Sometimes taking down walls and cubicles to improve interaction, collaboration and creativity can have unintended negative consequences. “The intent of taking away dividing walls and doors is usually to improve creativity and performance by fostering spontaneous fun, interaction and sharing,” says Professor Cummings of Victoria University in New Zealand. “However, we found evidence that it [...]
This new phone from Nokia charges through body heat. What if charging your cell phone was as easy as sticking it in your pocket for a few hours? That’s the premise of the Nokia E-Cu concept phone, developed by British designer Patrick Hyland. Hyland’s Nokia E-Cu (E for environment, Cu for Copper) phone features a copper [...]
The Information Architects have plotted the top 140 Twitter influencers on a map akin to those showing how the universe began. The blobs are placed according to name, handle, category, influence, activity and when they joined the service. Full story here.
What ‘The Social Network’ teaches us about business innovation. What is it about the Zuckerberg story and how he founded Facebook that is drawing so much interest? The obvious answer is that he has become the world’s youngest billionaire at 26 years old and people would love to know how he did it. The film [...]
from the New York Times 9th annual year in ideas Copenhagen has begun to create a system of as many as 15 extra-wide, segregated bike routes connecting the suburbs to the center of the city. The Bicycle Office of Copenhagen’s design calls for service stations (with air pumps and tools for simple repairs) and plans [...]
MIT researchers are developing a microchip that could help blind people regain partial eyesight. Though it won’t completely restore normal vision, it will enable a blind person to recognize faces and navigate a room without assistance. The chip, which is encased in titanium to prevent water damage, will be implanted onto a patient’s eyeball. The [...]
from the New York Times 9th annual year in ideas For dairy farmers, whether to name their cows may seem like a matter of taste. But it might not be. It could be a business decision. A study of several hundred British dairies published in the journal Anthrozoös in March compared responses to a survey [...]
from New York Times mags 9th annual year in ideas called “it happens when nobody is watching” and placed in a bus shelter in Berlin, was a one-time installation sponsored by Amnesty International. When a person in the shelter was looking at the poster, he saw, along with the words, a photograph of an amiable [...]
From a series entitled “27 Vintage Ads That Would Be Banned Today.” Oh how things have changed.
Ever had the problem of wanting to buy someone some clothes as a gift but dont know the right size and don’t want to ask them? Yes me too. That’s why I like this handy website called Anonsize.me. Simply got to the website, enter the person’s phone number and gender and your own phone number [...]
A single use toilet for slums in the developing world where there are no permanent toilets . Developed by Swedish architect Anders Wilhelmson who told the New York Times “Not only is it sanitary, they can reuse this to grow crops.” Once used, the bag can be knotted and buried, and a layer of urea [...]
We talk in the book how giving the unconscious mind a crack at a problem often helps with creative process. New research suggests what’s might be going on. The researchers found that compared to folks who focus all their energy on solving a problem (one problem they gave was what to do while waiting in [...]
Creativity comes in myriad different forms. For Andy Goldsworthy it’s making ephemeral art and from the things he finds in nature. His work is inspiring and beautiful. This extract is from the film about his work “Rivers and Tides.”
Probably the best speech on creativity I’ve seen
