I’ve been wanting to post about an article over on the Chicago Tribune (Link) that I found via the Mass Customization blog (Link). Some of you know that I’ve been casually watching Threadless (and a couple other online t-shirt companies) and I found this an article worth reading.

There’s plenty of good stuff in it, but having worked closely with Target in the past, I found this especially interesting:

“If we worked with Target, I would give us an 18-month lifespan. Target would become our biggest customer. They would buy, like, 1,800 gajillion shirts and then we would be looked on as a Target brand, and all that story of how the designs got to the T-shirts, nobody would care about it.”

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I just happened across not one, but two entries (“Avatarization of you” and “Avatarization of you 2“) on Terra Nova that relate to some of my previous comments (reLink) regarding the potential for some surprising mashing up of real and virtual persona … not just on an individual basis, but on a group level on both sides. What I don’t see yet is an indication of how far-reaching this could become.

Yesterday morning I woke up with the thought that perhaps the best current example is Santa Claus. Here’s why: Continue reading →

After some of the recent posts here regarding copyright and DRM (reLink 1, reLink 2), I thought it might be worth mentioning that yesterday BusinessWeek contacted me asking if they could include some of my portfolio images in a slideshow that was to run as part of an upcoming article on design education (the Cleveland Institute of Art was one of the schools on which they were reporting, I was told). I assume they were looking for a graduate with a least a modest track record, because a) one look at my profile tells people I’m not a current student, and b) all the images on my portfolio page are of real products and carry short explanations about their development.

Unfortunately, BusinessWeek requested that I assign to them a rather broad set of rights. Here’s what I wrote back: Continue reading →

C|Net writer Michael Kanellos must be thinking the same thing I am while reporting on a material (of sorts) comprised of millions of tiny robots that act in unison to create 3D shapes… among other things. From the article, “Attack of the killer prototype robots” (Link):

Apply the right voltage and software program and the flat piece of fabric turns into a three-dimensional model of a car. Change those parameters and it transforms into a cube.

“Rather than look at a 3D model on a CAD (computer aided design) program, a physical model would be manifested on your desk,” said Babu Pillai, who, along with Jason Campbell, is heading up the project. “The material would change shape under software control.”
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Just caught a piece on C|Net (Link) about Microsoft’s new Zune device. I’ve not paid much attention to this thing, so I don’t know if this is something that was previously released, but I found the whole point system interesting. What a great way to mask the cost of a piece of media. Everytime the newsmedia reports on the cost, what are they going to do – provide a monetary conversion? It’s easy to report the cost of media on iTunes or Google Video, but MS is effectively creating its own currency. Even more interesting is how it’ll dovetail with XBox Live Marketplace which already uses points. Continue reading →