Category : Innovation

It’s been a few months since I’ve last talked about fashion and tech (see my previous posts here and here), but the topic is ever on my mind. Having linked up with PATTERN, I’ve had the opportunity to become part of Indy’s fashion community and also to help curate some of the monthly meetups. One, that I’m hoping will come to fruition in 2012, is a meeting of the worlds of fashion & tech. Here’s a couple local companies that are leading the way:

My Best Friend’s Hair
If you’ve spent a day in Broad Ripple, it’s likely you’ve noticed the abundance of hair salons. With so many options, how do you choose? Enter My Best Friend’s Hair, where consumers can search for stylists based on…

The Evolution of QR Codes
Quick Response Codes (QR codes) are two-dimensional barcodes that can deliver large amounts of information while taking up a small amount of print space. QR codes can be made up of many different types of data and can be downloaded at a high-speed by a QR reader. Originally these codes were used in the automotive industry for manufacturing, but due to their ability to store and deliver a message in a fast and concise manner, QR codes quickly found purchase in a variety of industries.

Much like its predecessors, Microsoft Tags and Jagtags, QR codes are easily read by mobile devices, which use the camera as the reader. The contents of the tag typically…

Do you remember Del.icio.us? Or Delicious as it’s been simplified to today. I’ve been a longtime user now (since ’07). Their simple, but powerful, tagging system immediately became a trusty aid for me to catalog and organize my project management apps, blog inspiration, gift lists, wish lists, wedding, trips, and more. Delicious was a gateway solution for me (and millions of others) to tame the web and cull it according to my personal tastes.

Quickly after joining Delicious, I discovered other, more specialized apps to help me collect & share the web.

First there was Tumblr: a beautiful, engaging, simply designed and very compelling microblogging tool. Links became alive when you could display them…

When Google unveiled their most recent foray into the social networking realm it was met with surprisingly positive feedback. Google+ is a decidedly “designed” product that marked an overall transition for Google where they have put more emphasis on creating aesthetically pleasing interfaces that are fun and easy to use. The initial interest in Google+ sparked many to claim that it would be a “Facebook killer.” But yesterday, Facebook leapfrogged Google+ in a big way.

It’s a beautiful example of delightful usability.

With the introduction of “Timeline,” Facebook has re-imagined the social profile. They have come up with a truly innovative design that is unlike any profile page you have ever seen before. For Facebook, a company whose designs are typically very restrained, “Timeline” is a grand…

There’s a great post over on The 99% that advises on how you can get more out of daily to-dos, by applying n-dimensional thinking. The resulting list is more dynamic and will help you (1) Focus on completing the most valuable tasks, and (2) learn new skills while executing them.

But there actually may be a third, more exciting value prop to amplifying your list: innovation, or even invention, of products.

The post details the common scenario of proposal writing:

For example, let’s say you have to draft up a contract for a client project, a rather humdrum task. Applying N-dimensional thinking, you decide to transform this task by increasing its overall efficiency (one new dimension), improving the contract template design (a second dimension), and learning

As a young professional I’m admittedly still green, but lately I’ve found real encouragement and inspiration from the more seasoned colleagues. I wanted to share some of their advice on how to be a bit more successful a bit faster.

Have Passion and Be Curious
If you were lucky to attend Verge this week, you heard Kristian Andersen speak to passion and curiosity. As professional individuals, we sometimes think that we are confined by what is said on paper, and to achieve more we must have more letters to put after our name or more accomplishments to list out. However, we shouldn’t limit ourselves and allow our resume to be the sole indicator of who we are.

“Curiosity is the one determinant for success; it’s

If you are a true Hoosier then you couldn’t be more excited about Indy’s opportunity to host the 2012 Super Bowl. You may be a bit worried if you’re a local about where you can watch the game, how you’ll get around, or what events to attend, but have no fear the 2012 Super Bowl Host Committee is taking care of everything!

This will be the most compact, connected, and convenient Super Bowl in history.

Indianapolis is hosting the most urban Super Bowl to date, and with that comes its advantages and disadvantages. On June 29th, Dianna Boyce the Communications Director of the 2012 Super Bowl Host Committee was joined by…

Once you step inside the tech world, it’s easy to forget about a slowing world economy, whether its a “sticky patch or a meltdown.” Tech bubble or not, there’s a profusion of new businesses, ideas and growth. And, as discussed at the recent D9 Conference, the Gang of Four (Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook) is leading the charge as people rush to build on top of these new competing platforms.

Today’s company founders only seem to be getting younger, seemingly with fewer traditional qualifications (bachelor’s degrees and MBAs). A phenomena that’s being supported by the likes of Peter Theil (who believes we’re in a bubble – a higher education one, that is) and his 20 Under 20 Fellowship, which is awarding $100,000 grants…

If you’ve ever read Marty Nemeier’s book Zag, I’m sure you are well aware of the book’s main concept:

“When Everybody Zigs, Zag”.

As the book describes, the concept of zagging is often a bit harder than you may expect. Yet, over the weekend I found a great example of a company that has managed to zag with excellence. While in the checkout line at the grocery store I overheard the cashier and bag boy commenting on one of my purchases:

Cashier: “Check out this drunken bar code!”
Bag Boy: “Cool I’ve never seen anything like it!”
Cashier: “Yeah they have designed something you would have never thought could be designed.”

They were talking about…

Since my first post on Fashion and Tech, Gilt Groupe raised an additional $138 million in financing, for a total of $221 million, and commands a present valuation near $1 billion. The “internet gold rush of the east” is official, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, as “would-be entrepreneurs ditch Wall Street or Madison Avenue careers to set up companies in New York-centric industries such as fashion, retail, finance and media.” You may have heard of other promising young startups from New York, too: Foursquare, Tumblr, SecondMarket, and up and comers Warby Parker, Etsy, GroupMe, and Kickstarter.

The phrase “New York-centric industries such as fashion, retail…