A Formula To Calculate the True Cost of Distraction

On the other hand, perhaps this is one of those great mysteries whose impact is better left unmeasured. JL

Blake Thorne reports in Business Insider:

“There was Mozart, of course. He could, it seems, work on several compositions at the same time, all of them masterpieces. But he is the only known exception. The other prolific composers of the first rank – Bach, Handel, Haydn, or Verdi – composed one work at a time. Executives can hardly assume that they are ‘executive Mozarts.’”

Man Shoots Down Drone Hovering Over His Backyard

Conflicting property rights, settled the old-fashioned way. JL

Cyrus Farivar reports in ars technica:

"It was hovering, I would never have shot it if it was flying. When he came down with a video camera right over my back deck, that's not going to work. I know they're neat little vehicles, but one of those uses shouldn’t be flying into people's yards and videotaping."

How Many Parents-To-Be Want To Know Their Babies' Sex Before Birth?

Kinda depends where you live...and dont get started on whether parents say they have a preference for which sex.JL

Mona Chalabi reports in 538:

Harvard Medical School found that overall, 58 percent of women and 58 percent of men said they had found out or planned to find out the sex of the fetus. In the Netherlands 69 percent of pregnant women and 77 percent of their partners wanted to know. Nine out of 10 French parents decide to find out the sex of the fetus.

'Old Person' Brands Are Getting Millennial Makeovers

Awkward. But profitable. JL

Brad Tuttle reports in Time:

What’s particularly tricky about the attempts of old-fashioned brands to remain relevant and in-demand today is that millennials are notoriously difficult to reach with traditional marketing.

Facebook and Google Are Tightening Their Grip on Mobile Ads - and On Those Who See Them

'It's hard to leave when you can't find the door...' JL

Deepa Seetharaman reports in the Wall Street Journal:

Facebook and Google will capture more than half of the $69 billion world-wide mobile-advertising market this year. Google leads, with 35% share, but Facebook is growing faster.

Apple Music Was Supposed to Kill Spotify. So How Come It's Thriving?

It's the eternal 'Hassle Factor' lesson of marketing on the net: once you lock an audience in, it's very hard for them to let go.

The emotional cost of having to switch, learn a new system and all that administrivia is just more of an intangible price than consumers want to pay. Oh, and it doesn't hurt when your service download is free. JL

Dan Frommer reports in Quartz:

(Spotify)’s still in the top 20 downloads every day in the US—a great place to live, often ahead of apps like Twitter, Netflix, WhatsApp, and Uber.

How Chipotle Is Changing the Pizza Industry

Mass customization, transparency in production and high quality ingredients: a new piece of technology or something to eat?

Either way, this is what the customer wants. JL


Mallory Schlossberg reports in Business Insider:

Much like Chipotle, these (artisanal) pizza joints feature assembly lines. Consumers are able to customize their pizzas to suit their individual tastes, much like they are able to do with their burrito bowls at Chipotle.