For those who have worked with me, you will know that I usually carry two notebooks with me: a quarto sized paper notebook, and a Thinkpad. They are about the same width-length dimensions.

The paper notebook is my default interactive meeting pad. It lets me scribble freeform notes and draw diagrams during meetings as part of the process of the meeting. I find conversation-enabled doodling to be an effective …

On Fast Food: Ads vs. Reality, Jeff Kay compares promotional photos of fast food items with freshly purchased and photographed actuals.

Spotted on The Innovation Diaries.

I blogged about being annoyed by Freedom Escapes’ telemarketing calls a while ago.

I recently had a look at the comments. Talk about a mountain growing out of an ant hill (we don’t have moles in Australia). They are obviously still cold calling people. And those who are annoyed enough to go online to vent have subsequently found my site via Google. I also occasionally get personal emails …

Here is an example of a design solution to a non-problem:

It is an electronic version of the white stick used by the blind. It senses obstacles and provides feedback to the user through buzzing.

It is a worthy exploration of an idea for sure. But is it viable? Is it really an improvement over the existing solution? The comments on Gizmodo (where I spotted …

Should pedestrians keep left or right. Which is it? It depends on where you are. Maybe.

In melting pot societies (fondue societies?) like Sydney and Singapore, with residents from different parts of the world, it is useful to post explicit signs instead or relying on the unspoken rules.

Singapore is somewhat better in this respect, given their history as a more explicitly “managed” society. Heavy traffic areas often do have …

Does anyone know how much power the big backlit apple logo on MacBooks chew up?

Is it the tech equivalent of wearing a t-shirt with Armani Exchange or some other brand name printed big cross it?

What is the psychology behind this desire to overtly broadcast your association with a brand name?

(I for one will never buy something with a big logo on it. I only wear t-shirts with logos …

Spotted this on Gizmodo recently:

I don’t know if this is targeting a specific audience demographic such as Asian (as in living in an Asian country) males between 17 and 26 years old. There may well be cultural subtleties and memes I am wholly unaware of.

Here’s what strikes me when I look at the piece:

A …