metacool

The New Heroes

Be sure catch The New Heroes on PBS, a four-part series about social entrepreneurship.

Wait, shouldn't all ventures contribute to society?  Good Business can and should better the lives of employees, shareholders, and society.

Punch it in your TiVo or set the alarm and watch it in live time.

Sleepless nights at metacool

If there's a little less action on metacool over the next few weeks, please accept this apology in advance.

You see, I just shipped the introductory version of my latest creation.  She's really a beauty -- featuring, among other things:

• a complex, powerful, yet low-power consumption bio-computer running a self-teaching, open-source operating system
• a huge amount of information storage capacity -- won't run out for decades, hopefully even a century
• completely cradle-to-cradle in terms of production materials
• low mass -- all of this in a package only a few pounds heavier than a standard business laptop

Branding is still being developed and will be announced shortly.  We're looking at a premium positioning that's unique without being too exotic.

Our growth plan includes the gradual addition of mobility, moving from a quadraped motive system to eventually a biped mode, which we feel strikes the right balance between traction and agility.  We also expect to add advanced voice recognition, speech capabilities, and the ability to compose poetry and play the saxophone.  I'll keep you posted.

But I'll be busy for the next few weeks.

Unabashed Gearhead Gnarlyness

The Corvette C6.R

(running the 24 Hours of Le Mans this weekend)

Innovation Means Really Being There

Here's an intriguing interview with Gary Flint, chief engineer for the innovative new Honda Ridgeline.

This new vehicle redefines what a pickup can and should be.  How did Honda get there?  By getting out and observing real people.  Says Flint:

We didn't look at what people were buying.  We listened to what they wanted... During the Ridgeline's development I spent an hour every Saturday morning at Home Depot with my tasty beverage, and I watched people load things in the parking lot.

When was the last time you got out of the office and just simply observed people going through the stuff of daily life?  Out there lies the kind of inspiration that leads to game-changing innovation.

How to survive Art 60...

... things never to say during a design critique

(via Boing Boing)

Jolie-Laide, part 6

The 2006 Subaru B9 Tribeca

(I really like the new Tribeca.  Yes, it's definitely another example of jolie-laide, and I certainly suffer from ugly-car-itus, but I quite fancy this new Subaru.  Last year I wrote that "Subaru is the New Saab".  With the introduction of the B9, that sentiment has become aesthetically true:

The 1963 Saab 96

Tooting It Without Blowing It...

In other news, metacool appeared in several legitimate (read: print) business publications over the past few months:

• Learning From Blogs, by Virginia Postrel, in Forbes
• The New Instant Companies, by Michael Copeland & Andrew Tilin, in Business 2.0
• More Intelligent Design, by Jena McGregor, in Fast Company

Fast Company's article made me want to pick up the phone and call my mom:  "... Rodriguez's blog is a must-read for anyone who wants to incorporate design thinking into their work."

Beauty, eh?

And the title of this post?  From a book I heartily recommend: Brag!  The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn without Blowing it

Form Ever Follows Function - NOT

If you've been reading metacool for a while, you know how much I like Don Norman's Visceral-Behavioral-Reflective model of design.  It's a nice way to reach a deeper understanding of the design of things as varied as cars, jeans, and shopping bags.

Or even fingers (or more precisely, the lack thereof).  Here's a great example of the importance of reflective design, from Joi Ito: Differences in the meaning of finger chopping in Korea and Japan

It's fascinating how an absent digit can communicate so differently depending on cultural context.  Clearly, there's more meaning in a missing finger than can be captured in its lack of visual presence (Visceral Design) and/or its functional absence (Behavioral Design).  Reflective design is about meaning and culture and is where things get interesting in the art and science of bringing cool stuff to life.

metacool Thought of the Day

"I'm a storyteller.  I think of a designer as a processor of information -- like a scriptwriter or a novelist."

- Freeman Thomas

Beausage For Sale

Want some Suntour Superbe brake levers with a sprinkling of beausage?

eBay auction # 716160266
(no, it's not my sale)

Seth Godin at metacool: An Overview

I'm all about creating beautiful user experiences, so for your viewing pleasure and ease of reference, here's an overview of Seth Godin's visit to metacool and our conversation about his new book All Marketers are Liars:

• Design & Authenticity
• Story-Free?
• Emotional Design
• Stuff Seth Digs
• How to Create Good Lies
• About that Title...

More Beausage, please

Okay, so it's a neologism; that won't keep me from liking the word beausage a whole helluva lot.

Here are some more examples of beausage (the beauty that comes with usage):

• Wrinkles on a grandfather's face
• Gouges and dents on the bed of a 1955 Chevy pickup
• Wear patterns on a boot tread

Would love to hear about more beausage -- leave a comment below with your own example.

Contrails

When I awoke this morning, I sensed a step function increase in the power of The Force.

This could only mean one thing:  Jim Matheson is blogging.

My good friend, professional peer, and all-around partner in crime, Jim is one of those rare individuals who does just about everything to the hilt, boosts the energy of any room he enters, and is just plain fun and good to hang out with.  He cares intensely about innovating with a heart, and is a wise man (and sometimes a wise guy).

It's still very much a startup, but I have no doubt that Jim's blog Contrails will provide stimulating reading over the weeks and months to come.