May 23, 2012
"The crash will come. And Facebook—that putative transformer of worlds, which is, in reality, only an ad-driven site—will fall with everybody else."

— Much post-Facebook IPO post-rationalization going on. Marketplace’s Heidi Moore pointed out some stark figures: “Facebook’s market value at its highest: $112 bn. Today: $93bn. So Facebook lost $19 billion of value in one trading day.” And media commentator Michael Wolff chimed in with The Facebook Fallacy to pick apart the problems with the business model of the Silicon Valley social media darling.

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(Notes: 11)
  
Filed under: Facebook IPO social media technology business model value 
May 21, 2012
"Risk aversion is a hapless approach for a company that’s hoping to develop new technology. It’s tempting in a downturn. But long-term research and development, expensive and often filled with failure as it is, is the only route to discovering it. By taking the cautious path, companies risk a drought of ideas. During the downturn we have doubled our team of engineers and scientists and ramped up investment in research and development."

— Sir James Dyson, founder of Dyson, outlines his approach to innovation, design and risk management, critical when the economic chips are down.

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(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: risk innovation technology James Dyson R&D research ideas engineering 
May 8, 2012
"The apps were, in the jargon of information technology, “walled gardens,” and although sometimes beautiful, they were small, stifling gardens"

—

Why Publishers Don’t Like Apps is a great piece by Jason Pontin of Technology Review, explaining why apps haven’t proven to be the savior of publishing. The lack of linking and creation of “small, stifling gardens” is key, as are the economics of a business model that actually forced publishers to pay Apple for the privilege of selling single issues of magazines. Then there were the immense technical challenges, none of which mean a fig to the reader but which cause expensive headaches for the publisher. In short, the overarching question is simple but profound: what do users want or expect from their digital reading experience, and how do publishers provide that without bankrupting themselves? Clearly, providing a walled garden experience doesn’t cut it, and Pontin is searingly candid in his assessment of Technology Review’s own rather desultory experiments:

We sold 353 subscriptions through the iPad. We never discovered how to avoid the necessity of designing both landscape and portrait versions of the magazine for the app. We wasted $124,000 on outsourced software development. We fought amongst ourselves, and people left the company. There was untold expense of spirit. I hated every moment of our experiment with apps, because it tried to impose something closed, old, and printlike on something open, new, and digital.

That last phrase holds the key. As long as publishers attempt to shoehorn the old into the new, it proves they still haven’t understood the shifts to their business. 

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(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: Apple magazines publishing innovation Technology Review linking economy technology 
May 3, 2012

I’m still of the old school way of thinking that technology is a fantastic, amazing tool that works best when harnessed in the name of a really good idea. So I can do without the trend for turning everything and its cousin into an app. But this one is pretty smart. The Pain Squad app is designed to help sick children collect critical health data about how much pain they’re feeling. Turning pain management into a game, complete with leveling up and encouraging words for the kids via celebrity videos just might help the patients imagine that they’re not on their own in dealing with their illness. And the exploitation of the touchscreen functionality of the iPhone helps get around the real problem with data collection: getting people to do it consistently. Of course, not every patient will have an iPhone, or a smartphone of any kind, and it would be sad to eliminate the poorer sections of our community because of this absence, but this is well put together and hopefully, just a bright beginning. 

[via Brent Choi]

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(Notes: 6)
  
Filed under: health apps technology innovation design smart thinking 
May 2, 2012
“Striiv, a newer entrant in the growing market of exercise-tracking gadgets, caters to the crowd that would rather play FarmVille or walk for charity than pore over numbers.” Using The Addictive Power Of Gaming To Make You Exercise More is an interesting Fast Company Exist piece about the burgeoning trend for those looking to “quantify the self”, that is use technology to monitor data pertaining to their own life. Now come the devices for those who aren’t perhaps so engaged with this type of health-tracking. For, as author Ariel Schwartz writes, “other fitness-starved people may not be motivated by data as an end in itself.” Y’think? Using game-inspired techniques won’t mean that “fitness-starved” people will in any way be interested in forking out $99 for a fancy pedometer, of course. But I did think the kicker to the story was interesting:  Striiv is already working with two of the four largest health providers in the United States. Linking this type of idea to some form of preventive medical outreach program, or in some way using this as another tool in a system focused on prevention rather than retroactive care could elevate this to the level of really interesting. [Story via Beth DiLeone.]

“Striiv, a newer entrant in the growing market of exercise-tracking gadgets, caters to the crowd that would rather play FarmVille or walk for charity than pore over numbers.”

Using The Addictive Power Of Gaming To Make You Exercise More is an interesting Fast Company Exist piece about the burgeoning trend for those looking to “quantify the self”, that is use technology to monitor data pertaining to their own life. Now come the devices for those who aren’t perhaps so engaged with this type of health-tracking. For, as author Ariel Schwartz writes, “other fitness-starved people may not be motivated by data as an end in itself.” Y’think?

Using game-inspired techniques won’t mean that “fitness-starved” people will in any way be interested in forking out $99 for a fancy pedometer, of course. But I did think the kicker to the story was interesting:  Striiv is already working with two of the four largest health providers in the United States. Linking this type of idea to some form of preventive medical outreach program, or in some way using this as another tool in a system focused on prevention rather than retroactive care could elevate this to the level of really interesting.

[Story via Beth DiLeone.]

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(Notes: 2)
  
Filed under: health devices technology data tracking quantified self Striiv 
April 23, 2012
"These DIY methods disrupt the traditional triangular relationship between the designer, the manufacture and the consumer – because now you can be all three."

—

An interesting, provocative review of the Furniture Fair (Salone) in Milan from The Guardian’s Justin McGuirk. In From Handicraft To Digicraft, Milan’s Furniture Fair Looks To The Future, he looks at the influx of DIY types wielding Makerbots and Arduino-fueled products galore. Or, as he puts it, rather more eloquently: “All over Milan, this tension between mass production and self-production, between handicraft and digicraft, was to the fore.”

I confess I stumbled slightly over his later assertion that hackers have traditionally been “outlaws”. Maybe I’m wrong, but I always thought of the original hackers (the Woz types and those attending the Homebrew Computer Club back in the day) as those who were willing to share just about everything and “hacked” purely for the joy of learning and understanding… very much in line with the spirit of these present day hackers. It was only in the interim that a more nefarious splinter group of hackers arose, with less idealistic goals at their heart. Anyway, I digress. The killer point of McGuirk’s review comes at the end and any would-be innovators would be wise to pay attention:

This was not a particularly strong year for innovative products, with many companies playing it safe or re-upholstering old classics. So let’s just accept that there was a more compelling story to tell. This groundswell of participative design, rapid manufacturing techniques and hacking is starting to challenge Milan’s design orthodoxy, making us forget about products and think about processes. Because the furniture fairs of the not-too-distant future will be for exhibiting new services and technologies, not just objects.

Now that’ll be a furniture fair worth attending.

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(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: design Milan furniture service design technology innovation 
March 29, 2012

The RSA sure started off a trend with its animated narration style of video. This one was (not made by the RSA and) made to complement a new book from The Economist’s Matthew Bishop, and Michael Green, authors of In Gold We Trust: The Future of Money in an Age of Uncertainty. Their provocative question: “Are we on the verge of a revolution in the technology we call money?” Given the revolutions we’re seeing bubbling up in so many sectors of society, it would seem foolish to brush this off without further thought.

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(Notes: 7)
  
Filed under: money Matthew Bishop Michael Green gold gold standard globalization technology 
March 14, 2012
"The Google I was passionate about was a technology company that empowered its employees to innovate. The Google I left was an advertising company with a single corporate-mandated focus."

—

As Scott Crawford commented on Twitter, “It’s “Why I left the company that starts with G” day.” This piece, by now-former Google engineer James Whittaker, is hugely interesting reading and important for those interested in cultivating a company culture based around innovation. Every company changes as it grows and matures (duh), yet even those as lauded for their smarts and forward thinking as Google have to watch the little details that eventually add up to a whole that might not be quite what anyone had in mind. Whittaker’s conclusion, in particular, describes a present that is both horribly true and hugely far from Google’s initially incredible service:

Perhaps Google is right. Perhaps the future lies in learning as much about people’s personal lives as possible. Perhaps Google is a better judge of when I should call my mom and that my life would be better if I shopped that Nordstrom sale. Perhaps if they nag me enough about all that open time on my calendar I’ll work out more often. Perhaps if they offer an ad for a divorce lawyer because I am writing an email about my 14 year old son breaking up with his girlfriend I’ll appreciate that ad enough to end my own marriage. Or perhaps I’ll figure all this stuff out on my own.

Whittaker, it should be noted, now works at Microsoft.

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(Notes: 20)
  
Filed under: Google innovation culture companies management technology advertising 
March 6, 2012
Abundance — For Whom Exactly?

I liked the setup of TED in which curators contrasted the opinion of former Greenpeace CEO and sustainability activist, Paul Gilding, with the take of unapologetic techno-optimist and X-Prize head, Peter Diamandis. I found the former particularly powerful, and I couldn’t help but find myself nodding my head at Janet Ginsburg’s take on the latter, in which she posed the pithy question: Abundance, For Whom? She writes:

Diamandis blames the media for putting us all in a bad mood with nonstop “if it bleeds, it leads” news. The implication: attitude counts. And it does. But there actually are a lot of bad things happening. Those stories are true.

The reality is not so black and white. One can be deeply troubled by world events and inspired by the promise of technology at the same time. What one cannot do is brush away the reality of abundant loss: of species, habitats, biodiversity, clean air and non-record breaking weather. 

I haven’t yet finished Diamandis’ book, Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think, yet, but did note that he talks excitedly of the potential of Masdar, the acclaimed zero-carbon, self-sustainable planned city being built near Abu Dhabi. Only problem: last time I heard, Foster + Partners were no longer working on the project, which has been scaled down drastically. Optimism is crucial; having the ability to face up to the actual challenges we face —without being blinded by the promise of technology — even more so. As Gilding commented, “It takes a good crisis to get us going.” Now when are we going to realize we’re in the midst of one?

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(Notes: 5)
  
Filed under: Peter Diamandis Paul Gilding TED technology innovation environment Masdar optimism realism 
February 15, 2012

My favorite quote in my Fast Company piece about the inaugural Interaction Awards (of which I was a judge) came from the event co-chair, Jennifer Bove: “Behavior isn’t explicit in computer chips; interaction designers are the people who understand how to make things work.” But what was also interesting about this particular awards show was that it made it clear that interaction design is stretching beyond the screen and ever further into the physical world. That’s a super interesting proposition and challenge, and I confess I was particularly partial to those entries that moved beyond the promise of technology to offer something seamlessly crafted and infinitely compelling.

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(Notes: 3)
  
Filed under: Interaction Awards IXDA Fast Company interaction design pixels Jennifer Bove technology 
February 3, 2012

The Digital Trends headline sums up this video perfectly: Swarm of Little Flying Robots Is Amazing (Terrifying). So now we know our deaths will arrive courtesy of small, buzzing, bug-like robots that will blow us up without a care in the world. Sweet dreams! 

[Video via John Battelle.]

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(Notes: 18)
  
Filed under: robots technology flying robot terrifying 
January 18, 2012

As the anti-SOPA/PIPA-prompted blackout affects many part of the web today, do take the 13 minutes it takes to watch media commentator Clay Shirky explain why SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) are a “nuclear” assault on the average citizen’s democratic rights. As Shirky puts it:

The real threat to the enactment of PIPA and SOPA is our ability to share things with one another. What PIPA and SOPA risk doing is taking a centuries-old legal concept—innocent until proven guilty—and reversing it—guilty until proven innocent. “You can’t share until you show us that you are not sharing something we don’t like.” Suddenly the burden of proof for legal vs illegal falls affirmatively on us and on the services that might be offering us any new capabilities. And if it costs even a dime to police a user, that will crush a service with a hundred million users.

This is a cogent, clear, well-reasoned version of the argument from the anti-SOPA movement, and it’s one that we need to understand and act upon. As Shirky concludes,

Time Warner has called. They want us all back on the couch, just consuming, not producing, not sharing. We should say no.

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(Notes: 34)
  
Filed under: SOPA PIPA TED technology policy innovation Internet sharing Clay Shirky 
January 17, 2012
Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired—and Secretive—Company Really Works

Fortune writer, Adam Lashinsky has a new book on Apple coming up in a week or so, and reviews are beginning to appear. I’m looking forward to reading the book (I am already convinced it’ll be a million times better than Walter Isaacson’s disappointingly overblown biography of Steve Jobs), and I enjoyed Bob Sutton’s take on what struck him. Notably, Lashinsky’s close analysis of the organizational structure within the famed technology company, including its ability to keep teams small and focused. Sutton writes:

The tendency to make teams ever bigger is an awful disease, not so much because it costs more money, but because, as Harvard’s J.Richard Hackman has shown, it slows teams and undermines their performance as members end-up spending more time dealing with coordination issues and coalitional battles and less time doing the work at hand.  Apple gets the importance of small teams at all levels (e.g., Adam reports that a 2 person team “wrote the code for converting Apple’s Safari browser for the iPad, a massive undertaking”).  They also have an unusually small board of directors — seven members — for a company of that size.  

Sutton then continues to explain why this is particularly significant:

This extension of the elegance philosophy beyond their products has huge advantages as the “signal to noise” ratio appears to be quite impressive at all levels and in all functions — people tend to get good information, the information they need (and no more), and aren’t confused or distracted by other things. At senior levels, this means they get the information they need and it means that, although there is discussion and debate at times, when a decision is made, there is less of the usual arguing or undermining. And if there are failures in implementing, you will be forgiven if senior executives believe you acted intelligently enough and hard enough, but you will be shown the door very quickly if they believe you were dumb or lazy.

Good review and a good-looking book. (If you’re pushed for time, do read Lashinsky’s earlier Fortune piece on a similar theme, How Apple Works: Inside The World’s Biggest Startup—another beautifully written and eye-opening look into reality in Cupertino.)

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(Notes: 12)
  
Filed under: Apple Adam Lashinsky Bob Sutton books reviews technology teamwork focus bureaucracy politics management 
January 11, 2012
The Potentially Fatal Role of Design

In The Sad Death Of The Knob, Switch And Button, Jalopnik writer, Jason Torchinsky takes a look at a topic of some importance to car designers: the vehicle interior. He makes the case that designers have been distracted by the shiny, and argues that this could have potentially fatal effect. Torchinsky is reporting from the North American International Auto Show, taking place in Detroit through January 22nd, and it seems that the big trend this year is for car designers to try and integrate touchscreen technology into car dashboards, making them more like large iPad screens. Fits in with what’s going on elsewhere in tech-land, yes, but the move also removes both the haptic and tactile feedback of more old-fashioned knobs and dials. This, as he writes, is a problem:
Some cars, like the Chevy Volt, the Cadillac ATS and everything from Lincoln are replacing standard buttons with sleek capacitive touch plates with big clusters of identically-shaped buttons. Capacitive technology refers to using electrodes to sense the conductive properties of objects, such as a finger. So, basically, rather than physically depressing a button you’ve fumbled for while your eyes remained on the road, you’ll turn on and off four different things before finally looking down to find what function you want to change. Then you crash and die.
Now, of course, not everyone is going to crash and die because they start using a touchscreen in their car. But when you think about it, don’t you shudder just a little? Shown above, Tom Dunn of Panasonic introduces the UConnect entertainment system, where “everything you need is only a tap away.” Eek.

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(Notes: 7)
  
Filed under: design cars North American International Auto Show Detroit car design innovation touch screen technology bad idea? 
January 11, 2012
I suppose it’s worth noting that the Consumer Electronics Show is taking place for the next couple of days in Las Vegas. For the record, my own opinion hasn’t changed much since I wrote this rant last year, CES: A Symbol of Global Vandalism. But I did enjoy reading Mat Honan’s story of his own personal meltdown: Fever Dream of a Guilt-Ridden Gadget Reporter. Sample quote: I want to see it all catch fire. I want to pour gasoline in the ducts and light a long fuse, and watch from the street as it burns and burns and burns. My guess is that the flames would be quite beautiful, colored by chemical washes and treated glass. I’m still so very, very glad I’ve never had to attend the show. [Story via Tom Coates. Photo c/o CES.]

I suppose it’s worth noting that the Consumer Electronics Show is taking place for the next couple of days in Las Vegas. For the record, my own opinion hasn’t changed much since I wrote this rant last year, CES: A Symbol of Global Vandalism. But I did enjoy reading Mat Honan’s story of his own personal meltdown: Fever Dream of a Guilt-Ridden Gadget Reporter. Sample quote:

I want to see it all catch fire. I want to pour gasoline in the ducts and light a long fuse, and watch from the street as it burns and burns and burns. My guess is that the flames would be quite beautiful, colored by chemical washes and treated glass.

I’m still so very, very glad I’ve never had to attend the show.

[Story via Tom Coates. Photo c/o CES.]

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(Notes: 6)
  
Filed under: CES technology gadgetry guilt innovation unnovation unnecessary waste of the world's resources product design