DESIGN, BUSINESS & INNOVATION

Photo via Quartz.

What China burned for Day of the Dead says a lot about shopping trends among the living. Lily Kuo writes a very interesting piece in Quartz, and this is how it starts: "Paper replicas of internet routers, passports, subway passes and iPhones were among some of the gifts offered in China to departed loved ones during this weekend’s celebration of Qingming Jie, a day to honor one’s deceased relatives. As younger Chinese play a larger role in the annual holiday known in English as Tomb Sweeping Day, it’s become an occasion to look at what Chinese shoppers are thinking about most." Read full article in Quartz. E.T.P. 4' 

Photo via Wired.

It's the end of Facebook... as we know it. So, it's not totally great news, but something is something. "Facebook, the company that makes billions from connecting people to each other, is about to make it harder to have a conversation. In the coming weeks, Facebook’s mobile app will be losing its chat feature, a move that will no doubt annoy many regular users. But the gutting likely won’t end there. According to many Facebook watchers, the end of chat is just the first cut in what could eventually lead to the end of Facebook as a single, unified app altogether." Read full article in Wired. E.T.P. 8' 

 

Photo via Wired.

And talking about the end of the world as we know it, Condoleezza Rice is joining the board of Dropbox. "Unsurprisingly" -writes Marcus Wohlsen in Wired- "some people aren’t too happy about the move. Over on Hacker News, a leading barometer for what’s on the minds of tech geeks, the day’s most popular link connects to DropDropbox, a new site calling on users to boycott the company unless it removes Rice. The campaign’s apparently anonymous creators are calling for her removal in part because of her support for the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program, including claims that Rice herself authorized eavesdropping on UN Security Council members. “Why on earth would we want someone like her involved with Dropbox, an organization we are trusting with our most important business and personal data?” the site asks." Read full article in Wired. E.T.P. 6'