A photo exploration opening Seagate’s new “FreeAgent”drive. It’s more compelling than it sounds as Seagate really focused on the “getting started” experience, ripping a page straight out of the apple playbook.
[tags: apple, design, seagate, thepugetnews]
If you don’t know who Will Wright is, you should. He’s one of the most visionary game developers alive today. Here he previews his newest game, “Spore,” wherein players develop life forms from single-cell, all the way to complex human beings who conquer the galaxies. Will speaks a lot about developing games as if they’re educational toys, ways of understanding both time and space, as well as the complex systems governing the world.
Adobe has placed an engaging interactive wall advertisement for their Creative Suite 3 in New York’s Union Square. The ad wall is 7 feet tall, 15 feet long, and tracks human movement, animating a sequence of visual effects based on where the passerby happens to be located. You can see a photo and read more about the ad on the TED Blog . You can also view a video of people interacting with the display on Gizmodo’s AdWatch here.
While the movement recognition appears like it could take a bit more work, what this ad points to is either amazing or downright chilling.
How long will it be before ads are able to recognize biometric information in the targeting of their ads? At one personalization extreme, you get something like the “Minority Report,” where you are individually recognized and marketed to. “Hello, Eric Franklin. Have you thought about using the Adobe Creative Suite as a means of designing your monthly newsletter?”
There are a whole host of in-between options, however, that privacy advocates may not be able to fend off as directly as the full-on personalization (which I expect a significant number of people will resist). What if an ad could merely answer the question of whether it is targeting a male or female? I have to assume that that could be done with a some degree of accuracy based on facial structure, build, etc. What if an ad could target your demographic by looking at social cues such as clothing and jewelry? Is the only way to market more effectively to delve further and further into stereotyping (er, I mean “demographics”)?
A really excellent business interview with the CEO of Lego. There is lots of great information in here for people looking to build and run their own companies. It’s a refreshingly clear look at revitalizing an innovative, privately-held brand while staying true to your roots, discovering who your customers really are, and servicing them to the best of your ability.
Quoted: The restructuring of Lego, and what it means to open source a design process. Tyler Brûlé interviews Lego chief Jørgen Vig Knudstorp.
[tags: Monocle Magazine, video, Retail, Business, Lego, Open Source, Innovation, Product Design, thepugetnews]
An intriguing post on the Freakonomics blog, asking whether or not Public Libraries could be built today or if the publishing houses have become powerful enough to block such profitless enterprise in their domain.
[tags: books, libraries, thepugetnews]
A great moderated chat on SvN about the visual display of information on the web with three well-known and influential data artists.
[tags: data, art, thepugetnews]
Like it or not, the digital publishing revolution is really starting to take hold. Authors, bookstores and publishers should re-think their relationships with their readers and tru to increase the amount they’re reading because the margins won’t be supported for long. We will see a lot of innovation here in the next several years.
Quoted: At BookExpo America, the publishing industry’s annual convention, the battering ram of technology was back.
[tags: books, technology, thepugetnews]
I went and saw Greg Bear speak a month or two ago. He spoke about his advisor role at Homeland Security. I think it’s a pretty great idea to have a group of able-minded science fiction writers thinking through possible disaster scenarios and how we can avert or at least respond to them.
Quoted: Looking to prevent the next terrorist attack, the Homeland Security Department is tapping into the wild imaginations of a group of self-described deviant thinkers: science-fiction writers.
[tags: science, government, writers, science fiction, Greg Bear, Department of Homeland Security, thepugetnews]
Read the entire Cluetrain Manifesto online for free! This is one I’ve been meaning to get to for a while and should be great as a weekend read.
It’s apparently also soon to be a major motion picture. I am reading David Weinberger’s new book, “Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder” and am enjoying that immensely.
Quoted: markets are conversations. talk is cheap. silence is fatal.
[tags: manifesto, books, cluetrain, free, ebooks, film, Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls, David Weinberger, thepugetnews]
ChangeThis posted an interesting manifesto by the author of “The Definitive Drucker.” It explores the various ways that management concepts have shifted from the manufacturing economy on into the information age and the ways in which successful leaders must constantly remain focused outward while acting inward.
[tags: , Peter Drucker, business, information age, Elizabeth Haas Edersheim, thepugetnews]
A website and blog in support of a new book on the well known manager, Peter Drucker.
Quoted: Delivers keen insights into business in the twenty-first century, while distilling Drucker’s advice to management into interrogative guidance on how to strategize and triumph in this new environment
[tags: Peter Drucker, business, books, blogs, thepugetnews]
A great collection of “top 5 business books” lists from noted authors and business leaders.
Quoted: Hundreds of business books are published each year. Chances are at least one has the answers you’re looking for. But how to find it? U.S. News spoke with 14 leaders from all walks of business life—from academics to entrepreneurs to corporate execs—about the five books they consider indispensable reading for managers.
[tags: blogs, business, books, thepugetnews]
Antony Gormley made 100 cast-iron sculptures of himself and put them on the beach. The effect as the tide moves in and out is a bit eery. I’d hate to be the lifeguard!
More Antony Gormley information:
Aesthetic Grounds: Gormley’s Lonely Men over London