Rob Walker

Can MAGA’s spite show outperform Bad Bunny? (Or at least the Puppy Bowl)? With an anti-halftime show of its own, the MAGA-verse enters a new phase of counterprograming.

The MAGAverse tries counter-programming. Branded column for @fastcompany.com
www.fastcompany.com/91487976/mag...

Blue Liz, Petrified Forest, Cosmic Cobalt — these are some of the many colors of crayons that #DisquietJunto participants are exploring for their sonic content in this week's project. Tracks will appear through the end of today, February 2. A list of the colors so far:

disquiet.com/2026/02/01/c...

Stoner-centric design, a worthy goal

Ooooh great idea! Never too late to start!

A detail from an old painting showing a person being pushed out a window, plus the name and number of the project

Disquiet Junto Project 0733: Window Drop

The Assignment: Add to the sound outside your window.

Deadline: Monday, January 19, 2026, 11:59pm (that is: just before midnight) wherever you are.

Details: disquiet.com/0733

#DisquietJunto

Urban lake with foliage and air traffic control tower in background

Scenes from an unplanned layover—a morning nature walk in a Miami airport business park

The Art of Noticing, with Rob Walker The thrill of the hunt; the challenge and delight in finding something new in the very familiar; the excuse to get outdoors, whatever the weather; the visual puns; the surprisingly sentimental moments...

“There is this nice jump from ‘I didn’t even notice it’ to ‘At least I noticed it’ to ‘Not only did I notice it, I took it to the next level.” ~ @notrobwalker.bsky.social

I love everything about this conversation...

lynnborton.com/2024/10/24/t... #TheArtOfNoticing #choosetobecurious

this has become a very important video to me

Might Curiosity Hibernate? I’m taking a little break in December. Call it some curiosity R&R — curiosity respite & re-airs. I’ll get a production break, and my radio audiences will continue to enjoy uninterrupted listening, tha...

Call it #wintering, a deliberate pause, a slowing down. Restoration.

The show and I are taking a break from production in December -- a little R&R = rest, and re-airs with @neuranne.bsky.social @notrobwalker.bsky.social Maggie Jackson & @worldpeacefdtn.bsky.social.

lynnborton.com/2025/12/04/m...

How Raising Cane's Founder Todd Graves Perfected His Formula and Built a $5 Billion Brand Graves' recipe for creating a legion of Caniacs and passing KFC to be America's third-largest chicken chain.

Raising Cane's is now bigger than KFC, with one of the smallest menus you'll find at a chain restaurant. If you love good business journalism and good chicken fingers, check out @notrobwalker.bsky.social's great feature on Cane's and founder Todd Graves.

www.inc.com/rob-walker/h...

It's getting harder to take OpenAI seriously Introducing slop and sex creates some serious risk to a brand built on world-changing idealism.

Recent moves by #OpenAI seem aimed to leverage Tik-Tok bait (Sora 2) and sexy-talk to produce revenues at the expense of its initial, high-minded ideas about building the economy, etc., explains @notrobwalker.bsky.social

www.fastcompany.com/91428080/its... #AI

How do you reset? TAoN No. 196: Try something small. Plus Savor of the Month, and more

Where has your curiosity gone? Your joy in making little notes? Let @notrobwalker.bsky.social guide you back to noticing robwalker.substack.com/p/how-do-you... #writingcommunity #writingtips #creativity #writinglife #authorlife #skywriters

Postcards from Wherever TAoN No. 195: A TAoN mindset takes on the Uninteresting Olympics. Plus a new (Australian!) Icebreaker, and more

I love these ideas! How to make a crowded place special, how to make a deserted urban walk into a fun mind game. (I do it on Tube trains.) @notrobwalker.bsky.social robwalker.substack.com/p/postcards-... #writingcommunity #writingtips #writinglife #skywriters

Mystery Lessons TAoN No. 194: A rewarding form of imaginative attention. And more

Mysteries are everywhere. We should always be asking questions. Like this - @notrobwalker.bsky.social robwalker.substack.com/p/mystery-le... #writinglife #authorlife #creativity #writingcommunity #skywriters

Robot meets bollard. Nothing beats the #WorldBollardAssociation

AWAKEN YOUR SENSES WITH US LEADING UP TO OUR BIG WRITE OUT EVENT IN OCTOBER TODAY, INSPIRED BY ROB WALKERS BOOK "THE ART OF NOTICING"... TAKE 5 MINUTES TO LOOK AT YOUR WINDOW EITHER AT WORK, IN YOUR CLASSROOM OR EVEN AT HOME. STUDY THE VIEW AND JOT DOWN ANY MOVEMENT. WRITE DOWN THREE THINGS YOU HAVE NEVER NOTICED BEFORE IN DETAIL. SHARE WITH US YOUR FINDINGS USING #WRITEOUT

The first writing prompt - by @mrsablund.bsky.social - as welcome invitation for the coming #writeout in October is all about noticing, and is inspired by Rob Walker's @notrobwalker.bsky.social post: Get Out (robwalker.substack.com/p/get-out)

Learn more about Write Out: writeout.nwp.org
#EduSky

Why we hate dynamic pricing All sorts of companies seem excited about the potential to use AI to set prices. There’s only one problem—consumers hate it.

Some companies, like fast food and airlines, like the idea of #AI dynamic pricing, but it just sounds like gouging to many customers (and voters), explains @notrobwalker.bsky.social

www.fastcompany.com/91382156/why... #commerce

YouTube video by JansLoveShack The Toys .......A Lovers Concerto

@jimderogatis.bsky.social Hey there, regarding that terrific Le Snobs track, sounds like their take on The Toys' "Lover's Concerto." Love the show! www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmJ1...

GREAT story!

That Dropped Call With Customer Service? It Was on Purpose. Endless wait times and excessive procedural fuss—it’s all part of a tactic called “sludge.”

I wrote about my car, our collective sanity and the state of Fuck It. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Augmented Reality Offers a New Perspective on Urban Planning - Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Emerging technologies are allowing planners to share their ideas in whole new ways, from immersive bus tours to digital libraries.

"AR is at heart a new way of using public spaces by adding digital layers to them, potentially raising questions about how such content (commercial and otherwise) should be overseen or regulated."
New City Tech column for @landpolicy.bsky.social
www.lincolninst.edu/publications...

NONSENSE POLL No. 8: Choose one

1️⃣ Frodo
2️⃣ Fredo

📊 Show results

7 partners leave Willkie Farr, firm that made Trump deal, for Cooley, which fought him The moves add to an ongoing exodus from law firms that made deals with President Donald Trump’s administration.

(After this closed, Willkie, another firm that cut a "deal," lost seven partners to a firm that didn't.)

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Law firms have a new way to attract clients and talent: Stand up to Trump A showdown with President Trump has turned into a branding moment for some of the largest law firms—whether they like it or not.

How are big law firms' responses to Trump orders affecting their brands? This week's Branded for @fastcompany.com

www.fastcompany.com/91350094/big...

Bookshelf: Spring 2025 Part of a seasonal roundup of book reviews on buildings, landscapes, and cities, featuring titles of interest to Places editors and contributing critics.

Spring books roundup out from @placesjournal.bsky.social includes my short review of "A Natural History of Empty Lots," a series of meditations on learning to see, interrogate, and appreciate the undeveloped land that’s tucked into and around urban spaces. placesjournal.org/article/book...

“Bookshelf: Spring 2025” includes contributions from an array of critics: Belmont Freeman, Kathryn Firth, Hubert Murray, @i-santoyoorozco.bsky.social, Simon Sadler, @jeremytill.bsky.social, Virginie Drujon-Kippelen, @notrobwalker.bsky.social, Anna Georas Santos, Joshua Mabie, and Regan Good.

Pride Month is looking very beige this year The rainbow-brand logos disappeared from social media this June, as some companies have gotten quieter about support for the LGBTQ+ community.

Pride Month is looking very beige this year
Today's Branded column for @fastcompany.com
www.fastcompany.com/91347014/pri...

Travelogue: Greek everyday solutions to common problems - an orange book with a postcard of a donkey in a straw hat duct taped to the cover

A picture of a window low to the street with two broken car mirrors under it. The opposite page says: Surveilance system Discarded car mirrors The window being at street level requires some precautions to be taken. Whether to protect any passersby from a sudden opening of the window, or to be used as a surveillance device, protecting the housekeeper from unwanted visitors. However, it seems that these mirrors cover both needs.

Found a book @notrobwalker.bsky.social would like in Athens

Senior Fellow Anthony Flint, author of "Mayor’s Desk: 20 Conversations with Local Leaders Solving Global Problems," and @notrobwalker.bsky.social, author of "City Tech: 20 Apps, Ideas, and Innovators Changing the Urban Landscape," co-moderated.

That DOES look interesting!