February 18, 2005

Jason Fried, on Dyson Vaccuum: "I’m a sucker for a good inventor story. A story about someone seeing a problem, coming up with a killer solution, trying to convince others of its killerness, being rejected time after time and then saying fuck it I’ll build it myself. And then kicking ass." The story is also cited as a model case study on innovation in an Australian university.
Links: Jason's entry on Dyson and how to write cases on innovation.

Seth Godin gets it about state pull down menus on US shopping sites being horrible to use. Exactly an year ago, I pointed out the same on this blog. I don't agree with his reason though... it's not because they're afraid of change, it's because they don't think change is needed. It's such a common, 'standard' element, nobody stops to think about it.
Links: Seth's post, my old post on the topic and my recent, related post.

According to a new Pew study: MP3 players become mainstream media with 11% of US population owning one. Two thoughts: One, this is dramatically transforming the music player industry. As Steve Jobs says in this month's Fortune magazine interview, "Kids aren't getting stereos; they're getting speakers for their iPods. That's become the audio market. People are buying iPods and Bose speakers instead of a JVC or Sony stereo system. And those guys have never come to us and said, "Could we work with you on the iPod?" Some companies are prisoners of their point of view." Second, 11% means only about one in 10, imagine how much growth still remains ahead of the iPod. There's a TV in every one of those homes.
Links: Pew study and Steve Jobs in Fortune interview.

The new Apple-Motorola iTunes phone that's been doing rounds of the rumour circles is now confirmed, it's called the ROKR. The buzz about its design hits the right notes as well -- it's going to be superslim and sport a QWERTY keypad. Perfect. Slim as a form factor is a vastly unexplored area in cellphones, if you ask me (I've always hated Nokia phones for their bulbous shape). Just as a QWERTY keypad was less appreciated about a year or so ago before Treo came and ran with it. Now, only if they find a way to expand the phone lengthwise to make room for that keypad instead of widening it, they'd have a killer phone.
Links: Rumors about the phone, announcement and the bit about its design.

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