If you haven’t watched this video yet or ever heard of Zach Sobiech, clear your schedule for the next 22 minutes and fix your eyes here.

Every now and then we all need something to shake us out of our selfish ruts and consider the bigger, more important things in life. And if at the end you don’t look inward and wish you had even some of Zach’s spirit, well you’re a better person than I am.

This kid is courage, hope, decency, and inspiration all rolled into one. And he’s no longer here to share that with the world. And that’s tragic and sad and impossible to imagine how those closest to him are managing. But this video is everyone’s chance to experience just a little of him. And I’m thankful for that.

A little something to bounce to.

These guys are just plain fun. If this song makes you want to dance, go ahead, nobody’s watching.

Not only is this an awesome service (and easy to use), but there’s a little bonus that I just love. See, when I did it I only picked 3 pairs. But they threw in 2 more that they thought I might like based on my other selections. And sure enough, one of the ones they added was the pair I ended up going with. For those curious minds, the style was Edison (to accentuate my “bookish elegance”).

Any brand can get my attention with products that speak to me. But not many brands can earn my loyalty. Warby Parker earned my loyalty not just by giving me what I asked for, but by exposing me to other products in their portfolio that they thought I might like. Whether they did that by some fancy algorithm or with some thoughtful person selecting complementary styles, I don’t know. And honestly I don’t care. The fact that as a company they’ve thought through the end-to-end experience (everything about ordering glasses online through them turned out to be a breeze, by the way) shows me that they’re a company not just interested in the transaction, but in the long-term outcome.

Bottom line: great product, killer service, unexpectedly fun experience. Plus, it’s also a bonus that they have their “Buy a Pair, Give a Pair” program that provides a pair of glasses to someone in need for every pair they sell.

The unfortunate part of this approach are those rare times when I do form new habits. Right now is one of those times. For some reason, the house seems to always have some sort of desserty deliciousness. Girl Scout cookies. Brownies. Cupcakes. You name it. Usually these are tied to holidays (hello Mother’s Day) or other events. Net result is I find myself indulging on a nightly basis. And that tends to tip the scales slightly more than my weekend workouts can offset.

Ugh, this is one of those times when being an adult is no fun. I can no longer stuff my face with no worry of the repercussions. My metabolism won’t cooperate forever. But ultimately watching your diet is an exercise in self control. Like so many things in life, it’s about weighing the pros and cons, and making a value judgment on your action. Is health a top priority? Or enjoyment? Or, can you find enjoyment in healthy living?

We’ll see where I stack up. Find me either on the treadmill or burried in a bag of Sour Patch Kids…. no judging.

I can’t get enough of this song. Pure gold.

But herein lies the problem – there can be only one! I know, they’re hardly competing with one another directly. But they’re competing much more broadly for the sympathies of the masses and pleading for re-admittance into the hallowed ground of “cool”.

Not many brands left for dead can claw their way back to cool. Especially in the finicky world of tech (Foursqaure, be warned, you’re up next). But why, you ask, can’t they both succeed?

Simply put, can you imagine anyone saying “Hey I gotta update my Myspace on my new Windows Phone”? Of course not! It’s just not very likely that the collective mainstream will re-embrace 2 fallen brands.

My guess is that Windows Phone 8 has the bigger bounce back. Microsoft is finally getting their act together in terms of consistency across platforms, so as Windows 8 gains market share and people get used to the “metro” interface their mobile platform won’t seem so alien. Plus, with Nokia, HTC and others seemingly making a legitimate push to produce hardware for Windows, they’ll at least have the ammo to remain on the scene for a couple years.

Myspace, on the other hand, is just in a tougher market. I like that they’re not trying to go head to head with Facebook (and to a lesser extent Google+), but instead they’re carving a niche as the entertainment network. Frankly, that was always the best feature of Myspace, so it makes sense from a branding perspective.

But is the world really ready for a social network that’s this narrow focused? Especially considering that music/movies/tv are plenty active on Facebook, etc. I have to admit, I like the re-design, I can see the beginnings of something kind of cool here. That said, I don’t think Myspace will ever be more than a niche network. And it’ll always be, at most, the #2 destination for entertainment news and sharing behind Facebook.

I think their only chance to carve out an existence is to get into content production. And by that I mean exclusive content just for the network. Stream live concerts, exclusive interviews, videos, etc. Essentially, become what MTV should be – the place to discover new music and immerse yourself in the bands you love. Hell, better yet, how about MTV buys Myspace? That’s a conversation for another day, but I can tell you that’d be a pretty killer entertainment media empire.

• Could it be that the problem with college education isn’t the costs spiraling out of control, but rather a lack of advertising? That’s what Derek Thompson at the Atlantic is suggesting, and while there’s a nugget of potential truth to this, to say that out of control costs aren’t the real issue is short-sighted. In fact, if everyone that doesn’t currently go to college all the sudden wised up and went, we’d be simply pushing the bar higher, not elevating everyone. At that point, a graduate degree would be the new bachelor’s degree and we’d still have education inequality, along with nearly doubling the number of people taking on student loan debt.
• Need more evidence of high college costs? Take a look at this analysis from Jordan Weissmann of the growth in cost of college text books. It’s a small piece of the overall pie, but emblematic of the larger imbalance in costs relative to other industries.
• I haven’t been thinking much about CES this year, but saw this article from Lauren Goode on AllThingsDigital and suddenly I’m paying much closer attention. The concept of the “connected home” has always fascinated me, but to date it’s only been realized in small pieces. Specifically I’m looking at the possibilities with NFC-enabled appliances and other household objects. To be able to control them from a distance – and not just a few, but an entire household – is awesome. But the kicker is to bring this to the masses in an affordable way. I’m hoping/feeling like we’re finally getting closer to realizing that.
• Throughout the fiscal cliff negotiations, and in the fallout, I’m finding myself drawn to information about tax policy (fun, right?). The more you read, the more evident it is that our tax code is totally out of whack. Case in point: the payroll tax. Or what I like to call a reverse loophole. Everyone hears about the loopholes that wealthy used to lower their tax rate. But here’s an example of a tax loophole that politicians can use to raise people’s taxes without directly raising their income tax. They can say “we’re not raising your income tax” and most people are satisfied. But they raise other taxes, like the payroll tax, and sweep it under the rug. I’m not saying don’t raise this tax, just let’s have a little transparency on what all the implications of tax proposals.
• And to round things out, here’s an awesome clip from one of my new favorite bands, Minus the Bear. Seriously check it out.

What I have trouble sympathizing with, however, is when disrupted businesses don’t make a fundamental change but rather just shuffle the papers. In the case of Polaroid, seems their big move is not to facilitate the next step in digital photography, but to instead take an old school approach to helping you print pictures.

Fotobar. A standalone brick and mortar store where customers can print pictures from their phones. Seriously? I can drive 2 minutes down the street to CVS, use a kiosk and do the same thing. Why would I go to a physical store that offers me nothing else? At least at CVS I can pick up deodorant while I’m there.

Why would a troubled business take the path that requires huge capital investments in real estate and storefronts? Where’s the push to do something nobody else is doing, or can do? If you’re a failing company you’re not going to rebound by doing something like this. I’d much rather see them swing for the fences on something riskier but with higher potential then to put money behind this stinker for a year before pulling the plug.

Mark my word, even before digital photography changed the industry standalone camera stores struggled. This isn’t going to work.

1. More political headaches caused by cliffs, deficits, partisanship, etc. We may have narrowly averted the New Year’s cliff, but with the debt ceiling debate coming in just a couple months, I predict we’ll see much of the same. Nevermind the 10 following months of the year where things will be largely the same. Good times ahead.
2. Apple’s next big product launch will fall flat. iPhone 4S was a letdown. iPhone 5 was a good product, but an incremental one. Call it a hunch, but I feel like Apple is losing a bit of their “wow” mojo. Whatever they bring next – next round of Apple TV? iPhone 5S? – it will miss the mark.
3. Mobile consumer health technology will deliver hugely in terms of functionality and interoperability. But despite all that, it’ll still be a niche market and we as a nation will continue our unhealthy ways. I hope I’m wrong on this one, but I don’t have high hopes.
4. Tablet functionality will come closer to full PC replacement. Windows 8 tablets brought us closer with a more rounded out Windows experience, but we’ll see others catch up. This will cement the tablet’s position as the go-to computing device.
5. Twitter goes public. And goes through Facebook-like turmoil as it adjusts to life where revenues matter. But in the end, like Facebook, it’ll be ok.

We’ll see in 365 days just how right I am.