Ars Technica: Electrical current to the brain can get people to think different

What does it take to think different? Changes in the activity of the anterior temporal lobes, if a new study has it right. Thinking the same is actually very useful, since we can use existing mental frameworks to rapidly solve typical problems. But, on occasion, we’re faced with an atypical problem, one where our past problem solving techniques don’t apply, and we need to think of a new way of doing things. At those moments, applying a small electric current to the temporal lobes might just do the trick.

Although having a toolbox of problem-solving techniques can be very valuable, the authors describe how it can make us a prisoner of our past experience. When faced with a simple task, we sometimes keep trying to use one of our existing tools, even if it’s the wrong one for the job.

Instead of asking people directly how to be creative, they have examined the psychological conditions of creativity. It’s like instead of looking directly at the sun to work out where it is, you watch the shadows thrown across the ground.

• From How to Be Creative by Jeremy Dean

Popular Science: Shockwave-Generating Wave Discs Could Replace Internal Combustion Engines

Michigan researchers have built a prototype of a new auto motor that does away with pistons, crankshafts and valves, replacing the old internal combustion engine with a disc-shaped shock wave generator. It could slash the weight of hybrid cars and reduce auto emissions by 90 percent.

I’m not against replacing the combustion chamber, but you better damn well have an equally kick-ass name for this new component.
Shockwave-generating-disc ain’t gonna cut it.
via PSFK

I’ve noticed more people, whether in blog posts, trade publications or comment threads, being vocal with their frustration that Apple is taking/getting credit for inventing products and technologies. What’s important to understand is many (most?) of Apple’s products and technologies they’ve turned into innovations are bases on the inventions of others.

Last week Apple announced the new MacBook Air, the first refresh in the line since the Air introduction in 2008. Then I find stories like this one at ZDNet pointing out Sony had a wafer thin laptop back in 2004 first.

The author, Brook Crothers, breaks down what separates Apple’s and Sony’s models:

When the Sony Vaio X505 came out, it was about $3,000. And that’s probably where Apple’s new Air breaks the most ground. The ultrasvelte, 2.3-pound Air–which I would argue is the most impressive Apple MacBook design–can be had for $999.

Price is the only ground that matters once something has been innovated upon – that’s what innovation is.

Wow, how great is this 2008 post from Scott Berkun (via Bobulate):

From all my travels and speaking gigs in 2007, I’m most confident about the following advice: Stop using the word innovation in 2008. Just stop. Right now. Commit to never saying the word again. Einstein, Ford, Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso, and Edison rarely said the word and neither should you. Every crowd I’ve said this to laughed and agreed. The I-word is killing us.

So, so, so true. This word has been beaten to death and sometimes by people who are in every other respect very intelligent. I came across two posts recently who are guilty:
DesignADay: Four Approaches to Innovative Solutions – A great post, just a bad title. The class Moffett is teaching should be called Solving Problems, because that’s what design is.
asymco: NYT blames yet another culprit: Nokia’s Culture of Complacency – First off, Horace Dediu is a super-sharp guy. Where his post needs adjusting is in his noting of Nokia’s ‘innovation firsts’. Innovations can be firsts but they aren’t always.
I quoted Professor Jan Fagerberg in July of 2009, and I’ll quote him again:

Invention is the first occurrence of an idea for a new product or process. Innovation is the first commercialization of the idea.

To not make this distinction between invention and innovation is to completely dilute any power and meaning behind innovation. Thomas Edison has hundreds of patents on his inventions, a fraction of which became innovations within the the marketplace.
As Berkun advised, our best bet is to stop using the word entirely.

MacNN: Nokia exec “obsessed” with retaking lead from Apple, Google

Nokia’s new Mobile Solutions head Anssi Vanjoki today launched a renewed effort to improve Nokia’s standing in smartphones. He acknowledged that the company had lost its technical lead but said he was “obsessed” with getting the company back to the top spot.

I’d recommend he become obsessed with designing a great product, not “getting back on top”. If he does that, he might find his company in a better position in the market.
There’s room in the market for more than iPhones and Androids. I’d love to see Nokia get their mobile act together, but I’m not confident they can.

From John Kricfalusi’s blog (aka John K, creator of Ren & Stimpy):

Some people might wonder what the point is in copying the drawings of others. I’ll tell you. It’s so you can apply what you learned from the copies to your own drawings. It’s not just so you can be good at copying.

I was obsessed Ren & Stimpy back in the early/mid 1990’s when I was in high school. When class projects came up, no matter the subject – physiology, English, chemistry, math – I would create big comic books narrated by Ren & Stimpy. Art and drawing were my entry point into topics I would otherwise be too bored to learn about.
At first it might sound as if I was taking the easy road by creating comic books in all my classes, and while it did come naturally to me, it was still a lot of work.
Before I started a sketchbook, I would first draft up the story I wanted to tell in my comic book. From there I would determine which character I wanted to say what, and what expression/pose they would be making when they delivered those lines.
I transferred these characters in the comic books was by first recording all the episodes and then playing them back on my VCR (yes, I said VCR) and pausing it at the moment Ren or Stimpy made a unique, hilarious expression so that I could draw the image in my sketchbook. If you’ve ever watched the show, you know these moments happened every other second.
(My father would yell at me when he caught me doing this because he said it ruined the tape heads on the VCR. He’s and an engineer and that’s a story for another time.)

Moving Beyond Copying

Back to John K’s quote. Copying is crucial to learning. Whether you’re copying someone’s cartoon characters, CSS files, poster design, acting or music you eventually reach a point of departure. I believe it was Picasso who said that that point of departure, that screw-up in what you copied – that is your voice.
Since my goal was never to become a cartoonist, i never moved beyond copying Ren & Stimpy off of the television, but copying has played a big part in my work as a designer. Whether it’s been code, or style or methodology the first step for any artist or designer is copying.
Once you’ve full absorbed and become one with the subject it’s a natural progression to alter it and make it your own.

John Paczkowski from All Things Digital:

The first analysts’ notes on Apple’s new iPhone 4 have begun rolling in and they sound a common theme: While not the revelation it might have been (for obvious reasons), the device may well be, as Steve Jobs claimed Monday, “the biggest leap since the original iPhone.”

There’s two things that keep popping in my head when I read posted like this.
First – fuck analysts. They produce nothing real and nothing of real value. They shit out guesses on what they think will do well in the market and what won’t. If all the analysts in the world disappeared tomorrow, things would be much better. I could give a shit if it’s not the “revelation” they wanted.
And second, to quote Louis CK, everything’s amazing and nobody’s happy. Whether you’re talking about the new iPhone 4, or hybrid cars or new vaccines and treatments for medical conditions, I constantly come across people who are underwhelmed. It’s unfortunate, because we really are living in amazing times.

Man do love the Beastie Boys and I always will (It’s like what Chris Rock said – whatever music you were listening to when you started getting laid, you’re gonna love that music for the rest of your life). I was sad when I heard Adam Yauch (MCA) has cancer.
Then I got pissed when I found out his moron plan to beat it:

“We are visualizing taking the energy away from the cancer, and then sending it back at the cancer as lightning bolts that will break apart the DNA and RNA of the cells,” he added. “If you have the time, please join us in whipping up this lightening storm. Mind over matter …”

Seriously MCA, what the fuck. I got news for you, meditation is not going to kill your cancer. Regardless, I wish you the best and I hope you prove me wrong.

Via Creative Review:

The free app, called StreetMuseum, has been developed with creative agency Brothers and Sisters and makes use of geo tagging and Google Maps to guide users to various sites in London where, via the iPhone screen, various historical images of the city appear …

Awesome. It’s also a natural evolution of the Flickr group A Look Into the Past that was made it’s way around the blogs earlier this year (via Johnny Juice):

And according to Laughing Squid, A Look Into the Past was inspired by Michael Hughes’ “Souvenir” photoset on Flickr:

What a great chain of influence.

From Electronista:

Microsoft on Thursday said it might cut the price of its Zune Pass subscription service. Senior product lead Terry Farrell wouldn’t say how certain this was or how much it might drop, but recognized that the Zune’s $15 monthly, unlimited downloads weren’t necessarily competing well. Music is a “challenging business,” he told BusinessWeek in a chat.

Because nothing is better than a shitty service, than a shitty, cheap service.

The name was suggested by Ginn’s brother, artist Raymond Pettibon, who also designed the band’s logo: a stylized black flag represented as four black bars. Pettibon stated “If a white flag means surrender, a black flag represents anarchy.” Their new name was reminiscent of the anarchist symbol, the insect spray of the same name, and of the British heavy metal group Black Sabbath, one of Ginn’s favorite bands. Ginn suggested that he was “comfortable with all the implications of the name.” The band spray painted the simple, striking logo all over Los Angeles, gaining attention from potential supporters, and thoroughly irritating police. Pettibon also created much of their cover artwork.

via Wikipedia

Electronista: Amazon says Kindle won’t chase iPad, focused on reading

Amazon won’t try to copy the iPad with future versions of the Kindle, CEO Jeff Bezos said in an annual shareholders’ meeting today. He stressed that the Kindle would emphasize e-reading and likened its role to that of a dedicated camera versus a phone camera. Just as a phone is multi-purpose but won’t be the best camera, an iPad won’t necessarily be the best reader, Bezos said.

I’d love to see the Kindle become an amazing e-book reader and I think that by focusing on the Kindle doing just one thing versus trying to be everything they can do that, but right now, the Kindle is not a better e-book reader than the iPad. I’ve had a first generation Kindle and it’s decent. After I started using it for a few weeks I soon realized the limitations of the device. In short – Amazon needs to put laser focus on better software.
Whatever Bezos’ true plans and intentions, I hope he’s taking some of his own advice.