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 

• Saying You Can’t Compete with Free Is Saying You Can’t Compete, Period
• Five Ways Native Monetization Is Changing Silicon Valley
• The Future of Manufacturing (and Consumption): Hint – it will be rapid
• Why Innovation Dies (committees and meetings don’t help)
• The Social Side of Strategy: Crowdsourcing your strategy?
• Businesses Want to Get Creative About Social Change
• Dieter Rams On Good Design As a Key Business Advantage
• Are LOLcats Making Us Smart? (and the socio-cultural issues memes often overlook)
• Three Things Professional Women Should Stop Apologizing For
• The Rise of ‘Brogrammer’ Culture in Tech

Notable Ideas: New Products, Platforms and Projects 

• Kickstarter Rescues Startups That VCs Won’t Touch, But Here’s What’s Missing
• Technology Industry Seen Growing Fastest in New York
• Help! There’s a Patent on My Idea. Now What?
• Google Ventures
• Leica M Monochrom Shoots Only Black + White
• Easel.ly: Create Infographics Online
• Virgin Atlantic’s Swank New Lobby Conveys Brand Values, Without the Brand (logo)
• Teenage Whiz Kid Raises $7MM for Payments Startup
• Instacanvas: An Online Art Gallery for Instagram Photos

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

• MoMA Design Store Announces Open Call for NYC Product Designers
• Bing Unveils Redesign, Aimed At Scouring Friend Networks
• TriNet’s ‘Linked Out’
• Gap + Threadless TIY Project
• New Yahoo CEO’s First Company Note
• Case Study: Nutella Facebook Ad Campaign Outperforms TV
• New Bravo Show Partners Up with Gilt Taste

Digital & Social Media News and Resources

• Bit.Ly: The Best Times to Post
• Americans Now Spend More Time on Facebook Mobile Than On Its Website
• Facebook Introduces Its Own App Store
• Pinterest Drives More Sales Than Facebook: Stats
• 18% of US Smartphone Owners Use Check-In Apps
• Draw Something Sheds 4M Daily Users in the Past Month (perhaps weekly/monthly users are a more realistic gauge)
• Microsoft Funded Startup Aims to Kill BitTorrent Traffic
• Why Mobile Ad Spend Won’t Ever Catch Up with Eyeballs