Utterly hypnotic Java-toy. SodaPlay is an incredibly fun Java-toy -- sketch out skeletal, jointed constructions, tweak the physics of gravity and friction, and set it in motion. It jiggles and clatters and bounces in a way that I find utterly hypnotic. Link Discuss (Thanks, John!) [Boing Boing Blog]

I had forgotten about this toy. Thanks for pointing it out again!

10:24:06 PM •  • comment  

A typically thought provoking article from Gary Hamel in Fast Company (found courtesy of Leadership Counts!). A key excerpt:

...in a discontinuous world, we need to turn down the dial a bit on perpetuation and turn up the dial a bit on innovation.

In too many companies, real business innovation is an exception. Innovation lives in a ghetto, safely corralled in R&D or new-product development, where it can't infect the rest of the organization. And yet we know that to lock up innovation in a corner of the company is to limit that group's potential to create the future. The most important business issue of our time is finding a way to build companies where innovation is both radical and systemic.

The first step toward making innovation systemic is to realize that many organizations are systemically hostile to innovation. It's not that they're filled with reactionary, backward-looking people ( okay, there may be a few exceptions ). The real reason that they're hostile is that they're captive to a set of beliefs that make organizations unwittingly antagonistic toward innovation.

As one of the principal strategic thinkers over the last 15-20 years, there's a great deal of valuable material by Hamel to be found. His most recent book is Leading the Revolution, published in 2000. I did a review of it in Context Magazine if you want to know what I thought at the time.

3:50:06 PM •  • comment  

Gnawing.

You know how sometimes you have a bunch of gnawing ideas, but nothing seems to come of any of them? I hate that.

Back when I've got something to say; in the meantime, it's structured procrastination for me.

[phil ringnalda dot com]

I'm pretty sure I've come across the structured procrastination link before, but it's worth posting again, especially in lieu of doing something more important!

3:00:21 PM •  • comment  

The Art of Blogging - Part 1

I've posted a new article: Blogging - Part I: Overview, Definitions, Uses, and Implications (I'll post Part II later this week). The article is an attempt to provide an overview of what blogging is...and how it responds to the characteristics of the Internet...and altering how information is/will be handled. [elearnspace]

New Article: Art of Blogging - Part 2

I've posted a new article: Art of Blogging - Part 2. In this article I address getting started, "how to blog", tools, RSS and aggregators [elearnspace]

An excellent introduction to the current world of blogging.

We seem to be in a new wave of reflection on the blogging phenomenon, witness Dave Winer's proposal for a weblogging conference (Weblogs In Meatspace ) and the ensuing discussion by Scoble, Paolo, AKMA, Aaron, and Sam Ruby, among others. Something I'd like to be able to put on my calendar as well (although, like Shelley Powers, I would prefer to see it held in the center of the country as opposed to one of the edges).

One suggestion on volunteers and cost management. Tap into the experience base of the science fiction world and their experience with Cons. They seem to be able to pull off very complex events on very small budgets.

2:23:03 PM •  • comment