February 27th, 2009
In an uncertain present who would dare to say they knew what the future held? Ireland played host last week to Bob Johansen from The Institute for the Future. The Institute is an independent, nonprofit research group specialising in ten year forecasts by integrating micro and macro trends. Big multinational companies and leading governments use the insights they get from Bob and his colleagues to shape strategy and investments. After all, with a 70% success rate over 40 years; these are the guys with the right pedigree and track record.
Bob holds that 2009 will be a “springboard year”, one of great opportunity. While clearly a lot of organisations are just doing everything that they can just to survive there are clear trends that smart companies and entrepreneurs are taking insight from that will pay off within the next 10 years. 2019 will be a much more connected time, your Bebo and Facebook friends will be there in real time helping you shop, keeping you planet friendly and talking you out of the fattening pizza that looks good but your friends know doesn’t fit the diet. It won’t be all busy bodies either, safety data, traffic info and statistics will all be available, local to you through the miracle of geo-positioning and in-vision displays. Start investing in those language lessons too, multi-linguists are going to be powerful people. All that connectivity isn’t going away and your multilingual Twitter feed is going to be part of the instant data river your life is going to swim in. There is plenty of room for the small and nimble player to create value once Cyberspace disappears like a shadow and integrates with the everyday life.
Posted in Culture, Research, Software/IT | Comments Off
Posted by: Edward Savage
February 23rd, 2009
Just a few weeks ago I was talking about “The age of speed” and how technology evolves so quickly in this century. I was talking about Microsoft Surface and being one step closer to teleportation. But technology evolves a lot faster than we can imagine.
A group of students from MIT Media Lab in Long Beach California, transformed the Internet into a ‘Sixth Human Sense’. They developed a wearable computing system which can turn any surface into an interactive display screen. The system relies on a webcam as an input device and a small projector with a mirror as the output device.
Here are only some of the functionalities of their system:
- Creating a frame by using your fingers tells the camera to take a photo.
- You can project the photos that you took on any surface and use your fingers to browse through them, rearrange them or resize them.
- You can browse through menus.
- You can search locations on a map.
- You can draw on a wall just by using your fingers.
- You can even call your friends by dialing their number on the palm of your hand.
- On the way to the airport you could check if your flight is delayed or not.
- You could know the time just by drawing a watch on your wrist.
- You could project information about any person you meet.
- And even watch a video of the news that interest you in the newspaper.
If you want to find out more and see how the system works, here are two videos that show its functionality:
Students transform the Internet into ‘The Sixth Human Sense’ – Video1
Students transform the Internet into ‘The Sixth Human Sense’ – Video2
Posted in Article, Creativity, Education, Research, Simplicity, Software/IT, Video | Comments Off
Posted by: Cristina Luminea
February 16th, 2009
There is nothing worse then feeling like a faceless number being rammed through a system. Increasingly customers are turning to service providers who take into account both their emotional and functional needs. Unfortunately it is also one of those things that’s simple to say but can be difficult to actually pull off. Many businesses shy away from such approaches because they are uncertain of what steps to take. They assume changing to this method will be time consuming and costly. But the simple fact is that when it comes to emotions, it is more often the small things that have the greatest impact.
For example, I recently had a trip to the hairdressers. This is usually something I dread and want to be over in as little time as humanly possible. However on this occasion it was surprisingly pleasurable. But what was different this instance from previous others? It wasn’t until I got home and thought about it that I realized all the little human actions and interactions that had taken place. While I waited for my turn, I was presented with a cup of tea, a biscuit and a chocolate. When ready, the hairdresser asked for me by name and introduced herself. She pulled out a chair and sat down facing me to discuss what I would like to get done. The cut was fast and efficient. When leaving, she said goodbye, again by name. What is the additional cost of this approach to all the others I had previously been subjected to? A few euro for some chocolate and biscuits. The rest was changes in the behavior of the service provider, the small things that related me to her. It was down to such a fine art that I was unaware of the subtle differences, only that I enjoyed the experience as a whole.
It is often the interactions, frequently viewed as padding to the service, which leaves the biggest impression on the customer. Being aware of the client throughout the process, rather then exclusively concentrating on the end result, will provide a well-rounded service, which caters to both the functional and emotional. It is the small differences which will emotionally link the customer to the company and greatly increase the chance of a return customer.
Posted in Editorial, Experience, Service Design | Comments Off
Posted by: Linzi Ryan
February 9th, 2009
The BizSpark Innovation Accelerator is an event organised by Microsoft Ireland in collaboration with Digital Media Forum, designed to help accelerate the Start-up businesses in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The day-long event is scheduled to run on Tuesday, February 24th, in the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel in Dublin’s city centre. Entrance is free of charge.
The aim of the event is to provide business guidance for Start-ups and anyone in Ireland or Northern Ireland who thinks they might like to start-up a tech company. Topics will include stories from experienced Irish entrepreneurs, and practical advice from individuals and organisations who have been working with the local Tech Start-up community over the past few years.
If you are interested in the event you can register and find more information here.
Posted in Event, Software/IT | 2 Comments »
Posted by: Cristina Luminea
February 9th, 2009
For a while now everybody is talking about this century as being the age of speed, but most of us don’t even begin to imagine how fast technology is evolving.
Who would have thought even a year and a half ago that we would be able to use a table in order to plan a project; or split a bill in the restaurant; or even share photos between devices; or plan a trip. Microsoft Surface is able to do this and much more.
Microsoft Surface
At the same time who would have imagined that we are this close to discovering teleportation?
According to LiveScience, a team of scientists from the University of Maryland have come pretty close to achieving Star Trek’s main way of transportation: teleportation. So far they achieved to transport the information from one atom to another across a distance of a meter.
The JQI team explains that teleportation works because of a remarkable quantum phenomenon called entanglement that only occurs on an atomic or subatomic scale.
The experiment that they conducted uses two identical ions (A and B). Ion A is afterwards irradiated; a process that can be explained as “writing in its memory the information that will be teleported”. Immediately after, both ions are “excited by a picosecond laser pulse” in order for each of them to emit a photon.
The photons are then captured by a lens and they will interact at a beamsplitter. When both detectors recorded a photon simultaneously, the ions are entangled. At that point, ion A is measured, revealing exactly what operation has to be performed on ion B to teleport ion A’s information (see illustration).
It is important to note that the information disappears from ion A when this one is being measured and appears on ion B. This is why the achievement is distinguished from any other kind of communication and is classified as teleportation.
You can find out more about this achievement in the original article from LiveScience: “Teleportation Milestone Achieved”
Posted in Article, Engineering, News, Research | 1 Comment »
Posted by: Cristina Luminea
February 2nd, 2009
In today’s world most managers face the same problems, which become more pressing since most of the countries are facing recession. The most common question in the current economical environment is: ‘How can we reduce costs?’ and it doesn’t take long for a company to realize that one powerful opportunity lies in improving their energy management strategies.
At this stage there are lots of software companies which provide Real Time Energy Monitoring Systems and there are a lot more which are planning to enter this market.
During the last months I’ve been researching software that allows a company to monitor their energy consumption and here is what I found:
- Most of the software provides real time monitoring and alert systems.
- In order for that to happen, the companies providing the software will install their own meters.
- They store historical data in a database which can be accessed at any time through their software.
- They send alarms every time the energy consumption rises over a certain value.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Business Issues, Creativity, Design thinking, Engineering, Software/IT | Comments Off
Posted by: Cristina Luminea
January 26th, 2009
Last week I attended the Learning And Technology World Forum – LATWF, a major world Education Ministers conference hosted by the UK government in London. Throughout the week I was part of the Learner’s Voice team composed of 7 students from all over the world. Our duty in this forum was to attend conferences and workshops, maintain a blog about the event and, on the last day, present a plenary in front of 400 delegates including 60+ Ministers of Education.
The most important part of the forum was the closed conference that brought together 60+ Ministers of Education representing countries from all around the world. This conference was about the next steps that countries need to take in order to include technology in their education systems. This was a disappointing session, as we witnessed ministers playing a game of ‘Show and Tell’ instead of trying to figure out answers to their problems. We have heard a lot of aims and ambitions and everybody was talking about ‘what we should do’, but no strategies or promises have been made.
The main issues on everyone’s agenda was changing the curriculum in order to fit the student’s needs and training teachers in order to understand technology better and adapt easier to the student’s needs. My question here was: have anyone asked the students what their needs are?
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Blog, Education, Event, Government | Comments Off
Posted by: Cristina Luminea
January 22nd, 2009
A fantastic example of design innovation, from a pig farm in Canada!
Mary Haugh versus 3,000 pigs in a barn. Her husband indisposed though ill health and she had to herd all their pigs. Now, traditionally a “chase board” is used to a guide and angle those pigs, too heavy for her and too short to be of much effect alone. Mary needed something new to be able to manage and set about solving the problem. Her solution cuts the time required to move the hogs by 70%, has won two prestigious innovation awards and become a commercial success.
She noticed that the pigs hesitated whenever they passed by the bright red chase boards. She wondered if the colour itself affected the pigs and whether a length of red fabric could be used as a long, flexible chase board. The pigs turned every time. Prototyping the idea with her brother she developed a roller based system that weights 14kg, extends to 15m and can be hooked into a gate post to be operated by one person.
All the classic hallmarks of the design innovation process are present; observation, imagination, experimentation, prototyping and delivery of the idea as a product. The innovation process may have happened far from a design studio and Mary never attended design school but the LongArm, her trademarked invention, is a good as it gets.
Check out the National Hog Farmer article for more
Posted in Culture, Design Practice, Product design, Prototyping, Usability, User-Centered Design | Comments Off
Posted by: Edward Savage
January 14th, 2009
A 50% grant is available under this fund to Irish companies that wish to explore opportunities to internationalise their business. This Going Global Fund is available from Enterprise Ireland.
Who is fund available to?
The Going Global Fund is available to companies that meet the following conditions:
- engage in an eligible service activity or manufacture in the Republic of Ireland.
- have ten employees and/or annual turnover > €1m.
The maximum support is €50,000 grant at 50% of eligible costs. The next closing date for applications is Friday, 10th April 2009.
For more information.
Posted in Export, Funding, News | Comments Off
Posted by: Justin Knecht
December 8th, 2008
I’m all about space. A space does encourage or inhibit what takes place in it. I wasn’t aware until today that there was an actual Allen curve that “reveals the exponential drop of frequency of communication between engineers as the distance between them increases.” I’m sure if I had read David’s doctoral thesis on collaborative design teams, he probably cites Allen’s curve.
In an article from The Irish Times about Tom Allen’s upcoming presentation at the Innovation in Complex Social Systems conference at UCD, the benefit of having functional areas where people can meet to exchange information is discussed. Perhaps tea time is a gateway to innovation?
I suppose it’s time to put The Organization and Architecture of Innovation on the reading list.
Posted in Article, Book, Collaboration, Engineering | Comments Off
Posted by: Justin Knecht
