It's amazing what a little bit of paint, plants, and pops of color can do for a workspace! A recent in-house competition at the Google HQ in Mountain View pitted teams of employees to creatively makeover their workspace. The team that eventually won transformed their area with just three elements you too can use in any home office or cubicle...

We all know no one posts the best jobs. The really juicy positions usually get handed around like a treasured prize within social networks. Maybe you'll see a notice on LinkedIn, or a posting on your alumni listserv — but probably not. The most exciting jobs have an infinite number of aspirants, so unless you've been personally recommended by someone close to the action, it's difficult to get noticed.

But what I learned again and again during the course of researching my book, Reinventing You, is that the smartest, savviest professionals don't wait for a posting to appear. They make their own opportunities, and get rewarded handsomely for it.

When Joanne Chang graduated from Harvard in the early 1990s, she took a tried-and-true path on campus and joined a prestigious management consulting firm. The problem was, she hated it. Thinking back on her passion for cooking — in college, she'd become known as the "Chocolate Chip Cookie Girl" — she decided to give the restaurant world a try. But she didn't scour the help-wanted ads. "I sent a bunch of letters to chefs in town that I didn't know, but I knew their reputations," she says. "I wrote, 'I have no formal training, but I love cooking and I'm interested in getting into the restaurant world, and I'll take any position.'"

Impressed with her chutzpah, intrigued by her resume, and short an employee who had just left, Boston power chef Lydia Shire called Joanne literally the next day and invited her for an interview. Indeed, every single chef she wrote to eventually responded. She got the job with Shire and started as "a bottom-of-the-ladder prep cook." Two decades later, Joanne is one of Boston's most celebrated restaurateurs.

Kevin Roose, now a reporter for New York magazine, also made his own break by interning for A.J. Jacobs, a well-known author and editor at Esquire magazine. Kevin emailed him cold, explaining that he was in New York for the summer working as a waiter, they'd gone to the same college, and would Jacobs like a part-time personal intern? Jacobs probably would have been inundated with offers if he'd posted a notice with their alma mater. But he didn't — and Kevin's direct outreach made it easy to say yes.

Joanne and Kevin were at the start of their careers when they took a chance and reached out to those luminaries. But asking for opportunities, inventing your own, and seizing the ones that present themselves is something you can do at any stage of your career. Too many senior leaders are held back by concerns that they might lose face by trying something different or stepping outside of their comfort zone. But it can be a worthwhile process. Susan Leeds, a longtime investment banker who shifted into the energy efficiency field, told me you have to "accept the fact that sometimes you have to take one step back to take three or four steps forward. It would be incorrect if I said I made a lateral shift: I went backward. But because of the benefit of my years of professional experience in a competitive field, even though I went back, I was able to move forward fast — to leapfrog forward."

The truth is, because so many people limit themselves, there's often not a lot of competition at the top. If there's a senior executive at your firm you really admire, reach out and see if he'll agree to be shadowed for a day. Unless you're writing to the worldwide CEO, there's probably little demand and he'll be flattered. If there's an initiative you'd like to see at your company, offer to head it up. And if there's a skill set you'd like to cultivate, don't be afraid to make a lateral move (or even go backward, as Susan did) if you know it will serve the long-term interests of your career.

We're entering an era where the rules of business are both opaque and fast-changing. There's not one single playbook you can follow and expect to succeed. The only alternative is to be nimble and create your own opportunities, and your own success.

The multi-screen cineplex MK2 Bibliothèque (128 ave de France, 75013) now has a special “daycare” space Mon Petit MK2 for kids aged 4-10 years, with supervised play and workshops while parents are at the movies. It’ operated Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 9:30am-1:30pm (yeah, it’s a morning thing), and costs €25 per child for 4 hours (parents get half off their movie tickets, too, just €4.90). Reserve in advance at monpetitmk2@mk2.com or 01 44 67 30 88.

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When in Paris, go to Rome.

Say what?

Well, let me explain. France, like most of Europe, was once occupied a part of the Roman Empire. Though Paris seems thoroughly French today, there’s one amazing leftover from the time when Julius Caesar’s army ruled: Les Arènes de Lutèce.

Despite the name, it’s just one arena. And what an arena. Back in the day—that day being the first century A.D.— bloody gladiator games, circuses, and theatrical plays would take place for roaring crowds of up to 17,000. There are other Paris attractions that exhibit the time of Lutèce—such as the Notre Dame Crypt, and the Musee Cluny, which house architecture and artifacts from that ancient era.

Why is this my favorite attraction in Paris? It’s free. There’s never a line. It’s easy walking distance from Notre Dame and the Pantheon. You can bring a lunch, or a book, and enjoy an afternoon without bumping into tourists. You can comune with Paris of the past.

And it’s unsullied. Besides sign posted at the entrance explaining it origins, the arena is not “merchandised.” It was simply excavated (a convent and graveyard had been beuilt on the site) and opened as a public park in the late 1800s.

Today, old men will play petanque (the French version of bocce) while younger kids kick around soccer balls. The arena remains an area for leisurely enjoyment—but today, a less bloody kind.

Entrances on rue des Arenes, rue Monge and rue Navarre.

All this week and next, the Grand Palais museum is showing cult films in a drive-in fashion. It’s a decidedly ersatz set-up, with cars INSIDE the museum. Is this a case of French obsession with American culture gone too far?

okaynate:

edwardspoonhands:

PLEASE READ THIS

Pleated Jeans is quite a clever YouTube channel. He does funny videos, he does smart videos, he wears glasses and is a nerdy white guy with a small but growing community…so he’s basically Vlogbrothers in 2009. He’s been really smart with how he’s managed his channel, and he’s had a couple of viral hits. 

Unfortunately, one of his viral hits was so viral that YouTube’s algorithm flagged it as suspicious and his ability to run advertisements on the content was revoked. After more than a month of trying to get someone at YouTube to talk to him, he’s giving up and moving to a new channel where he will have to start from scratch. 

This infuriates me. It’s possible that, if he’d contacted me, I could have gotten his case reviewed higher up, but that shouldn’t be necessary.

So subscribe to his new channel, but also subscribe to his old one. Because I haven’t given up on getting it back.

Pleated Jeans is one of the best channels around. Hopefully this will be resolved but until then GO THERE.

Google’s advertising algorithms constantly fail when they get applied to people like Jeff who make really amazing stuff.

It’s a shame that they miss opportunities to reward their best content because their stupid computers have no sense of humor. Only makin’ money for themselves. Terrible, non-existent customer service. The Google Way™.

if you think there is a better gmail emoji

you will not be getting one of these from me

“We’ll probably have to take three extra ethics training courses this year,” one employee grouses on Facebook.

On Monday, Booz Allen Hamilton took to Facebook to confirm that Edward Snowden, the NSA source, was one of its employees and to condemn his actions.

This prompted those with a connection to the company to jump into the conversation.

And some strange job applications.

It also led to some current and former Booz Allen employees venting on Facebook. One was more concerned about Snowden's salary than his leaking NSA data.

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Cécile&Jeanne, la marque de bijoux fantaisie haut de gamme a décidé de nous toucher en plein dans notre créativité.

Qu’on se le dise, le bijou s’est un peu l’accessoire indispensable dont on ne peut pas (et on ne doit pas) se passer. Et ça… La marque de bijoux l’a bien compris.

On s’est rendu dans la boutique Cécile & Jeanne, avenue Daumesnil, transformée en bar à bijoux.

Whaat ? Oui oui, un bar à bijoux !

Pas de panique, nous allons vous expliquez le concept step by step !

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Step 1

On choisit nos perles et le choix est colossal ! Il y en a pour tous les goûts.

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Step 2

On choisit les chaines et la forme du bijou, c’est-à-dire en collier, bracelet, boucles d’oreilles…

Pour ma part, j’ai choisi une chaîne couleur or avec des perles « vert d’eau », pour l’assortir à mon bracelet Ela Stone.

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Step 3

Une fois l’idée soumise, on donne le tout aux mains d’or, placées au fond de la boutique. Des jeunes « arty-sans » qui fond de quelques perles et une chaîne un bijou d’exception.

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Step 4

Dix minutes plus tard, le bracelet est déjà autour de mon poignet. Un petit sourire aux lèvres, je repars fière de ma création.

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Pour celles qui en ont ras-la-casquette d’avoir les mêmes bijoux que « madame tout le monde », le bar à bijoux avenue Daumesnil est l’endroit où il faut se rendre pour avoir des bijoux parfaitement à notre goût et uniques.

This anti-gay backlash in France mystifies me. The US looks more tolerant than France on this issue, which is rare. The latest: Movie posters for L’Inconnu du Lac have been taken down after bigots protested its image. The a-holes contacted JCDecaux, which rents out the billboards across the region, and the company caved. This is according to the news website Rue89.

This happened in St. Cloud and Versailles, enclaves just outside Paris. Decaux does not appear to have a problem with completely nude women in billboards, which we have all seen.

In response to the censorship, a kiss-in is being planned by the LGBT community. It takes place tomorrow in front of the St. Cloud town hall at 7:5 pm.

Pucker up, people–your country needs you!

Christophe & Stephanie Dru’s handsome butcher shop-restaurant in the 11th is a popular little gem hidden behind the busy market stalls on the rue d’Aligre. Loyal neighborhood customers, including area chefs, line up throughout the day to buy viandes (meats) to take home or sit down for a first-come first-serve lunch Tuesday – Sunday and let Dru’s team do the cooking family-style.

They’ve recently expanded their hours so that now you can reserve for dinner on Thursday and Friday nights from 7-9pm.

yep.

There are all sorts of ways to estimate the addressable market for a high-end phone like the iPhone. One way is to look at price sensitivity, the propensity of lower income groups to spend on expensive entertainment products and how that might be affected by the increasing capabilities of cheaper devices. Another is to look at the mobile operators that do and do not actually offer the iPhone, which gives you a figure for people who cannot in fact buy one, at least on subsidy, even if they want to (assuming they're not willing to switch operator). 

However, it seems to me that the central issue in sales of the iPhone and other high-end models is the availability of subsidies themselves. After all, if a phone is good enough for consumers to want it and the OEM has the scale and budget to provide it (an issue for some) then distribution is just execution and time, not a fundamental constraint. Ability to pay, too, is a moving target: people substitute spending for products they really want, and $600 isn't that much money over two years for a large proportion of the world's population. 

So actually, the real questions are the big numbers: how many people are getting subsidies? How many are buying phones? 

Hence, my first chart shows just how the smartphone install base compares to the total global population. 

There were about 5.2bn adults on earth at the end of 2012. Of those, around 3.2bn had mobile connections, though not necessarily phones (some people have a SIM but no phone, and many have multiple SIMs, which is why the number of connections is well over 6bn). Within that, roughly 1.1bn had 'smartphones' at the end of 2012, of which around 900m ran either the iOS or Android versions of Unix. (As an aside, it is pretty striking that almost a fifth of the earth's adult population has a Unix box in their pocket.)

So how does that relate to contracts, and hence subsidies? According to my old colleague at The Mobile World, there were around 1.6bn contracts in place at the end of 2012. 

For now, the overall smartphone base remains below the contract base, though it is growing fast. But the non-contract portion of the world's population is much bigger. If I turn the chart upside-down the point is clearer. 

At the end of 2012, 2bn adults had yet to buy a mobile connection of any kind, and another 1.6bn were on prepay and not eligible to get subsidies. It doesn't matter how many operators Apple or Samsung puts on distribution: those people are not going to buy a $600 phone.

However, that leaves about 1.6bn who might. 

If you often wonder what the home of an interior designer looks like, here is a nice example.

Si vous vous demandez souvent à quoi peut bien ressembler la maison d'un décorateur, en voici un bel exemple.

You are here in Beverly Hills, in the beautiful house of a stars decorator, Waldo Fernandez. Sophisticated decoration, designers furniture, many art collectors items like sculptures but also paintings. Of course you can find here the finest materials such as precious woods or marble like on the stunning fireplace in the first picture. But I let you admire as the images speak for themselves ...

Vous êtes ici à Beverly Hills, dans la superbe maison de Waldo Fernandez, un décorateur de stars. Une décoration sophistiquée, des meubles de designers, de nombreux objets d'art pour collectionneur comme des sculptures mais aussi des tableaux. Bien entendu vous y trouvez également des matériaux nobles comme les bois précieux ou le marbre de la magnifique cheminée de la première photo. Mais je vous laisse admirer car les images parlent d'elles-mêmes...

Here is my favorite room, this dream bathroom! I could spend hours upon hours in this shower entirely of marble ... I love it!

Voici ma pièce préférée, cette salle de bain de rêve ! Je pourrais passer des heures et des heures dans cette douche entièrement en marbre... J'adore !

And the outside is just as beautiful ... Simply a dream home!

Et l'extérieur est tout aussi beau... Une maison de rêve, tout simplement !

Images source AD

Interesting that both Apple and Nokia are running campaigns around the camera. For Nokia this is a real point of differentiation: the Pureview camera tech is very good. For Apple it's part of the broader lifestyle positioning: don't worry about widgets, just enjoy your phone. 

The poignant thing, of course, is that Nokia doesn't have Instagram, or many of the other photo-sharing services: it had to launch the new 925 with Hipstamatic (remember that?)

Both, incidentally, are doing good advertising at the moment, unlike some others in the space. Although I'm not sure about the wisdom of a close-up on the ISO settings in the Nokia spot...

aatombomb:

No, it’s like being hungry and opening the fridge knowing that all you have is a bottle of expired ketchup but you stare at it for 5 minutes anyway.

PBS Mocks ‘the State of TV’ with Fake Reality Shows That Could Be Real | Gawker

Nice work from agency CHI&Partners. Love how they mock the names of the channels.

Really diggin this new pope

I’ve seen a bunch of these Arrested Development chicken dance animations floating around tumblr, but let’s be honest, this one stands alone.

cajunboy:

This is why no one should pull for the Miami Heat. Ever.

You know, every time anyone ever used to make fun of Justin Bieber, I would always be like, “Okaaay, I meannnn, he’s a teenager and he’s a pop star? How would it be possible to not be at least a little douchey?”

Guys, I’m sorry. I was wrong. I’m sorry for being wrong.

E as in E

bugkiss:

david karp sold tumblr to yahoo for a large sum of money so he could then spend that money on getting every copy of this picture deleted from the internet forever

theworstroom:

East Village, Manhattan. $700.00

(Loft Bed Above Closet in Kitchen)

this blog makes me cry-laugh daily.

maxistentialist:

Kurt Braunohler raised $6,000 on Kickstarter to “hire a man in a plane to write stupid things in the sky.” I backed this project.