Filed under: Business
Bruce Nussbaum of BusinessWeek titled his article “CEO’s Must Be Designers, Not Just Hire Them. Think Steve Jobs And iPhone” and considering the strong and ongoing popular respect for Apple’s products, he cuts right to it from the start. People have written that we’re in the Creative Age, a time where innovation is inspiring further innovation at an unprecedented rate. A highlight of his article (for the designer in me that is): “Design is so popular today mostly because business sees design as connecting it to the consumer populace in a deep, fundamental and honest way. An honest way…if you are in the authenticity and integrity business then you have to think design.” And by no means are we just talking about how something looks of course…we too are believers that form must follow function. But this Web 2.0 era gives us plenty of design examples around the experiential and invisible, such as YouTube and RSS feeds, or when considering development of Web sites, we think of our own progression as Ruby on Rails and ActionScript 3.0 further our effectiveness, efficiency, and possibilities. Anyway, give Nussbaum’s article a read and I imagine that a few points will resonate and inspire further thought.
Filed under: Uncategorized
On ABC’s This Week I saw a segment on Nick Kristof, Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist, and his “contest” where a winning teacher and student become foreign correspondents for a week. The catch, it’s in Africa, Kristof’s specialty. Well, war zones aside, it’s not a bad catch, it’s what I hope becomes a spark for more interest in such coverage. In the video clip on the right side of the ABC News Web page, Kristof mentions that one of the problems is that people see a headline about Africa, and they’re tuned out. So his reasoning is that if he can get a young person to blog, video, record about Africa, more audiences may listen. This year they’re traveling to Rwanda, Burundi, The Congo to shine the light on these neglected areas.
Earlier this year at our church’s Sunday School program for adults, we had UNC-Greensboro professor Jeff Jones teach a course called “Why Is Africa Dying?” which included a brief history of Africa which helped participants understand a bit more clearly how we find the state of the Sub-Saharan region the way it is, but at the same time, touched on the fact that some of the stereotypes are also limiting the collective understanding. So without repeating all Dr. Jones’ lectures, in a nutshell, Kristof’s “contest” was a welcome segment. Right now, I’ve five folks I know in Africa on Peace Corp duty and between them, Kristof’s columns, and Dr. Jones, this has been an increasingly enlightening year on Africa for me.
Filed under: Video/MoGraph
“Cleanliness is a determining factor in our well-being and vitality. This awareness is leading to a revolution on how we think of personal hygiene.” So says ToTo, creators of the Washlet toilet seat. Cleansing, warm air dryer, air purifier automated & heated seat, all operational through a remote control. Of course the subject the product addresses is memorable in itself, but it’s the site that had staying power in my mind. When I helped service the Georgia Pacific bath tissue accounts a couple of years ago (Quilted Northern, Angel Soft) it was obvious we were working with a project we couldn’t demonstrate in use and with this in mind, this Washlet site’s use of video, interaction, and demonstration clips do well in demystifying the product and make the topic less uncomfortable. Unlike the Philips/Norelco BodyGroom 2006 site (that pushed humor more aggressively), in its messaging, the Washlets site is lighthearted yet direct.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Frequent readers of the New York Times and viewers of CBS Sunday Morning are familiar with David Pogue’s lighthearted yet useful technology reports. Technology reports for the masses and I for one have appreciated them over the years. So it came as no surprise that although iPhone anticipation has been just about everywhere, his iPhone review video this past week was a fun snapshot of what is another revolutionary move by Apple, albeit one with room for further expansion of features and the like.
