Nearly a year ago I was interviewed for Donna Fenn’s next book Upstarts!. Now, I’m in it (there’s an entire section on Undercurrent and our culture) with a handful of my entrepreneur pals from around the globe… It’s a great book and inspiring gift. Give it to your kids. Give it to your students. Give it to yourself. Go, buy it, now.

I’ve just arrived in Jordan safely, and there’s a flattering piece in today’s New York Post about me! Give it a read and let me know what you think… “Josh Spear is living the slacker dream come true. A 24-year-old college dropout dressed in a T-shirt and sneakers, he’s the in-the-know guy corporate suits call into their boardrooms to answer the question: “How can we get young people to think we’re cool and buy our product?”

Interviews are funny. I certainly don’t feel like a slacker with this kind of travel schedule.

JoshSpear.com friend Rickey Kim (aka Mr. Kim Says) dropped word on his newly redesigned Evil Monito site, which reins in recent stories with newer content for the 23rd issue of its online magazine. Resting on the haunches of the Get Fierce! theme are some hot interviews with Yoko Ono and Chris Burden, and even more thirst-inducing, the photos for the Estevan Oriol piece make spicy seem bland. I love the hand-drawn profile pictures; like Wall Street Journal stipple sketches but for our set. The site looks sophisticated and reads smart — a refreshing aesthetic and approach to the street and pop culture we know and love to read about.

I’ll spare you all the details of what a Skype conversation from Tokyo is like, but there’s a nice little article about me in this months issue of SOMA Magazine. The article is called “Building Brands One Tweet at a Time: Josh Spear’s Digital Crystal Ball.” I’m blushing. No really, I’m blushing. I’d tell you all to go to the newsstands and buy it, but SOMA actually offers a digital version of it (page 24)! Save money and trees, and read it online. The picture didn’t really come out as expected — meant to be way more bad ass under the Torii gates to the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo. Damn art directors cropped out the top. Enjoy.

A few months ago a film crew, photographer, assistants of all types and literally dozens of people with color meters, cameras and lights descended on my NYC office and later at my home to shoot a spot and interview for the Yahoo! Start Wearing Purple campaign. A unique experience to say the least, and one of the most exhausting days of my life. Lights, camera, action. Not my world, but interesting to be a part of for a day.

The interview and photos turned out pretty well I think– but it’s always weird seeing yourself on screen and wondering what was going through your head, and how they chopped and edited you together in that way. For people that don’t know me very well, it might offer some better insight into where I work and what I do all day.

The campaign is what they refer to as a “call-to-action’ by Yahoo! for people to live life as an individual, and with an exclamation point. The campaign emphasizes (despite any economic situation) their roots through the color and spirit of purple — it means individuality, imagination and innovation.

In the Pioneers of Purple section, I’m humbled to be featured alongside big wave rider (and absolute bad ass) Jeff Clark, Kiva founder Jessica Flannery, music man Nic Harcourt, hit maker Larry Jackson, and site staple Simone Legno of Tokidoki.

The program features four main components. Technology (a set of pretty amazing bikes that take photos every 45 seconds around the world and stream them direct to Flickr), personalities (the pioneers of purple), some products, and the improvisation work done by Charlie Todd of Improv everywhere. There’s a ton of content over there so I encourage you to check it out– but be nice.

Nice shout out in Rob Walker’s Consumed Column in the Sunday NY Times Magazine, in an article entitled Timeless Object. Thanks Rob!
The absurd-sounding Abacus watch with its little rolling ball might make you “miss appointments” but it's likely to “get some attention,” commented a writer on one such site, JoshSpear.com. “Sweet.” And really, if you're the alpha-consumer type who craves such a watch, surely you tote a mobile to tell the actual time — and to call whomever you're meeting to explain that you'll be late. Again.

Nice mention in Portland Press Herald:

Josh Spear, who writes about trends in technology, fashion and culture on JoshSpear.com, said he came to Pop!Tech on a friend’s recommendation as a way to meet other creative people.

“Equally as good as the speakers are the people who attend the conference,” he said. “You can feel confident that anybody you bump shoulders with waiting for something will have something interesting to say

We’re all super excited about our Spear Collective Computer Arts cover this month, and because we believe that reciprocity is a beautiful thing, we’re hoping you’ll take a few minutes to go over to the Computer Arts forum and cast a vote in our honor. It requires a little bit of effort (registering for the forums, etc) but we’d really appreciate it. And, if you’re so lovely to do so, leave me a comment here and I’ll see if we can’t dig up some goodies for a few of you if we win the poll. Sound good? GOOD!

As promised my presentation last week at Google Zeitgeist is now online for your viewing pleasure– the fine group at Google did an extraordinary job editing and posting the video to YouTube. It was truly an honor to speak alongside such an incredible lineup of presenters, and a lot of fun talking about the work side of my life which I really keep out of this blog most of the time. Also be sure to check out the interview with Michael and Xochi Birch as I’m on the panel during that discussion as well. And of course, if you enjoy it feel free to leave a comment here and give me 5 stars on YouTube! I look forward to reactions!

I’m not going to lie– the paper version of “America’s Finest News Source,” The Onion, got me (and many of my friends) through college. The university made the mistake of stocking the lobbies of all the lecture halls with the rag, and at the end of late afternoon classes, the entire area of the floor would be covered with smart and satirical Onion headlines. I sure didn’t mind; probably covered up some gnarly half-eaten burritos that would have gotten stuck in the sole of my Vans. We still, to this day, recite side-cramping Onion stories we read when we were in college. Today The Onion is taking a jump forward, following the likes of John Stewart and Steven Colbert, with The Onion News Network. This morning, I learned through its maiden newscast that President Bush is calling up Civil War Re-enactors for Iraq duty. That’s a scoop not even Fox News had picked up on yet! We’re talking timely and relevant news here. Here’s what the “real news” has to say about Onion’s foray into live (mmm err taped) broadcast news. Please join me in raising a glass for the new Onion News Network!

This morning, I watched the news conference accompanying the release of the much anticipated Iraq Study Group Report. The report was facilitated by the United States Institute of Peace, and provides a bi-partisan, forward looking view of situation in Iraq through 79 linked recommendations. The Study Group is comprised of a wealth of policy experts, including former Secretary of State James Baker, and former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. I have to say I was both relieved and frustrated to hear the jist of the report– relieved because I get the sense that the group took a realistic approach in drafting the report– no promises of victory, no sugar coating, no overly-lofty goals, but rather a more forthright design for ’success,’ accompanied by pragmatic and realistic goals. With this relief, I was also frustrated because the report drives home just how dismal the disposition of Iraq is. The findings of the group indicate that there is no possibility for ‘victory’ in Iraq as the current Administration has led us to believe all along; the best we can hope for are smaller, more finite ’successes’ like bringing U.S. Troops home and releasing Iraq to the control of the Iraqi Government. The current Administration, conceding its failure in handling the situation in Iraq, has vocalized support for the report, and has pledged to follow it’s recommendations, but it remains to be seen how many it will follow– the Report is neither legislation nor an executive order, so it has no binding effect on the President or Congress. I just wanted to share this pivotal event with you all, as it may well have heavy bearing on what happens in the Middle East.

LOOKING for a cool new way to wrap those boring Christmas presents? Then what you may need is rapping paper, which is imprinted with the lyrics of rap songs and is sure to be popular in avant-garde American households this year, writes Tony Allen-Mills. The latest trend in gift-giving was identified last week by Josh Spear, a 22-year-old Colorado student who has become one of America's leading “cool hunters”, a new breed of internet-based trendspotter whose job is to track down cool new products before everyone tries to copy them. Full article here, or after the jump
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After growing tiresome of traditional academia and journalism's narrow view of the blogsphere, Josh Spear took it upon himself to create his own bog, Joshspear.com. In barely two years, his blog has become a daily destination for inspiration for industry execs and culture junkies alike. PSFK had the opportunity to chat with Josh and get his take on the current state of independent publishing and here more about his new consulting agency called Spear Creative Group and its digital marketing counterpart SparkMedium. Click here to read the full interview.

Josh Spear: If you have a teenager in your house or a hip youngster in your life, this is THE site for you. Along with sites like Coolhunting, Josh Spear tracks trends for a living (which is really impressive considering he’s only 22) and even consults with brands like McDonalds to tell them what’s hot for the younger set. (Both sites can be a bit masculine so keep these in mind when shopping for a hip younger nephew or cousin in your life). Read the full article here.

If you are looking to successfully engage with the urban market, you have to consider how to position your brand in such a way that its consumption increases young adults’ status in youth culture. Brands that successfully enhance urban capital have to know not only what to communicate, but how. Knowledge: Don’t dismiss blogs as being the personal ramblings of extroverts. Visit sites like www.coolhunting.com, www.newstoday.com and www.joshspear.com. Full article at TheAge.com