Multimedia phones [Business Week]
Consumer-electronics giants are using their music, TV and game savvy to build hot new models. Read full story
Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
Dortmund looks ahead [International Herald Tribune]
In 2003, roughly 500 Chinese workers arrived in Dortmund to deal the final blow to the city’s former status as a heavy-industry heartland in Germany’s Ruhr River valley. Working by day and sometimes by night, the Chinese dismantled Dortmund’s last blast furnace, which the steelmaking…
The cellphone that does everything imaginable, at least sort of [The New York Times]
Samsung’s new phone for Sprint can take two-megapixel photos, scan in business cards, record 90-minute videos, play TV shows and even transcribe dictated speech. But how well? Read full story
Hiring is obsolete
Interesting essay by Paul Graham on why setting up a company is now better than getting a job in a big company. Read full story
MoMA’s minimalist baroque [Praxis]
Yoshio Taniguchi’s project for the expansion of the Museum of Modern Art is the fifth major reorganisation of the institution in its 75-year history. It embodies both a departure in scale and an organisational and stylistic reinvention that will surely set the character of the…
Broke but dynamic, Berlin seeks new identity [International Herald Tribune]
Klaus Wowereit, the mayor of Berlin, has a gargantuan task. He wants to make this formerly divided metropolis one of Europe’s most attractive places to live. But Berlin is bankrupt. Read full story
A case study on Yahoo! usability
Yahoo’s multiple business units, each containing decentralised user experience teams, have a natural tendency to design different solutions to similar problems. Left unchecked, these differences would weaken the Yahoo! brand and produce a less usable network of products. This case study describes a project that…
Microsoft’s social computing symposium 2005
The Social Computing Symposium 2005, sponsored by Microsoft Research, will take place April 24-26 in Redmond, Washington. The goal for this event is to foster an awareness of research and innovation in social technologies, and create new lines of communication between research and industry. We…
Strange days on planet earth [PBS]
Around the globe, scientists are racing to solve a series of mysteries. Unsettling transformations are sweeping across the planet, and clue by clue, investigators around the world are assembling a new picture of Earth, discovering ways that seemingly disparate events are connected. Crumbling houses in…
Can Europe survive? [Red Herring]
Europe gave the world Linux, GSM, and the web, but got little of the fortune and less of the glory. To get what it is due, some old world ways will have to change. Read full story
Can ‘Made in Europe’ survive? [International Herald Tribune]
While luxury products still benefit from a “Made in France” label, more mundane industries are vulnerable to foreign competition. Read full story
Neil Gershenfeld on the coming digital revolution in the world of manufactured physical goods
First we experienced the digital revolution in computation. Then we experienced it in communications. And now, according to Neil Gershenfeld, director of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, the digital revolution is moving into surprising new territory: the world of manufactured physical goods. This new…
Sony looking to add glitter in Europe [International Herald Tribune]
On the heels of the biggest management shake-up in Sony history, the president of Sony Europe has vowed that the company will bolster its reputation as a consumer technology and electronics trendsetter, backed by a €1 billion European marketing drive that began this week. Read…
The alchemist of paper [The Economist]
Bruce Chizen, the boss of Adobe Systems, wants to end bureaucracy as we know it. Read full story
Advice for Europe’s startups [Red Herring]
At a Red Herring conference, European CEOs urge fellow entrepreneurs to think globally and make themselves heard. Read full story
Massive change: now everyone can design solutions [NPQ]
Bruce Mau, the famed designer and collaborator with Frank Gehry, is co-author of Massive Change. His firm, Bruce Mau Design, is based in Toronto. He spoke with NPQ editor Nathan Gardels recently. Read interview
User Experience Magazine
User Experience Magazine is the global publication of the UPA, Usability Professional Association. It comes out three times a year and is written in the easy reading style of Interactions Magazine. Go to website
It’s a flat world, after all [The New York Times]
In 1492 Christopher Columbus set sail for India, going west. He had the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. He never did find India, but he called the people he met “Indians” and came home and reported to his king and queen: “The world…
Revenge of the right brain [Wired Magazine]
Logical and precise, left-brain thinking gave us the Information Age. Now comes the Conceptual Age – ruled by artistry, empathy, and emotion. Read full story
It’s not just a phone, it’s an adventure [The New York Times]
Larry Azlin, a software engineer in El Cerrito, Calif., considers himself one of the lucky ones. His aging clamshell cellphone, a Motorola V60, seems to work just fine. But once he gives it some thought, it occurs to him that he does have a…
Wireless: European cellphone firms plan major research effort [International Herald Tribune]
Many wireless industry executives want the European Union to get serious about the future. Read full story
Outsourcing innovation [Business Week]
First came manufacturing. Now companies are farming out R&D to cut costs and get new products to market faster. Are they going too far? Read full story
Apple’s blueprint for genius [Business Week]
Handling its own design work is one reason for best-sellers like the iPod and Shuffle. Steve Jobs is the other. Read full story
Italy’s new wave [Metropolis Magazine]
A cadre of young architects looks to shake up the country’s long-stagnant building culture. Read full story
Vodafone’s Future Vision
“In the Vodafone Future Vision website you can explore what we think that future might look like, experience some of the changes we believe will happen, and tell us what you think of them.” Go to website
The Brand Gap
Marty Neumeier’s new book is an insightful justification for tighter integration of design and business strategy to enable strong brands. Read more
On this Wiki, everyone’s a critic [Business Week]
Stanford’s Lawrence Lessig, whose next book will be revised by visitors to a collaborative Web site, explains “user-supplied innovation”. Read full story
Suddenly, it’s fast forward at TiVo [Business Week]
The digital video recording service’s Comcast deal delivers 21.5 million potential new users and transforms a faltering player into the industry’s star. Read full story
Mobile phone becomes train ticket [BBC]
Public transport users in Tyne and Wear may soon be able to use their mobile phone as a bus or train ticket. Read full story
A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age
Lawyers. Accountants. Radiologists. Software engineers. That’s what our parents encouraged us to become when we grew up. But Mom and Dad were wrong. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind. The era of “left brain”…
A simple Kyoto Protocol explanation
Go to website
Samsung is now what Sony once was [The New York Times]
In 1997, Sony took little notice of Samsung. Less than a decade later, Samsung has twice the market capitalisation of Sony. Read full story
Does Europe need its own technology institute? [International Herald Tribune]
A proposal to create a European technology institute modeled on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology faces serious questions about financing and academic support, lawmakers say. Read full story
MP3 developer yields royalty riche [International Herald Tribune]
German labs rely on firms and state to finance research. Read full story
The rise of the creative consumer [The Economist]
How and why smart companies are harnessing the creativity of their customers. Read full story
The device that ate everything? [The Economist]
Will snazzy mobile phones gobble up digital cameras, music players and other portable devices? Read full story
A spiritual connection [The Economist]
Around the world, mobile phones seem to have a spiritual or supernatural dimension that other forms of technology lack. Read full story
Behind the digital divide [The Economist]
Much is made of the “digital divide†between rich and poor. What do people on the ground think about it? Read full story
The future, just around the bend [The Economist]
Ray Kurzweil is an accomplished inventor, but he is best known for his wild prognostications about the future. Is he as crazy as he sounds? Read full story
Phones with eyes [The Economist]
Camera-phones are not just for taking pictures. They can be used for other things too, from shopping to treasure hunts. Read full story