According to a new survey on global innovation conducted by Newsweek and Intel, the United States is suffering from a serious self-esteem problem. The online questionnaire, conducted between Sept. 28 and Oct. 13 of this year, polled 4,800 adults in the U.S., China, Germany, and the U.K. about thoughts on the world's innovation leaders.
To start, the graph below shows that while more than 70% of Americans think the U.S. is a technologically innovative country, only 41% think that the United States is staying ahead of China on innovation. Meanwhile, more than 80% of the Chinese think that the U.S. is innovative and is staying ahead of China on innovation. It seems the world has gotten the recession blues--no one believes in themselves anymore.
One of the most interesting points the survey showed is where we think innovation comes from. Look at the differences in these results.
The most interesting difference is the polarization between math and science versus creative problem solving--the results are almost a mirror image of one another. While more than half of American parents think innovation comes from skills in math and science, only a tiny 9% of Chinese parents think so. Instead, the Chinese believe innovation is born from creative approaches to problem solving--45% versus the mere 18% of American parents surveyed.
Another graph shows that Americans who think the U.S. is lacking in innovation blame it on American schools lagging in math and science education. Forty-two percent blame the schools, while 11% blame a plain lack of skill. Ouch.
Finally, nearly 80% of the Chinese surveyed are convinced the next big innovation will come in energy or computers and electronics, but a mere 4% see anything big happening in health care. Across the Pacific, Americans believe equally in energy and computers and electronics, but have a little more hope for innovation in health care.
Micro-video sites--TwitVid, TweetTube, and Twiddeo, to name a few--and even staple, Twit-friendly video sites like YouTube and Ustream are smack dab in the middle of their 15 minutes of fame. Last month rumors even circled (and were shut down) that Twitter itself was looking to develop a video posting feature. Helping the mini-site hotness is the mini-buzz from mini-celebrities, B- or C-list types flocking to Twitter-friendly video. None's more mini than Tila Tequila, whose recent breakdown-induced strip on Ustream almost broke the Internets ... and our spirits. Absent a popular reality show, gawkers watched as she mumbled and slurred about how she was a "grown ass woman" and took her clothes off for a live Web audience.
Previously, rapper 50 Cent held the premiere for his new film Before I Self Destruct on Ustream and attracted 255,000 viewers. The Foo Fighters brought in 150,000 fans for a recent Webcast. Disney starlet Demi Lovato premiered her most recent video on Twitter through TwitVid. After leaving Twitter in a huff, Miley Cyrus even made a YouTube rap video about leaving Twitter--which then spread quickly through Twitter, naturally. And of course U2 brought in a whopping 10 million viewers during its YouTube live stream.
Celebrities have found huge success and millions of fans on social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook, but there's a fine line. Some celebrities have used Twitter to go crazy in virtual public (read: Tila or Lindsay Lohan before her). Some have immense popularity but never actually say anything personal (read: Britney Spears). Some jumped on for a minute but have never committed (read: Oprah), and some spent a lot of time on it at first but eventually got fed up and left (read: Lily Allen). News organizations are cracking down, sports leagues are getting tough on tweeting, and movie studios are even adding no-tweet clauses to celebrity contracts.
As with any new medium, it's going to take both celebrities and the common folk a while to figure out exactly what's acceptable for social media. But until they do, we're happy to get boob-filled breakdowns and uncensored rants and raves, especially in short-attention-span-friendly video. After all, celebrities are just like us.
Adidas Originals is joining forces with the (sadly but acceptably over-licensed) Star Wars brand for a new line of shoes and activewear due out early next year. Though this isn't the first time Adidas and Star Wars have partnered, the results of this year's collaboration are much more promising (read: nerdy) than the last. Take a look at the power of the Dark Side preview photos:
The "I Sense Something, a Presence I've Not Felt Since…" Sneakers
In these Vader-branded kicks, you’ll be ready to rush in against any foe. Wear them too long, and the odor becomes more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
The "Only Imperial Stormtroopers Are So Precise" Sneakers
No one will ever ask, "Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?" again. On the other hand, these accessories may not be acceptable if you're looking to join the 501st Legion.
The "You Don't Know the Power of the Dark Side" Hoodie
The respiratory machine front flap is impressive. Most impressive.
The "Do or Do Not--There is No Try" Sneakers
The only pro-Rebel apparel of the bunch, these shoes will nonetheless draw you in like a tractor beam.
In a marketing move straight from the late '80s or early '90s, indie film label Oscilloscope Pictures is starting a direct-mail DVD of the month club. (SubPop Singles Club, anyone?) The company, founded by Beastie Boy Adam Yauch and former ThinkFilm VP David Fenkel, will send you the next 10 Oscilloscope DVD releases about a week before the official release date, shipping included, for $150. Members of the "Circle of Trust," as the club is called, also get previous Oscilloscope releases for half price.
As DVD sales slump--at recent industry event Blu-Con 2.0, Fox Home Entertainment president Mike Dunn said he expects disc sales to be down about 12% year-to-year in the fourth quarter--lower-selling indie films are pushed to the side or never picked up for distribution in the first place. A move like this from an up-and-coming indie house like Oscilloscope, which is behind distributing this year's well-received, Oscar-buzzing drama The Messenger, just confirms that smaller houses are begging for revenue anywhere they can get it.
And the indie crowd just might be the perfect set to target. Look at FilmMovement, a 7-year-old company founded on the premise that film lovers will pay for the surprise of an indie film in their mailbox each month. FilmMovement attends festivals around the globe and buys theater and DVD distribution rights, spreading indie magic to those who can't attend for about $11 a month.
A potential problem with Oscilloscope's plan is the oft-blamed brat of the movie industry itself, Netflix. A quick search through the Netflix library shows that most of Oscilloscope's films are available there, some even streaming instantly. Not exactly a push for the direct-mail option, especially since indie film buffs are almost certainly Netflix members already.
The DVD market has fallen 10% since it peaked in 2004, and it fell a 6% to $22.4 billion last year alone. And with Blu-Ray not catching on as hoped, even after three years on the market, the home entertainment industry is flailing. "Nobody's happy," Fox's Dunn said at Blu-Con 2.0, "but you still come to work every day." Hopefully smaller indie filmmakers and marketers can continue to work as well, even if direct-mail is the only option.
Hundreds of Facebook groups were turned into zombies on Tuesday in an attempt to display just how vulnerable social networkers can be. Using a design flaw in Facebook's groups feature, a group called Control Your Info found Facebook groups where the administrator had stepped down, joined the group, claimed the vacant administrator spot (which is open to any group member when the administrator leaves) and changed the name to Control Your Info.
"When you're admin of a group, you can basically do anything you want with it," the group's Web page states. "You can change it's name, and the groups members won't even get a notification of it. You can send mails to all members and edit info." An evildoer could seize a widowed group (such as the hypothetical group "Sweet Valley High LoOoOoVeS Robert Pattison," for instance) and change the name to something offensive (like "The Coalition for Pedophile's Rights"), thereby damaging the image of the group members.
Control Your Info's principals spoke via Skype to FastCompany.com on Tuesday. They chatted as a group and declined to give their names but they are four students from Hyper Island, a progressive school program in Sweden that focuses on digital media and communications. (Read a Fast Company piece about Hyper Island from the March '09 issue here.) The foursome is using the experiment as their final project and will present it on Wednesday. Do they consider this project a success? "We like to think so," they said. "The first reactions we got were anger. This was not our intention at all, but some people who were in hijacked groups reacted by getting upset. But now, it seems that the anger has settled, and that people have started discussing in a constructive way."
Though a bit of a stunt, the group has a valid point about online security and does a good job of pointing out a flaw in Facebook's design. When an admin leaves, Facebook should have a better security process, such as giving current members a week to claim the admin spot, then shutting down the group if no one does. Facebook users should think extra hard before putting online reputations in the hands of a total stranger who also happens to love B'Elanna Torres from Star Trek Voyager or the onion rings at Sonic.
Was Control Your Info's project effective? Sure. If Facebook wasn't aware of the problem before, they are now. But is exploiting a rare and random design flaw (instead of, say, an e-mail to Facebook) the most effective way to continue a cause? Not really. Control Your Info's Facebook fan page has been disabled, as have accounts that got tangled up in the hijacking. Control Your Info backed up all the information from the original groups that were hijacked, but since their Facebook accounts were disabled, they're no long admins and can't restore the group info. "We will find some way of providing it back to the people who it belongs to," they say. Whoops.
It would be impressive if Control Your Info continued using guerrilla tactics to expose problems with other popular services, such as Twitter or YouTube, but when asked if they planned to follow up their Facebook stunt, the group hedged. "We wanted to provide a platform for discussion for the people. We didn't want to be in focus ourselves. It seems like the discussion is starting up. If we can be outside of the discussion, we will."
Pharmacy chain Rite Aid is testing a new customer rewards program called Wellness+ in four markets and promises to roll it out nationwide soon, according to its web site. The card offers standard benefits—it's free to sign up, customers earn points and get percentages off of Rite Aid brand products, coupons flow freely in the mail and so on. But one of the new so-called "benefits" is earning points toward free health screenings. When a cardholder racks up 500 points—or spends $500 on non-prescription products, since one point is worth one dollar—he will receive a certificate that can be used for free health screenings, such as glucose and cholesterol readings. The program also give 25 points per prescription filled, but doesn't include prescriptions paid for in whole or in part by state or federal
health care programs, like Medicare or Medicaid. But isn't it safe to assume that people spending $500 at the pharmacy or filling 20 prescriptions are already screened? Who exactly is this "benefit" supposed to benefiting?
With the American health care system in a state of disarray and pharmacies like Walgreens stepping up to fill the affordable health care void with inexpensive health care screenings and advice, what is Rite Aid getting at? It seems that first-step screenings that are so important to customer health should come more often than when $500 is spent on toilet paper and a Kit-Kat bar.
The program has a few good points: the 10% off of Rite Aid brand products will help those who are struggling financially with the basics, and the program gives participants 24/7 access to a Rite Aid pharmacist through a 1-800 number. But rewarding more affluent customers who can afford to spend $500 on non-prescription items or are constantly filling prescriptions doesn't seem like the best way to promote public health. Real innovation here would be free screenings for poverty-line customers, or at least a move realistic point offering.
It's no secret that we at Fast Company love an underdog. A little guy taking on a big guy? Bring on the popcorn. And before this weekend's events, wewererooting for artist Shepard Fairey's fair use case against the Associated Press. But now, we're left feeling lost, confused, and even a little hurt. What happened to our fair use hero? Well, he lied.
If you haven't been following along, the AP claimed in January that Fairey used one of their images for his now-iconic "Hope and Progress" poster, featuring then-Sen. Barack Obama, and asked for credit and compensation for the altered photograph. Fairey sued the AP, claiming his work didn't infringe on its copyrights because of "fair use." The AP countersued, claiming Fairey "misappropriated" the photograph.
Fairey seemed to do everything right. He hired powerhouse lawyer Anthony Falzone, the executive director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford University. He was standing up for fair use rights and the recent "remix" trend. He was a hero for a new way of spreading content, the street artist's answer to Girl Talk. Winning his case against the copyright-crazy Associated Press would be a huge coup for bloggers, artists, and musicians of the Internet age. But now ...?
We aren't really sure. The AP claimed Fairey used a close-up shot by AP photographer Mannie Garcia from a National Press Club event about Darfur in April of 2006. Fairey said that while he did use a photo from the event, it was not the one the AP claimed, but one with Obama sitting next to actor George Clooney, and that he cropped the photo and used it as a reference.
Now, months later, Fairey has come out saying the he lied--he did, in fact, use the photo the AP claimed all along. But that's not all. After he was countersued in March, Fairey destroyed evidence and falsified documents to cover up the use of the photo. "In an attempt to conceal my mistake, I submitted false images and deleted other images," Fairey said in a statement. "I sincerely apologize for my lapse in judgment, and I take full responsibility for my actions, which were mine alone."
This doesn't exactly change Fairey's argument--he admitted all along that he used an AP photo, he just lied about which one. But his lie has come with huge consequences: Falzone, Fairey's lawyer and Fair Use Project head, has pulled out. "There are lots of reasons that it becomes difficult or effectively impossible for a lawyer to continue to represent a client in this situation," Falzone told The New York Times. "We still believe, as strongly as ever, in the underlying fair use and expression issues of this case," he said, but clearly he doesn't believe in Fairey enough to remain behind his cause. Ouch.
Fairey says he plans to continue his case with new representation (once he finds it), but he'll be missing something he had before: public support. It's not that all supporters thought Fairey was a great artist, but he was standing up for street art, remixing, and fair use, a small guy taking on a corporate beacon. (Yes, we realize the AP is a not-for-profit, but it's huge and stuffy nonetheless.) And sure, Fairey is still all of that, but now he's tainted. With his lies, his case has lost its underdog sparkle, leaving Fairey looking like a chump artist trying to get out of paying for a photo.
It's unclear how large of an effect Fairey's lies will have on the suit, but it destroys his credibility and leaves supporters feeling betrayed. The fair use fight will continue, but "Fairey Use?" We think it's dead and gone.
Filling its own shoes as one of the world's most innovative manufacturers once again, Nike has partnered with MAS Holdings to open the new Apparel Innovation and Training Centre in Sri Lanka. The new center, operated and staffed by Nike but located in the MAS Fabric Park in Thulhiriya, Sri Lanka, will feature a 12-week Core Lean Program with sessions on theory and lean manufacturing as well as hands-on training with manufacturing process innovations.
The move spotlights Nike's idea that just providing jobs alone isn't enough, and that educating and training factory workers in its
developing world facilities offers deeper benefits than running a
sweatshop production line. It's a warm approach: Years ago it would
have been unheard of. Even today, it's somewhat of a coup for a brand
to get a major factory manager to co-fund an innovation center simply
for the betterment of its employees. This effort is modeled on Nike's Innovation and Training Centre for
footwear in Vietnam, which is using a similar formula for apparel
production.
MAS is also setting up the Linea AITC, a new apparel manufacturing facility that will manufacture Nike products and serve as a lab for students to try out and experiment with the processes and improvements developed during the program. MAS Holdings, the region's largest supplier of intimate apparel and active wear, partners with major global brands like Speedo and Victoria's Secret. Perhaps other big brands like these should take a hint from Nike—and its growing financials, up 3% to $19.2 billion in 2009.
If holding the launch of IRex's new e-reader at the New York Historical Society was designed to make a statement about a history-making new device, it did just the opposite. The IRex DR800SG, which demoed among hundred-year-old paintings in ornate gold frames, looked as old and archaic as the building it was revealed in.
Instead of an innovative new addition to the ever-more-crowded e-reader market, IRex gives us more of the same old thing. Actually, it presents less of the same, with fewer features on the reader than its competitors. There's no note-taking function, for example. The on-screen keyboard is small and awkward. And, of all things, it uses a stylus. And clearly IRex didn't put a whole lot of effort into the database-y sounding name.
It's hard to believe the company thinks this is worth $400. True, the e-ink technology looks nice, and the 8.1-inch screen is welcome compared to the Kindle and other readers' smaller screens. But in the age of the iPhone, where apps swish onto the screen and slick keyboards slide up and down, IRex's device feels like it's running a stodgy old Mac OS from the mid-90s. Without color. And while the bar that lets you turn pages and scroll the menu is cool, it's on the left, making it a bit awkward to use depending on how you’re holding the device.
The interface doesn't excite, with bland icons and a noticeable lack of features. Problematically, the device I demoed froze up when I rotated the page to landscape (a nice touch, though there’s no accelerometer so shifting is manual and slow), so I had to reboot and then wouldn’t come back from sleep mode. Not good.
One area IRex did manage to (sort of) innovate is the distribution of both the device itself and its content. Partnerships abound: Best Buy will sell the device in stores, Verizon is providing the 3G network, and Barnes & Noble is a launch partner for bookselling. Unlike Amazon's Kindle, the device supports eBooks purchased anywhere, so you won't lose your books if you decide to switch devices.
The reader is also open platform, and it's worth keeping an eye on IRex's plans to allow third party developers to design apps for the device. When they do, new data plans and payment options will have to be rejiggered--3G can’t be included in the price for new network-hogging apps.
So with its first foray into the U.S. market, IRex isn’t making much of an impression. More enticing are the company's plans to offer a true touchscreen device in mid-2010 and a full color reader by 2011. There's just nothing special about the DR800SG.
Too bad the reader was not presented as a budget option, at $79 or even $99. As one of the most expensive readers out there—and one of the most run-of-the-mill—it's hard to justify spending $400. History in the making? Not quite.
Apple fanboys jumpedallover this morning’s reports of a planned Apple Store employee walkout in Lynnwood, Washington. We tracked down a former employee of the Lynnwood store, Glen Bowers, who confirms that the management staff was less than friendly during his tenure there. “We were
convinced we were making a difference and helping Apple, and the
[management] took advantage of that,” he says. “We were constantly
threatened with being fired, and we were warned that once fired from
Apple, we can never work for Apple again. New people who were hired
knew nothing about Macs or any Apple products and were paid more than
us. It killed us, but there was nothing we could do.”
Store employees put in complaints to Apple HR for
more than a year before any action was taken, according to Bowers. “I certainly
applaud their willingness to stand up," he says. "I only wish I had thought of a
walkout when I was there.”
According to ifoAppleStore’s original post, disgruntled specialists, technicians, and geniuses, unhappy with management’s “abusive” behavior, are planning a walkout for 1pm next Saturday, Oct. 3. “Insiders” tell ifoAppleStore that complaints to Apple’s HR team have been under investigation, and that even after a talk with senior vice president of retail Ron Johnson, nothing has been accomplished.
Is this standard-issue griping from former employees, or is there trouble lurking beneath the bright and beautiful sheen of the Apple Store? Apple’s media relations didn't return our calls and emails. When we tried the store itself, the employee who answered said: “This is the first time I’ve heard of this.”
The comment sections of today's blog posts lit up with tales of managerial bullying and holier-than-thou attitudes from people claiming to be former Apple Store employees and rejected applicants. Some commenters cheered on the employees’ efforts while others blamed Microsoft’s PR team for a conspiracy (especially considering recent reports of Microsoft allegedly poaching Apple Store employees for their own locations).
So what’s it like to work at an Apple store? Any Seattle-based readers or Apple Store employees in the know can email us at tips@fastcompany.com.
Micro-video site Vidly (formerly TwitVid.io) has launched its new video commenting feature Vidly Express with the help of a rapper Chamillionaire. As you can see 
Celebrities have found 
In a marketing move straight from the late '80s or early '90s, indie film label Oscilloscope Pictures is starting a direct-mail 
Pharmacy chain Rite Aid is testing a new customer rewards program called Wellness+ in four markets and promises to roll it out nationwide soon, 
It's no secret that we at Fast Company love an underdog. A little guy taking on a big guy? Bring on the popcorn. And before this weekend's events, 
This doesn't exactly change Fairey's argument--he admitted all along that he used an AP photo, he just lied about which one. But his lie has come with huge consequences: Falzone, Fairey's lawyer and Fair Use Project head, has pulled out. "There are lots of reasons that it becomes difficult or effectively impossible for a lawyer to continue to represent a client in this situation," Falzone 
Filling its own shoes as one of the world's most innovative manufacturers once again, Nike has partnered with MAS Holdings to open the new Apparel Innovation and Training Centre in Sri Lanka. The new center, operated and staffed by Nike but located in the MAS Fabric Park in Thulhiriya, Sri Lanka, will feature a 12-week Core Lean Program with sessions on theory and lean manufacturing as well as hands-on training with manufacturing process innovations.
The interface doesn't excite, with bland icons and a noticeable lack of features. Problematically, the device I demoed froze up when I rotated the page to landscape (a nice touch, though there’s no accelerometer so shifting is manual and slow), so I had to reboot and then wouldn’t come back from sleep mode. Not good. 
Apple fanboys 
