Mad Men & the Virtual Water Cooler

It has been a while since a television program has triggered the equivalent of “water cooler” conversation. Today, the discussions are happening online. The rallying point is the beginning of the fourth season of AMC’s Mad Men.
For those of you not hip to Mad Men, you can learn about it here:.
The first show [...]

The Wandering Mind: It’s a Good Thing…

An interesting story appeared in the Science section of the New York Times a short while back. John Tierney wrote about the virtues of a wandering (daydreaming) mind. Just to clarify, when you’re trying to accomplish one thing and lapse into “task-unrelated thoughts,” that’s mind wandering.
His story included comments from leading researchers, such [...]

Buck’s Cafe Buzzes with Dealmaking Breakfasts…

The San Jose Mercury News (MercuryNews.com) just did a story about how Buck’s cafe in Woodside, California is again buzzing with the sound of deals being made.
“There is more activity on the venture capital front. There is renewed enthusiasm,” said Jamis MacNiven, who co-owns the restaurant with his wife, Margaret. “A year ago, it was [...]

IKEA Plans on Killing the Light (bulb)…

Last week, Swedish retailer IKEA announced they plan to to phase out all incandescent light bulbs in their U.S. stores starting August 1, 2010, as part of an environmental initiative that has a target date of incandescent bulb elimination by January 1, 2011.  No worries though.  IKEA also mentioned the following:
IKEA customers will have [...]

Watts Up? Edison’s Classic Bulb Trendy in NY

A story in The New York Times pointed out how the classic, Thomas Edison light bulb (filament style) is making a come back: “The filament light is now so ubiquitous that it has prompted a backlash among those who deem it overexposed - a badge of retro cool that is fast becoming the restaurant-design equivalent [...]

Changing the Way Brainstorm Sessions are Run…

Some really smart people at Wharton just published research that supports something I’ve known intuitively for years — that is, that group dynamics squish innovation.
In a paper titled, “Idea Generation and the Quality of the Best Idea,” Wharton operations and information management professors Christian Terwiesch and Karl Ulrich, along with co-author Karan Girotra, a professor [...]

GMA’s Secrets of America’s Favorite Stores

Good Morning America, a “breakfast show” appearing on the ABC network, has an interesting feature which lives a dual life — on television and online.  The segment is titled “Secrets of America’s Favorite Stores.”  In five minutes, you are given a peek at  what makes the retailers they’ve selected successful.  Two recent stories talked about [...]

Quick Drying Hand Towel to Lower Waste…

I made an interesting discovery the other day thanks to a post I saw at Springwise. The company is called PeopleTowels (www.peopletowels.com) and what they make is a pocket-sized, quick drying hand towel. Their goal is to lower the waste associated with paper towel use.
The Towels: These reusable personal hand towels are [...]

Trading Mouse Ears for Cards that Attax…

“I’m like a crazed man about this,” says Mr. Eisner. “It’s not my job to analyze it, but to make it grow.”
It figures that it took someone like Michael Eisner, the former chief of the Walt Disney Company, to come up with a way to move baseball cards from the realm of collectors back into [...]

Mad Men Barbie Dolls?

According to a story by Stuart Elliott of The New York Times, Mattel has plans to add “Mad Men” inspired Barbie and Ken dolls to their line.  He said it was “a promotion for the television series as well as for Barbie.”
Now before you go off wondering if little girls will be replacing tea parties [...]

Schools to Teach Critical Thinking with Movies

The program should help kids manage and decode the barrage of visual information they absorb in daily life, to “shape their minds to a critical way of looking at these images and what they mean, and how to interpret them…

Viewing “The Hurt Locker” in Another Dimension…

Much has been said about the mega-blockbuster, Avatar being available in 3-D (as in third dimension) — a viewing format that requires special glasses.  3-D is picking up steam in Hollywood because it is supposed to be more engaging.
The thing is, I discovered that there is another way to engage the viewer without the [...]

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