In this issue: BIOPIRACY MAPVERTISING THE SPEED OF THOUGHT INTERACTIVE TEXTILES NEWSPAPER DESIGN And much, much more... ------------------------------------------------------------ ____ ____ ___ _____ ____ ______ ______ * / __ )/ __ \/ | / _/ | / / |/ / | / _/ / / __ / /_/ / /| | / // |/ / /|_/ / /| | / // / / /_/ / _, _/ ___ |_/ // /| / / / / ___ |_/ // /___ /_____/_/ |_/_/ |_/___/_/ |_/_/ /_/_/ |_/___/_____/ *Keeping brains healthy since 2004 ------------------------------------------------------------ Brainmail email issue 24 - February 2007 ------------------------------------------------------------ Brainmail is a free monthly newsletter about new ideas, innovations and trends. To subscribe or unsubscribe visit the website at http://brainmail.nowandnext.com Tell the world about brainmail - forward this to a friend. ------------------------------------------------------------ > The next big idea - lots of little ideas According to an article in Strategy + Business magazine, Toyota's employee suggestion scheme generates around 2,000,000 ideas every year of which - wait for it - around 85% are implemented. Meanwhile, a study by Booz Allen Hamilton has found that there is no important correlation whatsoever between the amount spent on R&D and company success - however you measure it. Ref: Strategy + Business (US) > Old School Sales of 7-inch music singles rose to over a million copies in 2006 - the first time this has happened in the UK since 1998. So what's going on? The answer is probably nostalgia mixed with a bit of tactile pleasure. Some deluded experts are even predicting that the CD will eventually disappear altogether with the market polarising solely between vinyl and MP3 downloads. Ref: Cnet.co.uk (UK) > Word detective: Biopiracy Biopiracy is the stealing of biological materials from poor countries and developing nations. This includes corporations pillaging indigenous plants and natural substances and turning them into products that are patented without sharing any of the resultant profit with the country where the plants or substances were found. Examples include a diabetes drug created by a UK firm using a plant widely found in Libya and an immuno-suppressant drug that is being created by another British pharmaceuticals company from a compound found in termite hills in Gambia. Ref: The Guardian (UK) > Connectivity maps A project by the Broad Institute at MIT and Harvard aims to create an Internet for drugs. The ultimate aim of the free service is to connect all known diseases with all known treatments. The resultant 'connectivity map' compares the genomic signatures of 164 drugs and shows connections between each drug and the signatures seen in diseases. These signatures can then be used, much in the same way that Google uses keywords, to see how one compound might affect a certain disease. The map is still not complete and the database is currently far from finished but it should ultimately represent a step change in how researchers and physicians link treatments to diseases. Ref: Red Herring (US) > The polarisation of cities The gap between rich and poor households is widening in America with neighbourhoods polarising between the haves and the have-nots. This, increasingly, means that middle class areas are disappearing with significant consequences for the provision of public services. Back in 1970, 58% of metropolitan areas could be described as middle class but this declined to 41% in 2000 according to the Brookings Institution. Ref: Atlantic Monthly (US) > Pay-per-post Some people (not all) argue that the Internet is very slowly turning from a co-operative to a shopping mall and money is having a corrosive effect on what were once altruistic and communal objectives. Latest case in point is PayPerPost.com, which pays bloggers to say lovely things about brands. Bloggers can make US$2-$10 per post. Personally I think people will see through all this and transparency and reliability ratings will ultimately shut this kind of activity down - or at least make it obvious what's going on. Ref: SiliconValley.com (US) > New phone numbers Mobile gaming is predicted to be worth US$1.2 billion by 2010, up from $294 million in 2005. Currently women are estimated to drive 60% of sales across every genre of mobile gaming according to Telephia Inc. Meanwhile, over in Africa, the cell phone subscriber base rose by 66% last year. At present only 14% of Africans own cell phones compared to 80% in Europe. Some commentators expect Africa to jump a stage in computer evolution by moving directly to cell phones that are essentially mobile computers without stopping to use desktops and laptops along the way. Ref: Various including Boston.com and Yankee Group (US) > See the world - over a cup of coffee Why bother getting on to a plane to see the world when you can simply log on and go there virtually? If even this is too much bother why not pop into a branch of the Travel Coffee Co in Japan. Each branch is individually designed and features foreign dishes and videos of foreign resorts. For example, Travel Cafe Philippines is a collaboration with the Philippine Department of Tourism and features images of a beach on Cebu Island, travel brochures and a variety of Philippine dishes. Ref: Nikkei Weekly (Japan) > Word detective: Mapvertising Mapvertising is map-based advertising. Traffic to online mapping sites grew by approximately 20% last year so advertisers are falling over themselves to place interactive brand messages alongside street names and signposts. The maps are usually mashups of one kind or another and can feature anything from the current (almost) location of celebrities to the locations of a decent cup of coffee. So here's a thought, with use of Google Earth going through the roof, how long before some astute homeowner sells his or her roof as advertising space? Ref: The Times (UK) > Newspaper design - why bother? What happens after newspapers get a redesign? The answer, according to NewDesigner (a US blog about newspaper design), is absolutely nothing. More specifically circulations continue to fall and in some cases go through the floor. This is somewhat contrary to the experience of several UK newspapers that altered their size from a broadsheet to a tabloid format but perhaps that's the point. A change in size is significant, a change in look isn't. Ref: Washington Post (US). > Robochef A cafe in Hong Kong is using small robots to take orders from customers. The idea is undoubtedly a gimmick, aimed mainly at children, but it could be the shape of things to come with robot sales assistants also sighted in car showrooms in Japan. Ref: The Times (UK) > Thought speed Research by a Princeton University (US) psychologist says that people who think faster are happier than those that don't. This sounds like the perfect anecdote (antidote?) for our ever accelerating societies, but it seems to run contrary to conventional thinking. Apparently, the mood of fast readers is generally better than that of slow readers and the mania that is often associated with bursts of creativity gives people a heightened sense of energy and achievement - at least in the short-term. The theory also potentially links to the idea expressed in Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink. If this is all true it could be a nail in the coffin for slow cities and the downshifting movement. Ref: The Times (UK) > Vending innovation Coca-Cola has teamed up with a company called the Inspired Gaming Group (IGG) to create a vending machine that not only sells Coca-Cola but also pre-pay phone vouchers and ring tones. The machines will also allow customers to burn CDs and play computer games. Perhaps, in the future, we will wait for the release of new vending machines much in the same way that we currently wait for new music singles and mobile phones. Ref: Sunday Times (UK). > Interactive textiles Engineers at Philips Electronics are looking at ways to embed technology into fabrics and textiles. Early ideas include T-shirts that play video clips and sofas that talk. The technique includes adding light-emitting diodes, batteries and sensors into materials without significantly adding to bulk or weight. Ref: Red Herring (US) > Chinese whispers Public protests in China rose by 50% over the last 24-months primarily due to rural peasants complaining about official corruption, environmental damage and the lack of jobs and services in rural areas. Government attempts to seize land and force people from their homes to make way for crucial infrastructure projects have also added to the level of unrest. Ref: Atlantic Monthly (US) ------------------------------------------------------------ : STATSHOTS There was a 25% increase in the number of teachers buying liability insurance in the US between 2000 and 2005. Ref: Atlantic Monthly (US) 25% of Silicon Valley start-ups are created by either Indian or Chinese entrepreneurs. Ref: Design Council (UK) 61% of CEOs believe that over-regulation is a threat to growth. Ref: McKinsey Quarterly (US) According to a Pew Internet study, almost 60% of teens have received an email from a complete stranger - and around half have written back. Ref: PEW (US) In a recent US study, only 3 out of 220 students were able to turn off their cell phones for 72 hours. Ref: Fox News (US) 50% of visitors to Disney World are adults without children. Ref: Rejuvenile: kickback, cartoons, cupcakes, and the reinvention of the American grown-up by Christopher Noxon (US) The number of millionaires in the UK is forecast to grow by 400% by 2020. Ref: The Guardian (UK) 82% of Australians believe they work for a boss who's incompetent, arrogant or sexist. Ref: Sydney Morning Herald (Aus) The ratio of negative stereotypes of adult teachers on US kids TV shows is 3:1. The ratio of negative stereotypes (portrayals) of adults in general is 10:1. Ref: Harper's (US) The number of people worldwide that suffer from diabetes has increased from 30 million to 230 million since 1985. Ref: Sydney Morning Herald (Aus) ------------------------------------------------------------ : QUOTE OF THE MONTH "As the births of living creatures, at first, are ill-shapen: so are all innovations, which are the births of time" Francis Bacon. ------------------------------------------------------------ : LIKE THIS? THEN TRY THIS... If you like brainmail then perhaps you'll like What's Next. Take a look at the What's Next Report at www.nowandnext.com A read only subscription is totally free of charge. ------------------------------------------------------------ : LOVE IT? THEN SHARE IT Do you know someone whose brain is not being fully exercised? Someone that is snacking on media that isn't terribly satisfying. 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