Slate: Grown-Up Startups

The idea behind all of the programs is similar: The United States relies on young businesses–not small businesses, as previously thought–to create new jobs. Therefore, for the good of the economy, the United States should encourage smart, savvy kids to work for themselves rather than to join established businesses. But new research complicates the picture. Older entrepreneurs are starting more and more new companies and might outpace younger entrepreneurs within the next few years. And that isn’t necessarily a bad thing: Older entrepreneurs tend to be more successful.

The cat is out of the bag, we know the iPhone is coming to Verizon tomorrow.
This has been a long time in the making and I think it’s great. People shouldn’t have to decide on a carrier when they’re deciding on a phone to buy. AT&T has been cool by association since they’re the exclusive carrier of the iPhone, but they had nothing do with it’s design and success. In fact, many people would agree AT&T has been the weakest link in the whole iPhone deal. They weren’t ready for the constant Internet use people who have amazing mobile browsers partake in.
As I wrote in 2009, AT&T was expecting New’s Year Resolution Gym Members. They wanted all the iPhone users they could sign up, cause hey, only a small percentage of em will actually use their data plans. They were very wrong.
So now we’ll have iPhone’s on the two biggest networks in the States and we’ll truly see how people vote with their wallets. It’s a race to the bottom as Android phones continue to get cheaper and cheaper (and free). Analysts are saying because of this, it’s inevitable the iPhone will have to come down in price to compete and remain relevant in the smartphone market.
I say don’t count on it.
This isn’t Mac vs PC all over again.

It’s great to see sites like this emerging – sites built in HTML & JavaScript – that are approaching the level of smoothness and sophistication previously only attainable in Adobe Flash.
Once programs are developed and mature to the point that designers can use them, we’ll see more and more of this level of design detail in non-Flash websites.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – it doesn’t matter what medium we as designers are using, what matters is if we’re able to build the rich, immersive experiences we’ve designed.

via Vintage Scans

My good friend Jory just tweeted an interesting YouTube video about how we are living in exponential times. It goes through example after example of how much more of everything we have now and how much quicker things are becoming irrelevant and are mutating in our post-industrial, data-saturated world.
The part that stood out to me was on jobs and preparing students for the workforce:

Did You Know:
The top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 didn’t exist in 2004?
We are currently preparing student for jobs that don’t yet exist…
using technologies that haven’t been invented…
in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.

If we train our students to be problem-solvers and design thinkers, these facts aren’t as scary as they might seem. Learning how to problem solve is like martial arts – if you’re trained well, you’ll be able to handle yourself without knowing every detail of your opponent. The best problem solvers and fighters are great because of their ability to adapt to the scenario at hand. This is the essence of innovation.
Sure, you can poke holes in this analogy (what if I bring a gun or 20 pit bulls to the fight?) but out of all the ways to future-proof your career and relevance, being mentally armed as a problem solver is your best bet.