A great way to advertise Copenhagen zoo.

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 [...]

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 [...]

Walmart is using Big Data gleaned from social media to target consumers with highly relevant suggestions for products. Last year it bought a startup focused on social media, Kosmix, and formed WalmartLabs. It uses Kosmix’s vast knowledge base, called ‘Social Genome’  to capture information and relationships about entities such as people, events, topics, products, locations [...]

IDEO’s Tim Brown at a recent TED talk. Interviews with Tim appear in Business Playground, the book.

One talented artist has found a use for old music cassette tapes.

The title says it all.

Our iPad app ‘CREATIVITY’ has just been released so please download it and review it.http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pounce/id477075451?mt=8 You can find it by searching ‘Creativity.’ Here are some things to look out for on the app so you can quickly get a sense of what it includes: It includes a full-color book with loads of graphics ad pictures. There’s an [...]

Closed stores look ugly for passerby and detract from the streets they are, making them look less attractive and vibrant. That’s why the idea of dressing them up with attractive fake shop fronts, with colorful window displays is such a good one. Fake shop fronts are starting to appear in the South East of England, [...]

With the flick of a switch, Philips Electronics may have just dramatically lowered America’s electric bill. In September the Dutch electronics giant became the first to enter the U.S. Department of Energy’s L Prize competition, which seeks an LED alternative to the common 60-watt bulb. Sixty-watt lights account for 50% of the domestic incandescent market; [...]

A cool steampunk desktop computer design from here.

One company has made swimming safer and more fun. Ask any parent about trying to teach their kids to swim and they’ll most likely tell you a story of their child being too afraid to get in the water. Whether it’s a river, the ocean, or even just the shallow end of a pool, the [...]

A couple of years ago, Seth Frader-Thompson was driving a Prius. Priuses have little screens on the dashboard that tell you what gas mileage you’re getting, in real time, as you drive. It crossed Frader-Thompson’s mind that houses should have something similar. So he built the EnergyHub Dashboard, a little device, with a screen, that [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]