Your startup really needs some surprisingly bad new ideas
The more surprisingly bad a new idea seems, the more likely it is that it will be useful, if only because the very fact that it seems as bad as it does is for some reason surprising more…
The innovator’s crucial non-listicle
I have got it down to a three-point hypothesis followed by ten simple questions more…
VR platform incompatibility: what if it doesn’t matter?
You might want to check this article again once we have some solid facts about VR software sales. The more you read about the three soon to be released ‘high-end’ virtual reality platforms, i.e., Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and (a bit later) Sony PlayStation VR, the more you learn about just how fragmented the VR […] more…
Where journalist skills and innovation meet (and where they don’t)
It’s journalism, but not as we know it. To set the scene for this rather obscure deployment of the journalist’s skills, let’s just take a brief look at exactly where the interviewing process fits in to the innovator’s skillset. What are the decisive assets of an innovator? Unique and crucial insights into user requirements. How […] more…
Uncanny valley in reverse?
Software will soon need to start trying to convince us that it’s more stupid than it is and that it knows less than it knows about us, just so that it can stop ‘creeping us out’ by seeming too human for comfort. First, the uncanny valley we already know about. That widely recognised phenomenon characterised […] more…
Think Kubrick was obsessed with detail? Games design is going much further than film
The social and cultural implications of bringing massively increased realism to upcoming video games design go way beyond anything to do with games. Few would dispute the claim that Stanley Kubrick’s fanatical obsession with visual detail probably exceeded that of just about any other cinematographer. Watching the video below (which includes some truly astonishing and […] more…
Overcoming Innovator’s Block
The one infallible trick (well, it works for me) you can use when you’re trying to come up with a new project idea but you’re getting nothing but a painful and maybe even downright terrifyingly frustrating zilch. If you’ve already got a promising idea that you want to pursue, but just need to refine it, this […] more…
Makers: isn’t it time to embrace and extend?
Yes, 3D printing and the Internet Of things are ‘turning everyone on to the idea of making stuff themselves’, but what about working together with the ‘old-school’ DIY, craft and hobby ‘makers’? I was watching a somewhat old YouTube video and I thought to myself: “Here’s a pursuit that almost certainly wouldn’t be considered to […] more…
A truly social network where humans are (mostly) excluded
The truly driverless car is a distant prospect whose arrival will be preceded by cars driven not so much by their human drivers as by their need to learn what other cars know about the road ahead more…
Coping with startup founder setback blues
“Like being punched in the face repeatedly” is how Y Combinator’s Paul Graham characterises the devastating setbacks that founders have to be able to cope with. Here’s how you cope more…
Stand by: this is a platform alteration announcement
Due to an incident involving the wrong kind of interface design, all services by Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft will be subject to change without notice. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause more…
Raise slightly less than you need?
Raising less probably gives you a shorter runway. Shortened runways test determination and the innovator's ability to pivot. Taking too long to see whether the team can withstand serious setbacks can cost more than a restart. more…
What if the synapse isn’t really doing what we think?
It's hard to find a more profound challenge to a central tenet of neuroscience: in our so far unrewarded struggle to locate our elusive memories within the junctions between brain cells, shouldn't we also be looking inside the neuron itself? more…
High Frame Rate for everything, not just action shots
Mantra Fail: High Frame Rate (e.g., 48 fps instead of 24 fps in movies) supposedly 'only for action shots': non-action shots 'look fake', revealing so much detail that props don’t look real: NOT! more…
The other six: VR hardware projects funded on KickStarter
Apart from the Oculus Rift, there are currently six other Virtual Reality hardware projects that have been successfully funded through KickStarter more…
Should the Oculus $2 billion have gone to this man instead?
Never heard of Oliver Kreylos? You will. more…
Is the ‘point’ of solar about to change?
Whilst panels were expensive, titling an array of flat rectangles towards the sun was the most economical way to gather light. Much cheaper panels may make this approach obsolete. more…
The wild frontier of innovation intelligibility: an edgy video
I've been having a serious struggle deciding whether or not to share this important video because I'm just not sure how much of a struggle with intelligibility you'll be able to tolerate more…
Sam Altman, tomorrow’s Mark Zuckerberg?
Over $5 billion jump in valuation in one month, even though none of their highest valued investments has yet had an exit? At this rate, Sam’s startup club may start putting Facebook to shame more…
Which new technology market is expected to reach $177 billion in five years?
Suddenly nanomedicine is on the tip of everyone’s tongue, but ask those typically clued-up about science and technology to define it: the answers may be surprisingly inconsistent more…
Human motor racing supremacy has five years left
In five years from today, no human driver will be able to win a race against an autonomous car. more…
12 things wrong with educational games
It’s just a list, it’s probably way too harsh and uncompromising, so educational developers, I know you care: please don’t take it personally, let’s just start making a bit more progress towards putting these things right more…
Healthcare’s identity crisis: is a massive role reversal looming?
There was a point where professionals felt as if they were being turned into robots, forced to spend more time processing data about their patients than engaging with them as human beings. more…
This is an announcement
Announcement more…
What’s wrong with the pictures in our heads?
Whatever’s going on in our imagination, we tend to think of it as being like ‘movies’ that we ‘watch’, but this description isn’t doing justice to the way that imagery really works in our minds more…
“There was no national infrastructure for this, so I’ve funded it”
An Intensive Care Unit where it’s needed. In every home. Millions already connected. He cashed out two startups, spent some exit money (he’s still got $7 billion left). The Steve Jobs of healthcare? more…
Your clients can innovate faster than you can, so why not pay them to do it?
What are the implications for those of us outside of the games business of Gabe Newell's claim that his customers are better innovators than his best creatives more…
Stodgy, predictable, strategic research? It doesn’t need to be
‘Going against the grain’ is getting some surprising endorsement in the rarefied upper strata of professional industry analysts more…
Usability is utterly broken
The last time it was declared broken, it was Web browsing behaviour that totally invalidated ‘traditional’ usability testing: this was soon fixed with new metrics, but now there’s another elephant in the usability lab more…
Alas poor Oculus, I knew you well
Until the day before yesterday, it was the toast of the gaming hardware world: today, John Carmack’s illustrious involvement notwithstanding, maybe the Rift is just toast. more…
Two ubiquitous technologies most techies know nothing about
Every major factory on earth depends upon a network technology you’ve never even heard of. Ok, maybe you don’t care about factories, so how about cars? Different network, built into every mass-produced car for decades, the same ignorance more…
On the Internet of Bits and Pieces, “just works” won’t be good enough
Yesterday’s light switch just works. Dark? Click. Light! Today, 'Just works' is lame. I want things that can see, hear, remember and tell me what they're doing. In fact, I want anything with a switch on it to be able to do whatever I want, maybe even before I know I want it to do it more…
Musicians: video editing is now officially part of your skillbase
Just ‘gigging, recording and getting discovered by a record company’ is yesterday’s intro to a musical career. Nowadays, you need to be able to build your own online TV channel that does justice to your best songwriting and performances. more…
Startup founders: allergic to experiences they should learn to love?
Do startups fail as a result of the founder's attitude towards doing things they don't think they need to do? more…
Farming machinery’s next big move? Stop getting bigger
Squeezing bigger crop yields out of the soil by just upgrading to larger, heavier, more powerful machines doesn't look sustainable. Up to 90% of the energy used in crop cultivation is wasted on dealing with the damage caused by the cultivation equipment itself more…
Are robots with analog AI the future?
Digital brains are just too big, slow and unreliable to interact seamlessly with the fast-moving natural world. Human interaction may be the only phenomenon slow enough to make digital look impressive more…
What’s it like writing story-worlds for others to inhabit and shape?
Job titles like ‘interactive storyteller’ or ‘narrative designer’ do little to convey the joys and nightmares of today's videogame writing experience: we’ve found writers eager to share an inside perspective more…
What is soft robotics?
Solutions to just about every hard engineering problem in robotics can be found in the biology of animals, where nature seems to be telling us to ‘take a softer approach’ more…
Why some science fiction phones are still science fiction
Why the dream of a mobile with a huge slide-out screen is still just a dream more…
Probing the innovation management implications of iconic ex-Valver Ellsworth’s ejection
Promoting Valve’s quirky employee handbook as a manifesto for unfettered workplace creativity set Gabe Newell on a collision course when he hired the legendary geek goddess more…
Why not bake augmented reality into your hardware startup?
Start looking for ways to 'transcend physical user experiences' by liberating your device's mobile app from the constraints of the real world more…
The switch from doing jobs to starting startups: will we even notice?
Could our increasingly online lifestyles morph smoothly into self-employment if today's culture of 'employee-based careers for all' gradually fades into oblivion? more…
Viewing the TV implications of Steam from 50,000 feet
Google TV, Apple TV, Facebook TV, Netflix, you need to watch your backs. A more ‘socially optimised consumer experience’ may give Valve’s Steam an unbeatable edge over other contenders for tomorrow's TV more…
The intensifying innovation debate about mental diagnosis
The long-awaited update to the clinician’s guidebook DSM-V was released on May 18th, affecting mental healthcare for billions worldwide. How well is it keeping up with the latest developments in science, technology and ideas? more…
Lean Startup Methodology, Critical Design Theory: Separated at birth?
Lean startups use wild speculations about imaginary products to start conversations with customers aimed at eliciting real requirements. Critical Design aims to make things which provoke enlightening responses. Snap? more…
The post-screencast era
Screencast videos are almost all painfully harder to watch than they need to be: here’s our top 5 suggestions for making screencasts infinitely more watchable, mostly just by adding a little bit of post-production. more…
Turning churnalism back into journalism
Covering an innovation story? Re-hashing a press release may be better than nothing, but doing it whilst maintaining full disclosure and explicitly adding your own specialist perspective? Journalism! more…
How can a professional economist help innovative startups?
What special skills can an economist bring to help innovative startups explore new business models more effectively? more…
A formidable new contender on the tech review scene
His YouTube channel alone is an eye-opener: is a new standard for consumer technology review videos being set? more…
Could Luton turn out to be the UK’s first Silicon Town?
Everyone’s looking for the UK’s next startup hotspot, but they might not be looking in the right place more…
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