A bunch of interesting/inspiring topics for the weekend…

Designing “Big Data”

Jeff Veen from Small Batch Inc. gave a 20-minutes talk at the Web2.0 Expo at San Francisco.
During the talk he focuses on some classic examples for information visualization (John Snow pump, Minard’s map, the tube map, and so on), the challenge of making data more accessible and understandable vs. just “decorating” it and the emerging challenge in Web 2.0 to empower users to find and create their own stories using the data.

And on the same topic of dealing with “big data”, check out the AlloSphere. A system developed by scientists and artists at the University of California for exploring huge sets of data as a visual and audible 3D world:

Cool New Computer Interaction Technology

I saw this amazing UI concept watching the TED podcast:

The concept as computers as tiny blocks that can react to each other is just amazing and the possibilities here, especially in education, are endless…

Kiva Robots Invade the Warehouse

If a bunch of tiny computers interacting can change personal computing here’s what it can do in the enterprise – optimize warehouses supply chain:

The servers work in real-time, receiving orders, immediately dispatching robots to bring the required pods to the worker fulfilling the order, and then returning the pods to their storage locations. The robots receive their orders wirelessly, while using cameras to read navigational barcode stickers on the warehouse floor.

Have a great weekend!

Tags: Finding Inspiration, Innovation, Technology

I put some pictures from the Microsoft Israel R&D Labs launch event yesterday on Flickr…

A detailed even summary and notes will soon follow…

Tags: ILDC, Innovation, Israeli Startups, Microsoft, MSFT, Steve Ballmer

Microsoft Research’s WorldWide Telescope, otherwise known as “the thing that made Robert Scoble cry” has been publicly launched today.

WorldWide telescope is a desktop application that essentially turns your computer into a virtual telescope, allowing you to browse the universe. You can roam the universe freely or choose from a growing number of guided tours by astronomers and educators. You can also join communities of stargazers, connect your own telescope to your computer and control using the application.

Another cool option allows you to gain a different perspective on what you’re seeing by switching between imagery sources.

The interface is pretty complex right now but everything works quite smoothly once you get the hang of it. I guess Microsoft will have to simplify it to allow wide adoption

I don’t know about you but I’m going to take some time and travel the universe…

Tags: Innovation, Microsoft, MSFT, Research, WoldWide Telescope

My Moo MiniCards finally arrived!
The Moo MiniCards are like a ‘hip’ little full color business cards that can also teach us a lesson in product innovation – mutating a standard product we all know by changing some of its properties to make it unique.
By making they’re card about half the size of a standard business card and featuring a a full-color picture Moo turned their product from the same old business card everyone is making to a unique and interesting product that creates a buzz (and a brand).

Designing these little cards is a simple process as Moo connects to your Flickr account and provides an simple interface to select and manipulate the pictures you want printed.
On the back side you can put a thumbnail and some text. I decided to go with the ‘modern’ look with just my name and my homepage address.

Now I need to start passing them along… Maybe TechEd

Oh, and you can also turn them into small magnet cards… Nice…

Some more pictures on my Flickr set….

Tags: Flickr, Innovation, MiniCards, Moo, Moo Cards

If you haven’t heard of Modu by now you’ve probably been living under a rock for the last couple of weeks.
The company who’s product has been a kept secret so far, has been spreading teasers around the net for the past couple of weeks until it finally announced and exposed their product yesterday.

Modu Mobile, led by Dov Moran – the mind behind the USB flash drive, aims to revolutionize the cellular world by introducing a modular phone, called Modu.
The Modu is a device, smaller than a credit card, containing flash memory and a cellular SIM and is meant to fit into different “Jackets” that can make use of its abilities. From cell-phone like devices to car radios, digital cameras and TVs – simply plug you’re Modu device into the jacket and it’ll have cellular abilities and access to the personal information you’ve got stored on it.

Basically, behind all the PR, teasers, and claims for revolution, the Modu simply adds cellular capabilities to the Disk-On-Key we all know - A DiskOnKey Evolution. Not such a  big surprise given Dov Moran as one of the inventors…

Can the Modu really deliver the revolutionary promises of its inventors?

To answer that question lets examine the DiskOnKey. Like the Modu, the DiskOnKey was also meant to be a small device that holds your personal data allowing you to carry that data with you anywhere and provide any device with a USB socket access to this data. Pretty much the same concept as Modu’s Jackets “revolution” only based on a wide-spread standard – USB- rather than a proprietary one.

The main problem with the DiskOnKey is that the master copy of the information is saved in a single location which can only be plugged into one device at a time – not a limitation that is easy to live with, especially when there’s an existing alternative of using wireless technologies (Wifi, Bluetooth, etc.) to sync the different devices and have all the data available anywhere and not locked in a single location on a single device.
The fact that you’ll rarely find a USB socket in a newly purchased TV, car radio, etc. proves that the DiskOnKey failed in achieving its goal and penetrate the market that’s beyond computers.

The Modu is exactly like the DiskOnKey only it uses a new proprietary connection standard…

Which leads us to the big question, what’s so special about the new Modu Mobile that will make it succeed where the DiskOnKey failed?

Tags: 3GSM, Gadgets, Innovation, Mobile, Modu