Constructive Criticism

Feedback is a great thing.

How will you ever know what isn't working if no one tells you?

Yelp is a user-submitted small business and restaurant review site. It has some controversial policies as well as pretty intense influences in local markets. Originally, business owners could not respond to or retaliate against harsh reviews their companies received. Recently, Yelp has softened on this protocol-- letting businesses respond to damaging comments.

It's a win-win situation. This recent change in policies will give Yelp positive publicity and also will mean that business owners will be spending more time on their website.

Complaints are "free customer research." View them that way and they will be 100% more helpful and 100% less frustrating.

My Kind of School

Mattias Hansson is 40 and the CEO of Hyper Island. He helps to train more than 1,000 students a year in digital media and digital business management. The "school" is located in Stockholm, on a former prison island off the coast of Sweden. Graduates are quickly recruited by well-known firms such as Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Ideo.

"Look into the eyes of the creatives you know and ask them: If they could choose, would they pick the traditional academic world or an opportunity to learn by doing real stuff such as building e-communication solutions for MTV, Ikea, and others. We don't have classrooms or auditoriums, and we don't focus on grades. We don't educate people to become something. They have to decide that themselves."

This sounds so incredible to me. I learn best with hands-on activity. A main reason I chose to attend the University of Memphis was the amazing basketball team. Well, Memphis no longer has that. I might as well transfer.

Hansson's "school" gives "students" opportunities to boost their skills and increase their demand after graduation the program. Every student has at least five job offers from top international agencies according to Hansson. One student alone received 56 offers this year.At least 80% go abroad to work.

"We're more of a household name in Manhattan, Paris, or San Francisco than in Sweden."

Seriously, where do I sign up?

Yoga..a cult?

I think the saying goes: "If the shoe fits, wear it." You can deny you are something as much as you want but actions always speak louder than words.

Lululemon seems shady to me. For those who don't know what it a yoga-inspired athletic apparel company that also offer free yoga classes within their stores. Seems pretty great, but the more I learned about their methods, the more I questioned their motives.

They bring people into their stores with the lure of a free, trendy yoga class. Then they take all your money you didn't spend on the yoga class by selling you $52 tank tops. But no worries, they will give you a 15% off coupon. Whoop-dee-doo.

"If you want to be successful in this industry, it's about being authentic," says Christine Day, Lululemon's CEO.

I am totally not getting the "authenticity" vibe. But maybe that is just me.

In just a little more than 10 years, this company has gone from a single storefront in Vancouver, British Columbia to more than 100 outlets and $340 million in annual revenue. That works out to $1,800 in sales per square foot.

"Our vision is 'to elevate the world from mediocrity to greatness,' and we are growing so we can train more people and spread the word of The Secret -- which to us at Lululemon is not so secret,' says Chip Wilson, the company's founder and chairman.

Lululemon plans to expand into swimming, triathlons, and running.

So, we shall see. Google them, but beware--they will suck you in.

A Name You Should Know

"It doesn't matter if it's a company or a campaign; you build around commonality. If it's real people and real communities, then it's valuable. Otherwise, it’s just playing around online.”

That’s what Chris Hughes has to say to sum up his philosophy. Remember the name ‘Chris Hughes’, I have a feeling this is not the last time you will hear it. At the mere age of just 25, Hughes has already helped create two of the most innovative and successful start-ups in modern history—Facebook and the online-based campaign that got Barak Obama elected.

What made these ventures so innovative and successful? They acknowledged the importance of communities and how people interact with each other.

Hughes became involved with Facebook on the ground level when he befriended Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard. Little did he know that would eventually lead him to work for the next president of the United States.

When Obama's campaign began to look at Facebook and the options it provided, they found Hughes. Way led to way and Hughes joined the Obama team. He was hired on the spot. He's that good.

“Technology has always been used as a net to capture people in a campaign or cause, but not to organize. Chris saw that was possible before anyone else,” says David Plouffe, Obama campaign manager.

That is what I call job security—to create the very thing your employer or client desperately needs but has no idea what is. Pure gold.

Hughes proved himself a very valuable asset Obama’s quest to the White House by employing his philosophy.

My.BarakObama.com, Hughes main tool, served as a social networking source to empower citizens and turn them into activists without the aid of any actual human field staffer. The site quickly became a place to create groups, organize events, raise funds, download tools, and connect with other Obama supporters. Best of all, it was cheap and effective.

At the end of the campaign, volunteers had created more than 2 million profiles through the site, planned more than 200,000 offline events, formed 35,000 groups, posted 400,000 blogs, and raised $30 million on 70,000 personal fund-raising pages AND their guy got elected. I'd call that a success.

Hughes contributed vastly throughout the campaign and should be credited largely with Obama's victory. Barak Obama was a huge commonality for so many people. Obama knew that he would need a nation of organizers to win--that is exactly what Hughes gave him.

So, take notes on this Hughes guy. I think he may end up going somewhere :)

iPhone? iPill? Same difference...

It seems like something you would see on a science fiction movie--but no.
This thing is real and it's here.

Philips's R&D unit is currently working on an 11-by-26-millimeter capsule. This tiny device is loaded with tiny sensors, a microprocessor, a fluid pump, a wireless transmitter, and medication. Patients can ingest it just like any other pill. This device permits doctors to deliver drugs directly to a specific area of the gastrointestinal tract. These kind of advances will help treat illnesses such as Crohn's disease.

What will they come up with next? Seriously.

A New Way to Play...

Recess will always be the best part of school.

When I was younger I loved recess. I loved the swings and the jungle gym; but after a while they lost their luster. There's only so much you can do on those things. My best recess memories were made without the aid of those metal structures. Me and my friends often came up with games and scenarios involving things found laying around or even nothing at all. We used our imaginations. Novel idea, huh?

Designer David Rockwell has taken notice of such non-structured recess play. He has developed a playground that promotes free play versus jungle gyms and swing sets that emphasize motor skills. Rockwell utilized basic elements such as building blocks, sand, water, and found objects in his 21st century, multi-level play space.

"It's the same thing you would have in the country with a hill or a series of rocks," Rockwell says, "It's space to explore."

Rockwell's playground, a figure eight shape, draws inspirations from famed architect Louis Kahn and sculptor Isamu Noguchi's 1960s design for New York's Riverside Park; which was never built.

It's an old concept with a new implemention. Building blocks help children develop cognitive and social skills. Rockwell's play space provides children with dense, oddly shapped, over-sized, germ-resistent blocks to create with. Rockwell will also include "found objects" such as milk crates and pool noodles, as well as scaffolding structures and drop cloths for making forts.

This 21st centruy playground brings the rural resources to the urban setting. Running water and a shallow pool provide children with the idea of playing in a real pond or creek. The water can be contolled by damming it up or diverting it to make water falls.

The first Imagination Playground is under construction in Lower Manhattan and is expected to be finished within the next year.

As if we needed one more way to be tracked...

There is yet another way to keep "tabs" on friends and family. Great, just what we need.

Most won't admit that they love the idea of this. But they do. A lot, actually.
What a bunch of creepers.

A couple days ago, Google announced a spiffy, new stalking-er- I mean, "mapping" feature called Latitude. It will soon be available for every major mobile phone platform, currently supporting Google maps. Soon, everyone will know where you are at all time. Yay?

But rest assured, there are "strict" privacy settings. Sense a hint of sarcasm? Users will have to manually turn on Latitude before it will broadcast their location. Users can also determine the specificity of their location--from an exact city block or just a city itself. Only friends on your contact list can see your location. Thank goodness.

You are in control, or at least that is what Google wants you to think Ha. You have the ability to accept someone's location and share back, accept their location and hide yours, deny their location or block them. So many options!

You can even change privacy levels for each friend. Latitude also allows you to post a "Twitter-like" message along with your location, like: "Getting lunch, come join me!" or "At the dentist, come join me!." Be creative.

Latitude has a leg up on the competition. The other "mapping" programs have a restricted user-pool because of certain phones and certain carriers. Latitude promises stalker-privileges to anyone with a halfway-decent phone. Latitude is also available for desktops and laptops.

Latitude's potential is huge. Anyone could see that. Theoretically, advertisers could tap into your location, match it up with the locations of their services and your browsing history, and provide a highly, intensive targeted ad. Kinda scary. Hello, Big Brother.

So, go ahead.
Give in.
You know you want to.
All the cool kids are doing it.