The Jeff Beckham Weblog

Over the past few days, there have been a couple of items that sparked additional interest from me in the field of open-source hardware. Earlier, I pointed out that the choices and improvements made in an open-source environment lead to better products all around.
Shortly thereafter I came across an article in the McKinsey Quarterly where [...]

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The Cult of the Dabbawala: “Using an elaborate system of colour-coded boxes to convey over 170,000 meals to their destinations each day, the 5,000-strong dabbawala collective has built up an extraordinary reputation for the speed and accuracy of its deliveries. Word of their legendary efficiency and almost flawless logistics is now spreading through the [...]

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When you’re business is struggling, it can be difficult to find a clear path to success. Especially when the old way has been terrifically successful for you in the past. New York’s Metropolitan Opera found themselves in this position, but over the past two year, general manager Peter Gelb has deftly maneuvered the company onto [...]

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Last week, Microsoft named J Allard the Chief Experience Officer (CXO) and Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of their Entertainment and Devices Division.

The move puts Allard in a key position regarding Microsoft’s future moves, but it also got me wondering: Is he now the highest-profile experience officer? It’s a position that has been talked about for [...]

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A critical aspect for any leader is communication. If the head of your business, school, family, etc., is a lousy communicator, you’re likely suffering the consequences. Moreover, if you’re a leader and a lousy communicator, you need to get help quick, because you’re not going to be the leader for long.
This is illustrated in pointed [...]

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Over at CrunchGear, Peter Ha has been spending some time with inventor James Dyson (he of the famous vacuum cleaners) talking about design and engineering principles. In this hilarious video, Dyson puts one of the new vacuums through its paces, showing how trying to break something is the best way to test it. It also [...]

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This Smithsonian article about diamonds grown in the lab that are indistinguishable than those taken from the ground had me thinking in terms of disruptive technology, a la Clayton Christensen’s Innovator’s Dilemma.

Disruptive technology is a term that describes low-end and new-market innovations. Typically, the new technology isn’t quite as good as the existing technology, but [...]

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The Cuisipro® Ice Cream Scoop & Stack has come up with an simple, elegant redesign of the ice cream scooper. Where a flat spatula is enough for gelato and the industrial-strength spoon version is found in ice cream parlors and kitchens everywhere, this scooper elegantly rethinks that model: Plunge the device into the ice cream, [...]

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At the end of this video of BMW’s GINA fabric-covered, shape-shifting concept car, designer Chris Bangle describes the philosophy as “Context over dogma”. It’s a nice moment to close a remarkable three-minute video presentation, but there’s something more profound lurking there as well.

Certainly it’s about, as Bangle says, being flexible and acting flexible, but it’s [...]

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This week’s Economist looks into the field of open-source hardware: “an emerging class of electronic devices, for which the specifications have been made public, so that enthusiasts can suggest refinements, write and share software improvements, and even build their own devices from scratch.”
Owners of open-source devices benefit by owning something that doesn’t go out-of-date or [...]

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