Bell Labs Created Our Digital World. What They Teach Us about Innovation.
What do these following crucial, society-altering innovations have in common? Transistors Silicon-based semiconductors Mobile communication Lasers Solar cells UNIX operating system Information theory (link) They all have origins in the amazing Idea Factory, AT&T’s Bell Labs. I’ve had a chance to learn about Bell Labs via Jon Gertner’s new book, The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and [...]
Is Google+ More Facebook or More Twitter? Yes
Quick, what existing social network is Google+ most likely to displace in terms of people’s time? Another Try by Google to Take On Facebook Claire Cain Miller, New York Times This isn’t a Facebook-killer, it’s a Twitter-killer. Yishan Wong, Google+ post A hearty congrats to Google for creating an offering that manages to be compared [...]
Four reasons enterprise software should skip native mobile apps
The desire to “consumerize” mobile apps for their own sake is stoking today’s outsized enthusiasm with device-specific enterprise mobile apps at a time when HTML5 is right there staring us all in the face. Tony Byrne, Enterprise 2.0 B.S. List: Term No. 1 Consumerization The runaway success of the iPhone app store has demonstrated that [...]
Three Pluses, Three Minuses of Quora as a KM System
Knowledge Management (aka “KM”) is a field that I don’t have personal experience in. It’s supposed to be practices, processes and systems where valuable knowledge of workers is collected and made available for others. KM continues to be an important topic for enterprises these days, but it also freighted with many failures and disappointments. Without [...]
Three Reasons Google Should Acquire Delicious from Yahoo
So the news is out. Yahoo plans to shutter Delicious, the largest social bookmarking site. Which is shocking, particularly among the tech savvy and socially oriented. Delicious is iconic for its application of social sharing and collective intelligence. Hard to believe Yahoo wants to shut it down. But wait…this doesn’t have to be the end. [...]
Phone Cameras + Social Are Expanding the Historical Record
“There’s a plane in the Hudson. I’m on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy.” In a critique of the rise of Instagram (current photo sharing app du jour), Laurie Voss argues that the rise of cheap, low fidelity cameras on phones is undermining the data contained in them. And it’s not just [...]
iPad’s Climb Up the Disruptive Innovation Cycle
Blockbuster’s recent bankruptcy filing was yet another chapter in the Clayton Christensen annals of disruptive innovation. A major brand with convenient locations that got disrupted by a website and the U.S. Mail. Note that we’re seeing the backend of the disruption, when it all seems so clear. How easy is it to see such a [...]
Should BP crowdsource solutions to solve the Gulf oil spill?
Clifford Krauss of the New York Times reports on BP’s latest effort to cap the oil leak, called “top kill”. He notes the following: The consequences for BP are profound: A successful capping of the leaking well could finally begin to mend the company’s brittle image after weeks of failed efforts, and perhaps limit the [...]
Foursquare Check-in Etiquette
Anyone remember the early complaints about Twitter? That people were posting updates about what they’re eating for lunch? Robert Scoble noted this phenomenon in a blog post from last September about Twitter’s rise: It tells me that Twitter isn’t lame anymore. Remember those days when Twitter was for telling all your friends you were having [...]
Six Factors in Emergent Innovation
In discussing employee-driven innovation, having a technology platform to deliver on objectives is a key part of a company’s strategy. Hard to get everyone tuned in when you rely only on email and conversations with your cubicle mates. But that’s just one factor. There are many other considerations for companies seeking to vault to the [...]
The Two-Year Lag from Web 2.0 to Enterprise 2.0
The Enterprise 2.0 sector draws heavy inspiration from innovations in the Web 2.0 world. Indeed, the name itself, Enterprise “2.0” reflects this influence. From a product management perspective, Web 2.0, and its derivations social networking and social media are great proving grounds for features before coding them into your application. A fruitful area to review [...]
Crowdsourcing for a Billion Dollar Business – Cisco I-Prize
Crowdsourcing continues to grow in popularity and importance across a number of industries. Tac Andersen, at the South by Southwest Interactive event in Austin, took in the buzz there, and notes that crowdsourcing is heating up. Digital strategy, marketing and design firm Last Exit called crowdsourcing a top digital marketing trend for 2010. With that [...]
PleaseRobMe Is the Logical Extension of Our Worst Fears about Location-Based Services
The rise of location-based social media holds a lot of promise and benefit for participants. But a legitimate concern about them is that they make it too easy to track where you are. For some people, that’s more information than they want out there. Well, three guys – Barry Borsboom, Frank Groeneveld, Boy van Amstel [...]
Why Ideas Are Core to Enterprise 2.0
Brian Solis spoke recently on what the future of social networks will be. Ideas, it turns out. As I wrote on another blog post: Solis, leading thinker in the integration of social media and PR, recently spoke on an intriguing concept: ideas connect us more than relationships. The premise of his argument is that ideas [...]
Apple iPad and the Radical Innovation of Meaning
Ultimately, the iPad is a large iPod touch: a great device to draw your inspiration from, but perhaps not the seismic shift in technology that we were expecting. Claudine Beaumont, Apple iPad review, The Telegraph The much anticipated announcement of Apple’s iPad tablet was met with a resounding…”ho hum” or worse from much of the [...]
