Convergence

Don't move!? or the science of inaction

If you're a frequent reader of this blog, you might have noticed that I'm an avid soccer fan who doesn't let an opportunity pass to draw analogies between the "beautiful game" and the other big game: business. As such I was riveted by Clive Thompson's "Goalkeeper Science" piece in last week's New York Times Magazine's "Year in Ideas" issue. Based on research examining the behavior of soccer goalkeepers facing penalty kicks, Thompson concludes that "inaction may be the biggest form of action" (Jerry Brown).

The study, … Read more

Newsweek asks design firms to "resurrect the Republican brand"

A somewhat unconventional yet challenging task: Newsweek invited four "hot (and nonpartisan) design firms" to provide ideas and design direction for "resurrecting the Republican brand," featured in this week's (December 29) print issue. The full-page feature presents concepts by frog design (full disclosure: my employer), Pentagram, Razorfish, and The Groop.

The article is not available online so check it out at a news stand (and support print media!).

Simple is not as simple as it seems

An article in the New York Times says customers are being more attracted to "simple" products:

And, as it turns out, the buyers of consumer electronics could very well have been a leading economic indicator. Over the last year, they chose to buy two inexpensive and simple products, the Wii and the Flip, over competing gadgets bristling with more features.

But the article conflates two different definitions of "simple"

Doing a focused function or small number of functions (i.e. it's "simple in what it does") Being easy and intuitive to use (i.… Read more

Last minute gift guide: data devices

By Chelsea Holden Baker

Does a loved one suffer from infomania? Do you have an incorrigible number-cruncher on your gift list? Whether your favorite data-tracker is a runner or a gardener, here are five devices that could be a hit at home this year.

1. Fitbit

About the size of a thumb drive, this fitness and sleep tracker discretely clips to your clothes. At home, it auto-syncs with its base station and uploads information (such as how many calories you burned that day or how many hours you actually slept) to a website where you can track data for yourself, … Read more

A wiki for social media

In addition to his already pretty comprehensive list of social media marketing programs, Peter Kim, the "de facto curator of social media" as Steve Rubel calls him, has now launched a wiki. Social media power to document social media power, so to speak. Great effort, check it out:

http://wiki.beingpeterkim.com/

Only open news is good news: Apture, Washington Post, Times Extra

These days, you don't need to launch portal sites that vie for new audiences. You're better served leveraging existing applications to provide new functionality for venues that already attract a fair share of eyeballs or that even cultivate their own communities.

Internet activist Lawrence Lessig points out a feature of Apture, a rich media content compilation platform, that promotes government transparency by allowing bloggers and other publishers to embed links to rich media background info on politicians and their records (i.e., key moments of testimony in videos, historical source materials, government documents, and even bills and resolutions). … Read more

In the antechamber of hope or why creatives and academics were so receptive to Obama

I am finally reading Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s mesmerizing book The Black Swan – The Impact of The Highly Improbable, and I am intrigued by the parallels you can draw to Obama’s campaign (they may be quite a stretch, but those are the best, no?)

In a chapter titled “Living in the Antechamber of Hope,” Taleb refers to empirical research showing that on average venture capitalists capitalize better on innovations than the actual innovator, that publishers make more money with books than writers, that agents do better than artists, and that R&D managers do better than scientists: “The … Read more

The paradox of loyalty

by Robert Fabricant, Executive Creative Director, frog design

"I had lunch with my kids at our local Middle Eastern restaurant in Park Slope, Brooklyn, yesterday. It has been there for a long time in a neighborhood that has exploded with cool cafes. The smell of warm pitas, fresh from the oven, practically brought my kids to tears. This place is getting more and more attractive to me these days. They provide good, cheap, fresh food – I can stuff the whole family for less than $30. But that's not all: at the end of the meal they always bring … Read more

Fake Times

It's a few weeks old but still worth pointing out as another recent example of "Disruptive Realism" - a clever twist on the slogan of the New York Times: 'All the news we hope to print:'

Good News! from Blake Whitman on Vimeo.

From the press release (linked to the Prankster group The Yes Men):

"Early this morning, commuters nationwide were delighted to find out that while they were sleeping, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had come to an end. If, that is, they happened to read a "special edition" of today's … Read more

TEDGlobal coming back to Europe in 2009 - and staying

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), arguably the world's most influential gathering of creative thinkers, is coming back to Europe - and staying. TEDGlobal 2009, the companion to the TED conference in California, is to be held in Oxford, UK, July 21-24, 2009, and every year after that.

TED curator Chris Anderson says that one of the main reasons to return to Oxford (after a tentative trial in 2005) is the more convenient time zone for simulcasts of the conference program to the growing TED communities in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

TEDGlobal 2009 was officially announced at London's … Read more