2009 is already becoming the year of innovation. The Rockafellas kept thousands employed after the Great Depression with their passion for innovation. On the book front Market Rebels was recently released and talks about innovation acceptance. So have you considered your next innovation? Have you tried out biomimicry?
BioMimicryis on the rise and a smart way to approach the process of inventing. Reverse engineering isn't a new concept, but stealing from nature is a smart tactic every great innovator should keep on the back burner.
I don't want to make water wicking windows though, I'm talking about the more challenging concepts like creating a flying device devised from hummingbird wings, or creating an apparatus that allows a human to breathe underwater. These ideas are pretty far reaching but a lot of innovations currently in development are taking advantage of this strategy and making great progress.
Just when you thought Twitter was starting to gain some momentum the next new thing arrives. 12seconds.tv
Now you can video blog, from your 'puter or celly with video that's 12 seconds in duration. It's the beginning of every second of everyone's life being recorded. I also like Eyejot, Qik & Seesmic, but this is the first tool that positions itself as a form of microblogging.
Good films always have two layers. The first layer represents what you see and hear: character, events and story. The second layer reveals motive, emotion, insight, a character's moral fiber and their life philosophy. Linking these two worlds is what makes a good film great. The same holds true for personal expression as well as branding and communication.
Can you communicate your desires without directly stating your intentions?
Expressing yourself indirectly has the powerful of bringing proving what you want instead of simply stating it. It exudes authenticity because it requires knowledge and mastery, which is tough to fake. Lets say you want a new job. You join LikeMind on Facebook and set out to network in the hopes of getting an interview. You show up at the event and you don't describe who you or even mention you're looking for a job. You offer up interesting ideas and add insight with a touch of humor. You aren't networking, you're branding yourself. It sounds like advice straight out of "How to Win Friends and Influence People," but the truth is there is something powerful about avoiding the obvious. It is a tactic that allows you to brush off an air of desperation.
Or let's say you're a marketer and want to create buzz about your knew products and do some consumer research. The best way to turn people off or even piss them off is by trying to sell your product. It's because you're peddling something; but what if you tried to connect with a consumer out of genuine interest? In brand research some of the most interesting insights have come from conversations that consumers have with each other. It makes so much more sense to design a blog or a website that fosters a community and allows you to interact with your consumers. It engages the consumer and genuinely allows them to impact a product or service. It's this authentic collaboration that allows the consumer to shape the company to their needs.
What if you could request the news stories you want reported on? The newspaper business has struggled since the proliferation of the internet and we've yet to see how the news business will evolve. We've become disillusioned with big news conglomerates driven by a corporate agenda and we've become familiar with M. Moore's 'media breeds fear' and 'fear drives consumerism theory,' so it's refreshing to see a new news service that is so pure in form.
Spot.us democratizes the news by allowing the public to suggest and vote on the news they'd like researched and reported. I think it's a great idea because it allows the public to direct journalism. Spot.us currently provides the architecture for the public to pay for the stories they'd like to have researched. They can also suggest "tips" that provide leads for the staff of journalists. Once a story is fully funded a journalist hits the field and writes the story.
I think it's a crafty model that could be further evolved. Future services might be based on the Digg model allowing the public to vote for instead of pay for their news. It might also include a more interactive way to suggest and discuss tips on issues that should be covered. Broowaha is a good example of this kind of citizen journalism. So then my question is will these new formats also use an advertising based model to pay for quality journalists? The answer naturally seems like it would be yes; that is, I don't see myself paying large lump sums to fund individual news stories; but we have to find a way to support the journalists.
There's all sorts of personal space. There's personal space in a office, personal space while traveling, personal space while talking and we all have different comfort levels. Everyone reacts differently when their personal space is violated; like the other day I biked in a peloton for 4.5 hours bumping shoulders with my fellow riders. Then on the way home through the Marina I squeezed by an older woman on her beach cruiser and she started yelling at me because I was too close to her. Europeans typically are known for conversing at close proximity. Americans stand on average a few inches further away from one another. It's about comfort level and maybe Europeans have become accustomed to interacting in closer quarters. Is it possible that suburban sprawl has resulted in entitlement to more personal space in public places?
Office spaces create the most discrepancy and are revealing of a firms culture to a certain extent. What's with the cube design? Do we need to blocked off from others so we can pick our noses and surf the web at work? Why not open up the office place and foster an environment geared toward collaboration?
I think one of the most controversial places to violate someone's private space in a public setting is on an airplane. I've started asking people if I can put my seat back in an effort to better respect their space. It's a good policy but it can back fire. The most frustrating moment came when someone asked me to not put my seat back, but then the person in front of me jammed their seat into my lap; I was sandwiched on both ends. To make matters worse this person almost broke my laptop screen when it got wedged between the tray table and the table latch. Maybe there's a right and wrong time to violate personal space. Standing closer during a conversation creates intimacy, but jamming your seat into someone's lap should be done with finesse. Check out this instructional to prevent people from violating your space.
Creme of the crop songs and their accompanying music videos that made an impression on me in 2008. Not only are they great songs but they're great pieces of film. The exception is Collapsing at Your Doorstep, which is a great song, but in my opinion an awful video.
Buraka Som Sistema ft. MIA - Sound of Kuduro
Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
Air France - Collapsing at your doorstep (amazing song but this video might induce car sickness)
The BPA - Toe Jam Featuring David Byrne & Dizzee Rascal
The new Olso Opera house is a good example of good design resulting from being open minded. For a long time now architects and the city has fought to keep skateboarders off their property, but the architects of this building went against the grain. Wired reported that they actually enlisted the help of skaters to help them better understand the flow of the building to create a design that more seamlessly flows from earth to sky. The building was inspired by two icebergs colliding but a portion of the architectual research came from the help of skate enthusiasts who have a less conventional grasp of building design . I think it's a freshing idea for the space to embrace public use of its grounds instead of fighting it.
2009 is already becoming the year of innovation. The Rockafellas kept thousands employed after the Great Depression with their passion for innovation. On the book front Market Rebels was recently released and talks about innovation acceptance. So have you considered your next innovation? Have you tried out biomimicry?
