Virginia Postrel has written an article at Wired about the next killer app: aesthetics. She argues that companies can not rely on price and performance alone to set them apart. Instead new products and services must appeal to the senses and emotions of customers filling and satisfying legitimate needs.
We must abandon our prejudices regarding the sources of economic value. The production of wealth comes not simply from labor or raw materials or even intellectual brilliance. It comes from new ways to give people what they want. By matching creativity and desire, the economy will renew itself.
Link:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.07/view.html?pg=1
Weblogs are going Googling.
Google, which runs the Web's premier search site, has purchased Pyra Labs, a San Francisco company that created some of the earliest technology for writing weblogs, the increasingly popular personal and opinion journals.
Some startups are still making it.
Link:
http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/archives/000802.shtml#000802
General Motors is looking at introducing two world firsts with their latest prototype -- an environmentally-friendly hydrogen fuelled car that allows drivers to change the chassis design according to their mood.
The Hy-wire, named for its combination of hydrogen and drive-by-wire technology, is an alternative to gasoline or diesel fuel.
Skateboard chassis holds all power and mechanics.
And because just one wire connects the chassis, which contains all the electrical controls, to the car body, substitute body designs can be swapped whenever the driver feels like a change.
Interior shot, no-pedals or steering wheel.
Hy-wire is not scheduled for release until 2010, but it will be introduced to the public at the Paris Motor Show on September 26.
Article Link:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/09/19/hywire.cars.glb/
Inventor wins patent for wearable keyboard.
Link:
http://www.iht.com/articles/67604.html
I've been looking for a resource like this. I've only taken a cursory look, but seems like a good resource for all things related to trademarks. Check it.
Link:
http://trademark.blog.us/blog/
Great article from June 22 economist on ad hoc networks and other 4G technologies.
Link:
http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1176136
http://www.fortune.com/sitelets/navigation/listlinks.html
