Make the big 'Switch'

Here's a quick video review of the book "Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard," by Chip and Dan Heath. Highly recommended reading for anyone who is a manager of a business or people. 

Delivereads: Curating content for the Kindle

I've been  enjoying a new Kindle-only service called Delivereads that delivers four to five good reads to my e-reader once a week. 

The mix usually includes a few long stories plus several shorter takes. Delivereads curator Dave Pell pulls the content from a variety of sources, like New York Times, The Atlantic, New York Magazine and Deadspin. Subscribers are able to suggest stories for inclusion in each week's mix. 

Delivereads is free, for now. I'm not sure what the business model is, other than owner Dave Pell wants to build a list of like-minded people and somehow help to promote his blog at TweetageW@steland. 

There are similar services, such as Byliner, that tap stories new and old. But Byliner is a desktop-only source and the curation is pretty loose, with a half-dozen top-level topic categories and lots of stories for you to pick, rather than the other way around with Delivereads. 

Getting long stories delivered to a device made for long-form reading is a big differentiator. Meshing a sense of surprise and delight with the perfect platform is a tough combination to beat. 

Dinklage is well deserving of Emmy nomination

Tyrion Lannister Character Feature

I usually don't get too excited when the Emmy nominations are announced. But, outside of a few glaring exceptions, I felt like the nominating panel did its homework this year, particularly when it came to highlighting Peter Dinklage. 

Dinklage was nominated as best supporting actor in a drama for his role as Tyrion Lannister in HBO's "Game of Thrones." Dinklage is a short person who refuses to play roles that denigrate his height, and anyone who watches Dinklage for five minutes sees an actor at the top of his game. In fact, after about a half hour, I told myself Dinklage would get an Emmy at some point for this role. 

His nomination is especially noteworty when you think about the terrific "Game of Thrones" cast around him. As I noted last month, by all means give this series a look. 

On the downside of the Emmy nominations, it's sickening that "Treme" didn't earn a single nomination. When you factor in that producer David Simon's "The Wire" earned just one nomination over five seasons, you begin to wonder whether the business can't handle series with predominantly black casts. I'd like to think otherwise but you have to wonder. 

Update on Sunday, September 18, 2011 at 9:25 PM by Logan Molen

I usually don't have much success predicting major awards but I hit on this one: Dinklage picked up the Emmy tonight for best supporting actor in a drama.

Well deserved.