Where good ideas come from...

Literally, everywhere. Well, in the US, that is... Cool graphic from Inc.

Innovation in Drinking

Something anyone can get excited about: innovative and experimental drinks

Fried Chicken to Fund Infrastructure Improvements

Who needs government when corporations will foot the bill? An interesting take on product marketing... 

Oh, and did I mention Ohio is really strange? 

Thanks JM for the links. 

Cookie Markets... but not the edible kind

It's like a derivatives exchange for internet cookies... Glad to know my interests and web-surfing habits are becoming a commodity.

Signs of the times...

While watching Hulu yesterday, JetBlue made me laugh with their new ad campaign... 

http://welcomebigwigs.com/

Thinking differently about computing...

Check out the cloud. All you need to start is an internet connection. 

Changing the Museum

"More than before, institutions big and small have adopted the same mission: to transform once-hushed museums into vibrant cultural centers where the activities go far beyond what’s hanging on the walls." 

Kind of a cool idea to bring people together and generate interest all at the same time. The new California Academy of Sciences does something similar... albeit slightly frattier than Yoga mornings. Add in a shift in priorities to promoting the old favorities from the visiting exhibits (what I call, shiny things) and a push for more about the social component, it's possible that museums can become more than just the 10-4 tourist attraction.

Block Posters

I always wanted an easy way to make my own posters as a kid.

Green: About Money AND the Environment

It's interesting to see companies position efforts to cut expenses as environmentally friendly actions. Look at the beverage industry: wine bottles are thick and heavy, and made of glass. Some winemakers are moving toward lighter bottles, and others are switching to plastic.

What's really going on here? For some reason I doubt the environment factor plays a significant role in the decision-making process. 

In reality, plastic is cheaper, lighter, and more durable. This should lower the cost of goods sold (shipping, materials, etc.), and increase profits. Positioning it as a green move may bring in some environmentally friendly customers and drive revenues. It's a business decision with positive impacts on the planet. 

Maybe that's the key to green energy? Make it about the money 

Boxes are overrated

Inc just did a cool profile about Wexley School for Girls.

They're the brains creativity behind MSFT's college recruiting and a bunch of other semi-wacky 

efforts.

Quote of the article: 

"People started taking us seriously when really big brands started 

trusting us with budgets that were decimal-point rounding errors for them but for us were reasonable production budgets" (emphasis is mine). 

Which do you prefer?

The Tropicana Experiment.

Sometimes, things just don't work out. 

 

Going retro

Everyone loves a throwback. Will it work for Pepsi? 

Slow-moving vehicles and/or rapid-prototyping

Couldn't decide what's more interesting here... the opportunity to innovate in the driving experience, the explosion of driving apps for smart phones, or Blackberry's late arrival to the developer party. For an innovator in the mobile workplace, Blackberry seems a little slow on the uptake here. 

Favorite new apps for cars (like the one I don't have...): Ecorio, iGasUp, TripCubby, ParkingMeter, SitOrSquat, and LastCall. 

Segmentation

Really like the idea of micro-targeting customers in spaces they're looking for information. Spiceworks is doing some interesting stuff on their content network to make it more useful to users(customers) and advertisers. 

Industries Ripe for Innovation: US Government

Here's hoping Vivek Kundra finds some interesting new ways to spend the $71 billion (that's billion, with a "B") he has to allocate for technology spending this year. Might be a little difficult given government's reputation for innovation. See: albatross

I have high hopes though given his initial observations and the apparent awareness that government's not a special little snowflake (thanks Dave) after all. 

Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing's an interesting idea. We're starting to see it a lot more frequently, too. Look at Change.gov's Open For Questions page, Google's Project 10^100 and TipJar (profiled in the WSJ), and even the Museum of Modern Art. All ask users, visitors, or customers to contribute to the conversation as if democratizing knowledge. Might have to pick up The Wisdom of Crowds this weekend. 

Seems like a challenge to do it effectively, but jumping that hurdle could lead to some incredibly cool ideas for new products/services. 

Using the web to create an artspirience

Moma, and other art museums, seem to be starting to embrace web 2.0 by building social communities, changing the way users/visitors interact with/experience the museum, and making it possible to connect with one another. Instead of "If we build it, they will come," we seem to have "Give them the tools, and watch them build." Can't wait to see where this goes. 

"Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." - Ferris Bueller

I don't think baseball players are the only ones that get caught up in the next big something, and sometimes lose sight of the things that really matter. 

The crumbling(?) of the ivory tower...

On Monday, the NYT published an article exploring side income that physicians and more interestingly Harvard Medical faculty make from drug companies. This comes after a series of articles from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel about UW Madison Faculty consulting with and being wined and dined by the big names in drugs. 

Now, states and schools are considering new rules and cracking down on these practices, targeting, among other things, the lack of disclosure and transparency by doctors/faculty. 

Medicine's not the only area this happens. Google has a list of educational resources designed to influence teaching to create more computer scientists. They (and others) pay faculty to intern, offer grants, and more to do research in the fields that benefit the company most. Academic Economists and Political Scientists find seats at the table too...

Does it matter? And if it does, where do we draw the line? What's undue influence and what's effective collaboration that can drive innovation and the next economic boom? What's the dwindling economy do for "academic freedom?"

How to Draw 22 Million Visitors to Your Website | Inc.com

One great product, a little word of mouth, and lots of hard work brings lots of eyeballs to a pretty slick site.

Web 2.0 101

If u want to burn like 5 hours doing nothing, check this out haha: http://www.go2web20.net/

innovation = inspiration + ideation + implementation

First. 

Articles (and books) to spark thought are always worth reading.