Oodles of Innovation

Google v/s Microsoft v/s Apple

2010-02-27T06:49:00.000-08:00

Here is an excellent analysis of Google's lessons from Apple. Some dissection of the same follows:

Google realizes that typing in search terms is so last century. When there are dedicated apps for recipes (epicurious), restaurants (yelp), news (nytimes) why will I go to Safari's google search box and search? Clearly how we look at information access is changing and the iPhone (and the iTunes ecosystem) is surely a huge paradigm shifter.
Taking a few pages from Apple's strategy cheat-sheet, Google is now attempting to control the user experience (by working on the phone's software). This is very similar to Apple's attempt with hardware to control user experience directly (the PC-MAC debate).
While I understand the PC-MAC debate well, the numbers tell a different story. PC's reign supreme in offices, factories and even homes. I think where this story becomes different is in the consumer market, where it's all about the user experience. It's obvious that if my app. on my iPhone looked like a mid-90's Windows client with dreary grays and solid black lines, I would not even glance at that app.
And finally, for people with short-term memory loss, another pre-iPhone world scenario to set you thinking some more. While on this subject, I'm still not convinced that the Nexus is doing great. But then again, I might just have to eat my words up, just like the iPhone naysayers.

Future of Media

2010-02-26T09:02:00.000-08:00

Watching this and other wonderful videos on the future of media, and how transformative this experience is going to be gives me the goose-bumps. I've been thinking about this subject for a long time now, no doubt fueled by the secrecy and rumors around the iPad. Its release in April is going to invite many such discussions, and the future ahead is so exciting.

How does Adobe fit into this media? No doubt - with a huge push from the Intel AppStore.
Traditional print-media advertisers will need to switch/employ many more techies. After all, it would be a shame to just view a picture of a product and see a nice blurb about it, when what the consumer really wants is to flip the product 360 degrees and view it at all angles.
Developers/advertising gurus would love to see a user-friendly SDK to make this happen - I know programming on the iPhone is not exactly a cake-walk - but building in Flex is quite easy. Will the tool-builders define who "wins"?
Is the book really dead? I refuse to believe it is; it will again depend on how compelling the subscription model is.
Interesting as always, how Google will picture into all this? Is it already an also-ran? (I say - not quite so fast).

What Matters Now!

2009-12-14T08:18:00.000-08:00

Very insightful and inspiring ideas to jumpstart your day.

My favorite: "Don’t worry too much about getting things done. Make things happen."

Black Ink - Unexpected Necessities

2009-11-24T07:12:00.000-08:00

While on the subject of Japanese products, there is a small store in Harvard Square called "Black Ink". This store has a fascinating range of beautifully designed products ranging from stylish tea pots to drinking straw kits (where you can connect drinking straws with bright-orange connectors) to fragrant color pencils (these pencils are the real deal - cinnamon does smell like cinnamon and not a toxic). Needless to say, most of these products are Japanese and make for excellent gift ideas. I mean which kid doesn't want to scribble with watermelon flavored pencils? (On the other hand, I'm not sure I want to encourage my baby to eat all her stationery).

The tiny store is also very dog-friendly, and there seems to be a resident beagle for all you dog-lovers out there. No points for guessing that there are quite a few innovative pet products as well. If you happen to be in the area, do check out the store. You won't leave empty-handed!

Maximizing Space

2009-11-24T07:08:00.000-08:00

Barcodes grace almost every product for sale. Given how much package real estate they command, why shouldn't they look cool? Click here for the fascinating article. Go Japan!

Lego marries Kirigami

2009-11-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

This link needs no translation. Absolutely love the way the Lego blocks are used with paper cut-outs to make 3D models of crocodiles, Christmas cards and caterpillars. Nicely packaged too. I think I can by-pass the product, and make these products - all I need is a good ol' punch, some Lego pieces and some colorful card paper.

G1 : iPhone :: PC : Mac :: ugly : pretty

2008-09-25T07:22:00.000-07:00

The NY Times had a lot of articles related to the G-1 yesterday. [link here]. This is my 2cents on the debate: most end-users (unless you hail from geekdom) do not care about a lot of features. The iPod convinced everyone that an MP3 player need not have treble and bass adjustments, cataloging features. The mantra I'm trying to stick to these days in product management is:

"More Features = More Clutter = More Features that you will not use"

The "G1 : iPhone :: PC : Mac" analogy seems to hold well, with one major flaw - that a PC (reduced to an appliance these days) did not have to be cool...but it's imperative to have a mobile device that is, especially in the smart-phone world where people are willing to actually spend for a phone and pay a hefty monthly Internet fee.

Apple, with the iPhone has got everything right and all that it will take to keeping the winnings from this round is another $50 price cut right in time for either this holiday season, or the next summer.

Coming soon in an Apple store near you: iPhone in 3 different metallic colors - green, blue and pink!

P.S: Google founders should stop trying so hard to be cool. They made an entry on the stage on roller-blades. Seriously, unless the roller-blades had GPS tracking balls that accepted directions, who cares!

Back to Yuva Studio

2008-09-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

I'm back to the drawing board (so to speak) with YUVA. Here's what I've done so far:

1. Ordered Business Cards from one of my favorite web portals. All the cards have different YUVA drawings...can't wait to get them.

2. Created a brochure to go along with the cards so that I can start approaching elementary school teachers. Download it here.

Lessons learnt (so far):
1. Just because it's a "cool" idea doesn't mean it will work. There's been a lot of talk off late by people saying business models/specs/requirement documents are useless; but I think just the process of writing it at reveals some obvious holes and "gotchas" which can prove to be very valuable in the long run.

2. It's okay to start small and not spend $500 per month on the most expensive web hosting server in the market. No shame in admitting to that right?

Still learning:
1. How to "approach" (err...stalk) blogs and get people talking about your product.
2. To "iPhone" or not to. First we needed a Google widget (or gadget or whatever thingamajig it's called these days), then we had to have a "Facebook" application, and now we absolutely need the "iPhone" app. I wonder if there are companies specializing in "porting" applications to different social media these days. I understand these are marketing materials, but when do you decide you absolutely "need" a feature?

Web 2.0 Name Generator

2008-09-07T08:35:00.001-07:00

Wondering what your next big website should be called? Check out http://www.dotomator.com/web20.html. That's how I got the name of this blog too. The sarcasm is not lost on me...though I think that in the world of mashups, it's not such a bad thing to generate names of websites either.

(Reminds me of the brilliant "The Great Automatic Grammatizator" by Roald Dahl)

Baba Job

2007-12-02T08:17:00.000-08:00

There is a very interesting article about a social networking website called babajob ,
defined as "village linkedin". What's inspiring is that out of so many social "notworking" sites that have been created, this one stands out for its creativity as well as the potential to make a real difference.

There was another video recently about India's migrant workers and their rush to Mumbai, the city paved with gold and lined with plum jobs. This boy who was interviewed had run away from home, and all he had was the pair of clothes that he was wearing, an address of a friend and a SIM card.

It amazes me how technology is altering the level of access that the working class has these days; no doubt, it's a long road ahead, but at least this is a good start.

iEconomics

2007-07-03T08:29:00.000-07:00

I know you've had enough of iPhone and iPod related news, but this article offers a fascinating insight into the complexity of globalization and how the iPod is really much more than the sum of its parts.

(Picture cropped from a graffiti-styled white wall of the MOMA)

Stumbled upon something really cool...

2007-06-28T08:20:00.000-07:00

The basic premise of this site is that our experience online, most often called "surfing" is more likely a stumbing experience. We search for something, click on the link, don't like it, go back, click on some other link...you get the picture.

StumbleUpon is a great site to discover new sites, tag them with a thumbs up or down. I've found some really cool sites this way, and what better way to pass your time than stumbling through websites? I love their Firefox extension, so a cool site is just a click away!

YUVA Studio

2007-06-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 1, 2006

Toronto design studio launches online environment to stimulate creativity

It's Children's Day in China and Hungary, and children everywhere have something new to play, create and share with! Thanks to YUVA Studio ( www.yuvastudio.com ), a Toronto based studio with a mandate to develop products that nurture creativity in young children.

YUVA Studio's Product Design team announced today that YUVA, their premier product is ready and available for purchase. YUVA, the root of all words meaning "young", is an online environment, a creative playground for children aged 4 -10 years.

Shapes are at the core of YUVA. Co-founder Jayashri Deshmukh, refers to them as "the basic alphabet of a person's visual language". YUVA fosters PLAY with a palette of shapes. The rich environment challenges the imagination of young artists as they merge, rotate, enlarge or flip them to create a variety of drawings. "It's like playing with 2-D blocks. In the process of play and experimentation, a child makes a multitude of connections that unfold the principles of pattern, design and composition."

CREATE follows PLAY - it is a more deliberate act, one driven by intention. Using YUVA, children will be able use their original drawings to create e-cards, posters, greeting cards and even custom T-shirts.

A natural step to follow CREATE is SHARE – the act of confidently showing one's creations to others through e-cards, printouts, galleries and the YUVA Studio Merchandise store. YUVA not only makes sharing easy for children but also encourages them to solicit a response. E-card recipients can send messages to the artist. They go directly into the child's "Sketchbook" – much like signing an Artist's guestbook. The YUVA Studio Gallery is a public-facing online venue for these young artists to submit their drawings to. Soon, the Gallery will invite professional artists and designers to curate art shows and competitions.

Although YUVA's primary audience is children who have basic computer skills, the co-founder of YUVA Studio, Parth Upadhye says, "YUVA is actually for everyone, for all ages. There's a child in each of us that delights in creative play. In our product tests we found that while the children were drawing trucks and birds with YUVA, their parents were designing rugs and wallpaper! The possibilities truly are endless!"

At YUVA Studio, we can all be YUVA Artists.

About YUVA Studio:
YUVA Studio (www.yuvastudio.com ) designs and develops products that: foster play (with shapes), stimulate creativity, and encourage sharing. We have a "single" focus - that of creating products that fit this "Play. Create. Share." model of a creative process.

Contact Information:
YUVA Studio | www.yuvastudio.com | Play. Create. Share.

T: 416-607-6125 or 604-678-5764
E: media@yuvastudio.com

I'm OK, you're OK.

2007-04-05T08:20:00.000-07:00

http://www.wefeelfine.org has been harvesting human feelings from blogs. Basically, the system searches for "feelings" across the blogging world. In a time where personal emotions and feelings are open for all, this website seeks to take a 15000 ft. view of this phenomenon. The system is weighted on no. of total feelings. Why am I not surprised that Hawaii is the happiest state and Vegas the sexiest city in the US? I think it's a great concept...and maybe another idea for L's thesis!

I think what would be really cool is if they harvested personalities from blogs...it will be fun to see if New Yorkers are more aggressive than sleepy Cambridge. One of the creators, Sep Kamwar's bio is really impressive, and I agree with his mom whole-heartedly. Check out the section "Creators" to see what I mean.

Moo!

2007-03-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

There’s something about the web that continues to fascinate me…be it cool ideas, gimmicks or actual functional utilitarian websites. Personally, I use the web for literally everything I do in the offline world…heck, I even bought my house from a craigslist posting.

I think the trick is make the product/service have its own dedicated following – a niche market that intrigues geeks, non-techies and soccer moms alike. Here’s one I came across – it’s called moo.com and it specializes in creating mini-cards from the user’s flickr stream, or other uploaded images. Now there’s an entire community out there trading moo-cards. How cool is that?

Another very interesting site is webkinz.com that bridges the gap between offline and online play-time for kids – a cross between tamagotchi and neopets I suppose.

This brings me to another idea for content on my blog – every week, I will feature a website (I’ll lean towards the small, indie websites) and talk about its concept, its people and maybe even a sneak interview with an insider. Watch this space!