Tom talks about his “line intolerance” at starbucks. I have thought about this problem at least ten times. There are long lines especially during peak hours (morning, post lunch and early evening) and interestingly while Starbucks has been innovative a number of times, they don’t seem to do anything about this. May be Starbucks thinks… Continue reading →

What are Google and Microsoft upto next? Here are two links where they provide sneak previews of their upcoming innovation initiatives 1. Google Labs 2. MSN Sandbox Have fun! Please sign up for my newsletter here:

What a coincidence – I wrote about this yesterday and I go over to Tom’s blog and he is providing a ringing endorsement to the same article over here. Once again, don’t miss reading it! This may be the way organizations will get their competitive advantage. Please sign up for my newsletter here:

This week’s feature article in Business Week is titled “The Power of Us” and talks about how companies are collaborating with users to create more powerful offers. When users become your partners, the world is your R&D unit. Of the example companies that are covered in the article is Skype. Skype lets users make use… Continue reading →

People are innovating like crazy and it’s getting exciting everyday. I saw this great piece about a SF based startup Current taking citizen journalism to TV (link: San Francisco Chronicle) this august. Citizen journalism is the new wave where the general public participate in creating news and also participate in selecting the news (by voting)… Continue reading →

What a pleasant surprise from Microsoft. Our company CIGNEX is heavily focused on Open Source so it’s hard to complement Microsoft (philosophically) but today’s announcement (link takes you to blog entry of Brian Jones, program manager for Word at Microsoft) about opening up Office in the next version is definitely a bold and commendable move…. Continue reading →

Microsoft wants developers to contribute their enhancements to OneNote (a note taking software from Microsoft) and win prizes. Microsoft says: It’s your opportunity to influence the future of OneNote. It’s your chance to wow a global audience. And it’s your shot at winning one of five Toshiba Portégé M200 Tablet PCs. Open Innovation is a… Continue reading →

Last month I wrote a short article titled The world is your R&D unit. Many of you wrote back about examples other than the ones I mentioned. Thank you. Brad talks about Nike shoe design contest. Take a look how Nike is engaging with designers outside of Nike to come up with eye-catching designs. Way… Continue reading →

I am huge fan of Seth and I must say that his book Purple Cow was a major inspiration for my upcoming Book “Beyond Code” Seth, I have to say this. With your 800-CEO-READ offer, you have just proven your core message from the book “All Marketers are Liars.” Here’s why: Here is the promotion… Continue reading →

Even if you have a great product you can’t rest on your laurels. Apple‘s iPod is great but there is now competition from PalmOne. The new Lifedrive from PalmOne looks cool. They are creating a new category called “Digital Lifestyle Device” and want to launch a flank attack at iPod. Interestingly, observe that they are… Continue reading →