Snippets

The Breakup Letter is a design research tool that Smart Design...

roguedecks — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:00:08 -0600

The Breakup Letter is a design research tool that Smart Design uses to understand the emotional connection between people and their products, services, and experiences.

At IIT’s 2010 Design Research Conference, Smart Design asked participants of their workshop to test out this tool by writing and reciting a Breakup Letter. Each participant took 15 minutes to write a letter and then shared their stories of finally moving on.

I believe this is a very creative storytelling process which also illustrates the importance of human-centered design in consumer products.

"What do you see that the rest of us are blind to?"

roguedecks — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 06:14:07 -0600

“What do you see that the rest of us are blind to?”

- Tim Westergreen (Founder of Pandora), during his Keynote at Stanford Graduate School of Business Conference on Entrepreneurship last week.

"If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right."

roguedecks — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 20:00:07 -0600

“If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.”

A newly released official website of the upcoming Royal Wedding...

roguedecks — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 16:00:07 -0600

A newly released official website of the upcoming Royal Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton can be found here. This marks the modern way of wedding coverage for a Royal family, where you can find all the news updates, pictures, videos and even Twitter feed.

The website also offer pictures taken from Westminster Abbey, short history of Buckingham Palace and the virtual tours of the famous palace. Stay tune on the website for more information before the official wedding date on April 29, 2011.

The photograph above is taken from their official site.

Startup Insights from Chris Mitchell, Audio Analytic

roguedecks — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 11:57:18 -0600

One of the most inspiring session I attended last week is a short discussion with Chris Mitchell, founder of Audio Analytic. Chris is one of the Kauffman Global Scholars alumni who chooses to return to U.K. to start his venture locally. Other than the usual tips such as recruit the best engineers to make your ideas happen and to choose carefully which the best marketplace for your product is, I believe Chris has shared with us the most overlooked resources to leverage our startups, i.e. the government.

Following are some of the insights which I believe are as important as other most commonly discussed tips for startups:

Start locally by finding local investors who are interested in your business
Find alternative research funding, including from various government initiatives and research support
Use your government councils to leverage your sales channels in other countries all over the world

I hope these insights would help getting more ideas on how to start your businesses. Good luck, everyone!

"Doing something unimportant well does not make it important. Requiring a lot of time also does not..."

roguedecks — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:00:07 -0600

“Doing something unimportant well does not make it important. Requiring a lot of time also does not make a task important.”

- Timothy Ferriss, The 4-Hour Workweek.

Alice in Wonderland

roguedecks — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 01:00:07 -0600

Alice: "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
Cat: "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."
Alice: "I don't much care where.."
Cat: "Then it doesn't matter which way you go."

A free iPad Game from Autodesk called Tinkerbox is a new...

roguedecks — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 23:00:06 -0600

A free iPad Game from Autodesk called Tinkerbox is a new innovative way to spark teen interest in mechanical engineering by making physics less daunting and more fun. The game is not just about solving puzzles, but also allowing players to create their own inventions and share them with their friends.

High school students from Cleveland High School really appreciate the game as ways for them to express their creativity.

The Age of Stupid. Why didn’t we save ourselves when we...

roguedecks — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:00:07 -0600

The Age of Stupid. Why didn’t we save ourselves when we had the chance to?

An independent and crowd-funded movie to illustrate the devastated future of our world in 2055, due to the global climate change. This movie is produced by Spanner Films, who also produce McLibel, a movie which tells the story of two ordinary people who humiliated McDonalds in the biggest corporate PR disaster in history.

Chris Tomlin (@tomlinchris) and Matt Redman (@matt_redman) tells...

roguedecks — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 16:00:06 -0600

Chris Tomlin (@tomlinchris) and Matt Redman (@matt_redman) tells the story behind their latest song, Our God, which was created during last year’s Passion. A beautiful song, played in acoustic guitars, by two of the best worshippers of our generation.

“Our God is greater. Our God is stronger. God, You are higher than any other.”

Jack Dorsey (@jack), founder of Twitter, explains the story...

roguedecks — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 15:19:00 -0600

Jack Dorsey (@jack), founder of Twitter, explains the story behind the birth of his new entrepreneurial venture, Square, in a new MIT Technology Review article entitled “The New Money”. Square helps small businesses and individuals to accept payments anywhere using an elegant add-on to iOS/Android devices. Accepting credit card payments have never been this easy.

Photograph Credit: Toby Burditt