The Talking Tree, An Upscaling Backlash and 7 Secrets To Understand People

Unnecessary Enhancement and the Upscaling Backlash Against Netflix

What if everything doesn’t need to be better? A series of 80s shows originally released at a 4:3 aspect ratio and with non-HD level filming have been digitally “enhanced” with AI to make them higher quality and in the typical widescreen format preferred now. The upscaling is a disaster. Anyone watching immediately notices inconsistencies, weird AI-generated remnants and a wide format that cuts off critical pieces of a scene. The end result is that anyone watching will long for a time when all these “enhancements” weren’t around, and you could just watch a program as it was originally created.

The whole story is a good reminder for us all not to abandon the things people like in order to just make a product or experience feel more modern. The old way may not be perfect or even as technologically advanced, but sometimes it’s better anyway.

The Tesla Resistance Is Real. Here’s What It Means …

Tesla owners are disguising their cars as a sign of resistance. There are plenty of YouTube videos with tips on how to hide the evidence that you’re driving a Tesla. Others are putting bumper stickers explaining that: “I bought this before Elon went crazy.” People are selling or otherwise getting rid of their Teslas if they can afford to, and the stock is in a nosedive. All of these are a growing response to owner Elon Musk’s erratic behavior and lack of attention spent recently on running Tesla.

Yet if you can think back to a time before this, Musk was once treated like a hero. He nearly single-handedly moved the automotive industry toward electric vehicles, accelerated adoption of home solar technology with the Powerwall and even offered limited open-source access to Tesla’s patents and technology. So perhaps the real lesson in this fall from grace is just how quickly and completely it can happen.

The Talking Tree and How AI Can Give a Voice to the Voiceless

How can you get young people to reconnect with nature? Let them talk to a tree. That’s the creative premise behind a new campaign that features a 150-year-old horse chestnut tree in London's Morden Hill Park, which 'speaks' using “real-time sensory data from over 10 sensors measuring wind speed, soil moisture, humidity, and bioelectrical signals. This data feeds into an LLM that shapes the tree's personality and enables live conversations.”

While a novel concept, this also signals an interesting potential usage of AI and avatars of a sort to offer a voice to objects that previously lacked them. Instead of just focusing on AI clones from celebrities, what if we could use AI to generate marketing and advertising that anthropomorphizes things to add personality and make them approachable and memorable—just like a talking tree.

The 7 Non-Obvious Secrets of Understanding People to Predict the Future (and a Recap of SXSW 2025)

This past week, I debuted a new keynote talk at SXSW, and it was all about understanding people. I will share the full video when it comes out in a few weeks, but in case you want a behind the scenes look at the tips, here’s the full list:

Aside from the tips, I recently shared my slides for the full talk so if you don’t want to wait to see the video, you can download the slides here »

Finally, for a short recap of the things that stood out from SXSW for me this year, read my LinkedIn post about 5 takeaways from SXSW »

The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St. Clair

There are colors that you may have heard of, and more than a few that you haven’t. This highly original book takes a look at all of them and gives you all the meanings and symbolism of colors that you may never have thought about. Rated by USA Today as one of their “Top 100 Books to Read While Stuck at Home During the Coronavirus Crisis”—I’m pretty sure this was the first time I came across the book too. Since then, I have referred to it often when I’m going through an exercise to work on a book cover design, or selecting a color for some marketing effort. There are also moments when I’ll just flip through the book out of curiosity or as a diversion. There are many ways to use this book and the combination of beautiful layout and clever writing makes The Secret Lives of Colour one of those unique books that is equally at home whether you keep it untouched on your bookshelf or you choose to open it up on occasion and delight in learning just a little more about the secret life of colors.