General

People often ask me which companies have already moved into the Conceptual Age. There are several, but the companies I almost always mention are Target, Whole Foods, Vistacare, and Ideo. What a treat it was, then, to visit Ideo last week as part of the firm’s Know How lecture series. Spread out across their handful […]

Kathy Sierra at Creating Passionate Users has a fascinating post about the differences she’s observed between manhole covers in the U.S. and those in Japan. (I won’t step on her punchline. Read the whole thing.)

Today’s must-read is a New York magazine story about a young designer’s effort to re-imagine the prescription drug bottle. “[T]he standard-issue amber-cast pharmacy pill bottle has remained virtually unchanged since it was pressed into service after the second World War,” the article notes. And confusion, poor labeling, and bad design were causing all manner of […]

“When it comes to online games, women over 40 play the most often and spend the greatest number of hours doing so, even beating out teenage boys,” reports the Washington Post. Meantime, in a story about the growing use of games in corporate training, the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) writes, “Evidence suggests adults learn […]

The New York Times has an interesting interview with Shirish Netke, who helped develop Java and who now is chief strategy officer of Aztec Software. Two quotes of note: 1. “[T]here are two aspects of the ability to innovate. One is knowing the customer. I don’t think that can be taken away from the Americans. […]

The fruits of Abundance (see entry below) are endless. Diane Court of Quickfire Productions sends this example — designer squeegees, which Cleret sells and which the New York Times calls “functional art.”

The latest example of how Abundance (See Chapter 2 of AWNM) is turning utlitarian tools into objets d’art: Frankie Flood’s designer pizza cutters: (Thanks to Steve Epstein, Boing Boing, and Gizmodo for this one.)

MBA programs are “getting extreme makeovers” reports USAToday.com. The goal of these reforms: To mint fewer left-brained technicians and more whole-minded business thinkers.

Ode — the best magazine you never heard of — discusses A Whole New Mind in its newest issue. (Learn more about Ode here.)

Yesterday I made my first visit ever to Savannah, Georgia. Two observations. First, Savannah is one of the few places I’ve been to lately that looks like itself. It has its own authentic aesthetic and personality — town squares, Spanish moss, nifty architecture — and doesn’t seem like just another incarnation of Anywhere, USA. Second, […]