MIT reinvents the Post-It note... with Post-It notes

We've seen countless attempts to re-invent the Post-It note, but no one's ever really managed to improve on the basic design -- which might be why MIT's "Quickies" concept doesn't even try. The electronic note system is instead based around a digital pen and special pad, which saves your notes as you jot them down on RFID-embedded Post-Its. Software on your PC then does some quick OCR and, according to the inventors, "uses its understanding of the user's intentions, content, and the context of the notes to provide the user with reminders, alerts, messages, and just-in-time information." Since the database can also store location information, sticking the note on a book or other object allows you to locate it later using the RFID tag, and you can even have notes SMS'd to their recipients. Pretty wild -- but we're more impressed someone finally found a good use for all those digital pens out there. Check a video of the system in action after the break.

Continue reading MIT reinvents the Post-It note... with Post-It notes

Foster + Partners’ New Green Complex for Singapore

A new green complex from world renowned architecture firm Foster + Partners will be adding more than a dash of green to the Singapore skyline. As sustainability becomes an essential ingredient to development in this island nation, the UK-based firm is leaving no stone unturned to make good use of alternative energy sources in this 150,000 square meter mixed-use project. As the winning design from an international competition, Singapore’s new eco-complex from Foster + Partners is pushing the green envelope from top to bottom in this sophisticated downtown design.

(more…)

EvolutiV by Olgga Architectes

The 70 square meter Maison evolutiV was shown at the Salon Européen du bois et de l'Habitat Durable in April. It looks like a few container projects we have seen but is made from wood. (that is the point of the Salon) It was designed by olgga architectes. ...

vía TreeHugger

Is New York The New Innovation And Design Center?

I hear that San Francisco-based innovation consultant Stone Yamashita Partners is opening an office in New York City in a few months on West 12th street.

San Mateo-based Jump Associates, another innovation consultancy, is rumored to be heading to New York soon as well.

Palo Alto-based IDEO, the biggest of the innovation/design consultancies and most global, opened their New York office last year.

And while not in the "innovation" business, Yves Behar, founder of fuseproject, is a brand and product strategist, and he spends half his time in New York these days. So does Jeneanne Rae, co-founder of service innovation consultancy Peer Insight.

So what's up with this eastward migration of design thinkers doing innovation strategy work? I think it's the realization among big consumer goods companies such as J&J, Pepsi and Coke, plus the financial services folks on Wall Street and in Boston, plus the old-style media and marketing people on Madison Avenue that they really need

the tools and methods of the New Transformationalists to get them closer to their consumers where they live (social networks) and shop. The old mass marketing using focus groups, making products and services in-house and throwing them at consumers is dead. Nike's motto of Running Together is where it's at. Co-habiting and co-creating with people, not for them, is the new paradigm.

SYP, Jump, IDEO are in New York to do that. Boston-based Continuum is another big player in innovation on the East Coast.

R/GA, the hot interactive design company that did the Nike Plus site, has been in New York for years.

And Smart Design, also New York based, is buiking up and moving into strategy as well.

IBM is also emerging as a powerful innovation consultancy and it, of course, is New York state-based. It's work on social networking, collaborative innovation, user-based idea generating and more is making IBM is big player.

Something's cooking.

vía BusinessWeek Online - NussbaumOnDesign

Words of wisdom from Jeff Bezos

BusinessWeek recently ran a wonderful interview with Jeff Bezos on the subject of managing and leading innovation. Thoughtful and illuminating, he had me nodding my head and saying "yes", "yes" and "yes" again. Some highlights:

On the liberating nature of constraints:

"I think frugality drives innovation, just like other constraints do. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out. When we were [first] trying to acquire customers, we didn't have money to spend on ad budgets. So we created the associates program, [which lets] any Web site link to us, and we give them a revenue share. We invented one-click shopping so we could make check-out faster. Those things didn't require big budgets. They required thoughtfulness and focus on the customer."

On cultivating a purposeful portfolio of innovation:

"With large-scale innovation, you have to set a very high bar. You don't get to do too many of those [initiatives] per unit of time. You have to be really selective."

On the right timing for innovation:

"My view is there's no bad time to innovate. You should be doing it when times are good and when times are tough—and you want to be doing it around things that your customers care about."

via Metacool

Design Green Now Presentation

In honor of Earth Day, here’s a presentation I did a few weeks ago Design Green Now in Washington. This is the slide deck I used to introduce myself and frog for ten minutes or so before the panel discussion itself. It misses quite a bit without the talk over, but you’ll get the general idea!

If you view it on Slideshare, you can see a full screen version.

| View | Upload your own

Richardsona

When It's Acceptable to Overfill

The extent that overfilling is part of the experience and the infrastructure that is required to support this.

Photos show: sake from a Shimokitazawa izakaya; an Izu Koogen balcony bath wet rooms being the norm in Japan; and for this coffee-junkie at least, the ritualistic filling of a cafetière to the brim to ensure that grits make it into the cup.

Digital equivalents?

vía Jan Chipchase - Future Perfect

McMarketing Drive Thru

Are your marketing initiatives insight led or trend driven?

Via Logic + Emotion

Costco: An Inside Look

I received this heartfelt and disturbing note from an obviously loyal but concerned Costco employee. To give you a bit of context, in The No Asshole Rule, I talk about how placing an over-emphasis on status differences among employees at different ranks is one of the root causes of asshole poisioning in organizations (see this post on how giving power turns people into jerks), and I talk about Costco CEO James Sinegal, founder and CEO of Costco who does things to reduce status differences between himself and other employees by doing things like taking a far smaller salary than most CEOs of big companies ($350,000.00 in 2003, which is only 10 times more than a top hourly employee and twice as much a store manager), how he visits hundreds of stores a year, and despite lots of negative feedback from stock analysts that he is "wasting money," Costco provides far better pay and benefits than other big box stores. Costco long-term financial performance has been impressive, and treating people well has some clear financial benefits (e.g., Costco shrinkage rate -- lost and stolen inventory -- is about 1/10th the industry average, a sign that employees are stealing a lot less and also preventing customers from stealing).

And this does seem to translate into how they treat customers. I've always found Costco employees to be remarkably helpful, for example, more helpful and emotionally engaged with customers than the employees at Draegers, my local high-end grocery store that sells many items at double the cost you can get them at Costco.

Nonetheless, despite these impressive efforts to treat people well and reduce status differences, maintaining an no asshole rule isn't easy in organizations that have even the best of intentions, especially when they face extreme profit and performance pressure. See the email I got below from a Costco employee who claims that asshole poisioning is spreading in the company, and one of the main causes is that known assholes keep getting promoting to managerial positions.

I would be curious to hear any reactions to this email. I wonder of this is similar to the experience of other Costco employees. What about those of you who are customers: Are you seeing any signs that the place is turning nastier? And, finally, I would love to hear from Costco senior management, as I understand that this is just one employee's view, and do admire what you've accomplished, especially given what happens at other big box stores.

Here is the note:

Mr. Sutton,

I just finished your book, The No Asshole Rule, and it's brilliant! My friends and I have had many discussions until late into the night about the very issues that you discuss. Thank you for writing this book! I have to admit that pages 76-78 initially made me cringe a bit, since I have been a Costco employee for over five years now. I'd like to explain further and I hope you'll indulge me.

First allow me to concede to the positive. We are paid very well at Costco and receive excellent benefits. We have a lot of great members and I have become friends with some of my clients! I also admire Jim Sinegal's vision of the company and the limitations he sets on his own salary is a wonderful example to set as a leader. Unfortunately, I believe that Mr. Sinegal has become too far removed from the "store level" to see what’s really happening on a daily basis. Yes, he has visited my location at least 8 times in recent years, but each time has been a quick "walk through" with almost no interaction.

The culture that I and my colleagues have experienced is one of micro-management by intimidation. I have worked with a couple of general managers and dozens of area managers and I have found that with regard to hourly employees’ behavior, they unanimously assume negative intent. Simply implementing #13 on your list of things you believe would alone make a marked difference in this environment. When instructions are given about completing a task, these instructions are always coupled with a criticism. Employees are often told to be team players but management doesn't exhibit a team attitude themselves. I have endless examples of this but I don't want to lose you now, if I haven't already. I know you must get endless emails.

So how might any of this affect the bottom line? I have noticed a trend over the years that I've been with Costco of employees demoting themselves. I have personally known of 6 individuals who have taken up to a 15,000/year pay cut to "step down." In some cases the other management at the store described this self demotion as a "personal failure on the part of the employee." I have not experienced these individuals to be failures and some of them are the most intelligent and productive workers that I have had the pleasure of working with, and they are also Nice! On the flip side of this, managers that have had numerous complaints made about their behavior are continuing to get promoted. One such individual had no less than 10 people about his unprofessional, condescending, and almost downright abusive behavior. Upper management's response was that they would speak to him, but that he will continue on in his current role.

Finally, it's important to note that I'm not basing this on only my experience or on the experiences at one location. I've networked with Costco employees in Seattle, Florida and Indiana to name a few and I have found similar environments and similar stories. So why am I still here? Why are some of my colleagues still here? The pay and the benefits no doubt play a part, but so has the idea that we can change things. I must admit to you Bob, for most of us, that idea is wearing thin.

vía Bob Sutton

Airboard laptop stand puts your Reebok Pumps to shame

Go on, admit it -- your day in the early 90s was never complete without reaching down in public and giving those Pumps a solid squeeze. In all honesty, we can't say that Ki-Seung Lee's Airboard is quite on that level, but it's certainly got the potential to be. This laptop stand was designed to reside in your lap or on your hotel room table and give each individual user the ability to elevate it as he / she sees fit. Of course, the usefulness would really take a hit if this thing takes five minutes to get good and inflated, but we could certainly see this becoming ergonomist-approved should it ever hit retail.

vía Engadget

Vertical (Diagonal?) Farm from Work AC in NYC

We love vertical farms and while they may not be as practical as green roofs, the idea of food being grown right in the city doesn't get any more local than this. New York magazine asked four architects to dream up proposals for a lot on Canal Street and Work AC came up with this. “We thought we’d bring the farm back to the city and stretch it vertically,” says Work AC co-principal Dan Wood. “We are interested...

vía TreeHugger

Transformer Patio By Picque

Collin usually covers the transformer beat, but he is on the road pedalling to Epic in Vancouver , so I get to show the Vertical Patio by Seattle's Pique Architecture. It makes the most of a small back yard by transforming from a backyard fence to everything from a picnic table to a bar, complete with folding stool. What a brilliant way of dealing with a small backyard....

vía TreeHugger