Victor
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The new global currency?
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1 min read
The Economist says, tongue-in-cheek: …the dollar has been dethroned even sooner than we expected. It has been superseded not by the euro, nor by the yen or yuan, but by another increasingly popular global currency: frequent-flyer miles. Turns out there’s about $14 trillion in frequent flier miles in circulation.
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Malcolm Gladwell blinks
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1 min read
Malcolm Gladwell I just saw Malcolm Gladwell do a book tour talk. With “The Tipping Point” and now “Blink” it’s clear he’s a student of change. In his new book he looks at the ability of the adaptive unconscious to make good decisions because it’s been trained through experience. The implications for practice and iteration…
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We are all in this together
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1 min read
Just returned from San Francisco where one of the best things I saw was a billboard of Mark Mumford’s WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER.
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NYC Lectures, Jan 2005
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1 min read
Malcolm Gladwell talks about his new book, Blink, at Barnes and Noble Union Square at 7pm on January 13th. Free. Jared Diamond lectures on his new book at the 92nd St Y, 7:30pm on Jan 16. $25. The editors and writers of a new magazine called Plenty discuss the mag’s view on the intersection of…
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The Daimler-Chrysler merger at work
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1 min read
James Cobb of the New York Times generates the latest praise for the Chrysler 300 and adds, It also melds Stuttgart engineering with Detroit style, providing a rebuttal to those who were skeptical – we know who we are – of Daimler’s takeover of Chrysler. Beneath its audacious design, the 300 is packed with well-engineered…
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A fish called Victor
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1 min read
There is now a species of Razorfish called Victor, or Xyrichtys victori to be precise. I know this because the man who discovered it off the coast of the Galapagos, Benjamin Victor, just wrote to say Hi. He sent a picture too, of the male and female: Cute little bugger, yes? Benjamin compares it to…
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Where creative thinking meets critical thinking
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2 min read
In all the bruhaha on business innovation and creative thinking, the focus is often on new ideas, and by extension how different the ideas are. I very rarely see an important dichotomy represented, that of developing ideas that work both inside and outside the organization. In companies, this translates into making money while also serving…
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America’s funniest home nomenclature
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1 min read
I sympathize with the folks that rail against the word user to mean the visitor, reader, etc. of a computer system, but it’s so widespread and useful a term it seems a lost battle at this point. Still, I had to laugh this morning when my wife — who had been using a system called…
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UX: please stop talking to yourselves
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1 min read
I’m so glad Christina wrote what I was thinking: “dudes, can we collectively move on now? …read businessweek instead of alertbox for a change.“
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Maeda’s simplicity blog
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1 min read
Mike Lee just told me about John Maeda’s new Simplicity blog (where John is coincidentally blogging about Mike.) While simplicity is a noble pursuit, we live in a complicated world and I was curious to know how Maeda could suddenly pounce on us with such a manifesto while surrounded by the complexity of work at…
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Nooch for noodles
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1 min read
Nooch is a new Japanese and Thai restaurant in my hood of New York, a chain originating in Singapore. I was skeptical, but I must admit Karim Rashid’s interior works well, balancing modern with comfortable through comfy seats and colorful but subdued lighting. The food is yummy and surprisingly inexpensive. The drink menu focus on…
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Creative problem solving techniques
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1 min read
FC Now lists a few creative problem solving techniques.
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The best lectures in NYC
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1 min read
…are at the 92nd Street Y, along with an impressive roster of classes and events. Start with the list of lectures.
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Foster and the French build highest bridge
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1 min read
A private French firm spends somewhere in excess of 300 million Euro to build the highest bridge in the world. It’s located in Millau and designed by British architect Norman Foster. Slideshow
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Wurman on Healthcare
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1 min read
I hadn’t realized Richard Saul Wurman extended his Understanding book — which sumarizes an entire subject with information design — into a series, first with a volume on children and now one on healthcare.