7 stories to read this weekend

The chilly weather is here, and that means all of us have a little more time to sit at home and read and, of course, enjoy time with the family. To supplement your newspaper, here are seven of my recommendations:

Narcissism is good, or something like that, when it comes to leaders of a company (or a country). Our friend Reed Hastings of Netflix and the late Steve Jobs are good examples. Here is a physiologist’s take on the debate.
The Internet has become part of our external memory system. This shift should make us think, and rethink, what user experience should be. Cassandra Moore recommends that websites consider elements of transactive memory. This is a dense but fantastic read.
Demoting Halder by Andy Oram. Enjoy the story and come to your own conclusions. Andy follows up with a piece on sentiment analysis and social tracking.
My favorite writer, Dan Ramsden, on information disintermediaries as the new hackers.
No one really knows the value of a Facebook fan. Not even Facebook.
It is a shame that David Hornik doesn’t blog as much as he should. His piece on the importance of financials for startups is a must read for all startup founders.
Don’t send that email. Pick up the phone. Great advice if you ask me.

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