Get 'Boned' on Holiday Gifts This Year?

BioJewellery allows you to give a gift from deep inside yourself
-- REALLY deep inside yourself!

I'll bet this isn't what you had in mind when you read that headline...

Art meets Science as both learn from each other on how to craft complex shapes from bone tissue grown in labs. Five couples participated in the project, and have exchanged rings made from the bone cells of their respective mates. The cells needed were collected by removing wisdom teeth from the group and harvesting the sliver of bone that attaches the tooth to the jaw. The bone mineral is dissolved and the extracted bone cells go to the lab.

Believe it or not, there is something redeeming to the medical community here. As their expertise in these techniques increase, it may be possible one day to simply grow replacements for bone damage in the human body, rather than replacing damaged bone with a repurposed rib bone or artificial material.

Get the full story here.

Save The Internet

I found a great website today. I know it's a great site because not only does it have creative content, but it's helping to spread the word about Net Neutrality.

The website is Vintage ToonCast, and the entry on the day I found it featured the YouTube video embedded below. Be sure to take a minute (actually, you'll need to take 4 of them) to view the video and stay educated and informed on this topic that threatens one of our last bastions of true free speech. The one place where most everyone can have a voice that is uncensored and unedited -- the Internet.



Save The Internet!

The Tripping Point

Some of you may have read that headline as "TIPping Point." Read it again: it says "TRIPping Point."

If you're familiar with Malcolm Gladwell's book, you'll know that TIPping Point is a sociological term defined as the exact moment when something unique becomes something common.

MySpace, Blogs, Podcasts, Google AdWords, YouTube, etc. were all unique -- but once accepted by the masses (and how much more mass can you get than a Paris Hilton channel on YouTube?) became common.

My definition of TRIPping Point is when that unique item has stumbled beyond common and fallen on its face. Although I think there's still plenty of life left in (most) of the examples above -- a few of them are starting to drag their feet a bit. The one with its shoelaces untied and getting more tangled with each step is MySpace.

Besides all the obvious troubles with sexual predators using it as a smorgasbord, and the growing glut of commercial pages within the site -- when services like this begin to pop-up, expect a fall to follow.

Interview with an Idea Guy

My friend Jim Canterucci (author of Personal Brilliance) recently began a podcast called "Personal Brilliance: Up Close and Practical."

His podcast is unique in that it's a single interview divided into four episodes. Each episode focuses on one of the Personal Brilliance catalysts (Awareness, Curiosity, Focus, and Initiative) and how they are applied by the subject of the interview. In this case, the interviewee is... ME.

Check out my interview on Awareness. (I promise you the most boring part is listening to all the nice things Jim says about me in the intro.) If you're an impatient person (like me) and can't wait for the new episode to be released each week, Jim provides a link in his show notes on how you can download the entire interview.

If you'd rather not listen to MY babbling, Jim has another series of Personal Brilliance interviews posted with Dianna Booher. It's quite inspiring to hear how others apply the Personal Brilliance catalysts in their own unique way. I'm really looking forward to hearing Jim's interviews with more interesting folk than myself!

7 Steps to Your Next Big Idea

Dubbed "Crowdcasting", companies like Daimler-Chrysler, Hilton, and American Express are awarding cash prizes to 'innovation challenge' sessions in hopes of capturing the next big ideas for their industries.

Here's the seven-step process as outlined by the article in CNNMoney.com and Business 2.0 --

Step 1 : Team formation
MBA students join teams that have three to five members each.

Step 2 : Challenge sent
Each team receives a carefully crafted strategic challenge.

Step 3 : Conference call
Teams discuss their challenge with executives of participating companies.

Step 4 : Brainstorming
Teams have nine days to draft concept plans to solve the challenge.

Step 5 : Idea submitted
A group of judges reviews the teams' concept plans online.

Step 6 : Final round
Finalists present their plans at a two-day session at the University of Virginia.

Step 7 : Winner named
The team gets $20,000; the companies get rights to the team's ideas.

My feeling is that this is another prime example of how some companies are finally realizing the value of seeking ideas from outside their walled fortresses of stagnation, although I feel they need to move from the current use of MBA students (of which some of whom may be a little too eager to please in hopes of securing future employment) and include a mix of real-world product users.

What if the Daimler sessions included people who chose NOT to drive Chrysler vehicles?
Why doesn't Hilton include frequent travelers and hotel guests in their groups?
Wouldn't AMEX benefit from an assembled group of small business owners?