Yesterday, Facebook launched a new version of its popular social networking site for testing at new.facebook.com. The site (not compatible with Internet Explorer), marks Facebook’s first major redesign basically since the company launched in 2004. I, for one, am excited to play around with some of the new features and enhancements… and at first glance, I think other users will be pleased as well. Here are some of my initial thoughts and reactions: Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | 
New Communication Channel, Technology | Tagged: facebook, social networking, social web | 
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Posted by Joshua Kutticherry
The New York Times ran a great piece this morning about InnoCentive, a company that helps connect companies and their challenges with people who might be able to solve those challenges. This company has been on our radar for a while, as they’ve carved out an interesting niche in the innovation world by providing sort of a marketplace for ideas.
It’s a pretty simple system, really. Companies post specific challenges to InnoCentive’s online database. InnoCentive helps these companies refine each challenge, and a “prize” is attached to it (usually between $10,000 and $25,000). The company posting each challenge is kept hidden. Anyone can log onto InnoCentive’s database and try to solve one of the challenges. Once someone comes up with a solution, they inform InnoCentive, transfer IP rights over to the company who posted the problem, collect their prize, and it’s done.
The beautiful part about this system is that anyone can try to solve the problems in the InnoCentive database. PhD’s, college students, it really doesn’t matter. The company has actually found that most of the “solvers” are people who are completely outside the industry of the challenge at hand. From the Times: Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | New Business Process, Services (Other) | Tagged: innocentive, open innovation | Permalink
Posted by Joshua Kutticherry
TechCrunch wrote a post the other day on “The Future of Search,” which includes a video walk-through of some of the search features with which Google is apparently experimenting. The highlight of this “experiment” is a layer of social functionality (much like Digg) that Google may add to its standard page of search results.
Basically, this world of search allows users to vote search results up and down, move things to the first page, and comment on individual results. What this means is that Google may be turning to “the wisdom of crowds” to enhance it’s world-famous (but ever-mysterious) algorithm. What’s more, it appears that users will be able to create rich Google profiles (Facebook, anyone?), which will be visible to other Google users through comments made on specific search results. Could this all be part of Google’s master plan to take over the internet? We already know they’re getting into virtual worlds. Keep an eye out for new experimental features in Google’s ever-active Labs.
To see a very, very cool demo of this functionality, be sure to visit TechCrunch.
2 Comments | Media & Entertainment, New Communication Channel, New Product or Service, Technology, Uncategorized | Tagged: digg, facebook, google, social media, social networks, social web, virtual worlds, wisdom of crowds | Permalink
Posted by Joshua Kutticherry
J.K. Rowling, famed author of the Harry Potter series, recently gave a commencement address at Harvard University. Her speech, entitled The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination was an inspiring look into her life and success. Read the rest of this entry »
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: harry potter, harvard, harvard commencement speech, imagination, j.k. rowling | Permalink
Posted by Joshua Kutticherry
So, I was looking forward to writing a post today on the whole 3G iPhone launch and the iPhone Software 2.0 and the wonders of the Apps store. But I can’t.
My iPhone is dead. “Bricked” as they say… Read the rest of this entry »
7 Comments | Technology | Tagged: apple, iPhone, iPhone 3G | Permalink
Posted by Joshua Kutticherry
Google just announced its foray into yet another Web domain: the virtual world. Lively, which is Windows-only at the moment, operates through a browser plug-in for Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer, which is probably what most differentiates the service from Linden Labs’ Second Life. Unlike Second Life and other virtual worlds, Lively isn’t one single world at all—it’s a series of virtual rooms that users create and attach to their existing Google accounts. Rooms can then be embedded into blogs or other Web pages, meaning Lively users can go in and out of rooms as they stumble around the Web.
At first glance, the service is relatively easy to set up and use, as Google has provided a number of templates for both rooms and avatars. At present, Google is driving all the content creation for Lively, though it’s likely they’ll allow users to generate content for the world in the future. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Media & Entertainment, New Brand Experience, New Communication Channel, New Product or Service, Technology | Tagged: google, lively, social networking, virtual worlds, web 2.0 | Permalink
Posted by Joshua Kutticherry
Speaking of eco-design… the ever-outspoken Philippe Starck (who proclaimed, recently, that “design is dead“) has just released details of his latest project: a household-scaled wind turbine dubbed “Democratic Ecology.” The personal wind turbine is designed to fit neatly into the lives of eco-driven aesthetes, and will be available for a relatively reasonable €400 (about $630 USD). The turbine was designed to be almost invisible, and is apparently capable of producing 20-60% of a home’s energy needs (though we’re not sure exactly how that estimate was calculated).
The turbine was designed in collaboration with PRAMAC, a company that develops and manufactures a wide range of power generation equipment, materials handling equipment, and photovoltaic components. It is set to go on sale in Europe this fall, and will be one of the first personal-scaled wind generators on the market. Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Art & Design, New Product or Service, New Strategic Partnership | Tagged: democratic ecology, philippe starck, pramac, wind turbine | Permalink
Posted by Joshua Kutticherry
A redesigned milk jug has been the surprising target of much press attention over the past few weeks. The new jugs; which is slowly being rolled out in U.S. retailers such as Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart, and Costco; is taller, rectangular, and has no real spout. The jug was essentially designed with one goal in mind: reduce the environmental impact of milk.
To that end, the new design allows for jugs to be stacked (they’re flat on top), and eliminates the need for plastic milk crates since the stackable design allows for cardboard dividers and shrink wrap to be used. This translates to reduced packing time, faster delivery to stores (which means fresher milk), and fewer wasted resources along the distribution chain. More milk can fit in each delivery truck and in the grocer’s cooler; and empty trucks don’t need to travel back and forth to collect milk crates. Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Art & Design, Food & Beverage, New Business Process, Retail | Tagged: wal-mart, milk, Sam's Club, milk jug, dairy | Permalink
Posted by Joshua Kutticherry
Sigg is in the business of making stainless steel, reusable water bottles. These bottles are not plastic, and Sigg wants everyone to know.
The company just announced a partnership with stopglobalwarming.org, a non-profit, non-political effort to “declare that global warming is here now and it’s time to act.” The I AM NOT PLASTIC 1 Litre bottle is made of BPA-Free stainless steel, and like the rest of Sigg’s lineup, is designed to help consumers cut down on their use of disposable cups and water bottles.
We’re particularly taken by the strong message of this latest bottle design, however. It reminds us of Anya Hindmarch‘s I am not a plastic bag, the $15 tote bag that had people literally stepping on one another to acquire one last year. It’s pretty striking that eco has become such a strong brand in and of itself—people are increasingly taken with the idea of showing how environmentally savvy they are. Read the rest of this entry »
3 Comments | New Communication Channel, New Product or Service, New Strategic Partnership, Retail | Tagged: BPA, i am not plastic, sigg, stopglobalwarming.org, water | Permalink
Posted by Joshua Kutticherry
Product (RED), which we’ve covered before, announced a new offering yesterday designed to create a steady stream of donations for The Global Fund through a music subscription service. The yet-to-be-named service will offer consumers, for $5.00 per month, access to 3 new pieces of exclusive content each week (two of them digiatl song downloads). Half of the subscription revenue will go directly to The Global Fund, while the other half will go to the artists and record labels who contribute content. From the New York Times:
Each week (RED)’s service will deliver two songs in MP3 format, one from a superstar act like U2, whose frontman, Bono, was a co-founder of (RED), and one from a less established artist. The third piece of content will be a “crackerjack surprise,” a song, video or short story. The idea is to appeal to Internet users who are interested in music but alienated by commercial radio or the chaos of some online music sites. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Media & Entertainment, New Business Model, New Strategic Partnership, Non-Profit | Tagged: (red), digital music, music, product (red), the global fund, u2 | Permalink
Posted by Joshua Kutticherry
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