THE DREAM IN ACTION

The Nokia Research Center is working with the Cambriage Nanoscience Centre to develop nanoscience technologies that will bridge the latest and greatest in emerging technologies with the ability to benefit the end user. The idea behind this is (I know I say this a lot) absolutely market changing. This will change the word “product” forever. This technology allows the end user to combine many products in one. From watch, to clothing, to cell phone, to food tester, to health/bacteria scanner, and so on, this design/concept has the ability to do, it would seem, almost anything!

Here are some of the other many benefits of the technology:

• Newly-enabled flexible and transparent materials blend more seamlessly with the way we live
• Devices become self-cleaning and self-preserving
• Transparent electronics offering an entirely new aesthetic dimension
• Built-in solar absorption might charge a device, whilst batteries become smaller, longer lasting and faster to charge
• Integrated sensors might allow us to learn more about the environment around us, empowering us to make better choices

See some other pics.

This movie is a bit long but it will show (with drawings) some of the capabilities of these technology applied to products that will change the end-user (US!) ’s life. This will truly blow you away…

click to play

I apologize for the feeling that ActionsTalk has been very Gizmodo’esk’ but I’ve recently been super excited about new technologies that I’ve been exposed to. Enjoy.

This video of a home made alarm clock found on Engadget is a brilliant example of finding a problem and building a solution. Exactly the type of thinking we like to promote.

This video is…

• A really great idea
• This is taking the morning wake up to a whole new level.
• Far over my head technically.
• Very very interesting.

My friends and I are always trying to think of completely new ways to do things. It’s tough. Sometimes it seems like new ideas are running out but companies like ManagedQ are proving that theory wrong. Thank God.

ManagedQ has completely redesigned the search experience. They are currently using Google search results (with some hopes, it sounds like, to not always use Google) but delivering them in a totally new way, visually. Right now Google’s search results appear in a list from most relevent to less relevant. In order to see the page you have to click each link and wait for it to load. ManagedQ removes that click for you by displaying your search results in little screen shots of each page.

I really think that this idea is revolutionary. I am very easily excited about new ideas and start-ups like this but sometimes you just have a gut feeling. This idea is one of those that I think Google would just love to consume.

Another great idea that ManagedQ incorporates is the “topic” bar on the left. It categorized related topics by person, place, or thing and as you scroll over the topic it tells you which of your results paged included that topic. In the example here I’ve search “surfing”. The number one person result for this search was appropriately “Kelly Slater” (indisputably the most famous surfer in the world… after all he did date Pamela Anderson). Next, the pllaces related to my search were Costa Rica and California. With the exception of Hawaii I think they nailed it again.

Here is the founder David Stat discussing why he started ManagedQ and some of the thought behind it.

Search hasn’t changed in a decade. Result quality has improved, but what you see has not changed. The search interface has remained stagnant at the command level, So why not a search application, rather than create a search engine, we can sit on top of the results of any search engine. Currently we use Google.

I would encourage you to begin to use ManagedQ for various searches and see if this visual search results method is appealing to you. Keep in mind you are getting the same results that you would receive on Google except now you are add free. (We may discuss how Google is allowing this to occur in a follow-up post) Please comment your opinions of ManagedQ and their new search presentation here on ActionsTalk.

Space Data Corp, a company out of Arizona is working on using hot air balloons to create wireless internet service. This service is focussed to provide internet to rural folks and truckers on the highways. This idea is slowly gaining an audience. Nobody in that audience is more welcomed than Google.

Starting at 8:43p EST there will be a lunar eclipse. The moon will be totally covered from 10:01p and 10:51p. This will be your last opportunity to see a lunar eclipse until 2010.

From Wikipedia:

A lunar eclipse occurs whenever the moon passes through some portion of the Earth’s shadow. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, the Moon is always full the night of a lunar eclipse. The type and length of an eclipse depend upon the Moon’s location relative to its orbital nodes.

Here is a diagram of how a lunar eclipse occurs.

This start-up is attempting to combine a social network of “start-uppers” and a nifty little AI tool that will predict the probability of success of a start-up. The community side is to fill in gaps for new companies. Example: you need a PM, graphic designer, lawyer? might help you do it. This is something that a site like LinkedIn does not offer. Great idea! However, there are a million other social networks for this crowd, so they’ve decided to differentiate themselves by adding this start-up success predictor to spice up their offering a bit.

YouNoodle | Welcome to YouNoodle! via kwout

It could work…I can’t see this tool being that accurate but I don’t think that matters much. It seems to me that the success of You Noodle will not be determined by the accuracy of the “success predictor” but more by the amount of people and start-ups that sign-up for and use the social network.

Also, the team behind YouNoodle is pretty impressive. These bio’s are from their about page.

______________________________________

Bob Goodson, CEO, Cofounder (27) – British
Bob was studying for the MPhil Medieval English Literature at Oxford before being head-hunted to the U.S. by Max Levchin. He was one of the first employees at Yelp.com before starting YouNoodle. Chinese acrobatics is the latest pursuit.

Kirill Makharinsky, Business Development and Data Analytics, Cofounder (22) – Russian, British
Real World Magazine’s ‘UK Graduate of the Year 2006′, Kirill finished Oxford with a Mathematics degree and then worked on data and analytics at Slide.com before starting YouNoodle. He’s seriously into tennis, heli-skiing, piano and making sense of huge data sets.

Rebeca Hwang, Network Strategy and Development, (28) – Korean, Argentinean
Rebeca is a Chemistry and Physics Olympiad Medalist of Argentina, has 3 patents, donated to NGOs, and had a full Scholarship to MIT. She is a PhD candidate at Stanford on Social Network Theory, and is into rugby and white water rafting.

Joachim Krebs, Engineer (21) – Danish
Joachim was recruited by legendary game-developer Sir Peter Molyneux at 16.

Sam Purtill, Engineer (19) – American
Sam is a young entrepreneur and web engineer. Deferred university place to join YN. At 16, became a partner in the Romanian-based design studio, Okapi Studio (http://okapistudio.com).

______________________________________

These are some pretty impressive bio’s and I’d guess that if this start-up predicting social network does tank they’ll find something else that doesn’t. I’ll look to this group for something real big.

In the “olden” days people read the (news)paper for their daily source of news, whether that was local, sports, business, or political news. Then things changed. People then watched television to gather their news. During that time politicians would focus large amounts of their campaign spending on television adverts. Again, things have changed. Now the internet has become an invaluable and essential tool for politicians to reach their supporters. Really anyone who is trying to reach the masses would be hard pressed to do so without the use of the internet. Without disclosing any political affiliation or allegiance I’m posting this video to show you how the internet has come to the forefront of modern political campaigns and to the forefront as a tool to reach people…to reach you.

Over 3.6 million people have watched this video online. Over 27,000 have left comments about the video and 50+ have left video responses. I’d say the internet has come into its own as a resource for anyone trying to reach the masses.

Go internet, you win!

I’ve officially joined my first The Point campaign. I’ve decided to join the campaign to get Starbucks coffee to begin using reusable cups for “for here” orders. The tipping point is 102, 950 and I’m number 40 supporting the cause. If you haven’t yet go over the www.thepoint.com and check out how you can contribute.

Campaigns | The Point via kwout

The Point has an idea that could literally change the world. This it would seem is the type of idea that if executed correctly could capture the attention of “world changers” like Google. I have not used the tool yet or walked through how it may work but I have watched this promotion video. Andrew Mason presents with the help of some very classic cartoons how The Point may bring people together in a way that would empower the masses. AIDS in Africa, Homelessness here in the U.S., both of these may be solvable issues if Mason’s genius is applied correctly. They’ve just received 4.8 million in a first round of venture funding the make this dream possible. This will be a start up that I will definitely keep on the radar.

How many of you have never noticed the arrow between the ‘E’ and ‘x’ on the FedEx logo?  I bet quite a few. Well you’ll never be able to look at the FedEx logo again and not see that arrow.

This is why graphic designers get paid good money. This logo is phenomenal.

Routine

a: a regular course of procedure
b: habitual or mechanical performance of an established procedure <the routine of factory work>

I wonder, is having a routine really the way to be most productive…?

Over the last month I’ve been in a training program that allowed for very little routine. The norm was 12-14 hrs of work during the day interrupted only with meals. That was followed by 4-6 hrs of “social activity” during the evenings and nights. Although this was the norm there was very little opportunity to develop a routine as the schedule was always changing. This experience was jam packed with class, study, and course work, followed by plenty of going out. It was a very full experience in that I accomplished a ton and I would consider it an incredibly productive month. Now, if I was able to accomplish so much in such an environment why would I immediately return home and attempt to implement routine in my life? Maybe I would accomplish more if I were to never repeat, never act “habitually or mechanical” and never engage in a “regular course of procedure”.

Would the complete removal of routine from my life promote “outside of the box” thinking? Maybe I would find new ways to solve old problems. I might resolve everyday issues that have been plaguing me for ages.

My conclusion is that there is both good and bad routine.

Bad routine doesn’t allow you to think differently. I call this type of routine “Ground Hog’s day” routine. It locks down creativity and innovation. Ground Hog’s day routine in short, restricts “change”. Avoid this type of routine, otherwise you’ll wake up one day and be in the same spot as you were the day before and the day before that. Very bad!

Good routine facilitates creativity and change by putting you in the clearest of mindsets. It allows you to see life in new perspectives. This is the routine that promotes thought and productivity. This type of routine removes waste by allowing you to process improve each aspect of your life. I call this “Clarity routine” because it promotes optimal clarity and thought.

Find out how to embrace Clarity routine and eliminate Ground Hog’s day routine and you will be well on your way to much higher levels or productivity.