The Psychology Behind All That Clutter You Can't Get Rid Of
We've all got those filing cabinets or drawers filled with stuff we can't bear to throw away or look at—items that seem simultaneously useless and important. If I dug around my files, I'd find defunct credit card statements and notes from stories written nearly a decade ago. And then there are the personal items: the crusty bouquet of dried roses I've kept for more than 16 years (a relic from my first boyfriend), the giant stack of anatomy books from my yoga teaching days now gathering dust in the corner, the endless piles of birthday cards. June Saruwatari knows all about this kind of clutter. She used to hang onto old contracts and paystubs from long-gone jobs—relics of the success and money she'd once made. Saruwatari started throwing stuff away. She's since turned other people on to her ruthless purging skills. Decluttering, believes Saruwatari, isn't just about getting your desk and closet in order. What's Behind All That Clutter? There are myriad reasons we keep stuff.
Innovate on Purpose
Carrot Community
NuancePDF
NuancePDF.com is a cloud-based conversion service that lets you turn PDF files into fully formatted Word and Excel files — right from the free Nuance PDF Reader! Get the Nuance PDF Reader and try it now! With Nuance PDF Reader, you get the most accurate online PDF conversion available through NuancePDF.com — without having to install extra software. No more copying and pasting or retyping PDF documents. Get a free download now and start converting PDF files to useful, editable documents.
5 Ways Small Businesses can Innovate Like the Big Guys
In traditional thinking, being competitive in the global marketplace requires a significant investment in time and resources. But the reality is that any organization today can take advantage of open innovation to innovate faster and cheaper than ever before, positioning them as true competition in the industry. This article will explore the top five ways SMEs can leverage open innovation. The pace of business today requires creativity, new ideas and new product innovations on an almost on-demand basis. To solve this problem, a growing number of small and medium sized companies are turning to open innovation and crowdsourcing as a way of leveling the playing field with large, global corporations boasting extensive in-house marketing, R&D and business development departments, without increasing fixed costs. Recognizing the opportunities that open innovation presents, below are some tips to help you take advantage of open innovation in 2012: By Dwayne Spradlin About the author
How Do You Create A Culture Of Innovation?
This is the third part in a series by Scott Anthony, author of The Little Black Book Of Innovation. It sounds so seductive: a “culture of innovation.” The three words immediately conjure up images of innovation savants like 3M, Pixar, Apple, and Google--the sorts of places where innovation isn’t an unnatural act, but part of the very fabric of a company. While culture is a complicated cocktail, four ingredients propel an organization forward: the right people, appropriate rewards and incentives, a common language, and leadership role-modeling. The Innovator’s DNA Has Four Components If you ask most people what makes a great innovator, the most common response is innate gifts from parents or a higher power. At the core is what the professors call “associational thinking.” Questioning: Asking probing questions that impose or remove constraints. Most organizations have people who follow these behaviors--even if they aren’t immediately obvious to senior leadership. Then it dawned on me.
Useful sites for small business | ITworld
Whether you're running a business out of your den or from a penthouse in the sky, you don't have time or money to waste on second-rate tools. These well-designed services and resources are among the best the Web offers for small and midsize businesses. Some include apps for smartphones and downloads for your desktop, but all of them provide the bulk of their features within a Web browser. Productivity In the land of full-featured productivity suites, the battle royal rages on between Google Apps for Business and Microsoft Office 365. The free note-taking tool Evernote works in your browser, on the desktop, and on nearly any mobile device, so you really can carry your notes with you. VMWare's SlideRocket is a beautiful, cloud-based alternative to PowerPoint (and Google Docs' weak Presentations). Need to brainstorm in a more structured way than in a long text list? Communications If you conduct business from multiple phones (who doesn't?) Security Office Space Working Remotely Trip Planning
Lego's Life of George Is a iPhone Game That Uses Real Legos
You've probably played a game on an iPhone and you've probably built something using Legos. But have you done both simultaneously? Lego has expanded into the world of mobile gaming with its game Life of George, that has you build Lego structures using real-world blocks. The game is the first fully-integrated digital-to-physical game from Lego, and follows the exploits of George, “a software developer by day and adventurer by night” through his travels to places like Hawaii and New York. In each location, George takes some snapshots of things you find there and fills up his virtual scrapbook. Game play involves you building the things George wants pictures of, and then taking pictures of your creations with your iPhone or iPod touch. The game was released in October, and recently walked away with an award at SXSWi in the Amusement category, and made its way to our San Francisco Mashable office for a test drive. How it works Things you build are placed on a special mat once you're done.
