Everytweet.com

I spent my Saturday experimenting with Twitter, JQuery and PHP. I've been feeling the sublime pull of Twitter and was thinking that there was something mesmerizing about the world's thoughts floating through the ether in <140 characters at a time. And I wondered what the experience would be to just sit and watch it pass. While I could easily get to all public tweets at Twitter, I thought that just seeing them one a time for just long enough to read them would be somehow more powerful. And I think I was right.

Go to Everytweet and just sit and watch and read for a few minutes. It will make you think. I think.

Dubai is the Ultimate Innovation

Beehive Media has been doing business in Dubai for nearly three years. I have worked with real estate developers, the Government, and the foundation established by Sheikh Mohammed himself. I have seen the city grow in that short amount of time and have witnessed at fairly close proximity the strategic vision, targeted initiatives and successful execution of tactics to turn a city in the desert into the center of the world.

While mistakes have been made, and there are problems in Dubai, the amazing thing is that it has started to become what it was envisioned to be. I have not been to anywhere with a more cosmopolitan mix of people, with a vision as grand or with an energy for business that is greater than Dubai. Every time I go, I am impressed with progress, both seen and unseen.

While I don't know that I would want to call Dubai home, it is worthy of the attention and wonder it has received in recent years. Recently I was able to visit Palm Jumeirah - one of the man-made mega-projects rising from the Gulf. It is a wonder to behold and awe-inspiring to see what man can create. Ignoring ecological issues, it is breathtaking. I was even able to witness it being worked on - one rock at a time being placed by a crane on the outer barrier.

Truly remarkable.

Memoires in Dubai

There is a store in Wafi City, a mall in Dubai, that houses the most bizarre and original retail experience I have ever witnessed. Memoires is like walking into a Pottery Barn if it were designed and stocked by Tim Burton after he had dropped 5 hits of acid. I strongly recommend that if you find yourself in Dubai and you're looking for something new, go there. It is truly unique.

Empires are Bubbles

OK, this isn't so much an innovation as an observation. I was thinking about why some empires crumble dramatically, leaving failed states and cultures in their wake (sometimes leading to the collapse of the founding state/culture), while others sometimes retract calmly and deliberately without destroying the heart of the empire (think the UK.) So, it seems, empires, are sometimes like bubbles. I have no idea if this is an original observation, but I've been thinking about it for several days and it feels like there's something there.