The Eponymous Pickle

Practicing for the Super Bowl Ads

2012-02-03T13:56:00.003-05:00

Sands Research sends along an item and commentary pointing to an article in the WSJ on how Super Bowl ad companies use neuromarketing methods to test modifications of ads to see which work best. A good example of how neuro techniques are becoming used more commonly by big advertisers. Usually in addition to other methods. More and more of these methods are being used mobile, in context, a further powerful idea.

Enterprise Performance Management from SAP

2012-02-03T13:26:00.001-05:00

Good post by Laura Mikovsky on Enterprise Performance management from SAP. A classic need for the enterprise. A typical dashboard BI application. How are various parts of my enterprise performing, and how do I normalize these results with other measures like the economy? You could take this further to measure other causal interactions, both inside the organization and outside. The post goes on to mention how some of their new in memory techniques and data availability can make these measures real time. Useful in some industries.

My suggestion: Take this a step forward and construct a company performance leader board, then use game dynamics to create in enterprise competition between, say, sales districts. Provide automatic causal suggestions as to why the leader is ahead. With cautions about the likelihood of people trying to game the measures. We experimented with something like this well before this kind of sophisticated technology was possible, and data was far less available, as far back as the early 1980s.

Food Lion Shares Demand Data

2012-02-03T11:59:00.001-05:00

In a move to consumer driven demand, Food Lion shares data: " ... Food Lion is working on changing the way CPG vendors such as PepsiCo replenish its distribution centers and stores by offering them visibility into current and expected consumer demand as reflected by store-level inventory and sales. This represents a marked departure from the traditional replenishment scenario whereby Food Lion, like most retailers, only provides vendors with information on transfer of products from DCs to stores (known as warehouse withdrawals), but not on what happens at the store level. Instead, the chain is shifting to what it calls consumer-demand-driven replenishment.... "

Conflict Management

2012-02-02T21:26:00.001-05:00

An excellent piece by Ed Burghard on effective conflict management. Most people do not deal well with conflict, and this chkeclist of possible solutions can be very valuable.

More on Story Telling

2012-02-02T08:21:00.000-05:00

Steve King writes in the Small Business Blog about the rise of storytelling and a number of projects underway in that space.

Wireless Brain Wave Sensors

2012-02-02T07:35:00.000-05:00

In SCiam: General, non technical article on wireless encephalogram monitors. A number of current gaming examples are mentioned.

Visual Beauty, Usefulness and Objectivity

2012-02-02T06:23:00.003-05:00

How do you bring together objective truth, analytical precision and visually pleasing visualizations? Can all the infographic spin be removed, or does the mere choice of data shown have its ow spin? Tableau software discusses in their blog. Good examples shown. Overall the Tableau blog is worth following.

" .... one cannot reach their potential with a publicly facing viz unless it is both analytically useful and visually stunning. No emphasis on either one. A viz needs to be beautiful to draw people in and engage them, but it also needs to be analytically valuable in order to serve a higher purpose than just beauty ... "

Crowd Sourced Ale

2012-02-01T21:17:00.001-05:00

A simple example of crowd sourcing, not sure if it a very good one, but the application in food and drink is unusual.

Digital Signage Continued

2012-02-01T10:33:00.001-05:00

I will have to mention Keith Kelsen's book: Unleashing the Power of Digital Signage once again. An excellent book that I am making my way through now. I particularly like the fact that it includes quantitative analysis of the value of signage uses, and a useful classification of context issues. Much more here.

If you are considering a digital design display in stationary, mobile, interactive or other environments, this book is a great place to start. This was one of our key experimentation topics in the innovation center, and it is of great value to have key topics laid out.

Federal Move to Mobile

2012-02-01T09:53:00.000-05:00

The government is usually late to such moves. They pioneer some aspects, then wait for a long time. But when they finally decide to move it legitimizes it for lots of other parts of the economy. The CIO on the Federal Mobile Strategy.

P&G AdSpend, Facebook Linked to Layoffs

2012-01-31T14:43:00.000-05:00

This article suggests that a not unexpected round of belt tightening at P&G is being caused by lower cost online advertising in venues like Facebook and Google. It does not look like a causal thing. Just the usual periodic reexamination of available resources and tasks to make business more efficient.

Site Visits and Store Visits

2012-01-31T11:35:00.000-05:00

A study linking brand site web site visits and in-store spending. " ... According to a recent study, conducted by Accenture, comScore and dunnhumby USA, people who visit the websites of consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands end up purchasing 37 percent moreworth of goods from the brand in question in brick-and-mortar retail establishments than people who don’t visit such sites.... "

Chaos of Unstructured Data

2012-01-31T11:09:00.000-05:00

From O'Reilly Radar: Thoughts from a practicing CTO on the chaos of unstructured data.

" ... The heart of data science is designing instruments to turn signals from the real world into actionable information. Fighting the data providers to give you those signals in a convenient form is a losing battle, so the key to success is getting comfortable with messy requirements and chaotic inputs. As an engineer, this can feel like a deal with the devil, as you have to accept error and uncertainty in your results. But the alternative is no results at all.... "

Private Label Cost Pressure

2012-01-31T10:59:00.001-05:00

A good broadly ranging WSJ article. Private label prices are increasing, but they are being increasingly pushed by retailers. (Subscription) " ... Every year, U.S. shoppers buy more generic goods, many of them trading down from more expensive, name-brand labels to save money. But consumers are developing loyalty to store brands for reasons besides price, and that could be a problem for food and consumer-products companies as the economy rebounds. In some cases, consumers even pay more for store brands, many of which have been positioned as gourmet or specialty items. ... "

Half of US Shoppers Use Phones for In-Store Research

2012-01-30T21:51:00.001-05:00

This look at a PEW report has gotten quite a bit of exposure. It was an angle we looked at very closely, even well before the Smartphone explosion. Early on we tracked the use of ordinary cellphones to see if people called their friends to see what products their friends thought were best, or what the best price might be for a product. And based on those results, if it made sense to provide text based services like shopping lists and connections to contextual promotions. It is remarkable that 50% of US shoppers are now engaged with the shopping process using phones.

Text Mining the Voice of the People

2012-01-30T16:16:00.001-05:00

In CACM: Statistical techniques help public leaders turn text in unstructured citizen feedback into responsive e-democracy.... " Good thoughts, though I worry how easily this could be manipulated. Simpler people oriented methods are more likely to be secure.

Museum of Mathematics

2012-01-30T16:11:00.000-05:00

In New Scientist: Mathematicians have launched an ambitious campaign to raise the profile of their discipline, by opening a museum of maths in the UK. Geoff Wain, who is leading the initiative, points out that every other subject has a variety of cultural and educational hubs for people to visit, so why not maths? “Where would you go to find out about mathematics?” he says. “There’s absolutely nowhere in this country, it’s very sad.” ... '

Good idea, but I would rather have it liked to or within something like Wikipedia, where it is more likely to be found.

Big Data Startups

2012-01-30T10:56:00.001-05:00

A look of a number of startups that intend to improve the use of big data. I have not looked at any of these to date, but some of the plays are interesting and well worth examining,

Gamification Portal

2012-01-30T10:18:00.001-05:00

The Community portal for the gamification Wiki has been updated. A useful place for information about the topic, vendors and examples. Also a good example of a community updated Wiki.

A Community of Startups

2012-01-29T22:35:00.000-05:00

Just pointed to: AngelList: AngelList is a community of startups—started by the dudes who do Venture Hacks. Meet the team. Browse startups and investors. More to follow.

Corporate Blogging Decreases

2012-01-29T21:33:00.000-05:00

In ReadwriteEntrprise an article discusses a study on the decrease of corporate blogging. Have been blogging since 2001. First inside the enterprise with a group of interested participants, then outwardly facing, and finally independently. I still think it is a powerful concept, appropriately supported by social networking of other kinds.

More About the Future of Retail

2012-01-29T13:32:00.001-05:00

A good piece by Greg Satell in Innovation Excellence on the Future of Retail. Always an important topic here. Can we completely reinvent the retail process in engaging ways?

" ... What’s the next big thing in digital? Mobile? Social? Online video? Those are things moving fast but the trend with the most potential for significant economic impact is, in fact, retail.
The sleepy, boring business of selling things to consumers is pepping up and becoming a hotbed of innovation. Technology and consumer trends are combining to create a shopping experience entirely different from anything we’ve seen before.... "

Tibco Social Platform

2012-01-29T10:29:00.009-05:00

I admit to having been unaware of the Tibco social platform, Tibbr . I was involved with the enterprise rollout of their Spotfire data visualization package, which is impressive. Now their Tibbr social network adds geolocation. I have been examining several cases where companies are using social network dynamics for collaboration and integration, so will take a closer look at Tibbr. Contact me with thoughts.

Artisan Videos

2012-01-28T22:22:00.000-05:00

Link to some fascinating artisan videos. Just videos of people who are very skilled in what they do, doing it very well. As the post says, hard not to watch. It is something that has always fascinated me, probably because what I do well has always been very abstract, rather than physical. Have a deep respect for this kind of skill.

Evolution of QR Codes

2012-01-28T22:02:00.000-05:00

Report on the use of QR codes and the rapid changes in their effective use. They evolve along with the increased us of smartphones. I was at a local Panera today talking startup strategy, and was amazed again at the number of people gathered to talk tech, demonstrate and look for the next big thing. All connected in new ways. I saw someone repeatedly scanning QR codes in a magazine.

Whats Wrong with the Internet?

2012-01-28T10:41:00.000-05:00

In the CACM. Bufferbloat: Whats wrong with the Internet. A Group discussion with Vint Cerf, Van Jacobsen, Nick Weaver and Jim Gettys. Good thoughts.Where do we go from here and how will it effect the entrepreneur? The enterprise depending on the net?

SFI and Big Data at Davos

2012-01-27T20:29:00.001-05:00

Interesting piece about SFI and the leverage of big data. I am skeptical, it is about leveraging the data, regardless of size or complexity.

Cisco Simplifying Interfaces

2012-01-27T19:57:00.000-05:00

A really good idea. We worked with Cisco from the early days of their looking at advanced collaboration. it is good to see them thinking a simplified and unified design. You often need these capabilities quickly and easily available. Increasingly we need the multiple person collaboration, screen and context sharing in place as well. Bring it on. Contact me for more thoughts about the essential elements.

3D Printing and Virtual Reality

2012-01-27T12:14:00.000-05:00

In MIT Technology Review: When I first read the title of this article I thought: Well yes, they are very different. One provides interaction in a digital space, the other delivers physical things. The article does a good job in taking the comparison further than that and is worth the read. Virtual reality also has the opportunity to integrate abstraction into 3D as well. A favorite topic of mine, that aspect has not yet been leveraged enough. How can we bring data into physical-virtual spaces?

Lead With a Story: Storytelling in the Enterprise

2012-01-27T11:18:00.003-05:00

A former colleague Paul Smith, is coming out with a book on storytelling in the enterprise. " ... Paul Smith is director of Consumer & Communications Research at The Procter & Gamble Company and a highly rated leadership and communications trainer for P&G’s management training colleges.... ". I am currently working on several projects that have storytelling components. It has a powerful engaging capability. You can preorder the book on Amazon.

" ... Storytelling has come of age in the business world. Today, many of the most successful companies use storytelling as a leadership tool. At Nike, all senior executives are designated “corporate storytellers.” 3M banned bullet points years ago and replaced them with a process of writing “strategic narratives.” Procter & Gamble hired Hollywood directors to teach its executives storytelling techniques. Some forward-thinking business schools have even added storytelling courses to their management curriculum ... "

Visualization Resources

2012-01-26T22:40:00.000-05:00

Good post on visualization resources: " ... This is the fourth part of a multi-part series designed to share with readers an inspiring collection of the most important, effective, useful and practical data visualisation resources. The series will cover visualisation tools, resources for sourcing and handling data, online learning tutorials, visualisation blogs, visualisation books and academic papers. Your feedback is most welcome to help capture any additions or revisions so that this collection can live up to its claim as the essential list of resources.... " . Good in my review so far.

Innovation for the Library

2012-01-26T22:27:00.000-05:00

In the HBR: If is clearly a challenge for the library to innovate in a way it will be able to survive. " ... The dominance of radio, TV, and Hollywood threatened libraries with irrelevance, and now the rise of the internet, smart phones, and ebooks, threaten them with eclipse .... So libraries are struggling. What can they do in the face of skeptics who say, "Print! Why, in God's name, do we need print? Let the library go the way of the bookstore. Disintermediation is inevitable. Perhaps the answer lies in the library's physicality. Can the library do something a Kindle cannot?"

P&G and Safe Drinking Water

2012-01-26T19:35:00.000-05:00

P&G Facebook page promotes Children;s Safe Drinking Water program " ... In an effort to support its Children’s Safe Drinking Water program, Procter & Gamble is enlisting Facebook users to participate in the program's global efforts.... "

Technologies Changing the Way we Shop

2012-01-26T15:07:00.003-05:00

In AdAge: On three technologies changing the way that we shop. " ..... 3D Modeling, Wifi Sensors and Augmented reality ... "

Mind mapping for Students

2012-01-25T20:19:00.000-05:00

Concise Learning explores forms of mind mapping for students. A look at a number of techniques.

Fusing, Visualizing Data About How We Live

2012-01-25T14:30:00.002-05:00

Always interesting and ground breaking Ken Karakotsios gives us a peek into his project about fusing data and visualization. He says that this will be coming to an iPad near you in 2012. I believe it. We used him as a valued consultant in the agent simulation space. " ... Through interactive visualizations you will be able to examine any place, from the smallest township to the entire nation, including where YOU live.... "

On Predictive Analytics

2012-01-25T14:15:00.000-05:00

Good piece in SAS Voices About conversations with Olivia Parr-Rud on predictive analytics and innovative leadership. Some of her publications also look very interesting. Links in the article.

Agile Business Intelligence

2012-01-25T13:48:00.001-05:00

I see that the Tableau Software blog has a piece on agile business development, and a recent Aberdeen Group study, asking the question: How Agile is your BI Solution?

" ... Aberdeen has illuminated the need for agile BI as a means to equip business users to get the information they need, when they need it. When subject matter experts have tools to help them answer their own questions, everyone wins. Better, faster decisions are made for the organization because the people who know the data best are empowered to ask – and answer – their questions as they go... "

Maps in Data Visualization

2012-01-25T00:48:00.002-05:00

Examples of the use of geographical maps in visualizations. Examination of the types is useful. " ... Maps are probably the biggest subsection of visualization types. There are many variations on map types, each with its own strengths. These variations can be combined with each other, and many can be tweaked even further to produce new types of maps. Here’s an overview of some of the common types and what they are good for.... "

Customer Loyalty Data as Asset

2012-01-24T12:37:00.001-05:00

I was recently introduced to Aimia: " ... a global leader in loyalty management offering a full suite of services including coalition loyalty proprietary loyalty and loyalty analytics ... " . I think there are some excellent associative analytical techniques that can be effectively applied to this space that have not been exercised yet.

Mainstream Gamification

2012-01-24T10:19:00.001-05:00

Computerworld piece on gamification. Some useful statistics and definition of terms. We used many of these game dynamics ideas. These are pretty simple user interface and engagement ideas. The kind of 'games' usually pointed to as successful are usually much more complex, visual and interactive. And are thus much more expensive to create. That remains a dilemma of gamification in general. To play you have to be willing to invest your time, so the entertainment-style reward has to to be there as well. It is surprising what people are willing to do with very little entertainment value. But sometimes there is not enough to make it engaging. As the article suggests, measuring the impact is key. Analytics again.

MapQuest Vibe

2012-01-24T09:53:00.000-05:00

MapQuest Vibe shows you where the hot neighborhoods are. I like the idea of clicking directly to local information via a map.

Vint Cerf on Innovation

2012-01-24T08:49:00.001-05:00

We had him speak to us several times and it was always useful. In Innovation Excellence. An early innovator that brought the Internet to the table. As the article suggests it is like talking to Gutenberg about printing. Insightful views.

Atlantic on Big Data

2012-01-23T21:00:00.003-05:00

A good, general article on the increasing use of big data in science. In The Atlantic. We can apply some of those same methods of transformation in science to business problems. Good examples are visualization, pattern recognition, descriptive statistics.... The internal form of the data has to considered. Structured or unstructured. Quantitative, geographical, temporal or semantic meaning ...

Branded Apps

2012-01-23T20:00:00.001-05:00

Consumers Don’t Like Shopping Via Branded Apps. Understandable, at very least, today's consumers want at least an illusion of choice. A really overloaded infographic, expressible in a far simpler way.

Crowd Sourcing Wal-Mart Product Selection

2012-01-23T10:19:00.003-05:00

In TechCrunch: How do you get your new product on Wal-Mart's shelf? WalMart labs sponsors a contest to make it happen. Get more people involved in the search for consumer rich products. See their Getontheshelf site, which is quite engagingly designed. I also see that WalMart labs has updated and added new information to its site.

Bone Marrow Markets

2012-01-22T23:32:00.001-05:00

MJ Perry reminds us of this issue. I researched the general area of organ and tissue selling during my Health systems research days. Glad to see this brought up again. It makes no sense, under appropriate physician board review, to restrict this process.

Using Phone Behavior to Determine Credit Worthiness

2012-01-22T16:31:00.000-05:00

In Slashdot. The use of a number of phone behavior measures to dive heuristics that influence credit score.

CardMunch Tested

2012-01-22T13:24:00.006-05:00

I just tried out the business card scanner from LinkedIn called CardMunch. Loaded the App on my iPhone and scanned a few cards. I have tried other such scanners and they often require editing the contact data afterwards. CardMunch was perfect the first time, apparently because there are people analyzing it on the other end. Complaints in the reviews say it can take too long to do this, but mine came back in a minute or two via notification. Automatically links to LinkedIn if you want to. Loads the contact on your phone. Simple interface, good experience so far.

Update: You cannot get a card into this system easily unless you have access to a physical card. Also you are relying on Linkedin to keep this data safe, so I am not quite ready to throw out the physical cards. Also the syncing between the entries on multiple devices seems haphazard. Still waiting for some to happen ...

Update 2: Hours later now I still have 5 business cards 'in process'. Slow indeed. But you could say that this is sufficiently fast for recording a card, I probably do not need the data immediately. I can get nearly instant image character recognition with other Apps, but I usually have to edit that. Several commenters suggest that they use Amazon's Mechanical Turk to read the scanned cards. Which could be a cause for the delay.

SmartBooks are Approaching

2012-01-22T10:33:00.003-05:00

The very moment we saw the first hyper links in documentation, around 1985, we saw that the textbooks of the future were not just about text, but about many different kinds of media.

GigaOm writes in an excellent article:

"... As we predicted, Apple on Thursday introduced a new toolset for publishers and authors to create and distribute digital textbooks. That wasn’t too much of a surprise. But what’s become more clear after hearing Apple’s pitch, which is aimed at K-12 school teachers, school districts, homeschooling parents, publishers and students themselves, is that the future of textbooks is not a book at all.... "

But what about their unprecedented and greedy license agreement?

Read the article, very well worth it as an introduction to the future of 'text'books.

Marsh Brand Partners

2012-01-22T10:20:00.002-05:00

I see that Marsh is now Marsh Brand Partners. They have redesigned their web site, changed their name and focus. A company that I have had the pleasure to interact with for several years. They state in their philosophy:

" ... Have you ever noticed that things look a little more interesting close up? A deeper perspective can reveal something new—the beauty of the details or a perspective we didn’t see before. At Marsh Brand Partners, our curiosity keeps us looking beyond the obvious. There’s something deeper, something more meaningful waiting to challenge the status quo. We mine for those revelations, and bring them to life ....

What Does it Mean to Create Desire?
Lust. Envy. Passion. The deepest drivers of behavior are often unspoken. However the effort to tap those desires pays deep rewards. Connecting on emotional and even primal levels with consumers creates relationships that demand engagement... "

Tough Visualization Questions

2012-01-21T19:46:00.002-05:00

Some tough questions in Excelcharts. Food for thought, these are not unexpected answers either. Worth considering the answers.

Health and Social Networks

2012-01-21T14:44:00.003-05:00

Health and Social Media. A recent area of exploration. Will this work if there is too much communication or if the message is unwelcome? What can make the message engaging and welcome?

P&G Working with Couponing Startup MoBeam

2012-01-21T08:59:00.003-05:00

In the local papers: P&G is working with a west coast startup called MoBeam, and a company called Ecrio. which I originally brought into town for tests several years ago. I have mentioned their methods a number of times here. Part of the effort invoved here was to do the consumer analytics to see what the response of the shopper was to these new methods. See also an earlier press release.

" .... Snipping coupons from the Sunday paper, stuffing them into a wad and producing them at checkout is a weekly ritual for millions of shoppers.

The current technology is not easy to use, Baker says. The shopper must present the phone to the cashier, who then must key in a number, as shoppers waiting in line grow impatien

The opportunity is growing, but it’s a long way from being a mainstream technology used by a large segment of the population,” he says.

That’s what P&G and Mobeam are hoping to fix. “If couponing can be easier, faster and less costly for shoppers and retailers, we want to help bring it to life,” said Jeff Weedman, vice president of global business development at P&G.

P&G and other manufacturers are banking on projections that 50 percent of the population will own a smart phone by 2015. Thirty percent currently own the phones, creating a demand for systems allowing them to easily cash in their coupons anywhere.... "

Tablets as an Educational Tool

2012-01-20T20:00:00.000-05:00

Interesting Study. In particular as an aid to education. How much different are they in effectiveness than using a laptop?

Developing Vision Without Sight

2012-01-20T19:29:00.001-05:00

In CACM: Continued developments of the replacement and augmentation of human vision. Will the blind be able to see?

Tablets as a Shopping Device

2012-01-20T13:47:00.000-05:00

In GigaOM. Tablets as the ideal shopping device? Will we start seeing everyone with a Ping pong paddle style tablet as they course through brick and mortar? Or will the phone evolve just somewhat larger? Good piece to make you think about the potential evolution of format and usage in multiple contexts.

The Second Economy: a Neural Model

2012-01-19T13:23:00.003-05:00

Aspen Root Systems and a neural system for a second economy. By W Brian Arthur, who we worked with at the Santa Fe Institute and applied in the enterprise. It is all about better understanding complexity. Many real world systems are very complex and in the early days we started with industrial simulations as models to find patterns. Many new techniques, by Arthur and others, are helping us to simplify these sim models enough to make them usable. Thanks to colleague Delaine Hampton for pointing me to this.

- W Brian Arthur is a visiting researcher with the Intelligent System Lab at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) and an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute. He is an economist and technology thinker and a pioneer in the science of complexity. His 1994 book, Increasing Returns and Path Dependence in the Economy (University of Michigan Press, December 1994), contains several of his seminal papers. More recently, Arthur was the author of The Nature of Technology: What it is and How it Evolves (Free Press, August 2009).

Algorithms That Changed the Future

2012-01-19T11:17:00.000-05:00

Being a long time practitioner of the practice of developing and applying algorithms, I found this book to be very interesting: Nine Algorithms that Changed the Future: The Ingenious Ideas that Drive Today's Computers. by John MacCormick. Send a copy to place on my review list.

Turbo Tax Goes Mobile

2012-01-19T10:24:00.001-05:00

Intuit reports that their flagship Turbo Tax package, which I have used for years, is now available on iPhone, iPad and Android. The package can be used to both prepare and file taxes. Nice development as we increasingly go mobile.

Odor Destroying Robotics

2012-01-19T10:07:00.001-05:00

In IEEE Spectrum: An interesting idea. Deodorants for the home applied by autonomous agents? Over complicating the idea, but worth understanding. Perhaps in retail applications.

Managing Brand and Corporate Reputation

2012-01-19T09:51:00.000-05:00

A conversation reminded me again of the company Neputation, who's technical people I had the chance to talk to recently. Impressive methods being used to address the problem, beyond just doing lots of Web searches. at the marketing level: " ... Marketing Agencies cannot grow and sustain their business without effectively managing their client’s public image and reputation in today’s “socially networked” world. Customers are turning to the web and social media to voice their opinion, learn what others are saying, and engage in meaningful discussions. As a Marketing agency, you and your clients can no longer rely on traditional methods of measuring the brand reputation and customer experience. Embrace the new paradigm shift and exploit to your fullest advantage in light of the following marketing challenges: ... "

Air Force Social Radar

2012-01-19T07:30:00.000-05:00

The idea of air force social radar sounds much like neuromarketing efforts underway today, but some more seriousness involved. Reading minds all the way down to the intent level is still some time away. Thoughts like those expressed could result in DARPA like developments that could be spread back into the marketing context.

Wolfram Educational Portal

2012-01-18T21:34:00.002-05:00

The Beta of the Wolfram Educational Portal has been released. Great effort. " ... We are happy to announce the launch of the free Beta version of the Wolfram Education Portal. The portal comes equipped with a dynamic and interactive textbook, lesson plans aligned to the common core standards, and many other supplemental materials for your courses, including Wolfram Demonstrations, widgets, and videos. The Education Portal currently contains full materials for Algebra and partial materials for Calculus, but will continue to grow and improve with your comments and feedback ... "

Cool BI Innovations

2012-01-18T17:20:00.000-05:00

In TDWI: Some expected examples that are worth reviewing. I think much more can be said here. Some of the innovations will take considerable evolving to be useful.

AI Past and Future

2012-01-18T16:40:00.000-05:00

Some notes on AI, Past and Future, in the ACM. Another favorite topic. Most recently I have seen some of the IBM Watson work, which nicely brings expertise based systems back to life.

Future of Gaming

2012-01-18T15:06:00.001-05:00

I continue to be intrigued by the use of game dynamics as part of user engagement. Did a number of related projects in the enterprise: Here some further thoughts in Innovation Excellence.

" ... The Future Of Gaming report presents key trends emerging within the gaming space that brands, non-profits and communities can leverage to build engagement and motivate their target audience towards achieving a desired goal or outcome. It is designed to inspire anyone tasked with creating compelling user experiences, whether that be on a digital screen, in the real world or somewhere in between.... "

Disjunctive Mapping of Consumers

2012-01-18T09:08:00.004-05:00

From Informs: A presentation on Advances in understanding human behavior: Disjunctive mapping. Exploring further.

Gap Analysis

2012-01-17T22:44:00.000-05:00

Good post on the topic by the Burghard Group. " ... Gap Analysis is an assessment tool to help a place (community, region, state) compare its current economic success with its future potential. The summary document prepared for a Gap Analysis also includes a discussion of the obstacles to achieving desired economic growth and an Action Plan for overcoming them. It is a structured way to identify and correct the gaps between desired place performance and actual performance in job growth and wealth creation. This tool is one of the most conceptually simple to understand and practically difficult to implement. But, done well it is a powerful tool to define and lead change. It has been one of my “go-to” tools for creating strong and sustainable brands..... "

Consumers Want More Communications from Retailers

2012-01-17T13:05:00.001-05:00

Not that much of a surprise, providing the communication is truly useful. " ... according to the IBM Institute for Business Value 2011 Retail Industry Study, released today at the National Retail Federation's NRF Annual Convention and Expo. More than 28,500 people from 15 countries were contacted for the survey, which found that 76 percent of people think retailers do not communicate with them often enough. Only 24 percent said they are contacted too frequently. ... ". In Convenience Store News.

Marketing via a Virtual Pinboard

2012-01-17T10:42:00.001-05:00

A simple and clever approach. Using a virtual pinboard metaphor to market and promote a site. The enabling site is called Pinterest, which I had not heard of before. Key may be to include images that are engaging enough to make this work. The Compete blog link above includes some interesting stats on the site about how it can generate retailer traffic.

Software Quality in the Global Supply Chain

2012-01-17T09:19:00.001-05:00

In ECommerce Times: Part of a conversation I have been having recently on supply chain design. How is the right data brought together in the quantities required to support the analytics required? " ... Successful processes create value for both parties involved. For a company purchasing software components, implementing quality assurance methods can improve and support the brand by ensuring that externally sourced code is held to a high standard. For a supplier, it's an objective way to represent the quality of the product and strengthen the relationship with the customer ... "

Accurate Robot Essay Graders

2012-01-16T18:50:00.001-05:00

an interesting effort. . As the article asks, the end of multiple choice questions? This does delve into the nature of semantic meaning. A friend suggests it could be used as a new kind of UI. though in that case would require careful construction to produce natural language.

Visualization of the History of Personal Computing

2012-01-16T09:29:00.000-05:00

A visualization of personal computing via graphs of units shipped, from 75 to the present. From lumbering desktops to the very fast emergence of tablets.

Branding Chatter

2012-01-16T00:12:00.003-05:00

See Ed Burghard's paper.li online paper Branding Chatter. He is a former Harley Procter Marketer at Procter & Gamble who has lots of insightful things to say on the subject.

Developing Successful Brands about Places

2012-01-15T22:03:00.002-05:00

Ed Burghard sends along his blog post on developing brands about places. Thoughtful.

" ... I started the article off with a definition of place branding. At the time I remember being intrigued with the idea that a sub-set of branding existed to describe what I was trying to accomplish in branding the state of Ohio. I defined place branding as a strategy to position a location (or “place”) so it can effectively compete for capital investment. Since 2007, I have come to understand that there are actually a number of terms that are used in the industry to describe place branding. It is sometimes called nation branding, city branding, Regional branding, community branding or destination branding (not an exhaustive list).

This is important if you are looking to use Google to learn more about the subject. I now find that I search all the listed terms to ensure I don’t miss something important. The definition I used in 2007 is still valid today. However, now I differentiate between place marketing and place branding. I describe place marketing as managing the image of a place. It focuses on “what is true today”. I describe place branding as managing the desired identity of a place. It focuses on “what needs to be true tomorrow”. As a consequence, when I lecture on place branding, in addition to marketing I also speak about long term strategic planning focused on place improvement (asset creation, infrastructure investment, public policy reform).... "

One Bit Can be Stored in 12 Atoms

2012-01-15T21:20:00.001-05:00

A report on research at IBM that has decreased the number of material atoms required to store a single bit of information from about a million iron atoms to only 12. A very considerable increase in efficiency. It is not usable practically yet, but expect it to radically change what we store and how we store data. A picture of the future.

Web Search and AI

2012-01-15T14:24:00.000-05:00

Matthew Hurst makes a good point about the ubiquity of Web search slowing the development of artificial intelligence. I saw this repeatedly in the enterprise. We were developing AI systems for specific intelligence applications. But is was too easy, but not always accurate, to just search for an answer. It is time to try again.

Listening to Your Customers

2012-01-15T14:00:00.001-05:00

In Innovation Excellence: This good article mentions the (possible) Henry Ford quote: “if I’d asked people what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse”. And does a good job of declaring if necessity is the mother of invention or the other way around. The key, I think, is to be ready for either case.

Kroger Robotic Convenience Store

2012-01-14T22:34:00.001-05:00

A Robotic Convenience Store.
We saw an early prototype of this idea several years ago. A device that contains hundreds of items for ready vending. Was seen as particularly useful in college areas. Similar specialized vending walls are already common in airports.

Thinkvine gets Funding

2012-01-14T17:22:00.000-05:00

Local Firm gets Funding. "... US— ThinkVine has closed an $8m Series C round of financing to support sales and development of its marketing planning and sales forecasting software...." ... Have always liked their simulation inspired methods.

Future of BI in the Organization

2012-01-14T17:07:00.001-05:00

Mark Montgomery of Kyield writes. He cites a Forrester report: " ... One of the main themes in the report concerns expanding the use of BI throughout the organization, which essentially follows a proven management philosophy and strategy I have advocated my entire career due to a combination of logic, experience, and testing in many real-life cases. In a broad sense this issue speaks to organizational awareness, or as too often has been the case; the lack thereof.... "

Sculpting Your Own Profession

2012-01-14T09:40:00.001-05:00

In the HBR. design your own profession. Depends upon the local culture as to how successful this will be.

Facebook Allows Data Analysis

2012-01-13T22:41:00.001-05:00

In ReadwriteWeb: Fascinating description of how Facebook is allowing the aggregate and statistical use of its data. What is described here is unstructured textual data, used for such applications as political sentiment tracking. The potential leverage of such wide ranging data is considerable. An example of the monetization of unstructured social data. Expect to see more about this.

Business Intelligence Requirements Gathering

2012-01-13T15:50:00.000-05:00

Somewhat obvious but useful examples of who and what to get together to better insure the success of a BI effort.

Eames Documentary Online

2012-01-13T10:08:00.002-05:00

Worth a look. We worked with Herman Miller on innovation projects: PBS Eames documentary now online:

If you're at all interested in design and architecture of the 20th century, you're likely familiar with the work of husband and wife team Charles and Ray Eames, who are responsible for some of the most famous furniture designs of the modern era, many of them for Herman Miller. PBS's American Masters Series has a full episode (narrated by James Franco!) dedicated to the duo, which you can now watch online. We suggest you do, if you haven't seen it already...."

Gartner View of IBM DemandTec Acquisition

2012-01-12T23:06:00.001-05:00

A short post by Gartner on the proposed acquisition.. Some of the usual watch-outs with any acquisition. Certainly it is a means of bringing very specific retail and manufacturer analytics to cloud based big data. And at the same time integrating social based solutions to help multiple players in this space interact effectively. From what I have seen since first being exposed to Demandtec methods at our Innovation Centers, this could be a magical way to improve business analytics.

Kaggle: Data Science as a Sport

2012-01-12T21:47:00.002-05:00

Crowd sourcing prediction.. " ... Participate in competitions ... is an arena where you can match your data science skills against a global cadre of experts in statistics, mathematics, and machine learning. Whether you're a world-class algorithm wizard competing for prize money or a novice looking to learn from the best, here's your chance to jump oooin and geek out, for fame, fortune, or fun. ... ."
. Thanks for pointer to Walter Riker.

Future of Pharma Information Tech

2012-01-12T16:07:00.003-05:00

In the Recorded Future Blog. A good look at IT in Pharmaceuticals using the temporal search engine Recorded Future. This search engine semantically analyzes future oriented statements and visually displays and analyzes their influence. I have been tracking this effort for corporate competitive use for some time. Great insightful piece here for the Pharma sector.

Image Sensors for Multiple Contexts

2012-01-12T11:01:00.001-05:00

In Engadget: A concept for compact 360 degree image capture. Always interested in new sensor capture devices. What came to me immediately was the possible use in merchandise stocking and location environments. I am sure there are other applications.

Future of Shopping

2012-01-12T06:07:00.003-05:00

Via Darrell Rigby of Bain Company:

" ... Digital retailing is headed toward 15% to 20% of total sales globally and is already highly Profitable. But what seems like a dream come true for the shopper—an abundance of information, near-perfectprice transparency, a parade of special deals—can feel more like a nightmare to retailers. Digital information already influences about 50% of store sales, and that will soon make it hard even to define e-commerce, let alone measure it. For retailers, the key to engaging customers in this newenvironment is "omnichannel" retailing: a mashup of digital and physical experiences.... "

Ivory Does a Brand Refresh

2012-01-11T20:27:00.002-05:00

Nice Forbes article on the Back to Basics Ivory brand refresh. As I have said before, it is the first Procter brand I was closely connected to, so there is a nostalgic connection with technical emphasis. Good to see it is being paid attention to again.

Why Writers Should Tweet

2012-01-11T20:14:00.001-05:00

In ReadWriteWeb:. I could think this to be more aptly titled: Why writers who can't write otherwise should Tweet ... I tweet to support my blog posts, but should we be using an abbreviated language to express ourself? The post makes the case but I don't find myself agreeing.

Unilever Wants to get to the Future First

2012-01-11T12:24:00.000-05:00

In Ad Age: Unilever's Keith Weed at CES on their view of the future. " ... Global CMO Talks About New Technologies and Why Apple's iAd Is Still In Unilever's Plans. ... "

Applying Business Intelligence to Geospatial and Business Process

2012-01-11T11:00:00.002-05:00

A long time investigation of ours. How do you link location and business? On the front or the back end? How do you evaluate it's application?

Tablets to replace Laptops

2012-01-10T18:39:00.000-05:00

A study shows that a considerable percentage of consumers, 46%, think that tablets will replace laptops for common applications. Tablets are likely to also evolve to become more laptop like.

Digital Signage, Part II

2012-01-10T16:58:00.000-05:00

More Commentary by Keith Kelsen on the future of digital signage. One of my favorite retail innovation center topics. Engaging the shopper with technology.

Brain Lectures

2012-01-10T09:03:00.002-05:00

Mind Hacks points to some excellent neuroscience lectures. They’re presented by psychologist Bruce Hood and they’re packed with excellent demonstrations that use everything from cutting edge neuroscience technology to stuff you could find in your house ....

Digital Signage in 2012

2012-01-09T20:06:00.002-05:00

Keith Kelsen, colleague and author of the excellent book "Unleashing the Power of Digital Signage .... ", which I am reading now, has released his Digital signage predictions for 2012.. Essential.

Yammer Unites Grocery Brands

2012-01-09T19:49:00.002-05:00

Interesting social idea." ... SuperValu, a grocery chain with more than 2,400 stores, has found enterprise social networking in the cloud valuable as a unifying force. .... ....".