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Last weekend I went to a design show closing and an art show opening, all in the same night! The former was for a new Chicago-area alliance that supports independent designers (makers who can’t afford/don’t want to mass manufacture objects). The latter was at a gallery where the owner tries to feature artists that represent the opposite of the art world stereotype (the frou-frou and pretentious).

Each space fulfilled its specific archetype – the design show had mostly functional objects with a crowd decked in gingham, Vans shoes, and screenprinted tote bags, while the art show had drawings and sculpture with a tattooed crowd donning black tees and Docs Martens …and a man dressed as an astronaut. But they were similar in how some work occupied the fuzzy boundary between the art and design: objects that could be functional and conceptual, if the rules of reality were manipulated, contemplated, or ignored. It’s a line we toe in every industry. But there was another similarity, and it was not a good one.

In just a few years hashtags have emerged from their nerdy origins on IRC to become the way we organize the never slowing flood of information and conversation buzzing around the Interwebz. Most sites now recognize hashtags and more and more people understand what they are all about. Sure, I still use hashtags most for Twitter punch-lines and Instagram lolz. But, as time goes on the world of hashtag-ery becomes more and more mainstream. You can’t watch TV these days without a bombardment of networks telling you to use #GLEEfan4lifeyall to discuss the latest episode. This growing understanding of how hashtags work means their purpose has expanded and culturally, they matter. They helped propel the Arab Spring, fight bullying, and take down a warlord (kind of).

As with anything digital, people are constantly finding intriguing new ways to use #hashtags. They are organizing chaos and re-imagining how we collect memories and retell stories.

This lovely month of May has us giddy with excitement for E3 as we prep ourselves for sensory and gaming overload.  Check out what we’re anticipating based on the rumors that have been swirling around for the 2012 show. Also in this issue, we dive into how the carrot of freemium gameplay has effectively converted free players to paying players as well as how gaming has gone from acting as an afterthought for traditional entertainment (think videogames released after a theatrical release) to being fully incorporated and even influential to these releases.

Download PLAYED now!

This week we have themes, *excites*: new ways to find lurve, items you can wear to protect your brain, unique spins on Pinterest-ing and some travel goodness.

We live in an amazing time. A time when a photography app with 13 employees is worth a cool $1 Billion. A moment when a failing gaming startup can be saved (to the tune of $200 Million) by their digital clone of a classic board game. While indicative of current bubble/not-a-bubble arguments going on in every VC boardroom on earth, these are simply stories. Blog worthy deals that make for great headlines. These are the flashy tales most admired and what draws the attention of the masses. But, lets zoom out and think about the larger trend going on here: We are witnessing technology chip away at industries, norms and assumptions that have been in place for so long most people fail to notice just how broken they are.

This is a time for connecting the dots. A time when teams are building tools that threaten decades old businesses and centuries old institutions. These digital tools of today are being bootstrapped in dorm rooms and conceived on whiteboards spread throughout the Valley and the Alley and the Loop. They are hustling to dismantle the business models of the past and fix problems that have been bugging our collective consciousness for far too long.

That’s the nature of disruption.