data collected over the last 3 months. KPMG UAE put out a report that UAE grocery sales were up but non-food retail has dropped by up

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The Test of Modern Capitalism

The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) presents a unique moment in the history of Modern Capitalism.  Can capitalism work if there is a pause?  A 2 week shutdown… 30 day… or even a couple months?

What does that mean going forward?

There have been calls for freezing on credit card interest, freeze on rent and mortgages – which all are essential cogs in the modern capitalist machine.  So if this freeze is what is needed and we need a

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Living in the Future

Here in Dubai, we are starting to come out of lockdown ahead of many other countries.

Dubai, under the Dubai Future Foundation initiative, has considered itself the testbed for the world.  Inviting startups from around the world to prototype new technologies to help craft future regulations.

Now with Dubai’s enforced lockdown strategy coming to an end, it can serve as a testbed for the rest of the world and hopefully, set an example for how

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Starting Positions

In racing, one’s starting position can affect the outcome of the race.  The ‘starting position’ is the position from which movement is initiated, which holds true in various contexts.

Everyone assumes we start out in the same place but we don’t.

From economic circumstances and career progression, where we start can set us up for where we will be years down the line. It defines the obstacles we will go through and also the grit and resilience that

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Building the Future & the Future of Building

Marc Andreessen recently wrote, IT’S TIME TO BUILD, an excerpt of what he wrote,

“Medical equipment and financial conduits involve no rocket science whatsoever. At least therapies and vaccines are hard! Making masks and transferring money are not hard. We could have these things but we chose not to — specifically we chose not to have the mechanisms, the factories, the systems to make these things. We chose not to *build*.

You don’t just see this smug complacency, this

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The Role of Signage & Icons

Back when I worked in the signage manufacturing industry, there was a principle I was taught and internalized: Signage plays a pivotal role in an environment’s experience. 

This is typically thought of as just the aesthetics of a well-crafted, working sign and the thematic blending with the environment; however, it extends further into the UX (user experience) of a well-placed sign, its visibility and these ease of individuals in the space to find their way.  Wayfinding, when done right, achieves

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Gatekeepers of Trust

Trust is accelerated in the virtual world.

We hail a ride from a stranger.

We swipe to go out with a stranger.

We buy into non-existing products on the promise of what they could become.

Our trust in the platform imbues the trust into the users.

These platforms are now the gatekeepers of our trust.

We believe in the power of technology.

The rate in which we trust one another is rapidly accelerated.

Trust begins with people, but is empowered

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