Innovation CHEF

Though not strictly related to related to Innovation or Innovation in Ireland the new Coraline movie is just fantastic. I brought my eldest daughter along to see it in 3D and was not disappointed in the least. The story is genuinely excellent, from the pen of the comic writer / novelist  Neil Gaiman.  The film itself is a great piece of film making. I heard it described as “the Shining for kids” and that is probably not that far away from the truth. It is much, much better than The Nightmare Before Christmas or  Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride for example. Even the website shows care, craft and imagination.

Remember that Genrich Altshuller wrote numerous works of science fiction published under the pseudonym Genrikh Altov.

Neil Gaiman was number 40 on this years Fast Company most creative people list. His new book The Graveyard Book won the Newbery Medal, the top award for Childrens books. I also recommend The Sandman very highly.

See Coraline in 3D.

Is this the next generation of email? Google have just announced a new magical in-browser communication tool. Google Wave is their new tool for communication and collaboration on the web and was announced at the Google I/O conference. Follow the link for the video announcement with show and tell.

Having promised something special for the conference the Google team seem to have delivered.

It’s a hybrid of email, web chat, IM, and project management software enabling a unification of personal web based communication. Conversations can happen in real time – keystroke by keystroke.

Looking a lot like Gmail but with an IM feel and lots of focus on contacts and everything being shareable – instantly. Drag and drop from your desktop to share files.

This has the potential to displace a lot of collaboration tools used today and with Google might behind that we all might be on the wave very soon.

Check it out here.

TED is  one of my favourite resources. I looks like TED is coming to Dublin on the 12th June as part of  TEDx.

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is famous for its inspirational talks by respected academics, talented individuals and those who have a unique vision to show to the world. With the TEDx series of independent spin-off events, the same spirit of spreading exciting and inspirational ideas will now arrive in Dublin on 12 June in Science Gallery.

Unfotunately it looks like the event is sold out according to the Science Gallery website.

Find out more on the TEDxDublin facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/pages/TEDxDublin/82330139126?ref=mf

Speakers that look confirmed so far are:

• Blaise Aguera y Arcas, the man behind Microsoft Live Lab’s Photosynth technology
• Dr Scott Rikard, co-founder of science education site Science With Me and co-creator of UCD’s autonomous robot design competition Roborugby

Check out the latest TED talk here from Michelle Obama, speaking at a London Girls school on the importance of taking Education seriously.

Strange and mesmerising

I’m sure this will sell a lot of Samsung LED Televisions.

Having been a business traveller on many an occasion this list brought back memories of hotels, jet lag and very dodgy claims. HowStuffworks has a nice list of the Top Ten Most Popular Infomercials. When I lived in the US I didn’t bother with TV too much – strictly a travelling thing! Infomercials are a much ignored source of innovations that actually are meeting a large market.

“But wait, there’s more!”

I think I owned a Power Juicer, a Magic Bullet and eversharp knives.

“Now how much would you pay?”

Pretty Sure I bought them in the local Goodwill store

“Call within the next 10 minutes, and we’ll double your order!”

Sadly I think they may have went back to the Goodwill

“Cleanup is a snap!”

Yes indeed

And an infomercial that didn’t the cut:

Looking for a career change? Something a little bit different? How about this for an opportunity to work in both open-source software and social media, on a project that is out of this world:

Astronomer Jill Tarter has made a far-reaching TED Prize wish — to look for signs of intelligent life on other planets.

I wish that you would empower Earthlings everywhere to become active participants in the ultimate search for cosmic company.

As part of making this wish come true, the SETI Institute is looking to hire a project manager with the experience, qualifications and energy to run the TED Prize wish project for at least two years. For the full job description check on the TED Blog.

Astronomer Jill Tarter is Director of the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute’s Center for SETI Research, and also holder of the Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI.

See Jill make her wish :