[Future] Street level innovation

One session at Doors of Perception 8 will "look at the street as a site of innovation. Sixty percent of the population in many Asian cities lives in shantytowns: what can we learn from how they innovate to survive? We'll hear about migrants' lives in Chinese cities, and compare New Delhi street life with the ways that New York is trying to breathe life back into its over-sanitised streets. The British story of Up-My-Street.com will help us appreciate how hard it is to add service quality to locality."

[Future] PR surveillance

read in Fortune:

"There should be someone at every company whose job is to put into Google and blog search engines the name of the company or the brand, followed by the word 'sucks,' just to see what customers are saying."

[Prospective] Marketing shift: detractors are in

Capitalism, as a tentacular and always-shifting economic form always incoporate/digest/swallow new kind of behavior (see for instance what Joseph Stiglitz describes about anti-globalisation). Guy Debord would be delighted to know that now detractors (= persistent critics of a company or product that mount their own public relations offensive) are taken into account in the marketing process

"One determined detractor can do as much damage as 100,000 positive mentions can do good," said Paul Rand (...) Now some public relations agencies and research companies are studying determined detractors, dividing them into different groups defined by motivation, monitoring their complaints and trying to help corporate clients decide how to react.

Who's next? Are they going to be part of the PR team?

[Prospective] Battelle\'s predictions for 2005

John Battelle's predictions for 2005. Among all, I find some interesting (or, I consider those as possible with regard to my current knowledge):

1. 2005 may be a more fractious year in the blogosphere : We will have a goat rodeo of sorts in the blogging/micropublishing/RSS world as commercial interests push into what many consider a "pure medium.
2. By the end of the year, the world will begin to realize that "blogs" are in fact an extraordinarily heterogeneous ecosystem comprised of scores, if not hundreds, of different "types" of sites.
3. Google will do something major with Blogger. I really have no idea what, but it's overdue
4. Yahoo and Google will both test systems that combine local merchant inventory information with search, so that merchants can use search as a direct sales channel
5. A third party platform player with major economies of scale (ie eBay or Amazon) will release a search related innovation that blows everyone's mind
6. Google will introduce Video search at some point in 05, but it will stay in Labs.
7. Mobile will finally be plugged into the web in a way that makes sense for the average user and a major mobile innovation

Let's see...

[Prospective] Battelle's predictions for 2005

John Battelle's predictions for 2005. Among all, I find some interesting (or, I consider those as possible with regard to my current knowledge):

1. 2005 may be a more fractious year in the blogosphere : We will have a goat rodeo of sorts in the blogging/micropublishing/RSS world as commercial interests push into what many consider a "pure medium.
2. By the end of the year, the world will begin to realize that "blogs" are in fact an extraordinarily heterogeneous ecosystem comprised of scores, if not hundreds, of different "types" of sites.
3. Google will do something major with Blogger. I really have no idea what, but it's overdue
4. Yahoo and Google will both test systems that combine local merchant inventory information with search, so that merchants can use search as a direct sales channel
5. A third party platform player with major economies of scale (ie eBay or Amazon) will release a search related innovation that blows everyone's mind
6. Google will introduce Video search at some point in 05, but it will stay in Labs.
7. Mobile will finally be plugged into the web in a way that makes sense for the average user and a major mobile innovation

Let's see...

[Future] My notes on Bruce Sterling's talk in munich

Here are my notes on Bruce Sterling's talk in Munich. It was about his spime concept.

Shaping Things to Come: there are six trends, convergent and integral part of a general concept, six sides of a black box:

1. interactive ships, objects can be labelles with unique identity
2. local and precise positioning systems
3. powerful search engines
4. 3d virtual models of objects
5. rapid prototyping of objects
6. cradle to cradle recycling

[Future] My notes on Bruce Sterling's talk in munich

Here are my notes on Bruce Sterling's talk in Munich. It was about his spime concept.

Shaping Things to Come: there are six trends, convergent and integral part of a general concept, six sides of a black box:

1. interactive ships, objects can be labelles with unique identity
2. local and precise positioning systems
3. powerful search engines
4. 3d virtual models of objects
5. rapid prototyping of objects
6. cradle to cradle recycling

[Future] Artist rankings: chart-based reputation system

Reputation system are now everywhere. I was googling a bit on an artist I like and I stumbled across the curve reproduced below. They state that

The Artfacts.Net Artist Ranking is for information purposes only, and is not intended for trading purposes. The electronic chart is based on the data currently available to Artfacts.Net and should be only viewed as an aid to understand an artist's exhibition career in relation to the other artists stored in the Artfacts.Net Ranking System.

[Future] Why does all the cool stuff come out in Asia first?

(via) Read in SFGate, the journalist tries to sketch why all the cool stuff come out in Asia first...

Why is it that Japanese manufacturers have such a death grip on consumer-electronics cool? And why are Americans deprived of the choicest fruits of this technological bounty? The answers to these questions offer an intriguing look at how culture shapes technology -- and vice versa.Japan's gizmo utopia exists in part because of a happy harmonic convergence between its domestic market and its industrial sector (...) America has its share of early adopters, but they tend to be the exception rather than the rule (...) Consumer behavior is learned young, and America's relatively low-tech outlook is in part due to a fundamental difference in youth culture in the United States and Japan. "Consumer behavior in Japan is totally driven by the teenagers," (...) Unlike in the United States, where consumer electronics is an overwhelmingly male-driven industry, the critical vector in the propagation of keitai culture was its embrace by adolescent girls. (...) Because the price of shelter is so expensive, Japanese apartments tend to be remarkably cramped. (...) Japanese manufacturers became experts at miniaturizing and creating multiple-function devices (like, say, refrigerators that let you browse the Web) simply because the average consumer really needs the room. "Space is everything, (...) Japanese companies (aided by government subsidies and cheap financial-sector loans) have spent billions of dollars in building out key infrastructure -- for example, widespread ultra-high-speed cell-phone networks and readily available broadband Internet access. (...) the vast majority of American consumers prefers to window shop -- experiencing new technology by proxy rather than shelling out the cash necessary to really own it.

[Future] Bruce Sterling's speech in Munich

Bruce Sterling gave a speech yesterday in Munich: Shaping Things to Come. The lecture could be downloaded here (.mp3).

The computer revolution is invading the physical world of material objects. A number of trends are converging which will re-define the relationship between people and our tools and possessions. [...] Add these trends together and they form the picture of a new and different kind of physicality. What does it mean? And how will that feel? And what can we do about it?

[Future] Bruce Sterling's speech in Munich

Bruce Sterling gave a speech yesterday in Munich: Shaping Things to Come. The lecture could be downloaded here (.mp3).

The computer revolution is invading the physical world of material objects. A number of trends are converging which will re-define the relationship between people and our tools and possessions. [...] Add these trends together and they form the picture of a new and different kind of physicality. What does it mean? And how will that feel? And what can we do about it?

[Tech] Improvements needed for Google scholar

A very complete review about google scholar. They also provide the reader with a nice list of potential state-of-the-art improvements:

Google, Inc. has the intellectual and financial resources (and the largest group of cheerleaders) to create a superb resource discovery tool of scholarly publications. It needs to: a. exploit the highly structured and tagged Web pages with rich metadata readily available in the digital archives of most of the scholarly publishers b. create field-specific indexes for many distinct data elements c. offer an advanced menu with pull-down menus for limiting the search by publisher, journal, document type, publication year, etc. d. consolidate cited references through the ever increasing DOI registry e. collect information of all the relevant materials from the publishers' archive f. develop utilities that enable libraries to launch a known-item federated search in the full-text aggregators' databases licensed by the library in order to check if any have the document from a journal that is not licensed digitally from the publisher

[Tech/Prospective] Robot applications for everyday use

A workshop in Göterborg, Sweden (January 13-14, 2005) about robot applications for every day use. Seems appealing. I was unaware the Future Applications Lab was into robot stuff. My research is not directed towards robot but the integration as well as the effects of such technology is definitely of interest.

The workshop aims to investigate and explore possible robot applications in domestic and other everyday environments. The specific robots explored in the workshop can be domestic and entertainment robots (e.g. Sony’s Aibo, Nec’s PaPeRo), humanoids (e.g. Honda’s Asimo, Sony’s Qrio), professional service robots, insect inspired robots and robots on wheels (like the so-called Swarm-Bots created in a European project). We hope that each participant has an interest in a specific robot, and that the characteristics of that robot will inspire one or several applications. The motivation is to invent robot applications that make it interesting for people to interact with robots on an everyday basis. We are interested in questions such as: What characteristics of robots can create new possibilities for everyday interactions with humans? What novel robot services can be achieved with combining several robots in an everyday setting, or by combining robots with other media?

[Prospective] Marc Stefik take on innovation

Marc Stefik is interviewed in ACM Ubiquity about innovation. Stefi works Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), where he directs the Information Sciences and Technologies Laboratory.

UBIQUITY: Going back to PARC, do you think of it mainly as a place of invention or as a place of innovation?

STEFIK: PARC is most famous as a place of invention. It has grown into a place that fosters innovation, where innovation means taking an invention all the way to a product. PARC is a research laboratory, whereas innovation requires other functions like development, manufacturing, and marketing. When PARC innovates it needs to partner. Either it partners with a company that has the additional assets, or PARC works with others to create a new company UBIQUITY: If some smart outsider like Peter Drucker came to take a fresh look at PARC right now, what do you suspect he or she would have to say about it in its current state of organization?

STEFIK: Someone familiar with PARC from a few years ago might be surprised by the changes. Some of the projects we have going, in biotech, for example, wouldn't have made much sense if we were only doing research for Xerox. There are also new cultural features. Now that PARC works with multiple sponsor companies, we have a process for starting a research engagement. At the beginning of a possible engagement, we develop a workshop bringing together selected PARC researchers with relevant stakeholders in the company representing its technology, development, and finance people. The goal of the workshop is to identify points of value and leverage that we can agree on before we start a full-scale engagement.

UBIQUITY: What kinds of engagements are most common?

STEFIK: Most companies come to PARC when they want to start something new. They may have recognized a need for a strategic new direction. Of course you are not going to get an answer overnight. Perhaps Drucker would approve the focus on identifying a valuable problem. Barbara and I talk about this process in terms of the "dance of the two questions."

UBIQUITY: What are the two questions?

STEFIK: This is very simple but also fundamental. The two questions are "What is possible?" and "What is needed?" When a workshop identifies a valuable problem, this is the "what is needed" question. When it explores what could be done with emerging technologies, this is the "what is possible" question. The magic is in the dance. The business and marketing people tend to have strong insights about what is needed, but they don't have a good grasp of what is possible, especially if it involves advanced technology. So they limit their search to familiar paths. The technology people have a better handle on what is possible, but less insight as to what is needed. When you bring these groups together productively, the marketing guys might say "I didn't know that was possible" and the researchers might say "I didn't know you needed that."

Gosh why we don't have a place like that in Europe?

[Prospective] La France qui n'innove pas

Lu dans Le Monde...

De fait, les décisions d'investissement s'imposent souvent en raison de produits nouveaux, de changements de technologie. Mais où sont les iPod, les téléphones appareils photo, les médicaments inventés par la France en 2004 ? Difficile d'en citer. A l'exception de l'automobile ou de l'aéronautique, qui continuent à lancer de nouvelles gammes, les exemples de créativité sont plutôt rares.

L'explication de cette absence de renouveau réside en grande partie dans la baisse de dépenses de recherche et développement dans les groupes. "La France est le pays qui compte le moins de chercheurs par entreprise, qui dépense le moins en R & D, qui dépose le moins de brevets, qui investit le moins dans les hautes technologies. Elle investit deux fois moins que le Japon, entre le tiers et la moitié des Etats-Unis, à économie comparable", pointe Patrick Artus, directeur des études économiques Ixis CIB.

[Prospective] La France qui n\'innove pas

Lu dans Le Monde...

De fait, les décisions d'investissement s'imposent souvent en raison de produits nouveaux, de changements de technologie. Mais où sont les iPod, les téléphones appareils photo, les médicaments inventés par la France en 2004 ? Difficile d'en citer. A l'exception de l'automobile ou de l'aéronautique, qui continuent à lancer de nouvelles gammes, les exemples de créativité sont plutôt rares.

L'explication de cette absence de renouveau réside en grande partie dans la baisse de dépenses de recherche et développement dans les groupes. "La France est le pays qui compte le moins de chercheurs par entreprise, qui dépense le moins en R & D, qui dépose le moins de brevets, qui investit le moins dans les hautes technologies. Elle investit deux fois moins que le Japon, entre le tiers et la moitié des Etats-Unis, à économie comparable", pointe Patrick Artus, directeur des études économiques Ixis CIB.

[Prospective] Next2004: a conference in Denmark

There is tomorrow a smart conference/exhibition in Denmark about prospective and forecast. it is called NEXT2004. (Nordic Exceptional Trendshop). There will be cool speakerts like Alex, people from medialab europe and interaction design institute.

The new currency is time. Technology of tomorrow will address people of all ages and is actually not all that technical. The reasons to buy technology are not very financial either, we all have sufficient funds to take on almost any new device. No, what really entices people to buy, use, display, wear or even eat technology is that is gives you extra time. We buy technology to have more time for the things that really matter to us. We buy technology to put more meaning into every minute possible of our existence. So, instead of making products, we should be making sense. NEXT2004 examines coming technology as applied to products and devices we come across in all stages of our lives. On December 1st, Inventors and researchers alike present a host of spectacular applications of technology. All of which are selected for their spectacular quality and for their likeliness to delineate a coming range of products. For better overview, entries are placed in four categories, one for each corner of our existence. On December 2nd we open up the exhibition for the general public and students.

[Prospective] Intellectual property management firm

Nathan Myhrvold runs a firm that doesn't make anything,but it's hoarding the key to a new business age: intellectual property ./p>

But spinning new ideas is only a small part of the plan. Sources familiar with Myhrvold's strategy say that he has raised $350 million from some of the largest companies in high tech: Microsoft, Intel, Sony, Nokia and Apple. Google and eBay also recently invested. With this large bankroll, the company is out buying existing patents in droves. (Myhrvold won't comment on these activities, but sources say he has already purchased about 1,000 patents.) The strategy is to set up a sort of patent marketplace. Patent owners get money upfront for the dusty ideas sitting on their shelves, the investors get the rights to use the ideas without being sued and Myhrvold gets to rent those same ideas to other companies that need them to continue creating products.

[Tech] Visualizing Network Structure to Support Navigation of Aggregated Content

NusEye: Visualizing Network Structure to Support Navigation of Aggregated Content (.pdf) by Brian M. Dennis, Azzari C. Jarrett

The application of social network analysis techniques, along with graph visualization and interaction, for navigating syndicated web content, a.k.a webfeeds, is presented. Within a webfeed aggregator, a judicious choice of networks and network information can highlight relationships between individual content items and content sources. A key contribution is to apply network analysis to content item and content source relationships in addition to analysis of traditional human networks. Presenting these relationships can improve scannability and prevent source stagnation in content aggregators. This aids in reducing information overload and improving information quality. Three social networks are exploited to generate interactive graphs in particularly useful visual styles. The results of a small initial user study are also presented indicating initial promise for our approach.

[Prospective] New RAND report about future

The RAND has an interesting new report entitled "Shaping the Next One Hundred Years: New Methods for Quantitative, Long-Term Policy Analysis" (by Robert J. Lempert, Steven Popper, and Steven C. Bankes).

The checkered history of predicting the future—e.g., "Man will never fly"—has dissuaded policymakers from considering the long-term effects of decisions. New analytic methods, enabled by modern computers, transform our ability to reason about the future. The authors here demonstrate a quantitative approach to long-term policy analysis (LTPA). Robust methods enable decisionmakers to examine a vast range of futures and design adaptive strategies to be robust across them. Using sustainable development as an example, the authors discuss how these methods apply to LTPA and a wide range of decisionmaking under conditions of deep uncertainty.