toy box

Did you know?

You might already have seen this... but if you haven't, take 5 minutes to watch it. It puts things in perspective.

BugLabs - Video

I've tried to explain what "BugLabs" is about for a while.

Bug Labs is a new kind of technology company, enabling a new generation of engineers to tap their creativity and build any type of device they want, without having to solder, learn solid state electronics, or go to China. Bug Labs envisions a future where CE stands for Community Electronics, the term “mashups” applies equally to hardware as it does to Web services, and entrepreneurs can appeal to numerous markets by inventing “The Long Tail” of devices. - www.buglabs.com

When I saw this video on IDEO Labs, I felt so excited! What would I create if I had all these components...?

Thinking/Designing Out of the Box

I'm doing some research for content for my class next week and visited one of my favorite blogs: The Medici Effect.  I was looking for interesting stories about Innovation - who, what, where, why and how.  Frans Johansson, Author of the Medici Effect, talks about "Intersections" and has a collection of "Intriguing Combinations". 

It was there that I found this video and Frans' well written description of how this video and innovative thinking really illustrates one of the main ideas in The Medici Effect:  If you apply existing concepts in fields where they haven’t been used before it dramatically increases your chances of being innovative.

Credit for the video and concept goes to Front Design, a design firm located in Stockholm, Sweden.

Is It Too Late to Add a Few Things to My Christmas List

As if my idea list wasn't full enough, I came across these dreamy product. I found many of the concepts quite inspiring. http://www.yankodesign.com/2008/12/23/best-of-yanko-design-2008/

Ready to schedule a meeting?

Have you encounter a dilemma of not being able to set up a meeting when more than two (very busy) attendees are involved? I've seen a couple online scheduling tools but I thought we will try using TimeBridge. It seems intuitive to use and clean interface to interact with. More review about this tool to come!

iWood

Our friend Tatiana from Creable sent us this link to iWood after we have talked so much about how much impact iPhone casing makes in our emotional attachment to the iPhone itself. Maybe because iPhone is not designed around the appreciation of wear and tear..., there is something really appealing about this case that could "age" with the time...which symbolizes our dailiy interactoins with the phone.

Future web browser scenario

"Aurora is a concept video presenting one possible future user experience for the Web, created by Adaptive Path as part of the Mozilla Labs concept browser series." We like concept prototype that shares just enough information to get us imagining what the future holds. This first concept Aurora seemed little bit complicated for me by viewing the video.  However, I am looking forward to their browser concept series to see some other concepts. Maybe there would be simpler more intuitive user experience? different settings for scenario?
 
Aurora (Part 1) from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.

meebo.com: if you could chat with people behind the blog...

Our friend sent us a link to meebo (Thanks Candice:) Idea is very simple. Website/blog author can embed chat windows on their site by creating an account with meebo.com. Now when visitors come to the website, they can engage the real-time conversation with the authors. It's an indication that the distance between authors and readers is getting shorter and shorter in the era of conversation.

Aerospace (almost) commercialized

Our friend eecue (Dave Bullock) has written an article about Virgin Galactive that was unveiled yesterday in Mojave desert, CA.  At its peak two sets of tourist can be sent to space each day... costing each tourist $200,000+. We've thinking of what's next for that uber luxury consumer trends which has been around for a long time.This service certainly will fit into the next generation of the highly eco-conscious luxury consumers who are looking for extremely adventurous one of the kind services that provide experiences that are both exclusive and near impossible.
photo taken by eecue. You can check out some of his other amazing photos here).

Now we have to learn how to interpret Information w/AI

"The Cloud is an organic sculptural that responds to human interaction and expresses context awareness using hundreds of sensors and over 15,000 individually addressable optical fibers." via: core77
We have tried Smart technology to understand what "we" want. Now we have to be sensitive and listen to what "they" are saying. ("they"=Information w/AI)