We’re back with our weekly recap of the interesting and inspiring, with a particular eye for what shifts and ideas brands should be tracking, evaluating and acting on. This is a collection of  some standout business strategy, brand-building and digital media stories catching our attention.

Discussions Shaping Strategy, Creativity & Innovation 

• The Future of Advertising: Many Lightweight Interactions Over Time
• Disruptive Innovation Explained
• How Computers Are Creating a Second Economy without Workers
• The Internet Is Ruining Your Brain
• Meet Generation C: The Connected Customer
• Want Breakthrough Ideas? First, Listen to the Freaks & Geeks
• What Fuels the Most Influential Tweets?
• The Misfit Economy: What Do Google and Gangsters Have In Common? (innovation starts at the bottom)
• Guide To Creating Personas

Notable Ideas: New Products, Platforms and Projects 

• Caine’s Arcade (the imagination and persistence of a child)
• CondeNast Goes Shopping, Spends $14MM On ZipList
• Nike Fuelband‘s Calorie-Tracking: How Many Calories Can You Burn Smoking a Cigarette, Having Sex, etc.?
• Boxfish: Search every word spoken on TV
• Spotify ‘Play’ Button
• Wavii Repackages the News for the Facebook Generation
• 10 Benefits to Using Springpad’s Social Notebooks
• Tippex‘s latest interactive, choose-your-adventure YouTube campaign

Brands, Companies and Entities of Note (some more obvious than others)

• Here Is Why Facebook Bought Instagram
• Is Path Next?
• Apple Is About to Be Worth More Than All The Companies in Spain, Portugal and Greece Combined
• How GM Is Saving Cash Using Legos as A Data Visualization Tool
• McDonalds‘ Reflective Billboard (visible only at night)
• Inside Look at HBO’s Social TV Strategy for ‘Game Of Thrones’
• Birchbox Man Launches A $20/Month Subscription Service and a New Online Store for the Gents 

Digital & Social Media News and Resources

• How Much Is  A Tweet Worth? About 1/10,000 As Much As A Yelp Review
• Study: Young Consumers Switch Media 27 Times An Hour
• Nearly Half of American Adults Are Now Smartphone Owners
• 10 of the Weirdest Pins on Pinterest (funny)
• Toward A Simpler, More Beautiful Google (and a redesigned Google+, specifically)
• Will Brands See User Engagement on Google+?
• Facebook Offers More Disclosure to Users
• Most Millennials Rarely Visit Facebook Fan Pages
• Study Finds Facebook Ads Have Higher Clickthrough Rates on Weekends
• Tumblr Tests New Tools for Users and Brands
• YouTube Makes More 3D Video Available