Thursday, 13 December 2012
'Star Trek Into Darkness' — A Look At the Mysterious Villain
Over the past few weeks, Director J.J. Abrams has been leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for fans across the world to follow. So far, we are able to piece together an awesome picture of what this new Trek installation will contain. Here is what we know so far, and what we hope we will see during the Star Trek Into Darkness
This is coming just a scant few days after the first teaser trailer popped up on the internet.
With 2009's Star Trek, director Abrams did the impossible. He took an aging franchise that had been put on the backburner, recast a seemingly irreplaceable cast and turned it into a hit with the perfect mix of action and heart.
If the amount of mystery surrounding this film is any indication, we're going to be getting one hell of a movie.
Screen Rant has said that the film opens up with a brief sequence that may seem rather detached at first, but helps to introduce characters that will later prove vital to the film. Later on fans will be introduced to a more experienced crew of the USS Enterprise, answering the question for some fans that would wonder if the film would jump ahead several years like The Wrath of Khan, or if it would pick right up where the last one left off, like The Search For Spock.
There will also be several short scenes that will tie into the main plot of Star Trek Into Darkness, however it appears that they were intentionally left vague. This is not exactly a surprise considering how deceptive and secretive Abrams and the cast members have been. The main plot points and names of some of the characters have been more protected than some U.S. military secrets.
There will also be an appearance by the films main villain, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, although it apparently does not give much of an indication as to what his character is about. Way to keep us on the edge of our seats, J.J.!
Aside from that, we get to see a cohesive crew helming the crew of the Enterprise that has come to admire and respect one another.
Benedict Cumberbatch’s character has been under much tighter scrutiny. First people believed him to be a new take on Khan, who many would argue to be the most infamous villain in the Trek universe. Then people l believed that he could be a new take on Gary Mitchell, another villain from the original series. Now we know that Cumberbatch will be playing John Harrison.
Co-writer/producer Roberto Orci initially got those rumors going by saying that the films villain would be a character from the original series. What none of us ever expected was that it would be someone who was a very small part of the original series.
What does ‘Innovating Innovation’ mean?
For me, I think the academic and corporate community
is missing the point. When I see the ‘Innovating
Innovation’ logo and read a-another essay about innovating innovation, I’ve
not yet seen one on ‘Innovating Innovation.’ What I always see are essays that
reinforce the authors current or old paradigm. But I have not one yet seen an
essay on ‘Innovation Innovation.’
So here a framework for such essay(s):
Innovating Innovation is – for me – about the transcendental
concept of innovating innovation. That is, innovation as a subject about
itself.
Not another subject about how to innovate in new ways or
processes; or even context like radical innovation, or game changing
innovation, or scrumdiddilyumpshus innovation.
No, ‘innovating
innovation’ for me is about the limits of the contextual framework for
innovation. As in how far and how many kind of innovation paradigms are there
or could possibly be?
Take the concept of ‘The-design-space-of-possibilities.’ How many possibilities are there
for design in the universe until the universe’s heat death trillions-upon- trillion
of year from now?
According to Claude Shannon’s Information Theory there
is not enough time in the universe to explore all the meaningful possibilities
of innovating innovation.
So my hope and point is: when are we going to see an
essay/paper/article on the ‘Innovating
Innovation’ in this transcendental context?
Innovating Innovation.
Forbes' Steve Denning interviews one of my favourite business authors Gary Hamel. I like the interview because there is a new buzz in my head called 'Innovation Innovation.'
I find it a profound idea, innovation innovation open up a whole new design space of possibilities, as in how much potential is there for the management Innovating Innovation?
Are we near the edge of the end of the space of all possible innovation management concepts, or have we just blown the doors off and opened up a portal to an infinite ecology of management innovation concepts?
Gary begins to address this. Read the intro here and click on below:
'I talked with Gary Hamel last week about the new M-Prize challenge on Innovating Innovation. The challenge is organized by the Management Innovation eXchange (MIX), an open innovation platform that aims to “crowd-source the future of management.” Among other things, it launches idea-challenges called “M-Prizes” to stimulate contributions from their community of management practitioners. Previous M-Prize challenges have focused on “Management 2.0” and “Beyond Bureaucracy”. This time, the focus is on “innovating innovation”.'
Wednesday, 12 December 2012
Innovation Models
Truly successful innovation is never easy to accomplish. As much as the myths of innovation and fables of inventors have lead us all to to believe that creativity arrives with a brilliant flash of inspiration, the reality is that the successful innovative products and services we see are the culminating result of tremendously hard work, a great deal of failure, and endless iteration. The most successful innovative products are often heralded for their most obvious innovative surface characteristics as well; such as their industrial design or unique interaction models. Unfortunately, this simplifies what is really happening with these breakthrough products that is enabling their amazing success in the market and their resilient defense against the competition. These successful organizations are not simply innovating along one or two dimensions with such products and services. They have intentionally createdcompound innovation models to evolve and disrupt the existing experience ecosystem along multiple dimensions simultaneously.
To compete in today’s competitive marketplace with its accelerating rate of change and disruption, an organization must be capable of creating a robust model for forging compound innovation. First, a sustainable and successful innovation process must exist at the intersection of Strategy, Insights, and Capabilities.
Unguided, freeform innovation can certainly yield interesting discoveries and this may indeed be an appropriate approach for university researchers and well-funded R&D organizations. But, business organizations can rarely afford the investment in innovation programs that may never yield a return. To greatly increase your chances of success, innovation must be guided by business and product strategy, inspired by customer insights and marketplace opportunities, and grounded in technology and talent capabilities to ensure execution success.
Next, you must develop a compound model of innovation that identifies the multiple dimensions along which innovation can be created in order to ultimately forge a successfully innovative product and/or service that dominates the market. It is very difficult for a competitor to unseat you when you have multiple layers of innovation like this.
Apple’s amazing success with the iPod, iPhone, and iPad is a tribute to this compound model of innovation. Those products would not be the market leaders that they are today if they were simply innovating along one or two dimensions, such as the industrial design of the device or the features of the iOS software. Carefully examine what Apple accomplished and you will see that they brought multiple dimensions of innovations together to dramatically shake up the market. To name just a few:
- Technological innovation in the hardware (e.g., Retina display) and software (e.g., App Store)
- Visual design and interaction design innovation (e.g., touchscreen gestures)
- Channel innovation (e.g., a unique agreement with music companies, beautiful Apple Store experiences)
- Business strategy innovation (e.g., song pricing, AT&T partnership)
- Insights innovation (e.g., huge amounts of mobile data flowing back from consumers)
- Brand and marketing innovation (e.g., aspirational brand experiences that lead people to wait in line for days for new product launches)
Now, does every innovation along every single dimension need to be an earth-shattering disruptive force? No, not at all. But, if you do this well enough, the fact that you are delivering synergistic innovations means that it is all the more difficult for a competitor to attack you along just one or two dimensions. Many, many competitors continue to attack Apple’s products by creating MP3 players with more features at a lower price, tablets with more open software at a lower price, smartphones that replicate touchscreen experiences in a sexy industrial design. What they have been unable to replicate is the holistic product and service experience ecosystem that Apple created with its compound innovation model.
You can begin this process today to assess your own organization’s level of excellence and innovation capabilities for each of these dimensions, relative to your competitors. Some examples of questions you should be asking and be able to answer:
- Vision: Who do you want to be?
- Mission: What is your purpose?
- Goals: What problem are you going to solve or what new opportunity are you creating?
- Strategy: How can you do it better than anyone else?
- Talent: Have you hired the right people and are you organized for success?
- Technology: What is possible?
- Execution: Are your processes helping or hurting your ability to innovate and execute?
- Capabilities: What can you create and deliver?
- Consumers: Who are they and what are their unmet wants and needs?
- Channels: Are there new and better ways to reach customers and partners?
- Market: Can you stop “chasing the puck” and instead envision where the industry is heading?
- Insights: What do you know that is helping you identify new opportunities?
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Trendwatcher.com is my fav website. Need I say more? So here's this months latest posts.
Introduction:
Introduction:
2013 will be the perfect storm of necessity and opportunity: some economies will do OK(-ish), others will be shaky, but whatever market or industry you're in, those who understand & cater to changing consumer needs, desires and expectations will forever have plenty of opportunity to profit. A remapped global economy, new technologies (or 'old' technologies applied in new ways), new business models... hey, what's not to like?
Hence this overview of 10 crucial consumer trends (in random order) for you to run with in the next 12 months. Onwards and upwards:
1. PRESUMERS & CUSTOWNERS
As consumers will embrace even more ways to participate in the funding, launch and growth of (new) products and brands that they love, expect pre-ordering, crowdfunding and consumer equity to compete with traditional consumption in 2013...
2. EMERGING²
While the last two decades were about developed markets catering to emerging ones, and emerging markets increasingly catering to developed ones, it's now time to get ready for an explosion in products and services from emerging markets for emerging markets...
3. MOBILE MOMENTS
For those wondering where ‘mobile’ will head next, one behavioral insight should give you plenty to run with: in 2013, consumers will look to their mobile devices to maximize absolutely every moment, multi-if-not-hypertasking their experiences, purchases and communications...
4. NEW LIFE INSIDE
One sign-of-the-times eco-trend for 2013: the phenomenon of products and services that quite literally contain new life inside. Rather than being discarded or even recycled (by someone else), these products can be given back to nature to grow something new, with all the eco-status and eco-stories that come with that...
5. APPSCRIPTIONS
Digital technologies are the new medicines. In 2013, expect consumers to turn to the medical profession and medical institutions to certify and curate health apps and technologies, or to “prescribe” them, much as they prescribe medicines as part of a course of treatment...
6. CELEBRATION NATION
Emerging markets will proudly export and even flaunt their national and cultural heritage in the next 12 months. Symbols, lifestyles and traditions that were previously downplayed if not denied will be a source of pride for domestic consumers, and objects of interest to global consumers...
7. DATA MYNING
To date, the ‘big data’ discussion has focused on the value of customer data to businesses. In 2013 expect savvy shoppers to start reversing the flow, as consumers seek to own and make the most of their lifestyle data, and turn to brands that use this data toproactively offer customers help and advice on how to improve their behavior and/ or save money...
8. AGAIN MADE HERE
The perfect storm of consumers’ ever-greater lust for NEWISM and niches, the expectation of (instantly!) getting just the right product, ongoing eco-concerns and the desire for more interesting stories will all combine with the spread of new local manufacturing technologies such as 3D-printing and make-on-demand, to trigger a resurgence in domestic manufacturing in established markets in 2013...
9. FULL FRONTAL
So what’s next for the mega-trend of transparency in 2013? Brands must move from ‘having nothing to hide’, to pro-actively showing and proving they have nothing to hide...
10. DEMANDING BRANDS
2013 will see switched-on brands (i.e. brands that are embarking on the much-needed journey towards a more sustainable and socially-responsible future) demanding thattheir customers also contribute...
11. MORE-ISM
For many of you, our free content is enough to keep you going until 31 December 2013. And yet, this Trend Briefing is just a snapshot of what we track. So, if you need access to all the trends we’re tracking in 2013, including our exclusive 100+ page 2013 Trend Report, then please check out our Premium Service »
Don't forget...
Liaoning 16, China’s first aircraft carrier
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