Innovation News & Articles

Today, parts of the Internet have gone dark in protest of proposed SOPA and PIPA legislation. From 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., many sites are showing their solidarity by blacking out their sites and redirecting users to sign online petitions or encouraging them to contact their congressperson to voice their concerns.

By now, you’ve probably heard about the legislative bills that the United States Senate and House of Representatives are currently debating. Both the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act (PROTECT-IP) and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) aim to prevent online piracy and copyright infringement. In an offline world, protecting others from illegally obtaining, selling or sharing others’ materials had become a manageable process. Even in the early days of the Internet, one could effectively police a handful of sites or users. But as the Internet grew, it became increasingly harder to track the transfer of copyrighted materials across the information highway.

August was a bad month for innovation.

In last week’s State of the Union Address, United States President Barack Obama laid out his plan for America’s future. In it, he declared, “we will do big things.” Among them, a plan for American innovation in which creativity, imagination and free enterprise come together to create new industries and millions of new jobs.

Newsflash: Nobody in the enterprise is innovative.

Okay, that’s not entirely true; however, something like 99% of the companies that tell you they’re innovative, simply aren’t.

As business continues to re-orient itself around the changing times, a number of companies have been diligent about responding with social, cloud and mobile offerings. Accordingly, analyst firm IDC (news, site) recently identified ten under US$ 100 million to keep an eye on: 

Another week of expert advice on collaboration has passed us by. This time our little helpers focused on crowdsourcing, as well as disrupting everything we thought we knew was true about adoption. Here's a quick recap: 

As usual, this week we learned that everything we know is wrong. Check out some adoption practices you probably never thought to try out ("impossible deadlines work best," for example), as well as the different faces of collaboration for innovation. 

Recently, the Association of Online Publishers (AOP), an organization based in the UK that represents digital publishing companies that create original, branded, quality content, announced the recipients of its Digital Publishing Awards for 2010.

If the comments on the New York Times blog about VIVmag’s interactive iPad magazine are any indication, users are still having a hard time figuring out the usefulness of the infamous tablet device. But that hasn’t stopped technologists and innovators from designing interfaces and experiences specifically for the iPad.

When we talk about the digital media consumption of teens and young adults, from social media to the mobile web, we often wonder how the future of online media will evolve. Rarely, however, do we consider what it means for the future of education.

On Saturday, March 6, educators and technologists alike gathered for TEDxNYED, an all-day conference, examining the role of new media and technology in shaping the future of education.

This week, our web publishing roll-up focuses on smaller, niche magazines that seek independence from the main audit bureau, as well as the younger generation of digital media users.

We spoke recently spoke with David Bayer, vice president of marketing, at Stratify (news, site) about what’s ahead for technology innovation in the legal space.

The short answer: innovation isn’t always driven by technology. For the long answer -- read along.

Mark your September calendars! Gartner will present its 2008 summit on Portals, Content and Collaboration September, 17 - 19, in Los Angeles, CA. Gartner’s events are always fun due to their reputation as a well-known technology research and advisory firm and this sure looks like an event worth attending.

With a focus on innovation, Gartner will hold its first ever Innovation Panel, in which the CEOs of open innovation network organizations will share their insights on innovation. They will coach us on how to look for and find innovation and, most importantly, on how to protect innovative ideas.

As I return to my day job and start the new year, I will take inventory of my work-related resolutions. Topping the list will be “don’t fight change.”

You see, as a designer, I often find myself getting too attached to the concepts I produce and while I understand the importance of compromising, I find myself grinding my teeth when making changes. Yet, in any change lies the opportunity for innovation. I can’t possibly know how to revolutionize and revitalize all by myself. Working closely with others brings together different, fresh perspectives that will not only help me design a product that meets the client’s needs, but also improves the chances that our solution will be found thinking outside the box.