August 16, 2006
"I am a Modern Man"
This 3:42 video clip of comedian George Carlin was too good to pass up. He's a modern man for the new millennium. He's been uplinked and downloaded, inputted and outsourced. He knows the downside of upgrading and the upside of downsizing. (Hat tip: Right Brain World]
[video: YouTube]
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August 15, 2006
Innovation that's just too hot to handle
First, there were rumors of exploding Dell laptop computers at a trade show in Asia. Then, other reports quickly appeared of charred and flaming Dell laptops. Some published reports described spontaneously exploding Dells. Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal ran a front-page article outlining the hazards of exploding laptop batteries on commercial airline flights. (Link via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) As a result, Dell has taken the extraordinary step today of recalling 4.1 million notebook computer batteries made by Sony because they can burst into flames: "In rare cases, a short-circuit could cause the battery to overheat, causing a risk of smoke and/or fire," said the [Dell] spokesman, Ira Williams. "It happens in rare cases, but we opted to take this broad action immediately." And well they should. Check out this picture of the exploding Dell laptop.
[image: The Inquirer]
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August 14, 2006
Innovation explained. On film.
In his weekly round-up of innovative products and services, Reynold D'Silva of the Snake Coffee blog points to VideoJug, a new site featuring a collection of "how to" videos from ordinary people sharing their expertise on a number of different topics, including how to make a Spanish breakfast and how to serve and drink sake. Moreover, all the videos are neatly organized into a number of different categories, including health, beauty, food, DIY, and home. Anyway, it's easy to see how a site like VideoJug might eventually pose stiff competition to the "Dummies" and "Complete Idiot's Guide" series of how-to books.
Tags: innovation videojug
[image: VideoJug]
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August 9, 2006
50 lessons on innovation
The website 50 Lessons includes an impressive number of short four-to-five minute video segments that feature global business leaders discussing lessons learned and various tips about innovation. On the home page of the 50 lessons site, just click on the blue "Quick Search" button at the top of the screen and then choose the "Innovation" tab under the heading "Areas of Interest." You'll then be given a choice to watch brief videos on three different topics: creativity, experimentation, and invention. For example, there's Lord Bilimoria of Cobra Beer speaking about constant innovation, Neil Holloway of Microsoft speaking about risk and innovation, and John Abele of Boston Scientific discussing how important corporate culture is to innovation and change. In other words, a little bit of something for everyone.
Unfortunately, access to these videos is not free. There are different subscription levels for both individuals and corporations. For instance, an individual can purchase a five-pack of videos for $23, a ten-pack for $42, and a 25-pack for $99.
Tags: innovation 50 lessons
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August 4, 2006
The Day of the Long Tail
In coordination with the publication of Chris Anderson's new book The Long Tail, Michel Markman, Peter Hirshberg and Bob Kalsey created the following video trailer: "The old world of media faces an invasion from another planet. The horror. The horror..." On his Long Tail blog, Chris Anderson explains the origin of the two-minute video segment:
"For the past year or so, I've been ending many of my speeches with this brilliant video by Peter Hirshberg of Technorati, and Michel Markman. They showed it first at at the D conference last year and a few times since then, such as the EG conference earlier this year. Now Michel's uploaded it to YouTube for everyone to enjoy. Some of the lines, such as "There are a lot more of them than there are of us" and title of this post, are now permanently lodged in my brain. Thanks Peter and Michel!"
Tags: Long Tail Chris Anderson
[video: YouTube.com]
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July 31, 2006
The wrong guy at the right time
By now, everyone has probably heard of Guy Goma, the British cabdriver from the Congo who was mistakenly interviewed on the BBC in May as an expert on digital music and the Apple iPod. Turns out the lucky fella now has a website called The Wrong Guy, with testimonials from viewers around the world as well as Guy Goma trivia quizzes and Guy Goma merchandise. There have even been mash-ups of the Guy Goma BBC clip with music. Which leads to the following point: sometimes innovation is about being the wrong guy at the right time and the right place. Just go with the flow and fake it.
[video: YouTube.com]
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July 27, 2006
Knowledge Management for Dummies
Green Chameleon features the first-ever video interview with Professor Gervaise Germaine of the Free University of Munsterburg, who explains in great detail several concepts related to KM (knowledge management). Oh - if you're not sure whether this is meant to be satirical or not, just fast-forward the video to the two-minute mark, where the bowtie-wearing Professor Gervaise Germaine dumps a metal spaghetti strainer on his head.
Tags: Gervaise Germaine knowledge management KM
[video: YouTube.com]
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Dismantling the house of quality
On August 15, Anthony Ulwick, author of the bestselling book What Customers Want, will be presenting a one-hour webinar on how to create a predictable product innovation process. According to Anthony, "the house of quality" (i.e. Six Sigma and QFD) no longer offers an adequate framework when it comes to managing a product innovation process. As a result, organizations should dismantle the house of quality and embrace other alternatives, such as the Opportunity Landscape Model:
"Many companies have used QFD and more specifically the house of quality to advance their product development efforts. After 25 years of using the house of quality, leading-edge companies have come to realize that it is simply the wrong tool for the job of innovation. That is only half of the story. What we have discovered in our work with Fortune 1000 companies over the past 15 years is far more disturbing - the limitations inherent in the house of quality are the cause of process instability and are preventing companies from achieving their goal of predictable innovation.
In this webcast, you will learn about an effective alternative where the house of quality is replaced with the opportunity landscape model - a tool designed specifically to uncover and prioritize opportunities and deliver on the promise of predictable innovation. Just think - success can be achieved without time-consuming and tedious matrices! This new approach, a part of outcome-driven innovation, is the next generation of QFD. This thinking is featured in The Innovator's Solution, a recent book by Harvard Business School Professor, Clayton Christensen, and has supplanted QFD, VOC and other programs in many firms as a best practice and new standard for innovation."
Tags: quality QFD innovation opportunity landscape
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July 25, 2006
The best collection of innovation videos on the Internet
If you're jonesing for videos on innovation, check out MIT Sloan's Innovation Leader Series. There's a group of about 20 hour-long videos featuring the likes of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Tim Brown of IDEO, Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo, and Peter Diamandis of the X Prize Foundation. The latest video in the innovation leader series features Lord John Browne of BP, who talks about the future of energy and the purpose of business in the 21st century: "One common view of business makes a sharp distinction between making money and doing good in society. This is a limited and distorted perspective. Business that focuses just on money doesn’t invest in the future -- in its employees, new ideas, markets or products -- and won’t be around for long. Any successful business is part of society and exists to meet society’s needs."
A big hat tip to MIT World, which continues to provide free, on-demand video coverage of significant public events at MIT.
Tags: innovation JohnBrowne BP MIT
[image: Lord John Browne, CEO of BP]
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July 24, 2006
Detroit's biggest nightmare: the Google Car
In a quick two-minute video, futurist and innovation expert Jim Carroll discusses the Google Car and massive market disruption. As Carroll points out, the car of the future will likely come in a box and will be delivered via FedEx. Need a new part? Just go online and order it. By fundamentally changing the way that the automotive industry does business, the Google Car would become Detroit's worst nightmare:
"Given rapid science, hyper-innovation, low cost offshore production, and the slow response of other traditional business models ... every industry today is ripe for massive disruption and the rapid emergence of new competitors. A big part of the equation is avoiding 'legacy costs' both in manufacturing as well as sales and support. Think FedEx, not car dealerships. Think smart engine modules that pop in and out, not auto mechanics. Think WalMart, not ReadyLube. It's all there, and someone just has to pull it together."
Watch the Google Car video clip here.
Tags: Google car auto Detroit innovation
[image: Digital Media]
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July 12, 2006
Zidane: a new way to solve problems
OK, this was bound to happen after what happened in the World Cup final on Sunday... Check out this spoof video of the now-infamous Zidane headbutt being featured on YouTube.com. (Since being uploaded on Tuesday, the video has already been viewed more than 204,000 times.) If you don't know how to solve your problems at the office today, just do a Zidane.
[video: YouTube.com]
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July 10, 2006
How not to use your head
This requires little or no explanation - just keep your eye on the guy in the white uniform. It's an unbelievable scene from the World Cup final on Sunday: France's best player, Zinedine Zidane, throws a head butt into the chest of Italy's Marco Materazzi, resulting in a red card and Zidane's expulsion from the game. Anyway, there are many different versions of this video already floating around YouTube.com, just in case ABC decides to yank these videos from the site.
[video: YouTube.com]
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June 21, 2006
What would Rube Goldberg do?
Innovation shouldn't be this complex, yet it often is. Matt Vance of the MineZone blog has assembled a group of entertaining Rube Goldberg videos that are worth checking out:
"I watched a lot of Tom and Jerry cartoons as a kid. Some of my favorites were the ones where Tom would build his own version of the Mousetrap game. I’ve been fascinated by Rube Goldberg machines ever since. I happened to run across three great Rube Goldberg Videos over the weekend on various sites. I wasn’t on the lookout for them and I’m not sure if they’re connected somehow. Maybe Rube Goldberg is on people’s minds because the National Rube Goldberg Contest was held recently."
Tags: invention RubeGoldberg innovation
[Video: YouTube.com]
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June 19, 2006
Video presentation from the Swiss Innovation Forum
Futurist and innovation expert Jim Carroll has uploaded a 35-minute video of his keynote presentation from the Swiss Innovation Forum that took place earlier this year. In the video, Carroll covers innovation methodologies, the global innovation loop, and the rapid pace of change within business. There's also a priceless quote comparing Toronto and New York: "Toronto is like New York, run by the Swiss."
Anyway, it's also worth checking out some of the other presentations from the Swiss Innovation Forum, where the list of guest speakers included Dr. Oliver Schusser (iTunes/Apple), Nicholas Negroponte (MIT) and E. Rudolf Vontobel (IBM).
Tags: innovation Swiss
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June 15, 2006
Intelligent surface systems for bartenders
Austrian innovation blogger Hannes Treichl points to a cool YouTube.com video of iBar, an intelligent surface system that also just so happens to be the surface of an interactive, six-meter long bar counter. As can be seen from the video, every glass, cellphone, car key, businesscard or even finger can be recognized as it touches the surface of the bar:
"iBar is a system for the interactive design of any bar-counter. Integrated video-projectors can project any content on the milky bar-surface. The intelligent tracking system of iBar detects all objects touching the surface. This input is used to let the projected content interact dynamically with the movements on the counter. Objects can be illuminated at their position or virtual objects can be "touched" with the fingers."
The video has already been viewed more than 192,000 times on YouTube.com and has been dugg over at Digg.
Anyway, for more on innovation from an Austrian perspective, be sure to check out the blog postings of Hannes Treichl. Recently, he has written about Marissa Mayer of Google, the Mitsubishi DiamondTouch, social innovation and the iPod.
Tags: ibar innovation
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"Change Artists" webcast on change and innovation
Just a reminder that the Change Artists webcast will take place at 10:30 am on Monday, June 19. The webcast, which is sponsored by HP, CNN and CIO.com, features a frank discussion by two senior executives at health care services giant McKesson - CEO John Hammergren and CIO Randy Spratt - on technology, strategy, and innovation. McKesson, ranked #16 on the Fortune 500, uses smart technologies to help make the delivery of heath care safer, more efficient and less expensive. The webcast is a great chance to find out how the CEOs and CIOs of today’s leading companies turn change into competitive advantage.
Anyway, there's a brief registration process that's required before receiving an invitation to the 30-minute webcast. It looks like the live interactive interview will take place in the CNN studios, so the production value should be high.
Tags: changeartists innovation strategy change
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June 13, 2006
"The most important business process that people don't manage"
If you're a fan of innovation blogger Jeffrey Phillips and his Innovate on Purpose blog, you're probably aware that he helped launch OVO Innovation a few months ago. Anyway, OVO Innovation now has a regular email newsletter that keeps subscribers up to date on the latest trends within the innovation world. In the most recent issue, OVO Innovation linked to a five-minute video blog from the Front End of Innovation event in Boston, in which OVO Innovation's Dean Hering explains how and why corporations need to make innovation a repeatable, sustainable business process: "Innovation in most businesses has been fragmented, accidental and serendipitous... Innovation must become a more carefully considered strategy as firms seek new methods to differentiate and provide great products and services to the market."
In the five-minute vlog, Dean Hering reviews the first-ever "managed innovation" operation (hint: it dates back to the days of Thomas Edison); outlines a five-step process to Innovate on Purpose; and offers a final takeaway lesson: "Innovation is the most important business process that people don't manage."
Tags: innovation strategy management
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June 2, 2006
Innovation through design thinking
In an hour-long MIT World video, Tim Brown of IDEO explains the relationship between design thinking and innovation. According to Brown, design is everywhere around us - on the covers of business magazines, as part of consumer experiences at companies like Nike and Apple, and increasingly mentioned by Fortune 500 executives as an important way to grow a business. For many companies, design thinking is a way to create the future. To support this view, Tim Brown produces a wide array of examples from Corporate America. Motorola uses design thinking to create new products and service offerings. P&G uses design thinking to come up with new products to solve problems, like how to clean carpets. Microsoft uses design thinking to explore where technology will go in the future, especially as it relates to the Windows computing platform. JP Morgan uses design thinking to come up with financial solutions for clients with 401(K) accounts. Kraft uses design thinking to improve the supply chain and boost overall business value.
Anyway, there's not a full transcript of the presentation available, but here's a brief blurb about IDEO's "design thinking" philosophy from the MIT World website:
"Not so long ago, designers belonged to a “priesthood.” Given an assignment, a designer would disappear into a back room, “bring the result out under a black sheet and present it to the client.” Brown and his colleagues at IDEO, the company that brought us the first Apple Macintosh mouse, couldn’t have traveled farther from this notion.
At IDEO, a “design thinker” must not only be intensely collaborative, but “empathic, as well as have a craft to making things real in the world.” Since design flavors virtually all of our experiences, from products to services to spaces, a design thinker must explore a “landscape of innovation” that has to do with people, their needs, technology and business. Brown dips into three central “buckets” in the process of creating a new design: inspiration, ideation and implementation.
Design thinkers must set out like anthropologists or psychologists, investigating how people experience the world emotionally and cognitively. While designing a new hospital, IDEO staff stretched out on a gurney to see what the emergency room experience felt like. “You see 20 minutes of ceiling tiles,” says Brown, and realize the “most important thing is telling people what’s going on.” In a completely different venue, IDEO visited a NASCAR pit crew to come up with a more effective design for operating theaters.
After inspiration comes “building to think:” often a hundred prototypes created quickly, both to test the design and to create stakeholders in the process. Says Brown, “So many good ideas fail to make it out to market because they couldn’t navigate through the system.” IDEO counts on storytelling to develop and express its ideas, and to buy key players into the concept. Finally, IDEO relies on constantly refreshing its sources of inspiration by bringing in bold thinkers to campus, and increasingly, focusing on socially oriented design problems.
Tags: IDEO innovation design
[image: Tim Brown of IDEO]
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May 9, 2006
The three ways that companies can change the world
In this 2-minute "Art of the Start" video clip on YouTube.com, Guy Kawasaki outlines the three motivations for starting a company. As Guy explains, "the core...the essence... of entrepreneurship is about making meaning." Based on his own entrepreneurial and venture capital experiences, Guy suggests that entrepreneurs should only establish companies if they are interested in changing the world and making meaning: "If you set out to make money, you will not make meaning. If you set out to make meaning, though, you will make money." There are three ways for a company to "make meaning" and change the world:
(1) Increase the quality of life
(2) Right a wrong
(3) Prevent the end of something good
Tags: GuyKawasaki entrepreneur startup
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May 8, 2006
GE's one-second theater
According to the New York Times, General Electric is experimenting with an innovative new advertising campaign ("GE One Second Theater") that mixes together audio, video and the Internet and is meant to be accessible to the YouTube.com and MySpace.com crowd. What's interesting is that the campaign plays off a similar type of marketing effort ("GE Theater") that the company employed from 1953-1962. (Oh, and the actor hosting the GE Theater show was none other than Ronald Reagan!) Anyway, the new and updated marketing campaign presents a humorous peek behind the scenes at recent General Electric commercials produced by BBDO Worldwide:
"The campaign is intended specifically for new media like digital video recorders, which can be used to watch expanded versions of the spots, and the MySpace social networking service (myspace.com), where visitors can read a mock profile of Elli, the elephant star of one of the commercials. The spots will also be accessible on MP3 players, through podcasts presented as if they were recorded by Elli and other characters from the spots, and on a microsite, which offers an online version of the campaign.
The multimillion-dollar campaign, scheduled to begin [Friday], is the most recent effort by G.E. to explore media beyond conventional commercials and print advertisements. Previous initiatives include a campaign about a virtual sprouting seed, which computer users could tend and send to friends by e-mail, and banner ads offering a way to doodle online."
As the New York Times points out, GE is among a handful of other corporations experimenting with ways to reach the YouTube-MySpace generation:
(1) Hewlett-Packard is collaborating with the mtvU cable network owned by Viacom for a worldwide campaign aimed at college students;
(2) Adidas has started releasing a series of short films by directors like Roman Coppola, which can be watched on hand-held devices or on Web sites like ifilm.com, video.google.com and youtube.com, and can be downloaded from the Apple Computer iTunes store (itunes.com);
(3) Wendy's created a MySpace profile for an animated character based on its square hamburger, which also had its own Web site.
Tags: GE onesecondtheater innovation marketing
[image: GE One Second Theater]
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January 13, 2006
Revolutionary thinking: what scientists can teach you about innovation
MIT World has posted a number of interesting innovation-themed videos that are available on-demand from MIT. There's a lecture from Eric Von Hippel (a guest speaker at the recent FORTUNE Innovation Forum) on the topic of "Democratizing Innovation," for example. And there's a 1 hour, 30 minute video called "The Power of Revolutionary Thinking: What Today's Scientists Can Teach You About Driving Innovation In Your Organization." The video, moderated by Alf Nucifora of the Nucifora Consulting Group, features a number of innovative scientists who explain how they made truly breakthrough discoveries as the result of revolutionary thinking:
"Do you ever wonder how the really BIG ideas happen? From DaVinci and Einstein to Edison and Henry Ford: all made monumental advances through revolutionary thinking. Whether you're a scientist, intrepreneur, entrepreneur or corporate strategist, real success and real impact will come from your organization's ability to deliver quantum leap-style thinking that promotes advances in technological innovation and products that boost bottom line results. But how do you do this? How can you become a REVOLUTIONARY thinker? [...] "The Power of Revolutionary Thinking" will feature a panel of visionary researchers who will explore how organizations, both large and small, can use revolutionary thinking to enhance the innovation process, and show us how advanced concepts go from far-off vision to becoming part of our everyday lives."
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