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October 6, 2006
Results of mind mapping software study
Chuck Frey of the Innovation Weblog recently released the results of a survey of 500+ users of mind mapping software. There were three major takeaway lessons:
(1) Mind mapping software can increase the productivity of business users by as much as 20%;
(2) Top applications of mind mapping software include project management, presentation preparation, note taking and problem solving;
(3) Sharing mind maps with non-visually oriented colleagues and coworkers can be challenging.
Anyway, copies of the mind mapping software survey, which was conducted during August, are available here.
[image: Mind Map]
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Is a Google-YouTube deal in the works?
Earlier in the morning, Michael Arrington of TechCrunch hinted at a possible Google acquisition of YouTube in the $1.5 billion - $2 billion range, and now various tech news web sites (e.g. ZDNet) are also starting to report an imminent deal. At 1:59 pm, even the Wall Street Journal felt compelled to publish accounts of a looming deal involving Google and YouTube. According to Garett Rogers of ZDNet, the deal makes sense for a number of different reasons:
Acquiring a company that has solid technology and a huge amount of loyal users is a sound investment — just ask someone if they saw the YouTube video of [insert anything funny here], and they will probably say "yes" or "I'll check it out". Google Video has a lot of the same content, but I don't see it ever becoming a replacement for YouTube — time to acquire.
If this does happen, the investment would more than pay for itself on advertising dollars alone — contextual video ads powered by Google will be a common occurance in the near future. Even if they don't monetize the service right away, the users alone are worth the price."
[image: GoogTube]
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Silicon Valley is still hot
Silicon Valley is hotter than ever, according to the Wall Street Journal. Web 2.0 companies from all over the country continue to migrate to Silicon Valley, attracted by the easy access to venture capital money as well as a pool of highly-skilled tech workers and seasoned Internet executives. Even if it means packing up an office and moving across the country, it appears to be worth it:
"From early in the Web boom, there have been predictions that the Internet eventually would erode Silicon Valley's pre-eminence in nurturing start-ups as entrepreneurs found it more attractive -- and much cheaper -- to do business online from other regions. Instead, companies like VideoEgg [founded by a Yale grad in Connecticut] are now migrating to Silicon Valley and environs. The trend shows how the San Francisco Bay Area continues to possess a unique mix of venture-capital money and skilled workers that tech firms -- especially those that get to a point where they want to grow quickly -- can't afford to pass up.
Of course, pockets of tech remain active elsewhere in the country, notably around Microsoft Corp.'s home base near Seattle and also in Boston. But many companies -- typically tech start-ups headed by entrepreneurs in their 20s, often with staffs of less than five people -- are still heading to Silicon Valley. Mobius Microsystems Inc., a maker of technology that regulates timing pulses in microchips, relocated from Detroit to Sunnyvale, Calif., in March. LicketyShip Inc., an Internet firm that facilitates local deliveries, moved from New Haven to San Francisco last September. Meetro Inc., a maker of mobile social-networking software, transferred from Chicago to Palo Alto, Calif., in January, while Box.net Inc., an online file-storage-and-sharing site, jumped from Seattle to Silicon Valley that same month. Other companies are moving from overseas: Internet video company Metacafe Inc. is currently shifting its main office to Palo Alto from Tel Aviv."
Not surprisingly, the start-up influx is helping to revitalize Silicon Valley. Many of the new companies are moving into offices that had been left empty by the tech bust of 2000. They are also ramping up their hiring and creating jobs. There's a burgeoning social scene as well as a vibrant venture capital environment. For young companies early in their development, perhaps the only drawback of moving to Silicon Valley is the high cost of labor (see graphic):
"Moving to Silicon Valley has its complications. The cost of doing business in the area remains steep, particularly due to high labor costs. According to a recent report from the American Electronics Association, a trade group in Washington, D.C., and Silicon Valley, high-tech workers in San Jose, Calif., made an average annual wage of $126,700 in 2004, the last year for which data are available. That compares with the national average for high-tech workers of $72,400."
[image: Peaks in the Valley]
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The amazing shop-in-a-box
The Venue VBOX - basically a huge shipping container that can be tricked out with cool features and even cooler products - is taking the idea of pop-up retail stores to an extreme. As Springwise explains, the Venue VBOX is a portable store that can be set up temporarily in any location and at any time:
"The VBOX enables a brand or company to follow an event they wish to align their brand with, or pop up where consumers least expect it. Tag along with a photography exhibition or set up shop temporarily at a large sporting event. Brands can even showcase items that consumers may not otherwise be able to purchase elsewhere: just fill the VBOX with one-offs or special editions and you'll pull in consumers with the prospect that they'll able to purchase something unique.
The VBOX comes self-contained and equipped with an iMac and iPod HiFi. It's entirely ready to go; all that needs to be done is fill it with enticing products. To date the VBOX has housed collections by some of the fashion world’s most prestigious names: RAF SIMONS (Prada Group) and limited PUMA designer co-labs by Alexander McQueen, Christy Turlington, Mihara Yasuhiro as well as CDs, magazines/books and Motorola phones."
[image: Venue VBOX]
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Denmark's 180 degrees of innovation
The Putting People First blog points to the launch of a new innovation academy in Denmark:
"In just a few weeks, seven of the biggest players in Danish business and industry will launch a new innovation and concept initiator study programme called the 180º Academy (”One-Eighty Academy”), with the first group of students starting classes in June 2007...
Lego, Danfoss, Nokia, Gumlink, Bang & Olufsen, Novo Nordisk, and Middelfart Sparekasse are the seven companies who have taken the initiative to found and invest in the new educational institution, which offers courses in the Danish town of Middelfart and abroad. The study programme is the only one of its kind in the world and is, according to its founders, a break from the traditional innovation concepts in Denmark.
It is practical, interdisciplinary and radically user-driven. It combines humanistic methodologies together with design and business thinking. Above all, it is about people, not technology, as is confirmed by Microsoft’s well-known design anthropologist Anne Kirah, who is Director of Development for the programme."
Anyway, it looks like the 180º Academy builds on the traditional MBA curriculum, while including numerous extras that have been inspired by "some of the world’s leading design and innovation schools."
[image: BBC]
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October 5, 2006
China looks to develop its innovation potential
In the Financial Times, Mure Dickie recently highlighted the new emphasis on innovation within China. Dogged by fears that the country still lags far behind its Western competitors, the Chinese government has worked to jump-start homegrown innovation:
"There is no questioning Beijing’s determination to change the situation. This year, perhaps the hottest phrase in technology policymaking is zizhu chuangxin, or “autonomous innovation”. Leaders are prepared to spend serious sums to boost scientific and technological research, budgeting a reported Rmb72bn in state investment for 2006, up by nearly a fifth compared with last year.
The latest five-year plan puts high emphasis on promoting R&D by domestic companies and supporting them in sectors seen as strategic, such as software. A package of policy measures to support domestic semiconductor companies is expected before the end of the year, with financial support for chip companies, public funding for some of their R&D, and wider use of income tax exemptions. City authorities already offer hefty incentives for chip fabrication plant investors – even in dry and dusty Beijing, which has little need of more water-hungry and dirt-sensitive plants.
The government is putting great effort into persuading local companies of the value of developing their own intellectual property in a country where copying is generally seen as more likely to be lucrative than creating. Beijing must be one of the few cities in the world that has advertising posters on its subway dedicated to encouraging patent filings."
[image: Chinese Internet cafe]
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Scenes from BarCamp NYC
The Wired blog has put together a photo essay from BarCamp NYC, a meetup of more than 250 designers, entrepreneurs and other assorted creative types in midtown Manhattan:
"Last weekend, 250 programmers, entrepreneurs and geeks of all stripes gathered in New York for the city's second BarCamp. Just like the original, the schedule for the impromptu meetup wasn't decided until everyone had arrived, giving each attendee a chance to lead a discussion on a topic of choice. BarCamp, part of the recent wave of "un-conferences" in the tech world, is a populist response to O'Reilly Media's invitation-only FooCamp. There are only two rules at BarCamp: no shoes allowed, and participation is required."
In this picture, participants are trying to come up with a business model, logo and product in fifteen minutes using 50 randomly selected words as part of a session called Halfbaked.com. (The winner was something called "Celebrity Rocket") If you're interested in attending the next BarCamp event, there are more details about BarCamp NYC in this Wired article by David Cohn.
[image: Wired]
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October 5 innovation linkage
Rick Rashid on the state of Microsoft R&D [CNET News]
Underwater hotels: Poseidon and Hydropolis [Business 2.0]
IDEO and the future of design [U.S. News & World Report]
The art and science of Japanese robots [Timothy Hornyak]
Andy Warhol's 15 megs of fame [Seth Godin]
R&D adds significantly to U.S. GDP growth [Reuters]
Futurologist Ian Pearson looks into the future [ITWales.com]
The Internet in the year 2020 [BBC News]
[image: Poseidon underwater hotel]
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The Clinton Global Initiative in New York City
It's now possible to download photos, webcasts and news clips from the recently-concluded Clinton Global Initiative event in New York City (September 20-22). There is also running commentary about the event on the Clinton Global Initiative blog. Clinton, who was recently featured on the front cover of FORTUNE magazine, was the driving force behind the event, natch. However, on Day 2 of the event, something happened that managed to upstage even former President Clinton:
"At 10:07 a very amazing press conference begins in the press briefing room. It's one of the more unusual ones I've attended. Clinton begins by highlighting some good new commitments - a big investment in rural medicine in China, and a great new push to plant trees and green space in the South Bronx, explained by Majora Carter, a South Bronx resident and recent Macarthur winner...
Then, at 10:21 am, the blockbuster. President Clinton heightens expectations by saying that he isn't even going to say what the commitment is. At which point Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin, steps to the podium and lets loose with a stunner: Virgin's transport industries (air and rail) will donate 100% of their revenues over the next ten years (projected at $3 billion) to investigating climate change and better energy systems. It's not just the money, more than all of last year's CGI -- it's the complete change in thinking inside of corporate culture that makes this such a big deal."
[image: Clinton Global Initiative]
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The Executive Coloring Book
Subversive, legendary, and long out of print... Ad to the Bone presents a special 2006 edition of The Executive Coloring Book.
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October 4, 2006
What does the word "innovation" mean?
Scott Berkun, who is working on a book about innovation, has posted a few results from a recent innovation survey he conducted online: "Last month I ran an open survey on innovation to help with my book in progress. Nearly 100 people from scientists, to programers, to writers to researchers, volunteered their time and answered my questions. The results were amazing and I’m still filtering through the stories and data." What's interesting is that nobody seems to agree on an exact definition for innovation: "Right off the bat, there was contention around the word itself. 60% of respondents chose to add their own definitions, some paragraphs long..."
[graphic: What does the word "innovation" mean to you?]
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Core 77's Design 2.0 Panel in Boston
On November 15 in Boston, Core 77 will be sponsoring its third Design 2.0 event. The theme of the event is "Design, Technology, and the Future" and panelists include John Maeda from MIT Media Lab, Natalie Jeremijenko from UCSD and ITP, Bill Cockayne from Change Research, and Jason Pearson from GreenBlue. The moderator for the program will be Allan Chochinov, editor of Core77. Anyway, here's a quick summary of what to expect from the half-day event:
"As products and systems become smarter and more technologically imbued, the mandate of the designer is thrown into question. If we can make anything, what should we make? And if all of our activities have consequences -- environmental, economic and social -- what are the opportunities for moving positively into the future? How can we balance serving interests with setting agendas? Join us for a panel discussion on the front lines."
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Swarms of innovative shoppers
According to trend-spotting site Springwise, collaborative shopping networks are starting to reach a critical mass as the "wisdom of the crowd" concept filters down into the retail industry. In addition to Stylehive and ThisNext, there is also Crowdstorm, which bills itself as a "social shopping 2.0" site:
"Crowdstorm is a new way for consumers to find what to buy by measuring the buzz around products. Users recommend products, and the crowd defines the best products by recommending what they know and like. Good products go to the top of the list, weak products disappear: the setup is very much like the popular news website Digg. Buzz is measured by the amount of activity surrounding a product: how many times a product has been viewed, how many bloggers have written about it, and how many Crowdstorm users have commented about it.
Users can add other users as friends, either people they already know or those they've met on Crowdstorm and whose product recommendations they trust. Future enhancements will let users post their own product images and videos, and top-rated members will also be invited to beta-test new products from big brands. UK-based Crowdstorm was founded by Phil Wilkinson, who also set up online price comparison sites ShopGenie and Kelkoo, and aims to be one of the internet's best sources of impartial product information."
[image: Bargain shoppers rush to grab holiday deals]
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October 4 innovation linkage
U.S. duo wins physics Nobel for work on Big Bang [Reuters]
A cheap and easy way to protect patents [IEEE Spectrum]
Has innovation been squeezed out of teaching? [Guardian Unlimited]
Could Digg ever rival a search engine? [The Gong Show]
Microsoft's stealth ad campaign for the Zune [zunelicious]
Innovation and baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
Most Americans know very little about science [RedOrbit]
Beware the Web 2.0 clones [Richard MacManus]
The solar-powered camper [YouTube.com]
[image: The physics of the Big Bang]
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My parents went to Kansas, and all they bought me was this cheap Gemini spacesuit
BoingBoing points to an amusing story about a thrift store devotee who wandered into an antique mall in the middle of Kansas and walked out with a genuine space suit from NASA's Gemini program (circa 1963):
"It is most definitely the real deal, a suit that never went into space, but was used for high-altitude pressure tests during the Gemini program. There were around thirty of these suits made, and this is the only one that wasn’t destroyed or put in a museum somewhere. To be in the presence of this artifact is thrilling. It’s like seeing Lincoln’s stovepipe hat, except Lincoln’s hat was never worn by a freakin’ ASTRONAUT."
[image: the Gemini space suit]
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The future of innovation at Google
In a presentation for students and faculty members at the University of California-Berkeley, Google's director of machine learning, search quality, and research discussed some of the search giant's newest innovations as well as the future of data analysis. In addition to developing a more accurate and human-like computer translation program, Google is also creating a number of other tools to help users deal with the ever-increasing complexity of the Web:
"The translation program is an example of how the ability to utilize large amounts of data is helping to expand the resources available to users. Google is also currently developing what Peter Norvig described as "sets", in which the user types in a few different words and receives a list of related words. This technology would help searches be more accurate, he said.
Another new project that Google is developing is one that Norvig said he hopes will help them better understand users. It is the creation of user trend graphs that track the volume of different searches at different times of the year. "This is only an idea of new things we are working on, and the ways in which technology can be used. There is so much data and there are so many things you can do with it," Norvig said."
[image: Peter Norvig via The Daily Californian]
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October 3, 2006
The Netflix Innovation Prize
Inspired by some of the great innovation prize competitions in business history - like the 1714 Longitude Prize offered by the British government - Netflix has announced the creation of the $1 million Netflix Prize, which will be awarded to the first person to improve Netflix's movie recommendation system's accuracy by at least 10%:
"Netflix will make 100 million anonymous movie ratings ranging from one to five stars available to contestants. Currently, when renters watch recommended movies from Netflix, they rate them on average of a half star higher than the other movies they rent... The Netflix recommendation system uses proprietary algorithms to process the more than 2 million new ratings a day in order to pair users with patterns found in the over 1.5 billion ratings already noted.
But if a contestant can bump that half star up another 10 percent, Netflix will license the technology and publish a detailed description of the winning approach. If no one can meet that threshold, the company will annually award a $50,000 progress prize to whomever makes the most "significant advancement" toward that goal until someone does meet it. In order to avoid the scandal that sometimes accompanies the release of user data, Netflix has removed all personal information from the 100 million ratings, scrubbing them clean of everything but their dates."
Anyway, for more on the Netflix Innovation Prize, check out the NPR interview with the VP of recommendation systems at Netflix. Hacking Netflix has the details:
"NPR interviews (audio) James Bennett, vp of recommendation systems at Netflix, about the $1 million Netflix Prize contest. Bennett gives some insight into the problem, such as finding all the movies with happy endings (it's not as simple as putting up a questionnaire)... Tidbit from the interview: Netflix company policy requires that all meetings start with "movie talk," where employees share reviews of movies they've been watching."
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60 years of innovation at Pilgrim's Pride
Usually, the word "innovation" connotes some type of world-changing technological innovation. Yet, innovation occurs within each and every industry in deceptively simple ways that can impact hundreds of millions of consumers. For example, Pilgrim's Pride - the company that came up with such innovations as the world's first-ever boneless whole chicken - is celebrating a 60-year history of innovation and thought leadership within the processed poultry industry:
"Over the years, Pilgrim's Pride has established a reputation for industry-leading innovation. It was one of the first in the poultry industry to produce individually quick-frozen cooked and fresh chicken products. In 1984, the Company developed the world's first boneless whole chicken. In 1997, after years of research into the role of certain vital nutrients in fighting heart disease and promoting wellness, the company introduced EggsPlus, a healthier alternative to the ordinary egg that contains extra Vitamin E, Lutein and Omega-3 essential fatty acids.
More recently, Pilgrim's Pride introduced its EatWellStayHealthy Kids line of heart-healthy products, the first in the industry to feature the USDA-regulated word "healthy" on its packaging, as well as the American Heart Association's "heart check-mark" seal of approval.
These innovations have earned Pilgrim's Pride numerous awards for quality and service from its customers, as well as accolades within its industry. Recent awards include the Distinguished Supplier Award from Darden Restaurants, the 2005 Vendor Partnership Award from Jack in the Box; the Poultry Supplier of the Year Award from Zaxby's, and the Outstanding Vendor of the Year Award from Fry's Food Stores, a division of The Kroger Co.
In addition, Pilgrim's Pride has been named among the "Most Admired Companies in America" by Fortune magazine for four consecutive years.
[image: Pilgrim's Pride]
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What does a consumer anthropologist do all day?
In today's Wall Street Journal (sorry, no link available), Lee Gomes talks with Byron Thayer, a 26-year-old customer anthropologist at Silicon Valley-based telephone headset-maker Plantronics. As Thayer explains, there is increasing demand for customer anthropologists who can uncover emerging trends within key consumer markets. In the case of telephone headsets, Thayer found a number of "little tics" in the way people interact with headsets. For example, many users listen with just one ear, a practice that he has documented in his "monaural listening" findings:
"Sometimes they want to be aware of their surroundings; they want to be able to converse with people. Or, they will be at home and want to hear their roommates wandering around. I was talking to a college student. He says he listens to music, with one headphone, even when he is in lecture. He said it provides a soundtrack to his life. A lot of young people listen to music as a kind of background noise. Maybe they were raised with a lot of stimulation."
The funniest example, though, involves the work habits of white collar clerical workers:
"One guy told me he wears a button-up shirt every day. He'll take his headphones, run them underneath his shirt and up his collar. He'll put one headphone into his ear; his other ear is exposed and is his radar. He hears his boss walking up, he takes the one out of his ear, and lets it drop. It drops far enough so that it's underneath his desk and out of view."
[image: anthropologist at the Smithsonian]
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Nestlé plans opening of new culinary innovation center
On Friday, Nestlé will break ground on a new state-of-the-art culinary innovation center in Ohio:
"Nestlé FoodServices North America is proud to announce the “groundbreaking” of its new Culinary Innovation Center in Solon, Ohio. This state of the art facility, which will encompass 67,300 square feet, will set a new industry standard as the epicenter for Nestlé FoodServices' development of innovative culinary products for foodservice customers. The groundbreaking signifies Nestlé’s growth and expansion in Solon as well as Nestlé’s commitment to culinary innovation in the foodservice business. Solon Mayor Kevin Patton will be in attendance, along with other local dignitaries..."
[image: a vintage Nestle advertisement]
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Anne Mulcahy and the importance of innovation at Xerox
In an interview for IDG News Service, Xerox chairman and CEO Anne Mulcahy discusses the importance of innovation to the company:
"I would say the most important way that we foster innovation is our funding of research, which so many companies have walked away from. We have four global research centers around the world that do everything from very upstream futuristic kinds for research, like [in] Palo Alto, to a media research center, like we have in Canada. There's a pipeline that has to be supported to get to innovation in the marketplace, and the commercialization of it begins with the stimulation of innovation proposals, and that's been a huge focus.
We have a head of technology today, her name is Sophie Vandebroek; she runs an innovation process in the company that I think yields really extraordinary results. She has upped the ante on the amount of innovation proposals, the amount of patent applications..."
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October 2, 2006
The 8 truths of real innovators
Alain Thys of the Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog has posted a list of the eight truths of real innovators:
(1) Stop equating innovation to R&D;
(2) Pay people to fail;
(3) Treat everyone as an innovator;
(4) Kill bad ideas quickly;
(5) Launch first, worry about the shortcomings later;
(6) Don't believe what your customers tell you, dig deeper;
(7) Don't try radical innovation, buy it;
(8) Mix elements that shouldn’t be mixed.
[image: Ray Fenwick, "The Truth Bear"]
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