Posts Tagged ‘innovation’

From Technology Review comes an article about a new kind of robot who could transform manufacturing.  It’s one of those infrequent but eye opening views into what the future really holds.  This robot has sophisticated sensors, uses expressions, and can programmed by factory workers without a degree in computer science.  In short, this is just […]

Google has been pushing Responsive Web Design hard lately. In April they posted Responsive design – harnessing the power of media queries, which went into Google’s best practices for web development (spoiler alert: they like Responsive Web Design, a lot). There’s even a high-level tutorial for making your own site responsive.

Use Cases Determine Design A few weeks ago LinkedIn released their iPad app; it was immediately praised for it’s slick interface and immediate usability. With a full-featured and flexible site like LinkedIn, most users expect a recreation of the original desktop website with a minor design change for tablets. What LinkedIn actually delivered shows more […]

Responsive Web Design is all over the place right now. Some of it’s even on the Internet! And many of you are doubtless thinking, “Self, how can I get some of that hotness?” Well, you’re in luck! (But only if you promise to stop referring to yourself as “self” when you think out-loud). On April […]

A discriminating Fortune 100 company recently approached us wanting to add reputation management and gamification across their entire experience. Initially they expected us to build them a custom solution. However after evaluating the options, we recommended taking a look at the emerging ‘gamification’ SAAS vendor space. This would take advantage of the rapid installation, lower […]

Google is sponsoring its second annual global science fair for students aged 13-18. This competition calls for the “brightest young scientists from around the world to submit interesting, creative projects that are relevant to the world today.” I have always found science fair and similar intellectual challenges to be incredibly inspiring. Falling into a rut […]

Valentine’s Day is about celebrating people we care about. It seems like a good holiday to focus on increasing our empathy and compassion for our customers and our users. Here are a few perspectives on why empathy is good for innovation and success as well as thoughts on cultivating compassion.

Baseline Magazine has an article about the purchase experience catching up to technology capabilities.  Personally, I think anything that improves checkout time is well worth the effort. his may soon change. Apple—which has already eliminated POS terminals in its stores and provides e-receipts—rolled out its EasyPay service on November 8. It allows customers to scan […]

Today Seth Godin posted a blog about how advances in technology affect incumbent businesses and the ways in which they operate. Mail —> email Books —> ebooks DVD —> YouTube/Netflix 1040 —> Online taxes Visa —> Paypal Open outcry —> Electronic trading Voice call centers —> forums and online chat Direct mail —> permission marketing […]

How did Amazon get its start? The business model originally focused on selling books. Then Amazon moved into general retailing, where it experienced rapid growth and success. Now it is moving in new directions that play to its software strengths – content distribution and creation. Technically, Amazon has always been a content distributor. Authors wrote books […]

Marc Andreessen believes that “software is eating the world” – that companies thriving today are doing so with the competitive advantage they’ve developed through technology and software. While Lytro may not be dominating the photography industry yet, it is a frontrunner in the technology and software quickly developing in the world of photography. Lytro is a […]

In an article on TechCrunch Aaron Levie, the founder and CEO of Box.net, details his vision for how enterprise software has historically operated and what will make or break a company in the years to come. The author points out that many IT projects encounter roadblocks, achieve less than forecasted returns, or end up failing; […]