The Office: David Brent's Motivational Seminar

This is the video we showed during our workshop;

It's from The Office and shows the funny / predictable side of change management and motivational speaking.

Workshops

This is the link to the video of our workshops.

There are the workshops of Jessica and Adam, Simon and Derek and Charissa and Bob. The films that were included have been cut out and will be included seperatly.
Also Charissa and Bobs workshop wasn't videotaped entirely because Arno walked in and was able to judge the workshop himself.

To watch the workshop you have to be able to log in with an Inholland account.

Enjoy the workshops!

mms://stream.inholland.nl/videopoort/Algemeen/ECWDFTUXJMGEMEOKDFMPF

Eco-friendly music festival coming to Atlanta

Note!: This festival has taken place already, but since I've never heard of it, I thought it would be quite interesting to post it here.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Now for some news for the music lovers. An annual Atlanta Concert Music Festival - The Echo Project is coming to Atlanta, Georgia. The eco-responsible music and arts festival will run for three days from 12 to 14, October 2007. This multi-stage event will be held on 350-acres of scenic Chattahoochee river front property on a privately owned 1250-acre farm just south of metropolitan Atlanta.The Echo Project will showcase a revolutionary eco-friendly event production - including carbon emissions, power consumption and creation, alternative energy sources, and waste management and recycling initiatives. The festival has a diverse lineup ranging from hip-hop to rock. Some of the artists expected to perform at the festival include The Killers, Phil and Friends, moe., Stephen Marley, The Roots, Cypress Hill, Polyphonic Spree and lots more. Check their website for more updates.

Source:
http://freebies.mutum.org/2007/08/eco-friendly-music-festival-coming-to.html

Co-creative Commerce

Interesting idea from Charles Savage / paper called Co-creative Commerce
Oct. 20, 2001 – Rev. 7.2
Plug-n-Partnering™ through “Web Services”
is enabling the shift from
the FROWN to the SMILE

by

Arun Gairola and Charles Savage

-------------------------------------------------------------

Creating opportunities is inherently collaborative and co-creative whereas exploiting opportunities is a competitive process. Instead of the traditional SWOT analysis, we engage in

SICO:
Strengths,
Improvement Opportunities internally,
Challenges and
Opportunities for new business externally

This is why we are clearly going beyond the Porter model and the traditional approaches to strategic planning. We are fast entering the realm of strategic networking and teaming. This is so much more open, fluid and dynamic.”

“This shift can lead to real increases in shareholder value, because we have also increased our stakeholder value. As we have valued (verb) one another, as individuals and companies, we are able to generate even more value (noun) among and between us, especially through our co-creative abilities. This is the new win-win model that creates substantive wealth, not just a pretty but hollow bubble. To get there, we are going to have to think through what is core to our businesses.”
-------------------------------------------------------------

The 12 Different Ways for Companies to Innovate

Found this litle abstract of a paper, that I am not going to buy but the abstract itself could be helpful to all of us, when lookng at possibilities that companies can innovate in.

by:Mohanbir Sawhney, Robert C. Wolcott and Inigo Arroniz
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/smr/issue/2006/spring/14/

In fact, a company can innovate along any of 12 different dimensions with respect to its (1) offerings, (2) platform, (3) solutions, (4) customers, (5) customer experience, (6) value capture, (7) processes, (8) organization, (9) supply chain, (10) presence, (11) networking, and (12) brand. Nissan Motor Co., for example, has innovated along the platform dimension, using essentially the same small engine block to power a variety of models, including an upscale midsize sedan, a large sedan, luxury sedans, a minivan and a sports coupe. Enterprise Rent-A-Car has innovated along the customers and presence dimensions, placing car rental locations in the neighborhoods where people live and work rather than at airports. Together the 12 dimensions of innovation can be displayed in a new framework called the “innovation radar,” which companies can use to manage the increasingly complex business systems through which they add value.

Strategy, and S.T.U.P.I.D vs. S.M.A R T. Companies and Goals

As I am doing desk research on what professionals think of inovation/organisation/ u know what, I have found this little thing. maybe its not that usefull, thou the words STUPID got my attention...

Now, this blog goes on FOREVER, and if u dont want to read it all, just don't click the link under this short abstract:

Author: Jim McCarthy
You have a choice: you can be STUPID, or you can be SMART.

Here is how a STUPID business operates:

Strategy is missing in action
There are too few (or no) measures
Unclear, or no real goals
Plans are not followed through to completion
Internal systems are non-existent – and your business is...
Dead on arrival!!!

What you really need is a S.M.A.R.T business:

Strategy is in place
Measures exist and are tied to strategy
Accurate time frames are presentResources are identified and assigned;
Reserves are established and ready to respond to changes and opportunities as they arise
Tactics are aligned with strategy...With S.M.A.R.T.E.R.

Goals:SpecificMeasurableAttainableRealisticTimelyEvaluateReviseSpecific -
A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal.
To set a specific goal you must answer the six "W" questions:Who: Who is involved?What: What do I want to accomplish?Where: Identify a location.When: Establish a time frame.Which: Identify requirements and constraints.Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.
http://www.articlesbase.com/strategic-planning-articles/strategy-and-stupid-vs-sma-r-t-companies-and-goals-588270.html

A thought on: DIGITAL MUSIC FORUM WEST

So there it is, a new sort of music conferene taking place in the US, and me, finding some stuff that happened there.

One of the forums was about the future of the mobile music, and everybody is discussing iPhone , Nokia's come With Music etc.
These everybody are well-known people who are working in this industry and have lots to tell.
I guess u get the picture.

Nice insights as to how the future will ( probably) look like and how to prepare for innovation are these:

1.
The next billion people that access the web are going to do so on a mobile phone. That's what we're focused on, rather than trying to create a Mac version.
(Trevor Madigan, Americas manager of entertainment, Nokia)

2.
- The great thing about the Google phone and the iPhone is that people are realizing there aren't two internets for computers and mobile. Over the next five years, we're going to see ubiquitous, fast access, prices for access will come down, and it's going to be very interesting.
(Trevor Madigan, Americas manager of entertainment, Nokia)

3.
- The Google phone is going to force the carriers to open up the cellphone environment, due to its app store and other factors
(Massimiliano Pellegrini, CEO, Dada Entertainment)

Read more herehttp://blog.wired.com/music/2008/10/live-blog-the-f.html#more

Questions and answers: Tim Berners-Lee (creator of the web)

Questions and answers: Tim Berners-Lee (creator of the web)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7300434.stm

The creator of the web, Tim Berners-Lee, answers questions about the future of the web, social networking and personal privacy online.

Q. Lots of people are putting lots of information about themselves on sites like Facebook and Myspace. What would you say to those young people?

Imagine that everything you are typing is being read by the person you are applying to for your first job. Imagine that it's all going to be seen by your parents and your grandparents and your grandchildren as well.

The danger is when you put something into a public space in order to share it with a few friends and in fact you've forgotten that it's actually a public space or that the list of friends is huge or that some of them can't be trusted not to be put it somewhere else.

Q. Are you too old for things like MySpace and Facebook?

I've seen no evidence - either from my point of view or anybody else - that social networking and generally using the net to interact with other people is something that's restricted to young people.

In fact it's very popular with older people. Young people can get on their bikes and visit each other, older people can't.

It may turn out to be more important for seniors than for young people.

Q. A lot of companies are now trying to get a lot of data about their users which they can then market on to advertisers. Do you have a view?

Different people have different attitudes. I myself feel that it is very important that my ISP supplies internet to my house like the water company supplies water to my house.

It supplies connectivity with no strings attached. My ISP doesn't control which websites I go to, it doesn't monitor which websites I go to.

Q. What would you feel if it wanted to do that?

I would want to use an ISP that doesn't. I personally want to feel free. I want to know if I look up a whole lot of books about some form of cancer that that's not going to get to my insurance company and I'm going to find my insurance premium is going to go up by 5% because they've figured I'm looking at those books.

Q. What about your clickstream?

It's mine - you can't have it. If you want to use it for something then you have to negotiate with me, I have to agree; I have to understand what I'm getting in return.

Q. Three major British internet providers are considering introducing a scheme which will in some way track people's web history. What would you say to those companies.

I'd say if that was an option I wouldn't take it. If it wasn't an option, I would look for another ISP.

My personal feeling about an ISP is that I want it to be a transparent connection. I don't want to have to think about the secondary implications of going to a site.

Q There is a choice between opt in and opt out - are you saying you'd prefer opt-in?

My personal feeling is that it should be opt-in, yes.

Q. Because otherwise it can go by default?

I think consumers rights in this are very important. We haven't seen the results of these systems being used.

My own personal preference is that the consumer, the individual person should be protected because individual people and the difference between individual people and the diversity we have between people on the planet is so important.

Streaming Rules And Imeem Rules Streaming

Streaming Rules And Imeem Rules Streaming

http://hypebot.typepad.com/hypebot/2008/05/streaming-rules.html

Streaming far surpasses any other music related activity on the web and imeem has jumped past Yahoo to become the top choice for listeners, according to a data released this week from Compete. Based on a survey of 1000 music sites:

Def Leppard release single exclusively via Guitar Hero

Def Leppard release single exclusively via Guitar Hero

Nine Lives will be made available to download through the game a week in advance of the singles retail and online release, the first time a band has released a single exclusively through a video game.
The song is the first from their forthcoming album Songs From The Sparkle Lounge and will be available April 24 as part of a three- track Def Leppard song pack.

Nine Lives will be playable exclusively on Xbox 360 consoles a week ahead of its debut in stores and through online music distribution services. It will then be made available through Playstation 3 May 08. The pack will include Nine Lives and classic Leppard tracks Rock Of Ages and Photograph.

Owners of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 will be able to download the Def Leppard track pack. It is the first time ever a band or artist has released a new single ahead of its traditional launch through a videogame.

Def Leppard lead singer Joe Elliott says, Being involved with Guitar Hero is very exciting for us and adds a whole new layer of appreciation.

I know from personal experience how much more you get into the music by playing the game which is why we were keen to explore this opportunity. Guitar Hero is extremely popular with all kinds of music heads, which includes a lot of our fans and we think releasing Nine Lives this way first is just fantastic."

Goodbye, BitTorrent. Hello, Streaming.

Goodbye, BitTorrent. Hello, Streaming.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/29/goodbye-bittorrent-hello-streaming/#comments

Comcasts decision to cap monthy broadband usage at 250GB is being decried as the end of the Internet as we know it. Maybe so, but it can also be seen as the dawn of the Streaming Era. As the Olympics drew to a close with big numbers - 75.5 million streams (NBCOlympics.com), 40 million (BBC), another 130 million from the European Broadcasting Union, and 100 million Chinese viewers - the networks were already moving on by serving the Democratic National Convention in HD. CBS offered an after-convention netcast with Katie Couric, and CNN promoted full and complete streaming coverage of all speeches.

The Comcast move seems more focused on the politics of the FCC decision to rule out Comcasts filtering of P2P traffic. But BitTorrent and other such traffic is all about downloading, not streaming, and the advent of new look-ahead streaming capabilities in Silverlight suggest that streaming can accommodate DVR-like functionality that makes the value proposition of owning the data on a local drive much less important.

It used to be that having physical control of entertainment and other software was critical to the user experience. Record and film companies kept accelerating the quality levels of their products to stay ahead of the pirates and the growing ability of consumers to capture and archive content off the radio and television networks. But as broadband became more available as competition between telcos, cable, and satellite increased, sharing of MP3s and DVR time-shifting had an oddly counter-intuitive impact.

First, the Netflix strategy made renting movies a less onerous process, with no late fees and a large catalogue to choose from. When Blockbuster and Hollywood Video adopted similar MVP programs, the cable and satellite companies were forced to counter-attack with on- demand offerings that were even easier to acquire and in fact were spooled from servers rather than downloaded to home machines.

This, of course, is the same shift software has undergone from shrinkwrap to service, from Outlook to Gmail, Office to Google Apps, and from the hard drive to the cloud. In effect, productivity apps are now streamed to and the data from the user. With the data stored redundantly in the cloud, we are more comfortable with a streaming situation than with the former illusion that we owned our data locally.

Illegal Downloading; Right or Wrong???

Anybody who is interested in another view on downloading (both legally as illegally) read 'The Long Tail' by Chris Anderson. Brilliant new view on advantages of this changing market.

My thoughts about innovation

I've been looking into some things about innovation and change managements, and 1 thing I have learnt this evening: Americans are either complete idiots or terribly smart that they can sell this Bull Sjit!
Watching mainly Youtube the thing that most compelled to me was told by a
Mr. Patrick Dixon; Change management is not about models and showing people how to change, it's about passion!

What we are learning now is all very interesting, all these theories about innovation and different models to research and/or implement innovation. But innovation lately is coming from those guys sitting in their student dorms creating youtube or last.fm, these are the real interesting innovators! Not from comapnies that hire a twat like Tom Peters (excuse my french).

So with all the new things that come to us during this minor, always keep in check that real innovation comes from within. Like I mentioned in a prior blog Daydreaming is fundamental for a creative mind.
As long as we follow our own passions the creativity and innovations will come!

Like the legend Marvin Gaye once sang; 'A Change is gonna come'

Just to conclude, a link to how IBM thinks about innovating:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MudaxA80eI4

Giant kites could power 100,000 homes

Wednesday, 06 August 2008

While pondering how to capture wind energy, scientists from the Netherlands went out and flew a giant kite. The 10-sq-meter kite was tethered to a generator and managed to produce 10 kW. With the success of this kite, they’re planning to test a 50 kW version of the kite, dubbed Laddermill, and if that succeeds, they’re proposing a multi-kite version that could get as much as 100 MW - enough for 100,000 homes.

The kite generates energy by pulling on its string on the way up. When it gets to the end of the string, it’s pulled back down and then sent back up for another flight. The amount of energy captured is maximized by flying the kite in figure eights, and bringing it down in a fall like a glider plane.

If you’re thinking, “Now, this I gotta see,” then you can watch this video. It really is pretty cool. And considering how easily the kite takes off in the strong wind – no running, jumping, or Peter-Pan-wishful-thinking involved – I can imagine that a whole lot of power could be generated. Google thinks so too, having invested $10 million in a US kite project last year. Actually, we know of a lot of people are working on generating wind power from kites – or like-flying objects – even on a commercial scale.

Wind higher than about a kilometer above the ground carries about 100 times more energy than wind at tower level, so finding a cheap way to harness it – like kite flying – could be a big breakthrough for wind power. Countries like the UK, Netherlands, and Denmark are perfect for this type of wind power generation, being located next to the high-speed jet stream.

The Netherlands scientists believe they could generate power comparable to the price of coal, and 50% cheaper than wind turbines. Now, like most all renewable energy endeavors, all these various researchers simply need the funding to back the projects. Hopefully investors will look at Google and pull a monkey-see-monkey-do.

Source: http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1972/86/ (& The Guardian)

MySpace launches net music store

Ok, so here is MYSPACE. For few years, THE leading online community. Lately, ALL MUSICIANS need to have a music profile on MYSPACE to come closer to their fans. And here was the opportunity hidden.
Talked about for many months now and finally taking shape. Innovative move of the company forward to explore new ways of revenue...


by bbc.co.uk

MySpace has unveiled an online music store that lets its US members listen for free but pay for downloads.
The ad-funded service lets MySpace members listen to streamed tracks on their PC for free and build up long playlists of their favourite tracks.
Users must buy a copy of a track from the music store of partner Amazon to enjoy it on a portable player.
The service hopes to cash in on the long-standing link between MySpace and new and established bands.
Cash call
The service has been launched with backing from the big four music labels - Sony BMG, Universal, Warner and EMI - plus independent music group The Orchard.
The move is widely being seen as a snub to Apples' iTunes, which is the dominant player in the online music market.
It is known that record labels are frustrated with Apple's refusal to charge higher prices for more popular tracks. On Amazon's music store, which is only available in the US, tracks start at $0.79 (£0.42)
At launch MySpace Music only has a few thousand tracks available but said this will grow to many millions as the partner labels open up their archives to it.
All the tracks sold will be free of copyright protection mechanisms known as Digital Rights Management software.
News that MySpace was working on a music store leaked in April 2007 and the launch was delayed as negotiations with record label EMI dragged on.
It is estimated that about five million bands and artists have a profile page on MySpace and the site has helped launch the career of many up and coming musicians and help them stay in touch with fans.
As well as making cash from adverts running on the page through which people choose the music they listen to the service will also generate revenue from ringtones, concert tickets and merchandise.
"The big question is whether they can change their environment so people will want to do their shopping as well as their gossiping [at MySpace]," said James McQuivey, research analyst at Forrester.
Mr McQuivey doubted whether the site would become a big source of revenue for MySpace as studies suggest that people do not watch their computer when using it to stream music.
The opening of the store won criticism from Charles Caldas, head of independent rights body Merlin.
Mr Caldas said it was "incredibly disappointing" that the service launched without finalising a deal with the biggest independent labels and artists.
Merlin's members, which includes Koch, Beggars Group and Domino, have a 9% share of the US music market - roughly equivalent to EMI's market share.

Meet NOISE festival-entirely virtuallllll

Ok, here is something innovative! Meet others at music festival, that is virtual!

by 365MAG
NOISEFESTIVAL.COM LAUNCHES IN SECOND LIFE

As an entirely virtual festival, NOISE is the perfect partner for Second Life, the virtual world that allows users to interact in a self-contained on-line universe. On Friday 26th September this perfect pairing comes to fruition, as NOISE launches in Second Life with a display of this year's best entries in the NOISE categories of: Music; Fine Art; Fashion; Design; Architecture; Graphic Design; the Written Word; Photography; Film and Animation.

The press and the public will be able to log into the Oldham Second Life Island, where they can network with NOISE curators and participants, while enjoying a DJ-mix of the best NOISE music entries. The event will be streamed live onto big screens in Liverpool, Hull and Swindon for audiences in the city centres.

In Liverpool in-particular, the event will celebrate the launch of the Cultural Olympiad, a four-year celebration of culture leading up to the London 2012 Olympics, with NOISEfestival.com street teamers available to talk about the project's aims to involve young people in the creative industries.
The NOISE Festival, for those that don't know, is a biennial event that invites the best and the brightest under 25s in the above categories to upload their efforts onto the NOISE website. The best of their work will be chosen by specially-chosen NOISE curators, with the cream of the crop being showcased on the site throughout October (entries stopped being taken on September 1st, sorry!). Special media partnerships will allow the top NOISE talent to work with the BBC, MTV and MSN online; allowing these young hopefuls a level of exposure that many artists of any age would kill for.

So, just who are these 'curators', then? Well, for Music there's Mercury Prize- winning artist Badly Drawn Boy, acclaimed architect Zaha Hadid keeps an eye on the Architecture, eco-chic designer Noki looks over the Fashion entries, Habitat's Tom Dixon asses the Design, and Norman Rosenthal (former head of exhibitions at the Royal Academy of Art) monitors the quality of the Fine Art submissions.

However, that's just phase one of the NOISE experience. In the second year of the event ( 'biennial' means 'every two years'-ed), the NOISE website will allow the artists to network with each other, so that the budding filmmakers can find themselves the perfect soundtrack artist, or vice versa.

Unique brainstorming tool helps you to generate ideas and implement them

Get Unstuck and Get Going …on the Stuff That Matters is a unique combination of a self-help book, brainstorming tool and action-planning system. Developed by creativity coach Michael Bungay Stanier, its unique format and excellent content make it a valuable addition to any executive's creative problem-solving toolkit.

How this system is organized
Get Unstuck is a four-part system, consisting of:
A workbook, with 3 "flip" card sections that can help you to generate up to 125,000 different perspectives,
The "Action Acceleration" sheet, which provides a process that helps you to move from ideas to action,
The Little Green Book, which explains the thinking behind the Get Unstuck tool and provides helpful examples of how to use it, and
The Get Unstuck and Get Going website, which provides additional resources to users.
When I first paged through the Get Unstuck tool, my attention was immediately drawn to the 3 horizontal flip panels, which are entitled "Inspiring Stories," "Provocative Quotes" and "Powerful Models." Remember the children's flip book format, where kids can flip each set of panels to combine one animal's head with another's body and a third one's feet? That's what this ideation flip book is like. Each card is imprinted with a nugget of creative wisdom, plus a thought-provoking coaching question, designed to get your synapses firing. If you want to get an idea of the types of stories and questions featured on this card, Michael has created an interactive web page where you can test drive different combinations of story, quote and model "cards."

The Action Acceleration process
As you work your way through the Get Unstuck process, you record your answers on Action Acceleration sheets. The top half of the sheet includes spaces where you can define your challenge and write down ideas and inspirations that you get from looking at the flip cards. The bottom half of the sheet is focused on helping you to take action on your ideas, with boxes labeled "What will I do?" "What will get in the way?" "What will support me?" and
"Accountability."
Clearly, the Action Acceleration sheet is more than just a place to record your ideas and inspirations -- it's also a powerful framework for action. That's something that helps to make this a unique ideation and coaching tool.

The Little Green Book
When Michael first prototyped the Get Unstuck tool and gave it to some people to play with, he discovered that all of the "front end" information -- the instructions on how to use it -- were getting in the way of people's ability to simply begin problem-solving with it. So he broke this information off into a separate instructional booklet, which is inserted into the front cover pocket. This gives users the flexibility to either read The Little Green Book first and then use the tool, or simply start brainstorming with the tool immediately, without reading the instructions.

Additional resources
When you buy the Get Unstuck tool, Michael will send you a weekly lesson via e-mail. He is also holding Tele classes to answer user questions and to help users get the most out of this unique brainstorming tool. I applaud Michael for offering the support services; usually, when you buy a brainstorming tool, you're completely on your own.

The thinking behind Get Unstuck
Michael’s goal in developing this tool was to bring the power of coaching to a large number of people. “It’s designed to appeal to anyone who is creatively stuck and cannot afford to hire a personal coach. It provides users with a simple, practical process to define problems, generate possibilities and take action,” he explains.
Michael doesn't want this tool to be viewed as a book, which is read once and then gathers dust on a shelf. Similarly, most training courses represent a onetime "injection" of information into the participants' brains, which is often quickly forgotten. Get unstuck was designed to help overcome the limitations of both of these learning formats. "I'd love for people should keep this on their desk, so they can pull it out and use it whenever they get stuck," he adds
Get Unstuck is not only designed for individual use; Michael also envisions it as an organizational tool that middle managers can use with their direct reports to help them develop improved problem-solving skills. And coaches can use it to help their clients to think in fresh new directions. Get Unstuck is endorsed by the leaders of some of the leading coaching organizations, including the International Coach Federation and Coachville.

Conclusion
Almost anyone, given the right mindset, can generate fresh ideas. The key is taking action on them. Fortunately, Get Unstuck has both of these ends covered. This thoughtfully-designed system gently coaches you to think laterally about your current challenge and record your ideas, and then provides you with a simple, practical process to help you translate ideas into profitable action.

Daydream achiever

A wandering mind can do important work, scientists are learning - and may even be essential
By Jonah Lehrer

ON A SUNDAY morning in 1974, Arthur Fry sat in the front pews of a Presbyterian church in north St. Paul, Minn. An engineer at 3M, Fry was also a singer in the church choir. He had gotten into the habit of inserting little scraps of paper into his choir book, so that he could quickly find the right hymns during the service. The problem, however, was that the papers would often fall out, causing Fry to lose his place.
(David Flaherty for the Boston Globe)
But then, while listening to the Sunday sermon, Fry started to daydream. Instead of focusing on the pastor's words, he began to mull over his bookmark problem. "It was during the sermon," Fry remembers, "that I first thought, 'What I really need is a little bookmark that will stick to the paper but will not tear the paper when I remove it.' " That errant thought - the byproduct of a wandering mind - would later become the yellow Post-it note, one of the most successful office products of all time.
Although there are many anecdotal stories of breakthroughs resulting from daydreams - Einstein, for instance, was notorious for his wandering mind - daydreaming itself is usually cast in a negative light. Children in school are encouraged to stop daydreaming and "focus," and wandering minds are often cited as a leading cause of traffic accidents. In a culture obsessed with efficiency, daydreaming is derided as a lazy habit or a lack of discipline, the kind of thinking we rely on when we don't really want to think. It's a sign of procrastination, not productivity, something to be put away with your flip-flops and hammock as summer draws to a close.
In recent years, however, scientists have begun to see the act of daydreaming very differently. They've demonstrated that daydreaming is a fundamental feature of the human mind - so fundamental, in fact, that it's often referred to as our "default" mode of thought. Many scientists argue that daydreaming is a crucial tool for creativity, a thought process that allows the brain to make new associations and connections. Instead of focusing on our immediate surroundings - such as the message of a church sermon - the daydreaming mind is free to engage in abstract thought and imaginative ramblings. As a result, we're able to imagine things that don't actually exist, like sticky yellow bookmarks.
"If your mind didn't wander, then you'd be largely shackled to whatever you are doing right now," says Jonathan Schooler, a psychologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "But instead you can engage in mental time travel and other kinds of simulation. During a daydream, your thoughts are really unbounded."
The ability to think abstractly that flourishes during daydreams also has important social benefits. Mostly, what we daydream about is each other, as the mind retrieves memories, contemplates "what if" scenarios, and thinks about how it should behave in the future. In this sense, the content of daydreams often resembles a soap opera, with people reflecting on social interactions both real and make-believe. We can leave behind the world as it is and start imagining the world as it might be, if only we hadn't lost our temper, or had superpowers, or were sipping a daiquiri on a Caribbean beach. It is this ability to tune out the present moment and contemplate the make-believe that separates the human mind from every other.
"Daydreaming builds on this fundamental capacity people have for being able to project themselves into imaginary situations, like the future," Malia Mason, a neuroscientist at Columbia, says. "Without that skill, we'd be pretty limited creatures."
Teresa Belton, a research associate at East Anglia University in England, first got interested in daydreaming while reading a collection of stories written by children in elementary school. Although Belton encouraged the students to write about whatever they wanted, she was startled by just how uninspired most of the stories were.
"The tales tended to be very tedious and unimaginative," Belton says, "as if the children were stuck with this very restricted way of thinking. Even when they were encouraged to think creatively, they didn't really know how."
After monitoring the daily schedule of the children for several months, Belton came to the conclusion that their lack of imagination was, at least in part, caused by the absence of "empty time," or periods without any activity or sensory stimulation. She noticed that as soon as these children got even a little bit bored, they simply turned on the television: the moving images kept their minds occupied. "It was a very automatic reaction," she says. "Television was what they did when they didn't know what else to do."
The problem with this habit, Belton says, is that it kept the kids from daydreaming. Because the children were rarely bored - at least, when a television was nearby - they never learned how to use their own imagination as a form of entertainment. "The capacity to daydream enables a person to fill empty time with an enjoyable activity that can be carried on anywhere," Belton says. "But that's a skill that requires real practice. Too many kids never get the practice."
While much of the evidence linking daydreaming and creativity remains anecdotal, rooted in the testimony of people like Fry and Einstein, scientists are beginning to find experimental proof of the relationship. In a forthcoming paper, Schooler's lab has shown that people who engage in more daydreaming score higher on experimental measures of creativity, which require people to make a set of unusual connections.
"Daydreams involve a more relaxed style of thinking, with people more willing to contemplate ideas that seem silly or far-fetched," says Belton. While such imaginative thoughts aren't always practical, they are often the wellspring of creative insights, as Schooler's research shows.
However, not all daydreams seem to inspire creativity. In his experiments, Schooler distinguishes between two types of daydreaming. The first type consists of people who notice they are daydreaming only when asked by the researcher. Even though they are told to press a button as soon as they realize their mind has started to wander, these people fail to press the button. The second type, in contrast, occurs when subjects catch themselves daydreaming during the experiment, without needing to be questioned. Schooler and colleagues found that individuals who are unaware of their own daydreaming while it's happening don't seem to exhibit increased creativity.
"The point is that it's not enough to just daydream," Schooler says. "Letting your mind drift off is the easy part. The hard part is maintaining enough awareness so that even when you start to daydream you can interrupt yourself and notice a creative insight."
In other words, the reason Fry is such a good inventor - he has more than twenty patents to his name, in addition to Post-it notes - isn't simply because he's a prolific daydreamer. It's because he's able to pay attention to his daydreams, and to detect those moments when his daydreams lead to a useful idea.
Every time we slip effortlessly into a daydream, a distinct pattern of brain areas is activated, which is known as the default network. Studies show that this network is most engaged when people are performing tasks that require little conscious attention, such as routine driving on the highway or reading a tedious text. Although such mental trances are often seen as a sign of lethargy - we are staring haplessly into space - the cortex is actually very active during this default state, as numerous brain regions interact. Instead of responding to the outside world, the brain starts to contemplate its internal landscape. This is when new and creative connections are made between seemingly unrelated ideas.
"When you don't use a muscle, that muscle really isn't doing much of anything," says Dr. Marcus Raichle, a neurologist and radiologist at Washington University who was one of the first scientists to locate the default network in the brain. "But when your brain is supposedly doing nothing and daydreaming, it's really doing a tremendous amount. We call it the 'resting state,' but the brain isn't resting at all."
Recent research has confirmed the importance of the default network by studying what happens when the network is disrupted. For instance, there is suggestive evidence that people with autism engage in less daydreaming than normal, with a default network that exhibits significantly reduced activity during idle moments. In addition, more abnormal default networks in autistic subjects correlated with the most severe social deficits. One leading theory is that atypical default activity interferes with the sort of meandering memories and social simulations that typically characterize daydreams, causing people with autism to instead fixate on things in their environment.
The exact opposite phenomenon seems to occur in patients with schizophrenia, who exhibit overactive default networks. This might explain the inability of schizophrenics to differentiate properly between reality and the ideas generated by the imagination.
Problems with daydreaming also seem to afflict the aging brain: Harvard researchers recently discovered that one of the main symptoms of getting older is reduced coordination in the default network, as brain areas that normally operate in sync start to fire at different times. Scientists speculate that this deficit contributes to the inability of many elderly subjects to control the duration and timing of their daydreams.
"It's very important to use the default network at the right time," says Jessica Andrews-Hanna, a researcher at Harvard who has studied the network in older subjects. "When you need to focus" - such as during stop-and-go traffic, or when engaged in a conversation - "you don't want to let your mind wander off."
What these studies all demonstrate is that proper daydreaming - the kind of thinking that occurs when the mind is thinking to itself - is a crucial feature of the healthy human brain. It might seem as though our mind is empty, but the mind is never empty: it's always bubbling over with ideas and connections.
One of the simplest ways to foster creativity, then, may be to take daydreams more seriously. Even the mundane daydreams that occur hundreds of times a day are helping us plan for the future, interact with others, and solidify our own sense of self. And when we are stuck on a particularly difficult problem, a good daydream isn't just an escape - it may be the most productive thing we can do.

Great green wedding

Great green wedding - eco friendly flowers, favors, invitations etc.

http://www.greatgreenwedding.com/default.php

Club Watt in Rotterdam first Sustainable Dance Club in the world

It's been open now for a couple of weeks but I haven't read anything about it on the blogs yet:

WATT's vision
WATT will be the talk-of-the-town and experimental pop stage in the Netherlands with a top-quality catering establishment, where excellent service and an inspiring experience are given top priority. WATT is city-credible and proves that clubbing, sustainability and commerce can definitely blend into a successful enterprise. WATT is a pioneer in sustainable business practice within the branch and will continue to innovate.

Sustainability
Sustainability is the pioneering aspect adopted throughout the WATT organisation. The very first Sustainable Dance Club in the world will focus on sustainability in a creative and attractive way throughout its business activities. Sustainability can in fact be summarised into three keywords: People, Planet and Profit. For WATT we prefer the phrases Treading a New Path, Great Times, and Try to Beat This. Physical elements should be innovative and add value to the visitors' entire experience. All elements are subject to practical and financial feasibility and the added value of a unique clubbing experience.

iTunes 8 Update Adds Genius Playlists, HDTV, New Interface

They stole the Genius Playlists from Last.fm though.

New version of Apple’s digital media player application is available for download. iTunes 8 offers new ways of viewing your music and video libraries, and adds television programs in HD (high definition) for sale on the iTunes Store. There is also ‘Genius’ feature, which lets users automatically create playlists from songs in their music library.

iTunes 8’s new visual browsing interface displays music and video libraries using user compiled album and video covers, and also provides a better way to navigate movies, TV shows, iPhone apps, podcasts and audiobooks.

The new Genius feature is simple to use. Just select any song, click the Genius button, and iTunes instantly creates a playlist of songs that go great together from your own library. You can preview the playlist Genius creates, refresh the list to choose different songs and save Genius playlists to enjoy again later. The Genius sidebar appears right in iTunes and recommends music from the iTunes Store based on the songs you select.

The Genius feature anonymously sends information about your music library to the iTunes Store, where it is combined with the anonymously-gathered knowledge from millions of other iTunes users and processed through Apple-developed algorithms. The Genius results are then sent back to your computer to enable you to automatically create Genius playlists in iTunes and on your iPods, even when they are not connected to the Internet. You can download iTunes 8 for free here.

Holidays in harmony with nature

We provide high quality environmentally friendly holidays in comfortable yurts and bell tents on the beautiful Isle of Wight. Our site forms part of award-winning Afton Apple Orchard (as featured in the August 2007 issue of Country Living Magazine). We also have 2 holiday cottages available and are as green as we can possibly make them. This is a green camping holiday with a difference-we have real beds, floors and furniture, and we are really green.

Our holidays are as environmentally friendly as we can possibly make them, without compromising on comfort. From arranging eco-friendly transport from the ferry and during your stay, so that you can leave the car at home if you want to, to providing organic, locally produced food and washing products, and recycling as much as possible, we aim to ensure that your holiday will make the lowest possible adverse impact on the planet

http://www.thereallygreenholidaycompany.co.uk/default.htm

Bad Ass Golf Carts

A product is not enough..but a product that kicks ass looks like a completely new kind of business to me!

http://badassgolfcarts.com/

Offering everything from off-road ready beasts to lowrider stretches, Bad Ass Golf Carts has something for everyone. The company specializes in 24HP Honda V-Twin engines to give your cart an extra boost, and offers extras like 14" off-road suspension systems, headliner TVs, video game installations, satellite radio, A/C, 20" rims, air bags, and more.

ASUS Bamboo Series Notebook

We like technology that tries to move forward to the 'green'side. Here is one pleasant find:

Most computer makers looking to make their lineup seem greener would be happy to slap a bamboo sticker on the outside and call it a day, but not ASUS. Their new Bamboo Series Notebook ($TBA) features artisan-grade Moso bamboo paneling, and energy-saving tech to back up its eco-friendly looks. Its Super Hybrid Engine technology can extend battery life between 35% and 70%, and yet enable users to boost their systems' performance by up to 23%. Other features include a 12.1 or 11.1-inch screen, Intel Core Duo processors, Wi-Fi, a built-in multi-card reader, up to 4GB of RAM, and more.





Cool info:





With the accrued power savings, Super Hybrid Engine reduces yearly CO2 emission by 12.3kg per notebook. Given that ASUS ships approximately 6 million notebooks per year, this works out to a massive 73.8 million kilograms of CO2 emission reduced per year, which equates to saving 36 million trees annually.

too cool....and definetly something i might need

http://www.tuvie.com/the-muwi-an-innovation-lawn-mower

This website documents innovation trends...

http://www.innovationwatch.com/index.php

"Innovation Watch follows trends and speculates
about where they may be taking us. News feeds, multimedia, links,
books and articles explore what the future might look like.

Innovation workshop

These are a few examples of innovation workshops....what they do and the activities involved


http://www.leighfarnell.com/innovation-workshop.html

www.creativityatwork.com/CWServices/CW-whole-brain-innovation.html

http://www.vanaller.nl/engpage_workshops

World’s First Test of Solar-Powered Wireless Power Transmission

September 11, 08

Space solar power could be a clean, renewable solution to America's long-term energy needs. John C. Mankins, former manager of NASA's Exploration Systems Research and Technology Program, and one of the foremost experts on space solar power, will announce on Friday a milestone demonstration of the critical technology enabling SSP: long-distance, solar-powered wireless power transmission.

The project demonstrated wireless power transmission between two Hawaiian islands 148 kilometers apart, more than the distance from the surface of Earth to the boundary of space.

It will be featured in an hour-long special that evening on Discovery Channel as part of DISCOVERY PROJECT EARTH, an eight-part series on the most ambitious geo-engineering ideas to tackle global climate change and the need for new and sustainable energy sources.

Space-based solar power, in which large satellites would collect plentiful solar energy in orbit and beam it safely down to Earth, could one day reduce our carbon emissions to virtually zero. It is the only energy technology that is clean, renewable, constant and capable of providing power to virtually any location on Earth.

Source: http://www.nextenergynews.com/news08-2/next-energy-news9.11.08d.html

Apple unveils 'thinnest iPod yet'

by bbc.co.uk

Apple has unveiled the latest version of its iPod Nano, featuring what it says are the thinnest measurements yet.
The fourth generation Nano was launched at a US press conference by Apple chief Steve Jobs, who announced new shuffle and library features.

He also listed the Nano's environmental credentials, including arsenic-free glass and a mercury and PVC-free body that is "highly recyclable".
The Nanos are expected to sell in the UK for £109 ($191) for the 8GB version.
The 16GB version will retail at £149.

Speaking live in San Francisco, Mr Jobs unveiled Apple's new Genius function which allows users to create automatic playlists from the iPod's library with the click of a button.
He said the function worked by taking one song and creating a playlist based on the user's song library and could also suggest other tracks the user might want to buy.

Mr Jobs said the new Nano also had a "shake to shuffle" mode, which sends the gadget to shuffle mode with the flick of a wrist allowing you to go backwards and forwards on your playlist.

'Lots of fun'

The Apple chief executive officer said the company had sold more than 160 million iPods since its introduction seven years ago.
An updated iPod Touch - the closest cousin to the iPhone - was also announced at the event.
It is thinner than previous models and has integrated volume controls and a built-in speaker for "casual listening" and will also include the Genius function.

New software for the iPhone - which will be available free to all users - would "fix a lot of bugs" including dropped calls and connection problems reported by customers.

Mr Jobs said: "We're really, really excited about all these products. We think people are going to have a lot of fun."

The definition of Innovation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovation

Verdiem brings PC energy management to the masses

Edison Enables Consumers to go Green with Energy Efficient PCs

Melbourne Australia - August 8, 2008 – GreenInnovation welcome the release of Verdiem’s Edison™ software product, a free energy monitoring application that allows eco-conscious consumers to actively control their PC's energy consumption - and their household's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Made for the Windows operating system, Edison enhances existing PC power settings and provides a consumer-friendly interface that is easy to set up and manage. The Edison application is supported by Microsoft as an easy way for consumers to become active in supporting the Climate Savers Computing InitiativeSM goal of reducing global CO2 emissions from the operation of computers by 54 million tons by 2010. Verdiem is challenging PC users to "do their part" and download 10 million copies of Edison (approximately 1 percent of the global PC population) in the next year.

It's an issue

While much of the IT industry has focused on data center energy efficiency, the world's more than 1 billion PCs are an unexpected drain of energy and source of carbon emissions. Specifically, PCs energy consumption correlates to an average of 1,000 lbs of carbon dioxide and worldwide can consume about 506 billion kWh per year - the equivalent of 70 million cars on the road. "PCs are the hidden energy hogs of the home and most users have no idea that they are needlessly throwing away 80 percent of their PC's energy," said Kevin Klustner, Verdiem's President and CEO. "If just 1 percent of all PCs used Edison we could potentially reduce environmental impacts by 7 billion pounds of CO2, which is equal to taking more than a half million cars off the road. By finding ways to embed offsets in our daily life - even something as simple as downloading software - we will create permanent reductions in energy use and have a huge impact on our environment and resource sustainability."

Power in numbers

Microsoft, a worldwide leader in software, services and solutions, is asking its Windows PC users to augment current PC power settings with Edison software.
"Microsoft is committed to forging partnerships and developing innovative software solutions and services that enable people and organizations to reduce their impact on the environment," said Rob Bernard, Chief Environmental Strategist, Microsoft. "We are pleased to collaborate with Verdiem and Climate Savers Computing to introduce Edison, a free PC energy management solution. With a proven enterprise PC energy management solution, SURVEYOR, Verdiem has demonstrated the ability to deliver excellent customer solutions and now with Edison, consumers can reduce their household greenhouse gas emissions and control energy costs."

Verdiem and Microsoft are both members of the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a nonprofit group of eco-conscious consumers, businesses and conservation organizations committed to reducing the power consumption of PCs and servers. The organization recognizes the value and importance of PC power management and its potential effects.

"Recent studies predict PC ownership will quadruple to 4 billion and double emissions by 2020, so implementing PC energy management solutions at home and in the workplace is a vital component of climate protection," said Lorie Wigle, President of the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. "Tools like Edison can help consumers control and monitor their PC's energy intake and make a real difference in the way they manage the power consumption of the technology they use."

Marcel Merkus CEO of GreenInnovation, Australasian distributors of SURVEYOR further said, “One of the most important steps necessary is for us all to recognize our actions add up. Edison is a great opportunity for people at home to cut their planet impact AND electricity bill.”

EDISON Features

The Edison software application offers a simple solution for the individual PC user. The software features include:

• Scheduling - allows users to identify work and non-work schedules to optimize power schemes based on when the PC is in use or on standby.
  
• Settings - provides several options of desired power savings and settings. Simply choose the most appropriate and it applies 24x7x365.
  
• Estimated Savings Reports - offers information that correlates PC power settings to money, kWh and CO2 savings.
  
• Intuitive User Interface - easy to use sliding bars help consumers choose settings and instantly see the power and monetary savings. Clearly marked tabs help users navigate through the interface.
  

Edison is available today at no cost. To download the solution, and reduce your household's greenhouse gas emissions please visit www.verdiem.com/edison.

Source: www.greeninnovation.com.au

There is never enough gadgets for iPod?

Warning: Using headphones to listen to music while cycling is dangerous.

With that said, there are ways to make it safer. I listen to podcasts while on the road, and the voices don't drown out the traffic as much as music does. I also use some proper, over the head headphones which don't drop out of my ears or require constant adjustment. The only remaining problem is skipping tracks, pausing the music and changing the volume (especially on the iPod Touch).

Which means I'm all over the iBikeConsole Duo, a combination dock and trip computer for the iPod Nano. The handlebar (or stem) mount is shock absorbent and has a plastic cover to keep off light rain, and two more handlebar mounted thumb controls will perform the basic functions as easily as shifting gears. Bonus: running a cable to a sensor on the forks turns the iPod into a trip-computer, with distance and speed readouts on-screen.

The unit is powered by the iPod battery and the thumb controls both take flat lithium watch batteries to power their infra red transmitters. The price is a not-too-bad $86, and those controls are so low-key that they actually look like part of the brake or gear levers -- handy for thief-infested neighborhoods.

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/

Briton Invented iPod, DRM and On-Line Music in 1979

posted on wired.com

Today Apple is almost certain to announce, at the very least, a new, taller iPod Nano. But amidst the hype surrounding the "Let's Rock" event, it's easy to get so caught up in the iPod's future that we forget where it came from.

The iPod was not invented in 2001 in Cupertino, California. It was invented in England in 1979, by “serial inventor” Kane Kramer.

This is not a story of intellectual property theft, or of big companies putting the screws on the little man. Instead, it is just the retelling of another old story — the story of a lone, visionary inventor and his inability to market a product that appeared way before its time.
Kramer came up with the idea for a pocket-sized, portable solid state music player with a friend, James Campbell. Kramer was 23, Campbell 21. The IXI System had a display screen and buttons for four-way navigation. In a report presented to investors in 1979, the IXI was described as being the size of a cigarette packet. Is this sounding familiar yet?

Back in 1979, a memory chip would store a paltry three and a half minutes of music. Kramer fully expected this to improve, and confidently foresaw a market for reliable, high quality digital music players which would be popular with both consumers and the record labels. It could actually be argued that he was still ahead of Apple after the firat iPod went on sale — that had a hard drive and Kramer had moved onto flash memory years earlier.

Much has been made of Apple somehow “stealing” the technology. But the patent did what all patents do, whether used or not. It lapsed, and whether Apple took the idea from there or from somewhere else, it was all perfectly legitimate. In fact, when Apple was suing (and counter-sued by) Burst.com in 2006 it cited the invention as “prior art” to dispute Burst’s patents. Apple even called Kramer in to give evidence.

But anyone can dream up a magic futuristic gadget. That’s where James Campbell came in. Campbell was an electronics whizz and between them the men came up with four prototypes. According to Kramer’s website, a fifth, pre-production unit actually went on sale at the APRS exhibition at Earls Court, London.

But the really surprising part of Kramer’s invention is not the hardware but the infrastructure behind it. It eerily foreshadows the iTunes Store and pretty much any modern online music store.
Content was to be stored on a central server and distributed to music stores vie telephone line (remember — in these days there was no internet and almost no home computers). Customers would take their players into the store and buy music which would be loaded onto the IXI chips inside (the chips were removable, like a tiny cassette).

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/09/briton-invented.html

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