Mentioned on the Orange Rag: a web team in Shanghai put together this visualisation of what happens online in just 60 little seconds. Someone did quite a bit of research. Nice work, guys.
Wednesday
Sunday
More on creative teams...
Okay, they're famous for it already but Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac suggests in an interview on The Indy that being fraught and emotional is a much better state for creativity than being happy and carefree. I blogged a BBC story last year that suggested that loneliness and depression are good environments for producing great work.
I'd love some examples of people who did great things while being deliriously in love. Is it impossible?
PS: Stevie Nicks is 63. Keep up the good work, woman.
I'd love some examples of people who did great things while being deliriously in love. Is it impossible?
PS: Stevie Nicks is 63. Keep up the good work, woman.
Saturday
Leviathan Wakes: James S. A. Corey
Leviathan Wakes is the first in a trilogy of space opera novels written by "James S. A. Corey": a pesudonym for the writing team of Daniel Abraham (fantasy author) and Ty Franck - assistant to George R. R. Martin, author of Game of Thrones (note the central pair of initials, by way of homage, perhaps).
Creative writing alone is hard work. As part of my master's in innovation, creativity and leadership I wrote a treatment with two of my fellow-students but it's not a way I'd like to work. Abraham and Franck make it sound easy in an interview on YouTube, below. Nice illustrative example of a hugely creative writing team.
Leviathan Wakes is a big, meaty read: space adventure and "detective noir". Hard to put down. Looking forward to the sequels.
Leviathan Wakes is a big, meaty read: space adventure and "detective noir". Hard to put down. Looking forward to the sequels.
Tuesday
Megacities: our future, better or worse
Andrew Marr's BBC series on Megacities gives some really interesting views of how and why the world's megacities are growing. Wikipedia defines megacities as having more than 10m people. Tokyo is the world's largest with about 35m people. Most people in the western hemisphere have heard of Tokyo. Guangzhou is the second largest, with 25m people. I've heard of Guangzhou but many people won't have. That's about half the population of England - in just one city. And there are plenty of other cities that many westerners would hesitate to place on a map that are growing quickly too.
Another BBC article today has some stunning stats, graphs and thoughts.
"Cities cover 2% of the earth's crust but host more than 50% of the world's population, account for 75% of energy consumption and are responsible for up to 80% of carbon-dioxide emissions." More...
The sheer speed of building is stunning: twenty years ago, Shanghai didn't have an underground metro system. Now they have the world's biggest. If you're going to have one, have a big one.
This has been happening around the world for the past two hundred years, almost invisibly, as far as history is concerned and we are all affected by it. Wired is currently running an article on how urban living affects mental health. but so many new industries will spawn as a result. This is the future for millions of businesses. Cleaner transport, better health (maybe including mental health), food that travels less, cleaner air, better jobs, better leisure. Less sense of sprawl, maybe more sense of place and sustainable creativity. Bicycle friendly roads. City-quality jobs that aren't all in the middle of the city. Perhaps we can design environments that are conducive to making people happier or even just friendlier.
This is our future and we have to make it work.
Another BBC article today has some stunning stats, graphs and thoughts.
"Cities cover 2% of the earth's crust but host more than 50% of the world's population, account for 75% of energy consumption and are responsible for up to 80% of carbon-dioxide emissions." More...
The sheer speed of building is stunning: twenty years ago, Shanghai didn't have an underground metro system. Now they have the world's biggest. If you're going to have one, have a big one.
This has been happening around the world for the past two hundred years, almost invisibly, as far as history is concerned and we are all affected by it. Wired is currently running an article on how urban living affects mental health. but so many new industries will spawn as a result. This is the future for millions of businesses. Cleaner transport, better health (maybe including mental health), food that travels less, cleaner air, better jobs, better leisure. Less sense of sprawl, maybe more sense of place and sustainable creativity. Bicycle friendly roads. City-quality jobs that aren't all in the middle of the city. Perhaps we can design environments that are conducive to making people happier or even just friendlier.
This is our future and we have to make it work.
Monday
Are fossil-fuel cars the new typewriters?
Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi iMiev, Ampera - they're all outside our office this week. It's the annual Canary Wharf Motorshow. My chance to see the Leaf and Ampera in the metal. Both very nice; saw the iMiev last year.
These cars very visibly computers on wheels, now that they're electric. The Leaf has a 7 inch screen, USB, Bluetooth and apps - you'll be able to remotely instruct it to heat or cool the car before you arrive. The sales guy said they're hoping it will be able to locate the nearest available charge point. These cars will be really smart cars. Boris Bikes on wheels, scaled up.
And if they are computers, will we be able to upgrade them? New motherboard, more ram, more disk space for iTunes music and films for the kids? Will there be wifi, so that your Ampera in the garage or drive or across the street will be able to sync your movies, music and ebooks?
Then there's software. We're all used to software upgrades. Car companies have a whole new revenue stream: charging for the latest Leaf or Ampera operating system upgrade. Sell two million cars and then sell an upgrade every year for the next five years... At £50 a time, as part of your annual service, that's another 500 million. Nice money. Add in-car apps if you want more.
There's a downside: malware. These days, it's not just kids in back-bedrooms, it's well-funded government spies in air-conditioned offices. If you want to invade a country, you don't need to nuke them. You just arrange all cars to lock down during commuting hours on a Monday morning. Easy.
The Open Car
No, not a convertible. With projects like Black Current around, all you may really need to create your own electric vehicle is a donor vehicle for the analogue parts, like steering and doors; a few parts from B&Q and a few digital Linux-powered bits and pieces. Put them all together and you have an open source car; one you can keep upgrading as new software comes out.
Typewriters?
Think of today's fossil-fuel cars. Once you buy one, it's obsolete. You can't upgrade it; all you can really do is replace parts. With a digital cars, much of it can be upgraded through software. The new computers on wheels will be exactly that. And we'll look back on today's cars as being as archaic as IBM golfball typewriters.
These cars very visibly computers on wheels, now that they're electric. The Leaf has a 7 inch screen, USB, Bluetooth and apps - you'll be able to remotely instruct it to heat or cool the car before you arrive. The sales guy said they're hoping it will be able to locate the nearest available charge point. These cars will be really smart cars. Boris Bikes on wheels, scaled up.
And if they are computers, will we be able to upgrade them? New motherboard, more ram, more disk space for iTunes music and films for the kids? Will there be wifi, so that your Ampera in the garage or drive or across the street will be able to sync your movies, music and ebooks?
Then there's software. We're all used to software upgrades. Car companies have a whole new revenue stream: charging for the latest Leaf or Ampera operating system upgrade. Sell two million cars and then sell an upgrade every year for the next five years... At £50 a time, as part of your annual service, that's another 500 million. Nice money. Add in-car apps if you want more.
There's a downside: malware. These days, it's not just kids in back-bedrooms, it's well-funded government spies in air-conditioned offices. If you want to invade a country, you don't need to nuke them. You just arrange all cars to lock down during commuting hours on a Monday morning. Easy.
The Open Car
No, not a convertible. With projects like Black Current around, all you may really need to create your own electric vehicle is a donor vehicle for the analogue parts, like steering and doors; a few parts from B&Q and a few digital Linux-powered bits and pieces. Put them all together and you have an open source car; one you can keep upgrading as new software comes out.
Typewriters?
Think of today's fossil-fuel cars. Once you buy one, it's obsolete. You can't upgrade it; all you can really do is replace parts. With a digital cars, much of it can be upgraded through software. The new computers on wheels will be exactly that. And we'll look back on today's cars as being as archaic as IBM golfball typewriters.
Thursday
UK Design Alliance
Wired UK's article about (and involvement in) the Design Council's Design Summit 2011, entitled "Design for Growth" had me looking immediately at the Design Council's site. Sadly, when I looked, the link on the page to Design Summit page wasn't working and searching the site for "summit 2011" didn't provide many answers. Thumbs down on the council's website design, based on what I saw of it.
However, it did redeem itself with a link to the Design Alliance page, a list of every design body worth looking at in the UK. Everyone from the South Coast Design Forum to D&AD. Also info on grants, competitions, etc. Go now, before that stops working too.
However, it did redeem itself with a link to the Design Alliance page, a list of every design body worth looking at in the UK. Everyone from the South Coast Design Forum to D&AD. Also info on grants, competitions, etc. Go now, before that stops working too.
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