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Consumer Behavior Design Innovation

“People Can’t Tell You What They Want”, and nine other design research myths

Chris Rockwell’s (Lextant) IDSA conference presentation ‘People Can’t Tell You What They Want‘ on design research myths is available via SlideShare. Rockwell goes on challenging the now cliche notion that ‘people can’t tell you what they want’ (Myth #2), which has been used as a rallying cry for observational research over interviews and focus groups. In fact both interviews and observations are effective and have their place when done appropriately (and in most cases, co-exist) […]

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Information Technology Innovation Software Trend Watching

Andrew Turner: “Beyond Google Maps”

Andrew is co-founder of Mapufacture, where he works developing open-standards and building tools to make it easy for people to create dynamic, customized maps using complex geospatial tools. He also actively participates in the open-source community and develops several mapping tools such as Mapstraction and GeoPress. Watch Andrew Turner ‘Beyond Google Maps‘ presentation at the Future of Web Apps London 2008

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Information Technology Software

New Autodesk Productivity Study available

Autodesk announced the availability of the AutoCAD P&ID Productivity Study, conducted by the U.K. research firm Cambashi Limited, to demonstrate the benefits of using AutoCAD P&ID (piping and instrumentation diagram) software to AutoCAD software users working in process-plant design and engineering. The study tested Autodesk’s hypothesis that AutoCAD P&ID software offers significant productivity advantages over standard AutoCAD for work on P&ID.

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Design

Typography, Design & Illustration: “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights”

Animation created for the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

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Innovation Software

Autodesk Announces Availability of New FDO Providers: Geospatial Open Source Community to Drive Faster Innovation

Furthering its commitment to providing the geospatial open source community with faster innovation and support for standards worldwide, Autodesk announced the availability of new providers developed on Feature Data Object (FDO) open data access technology. FDO technology, originally created by Autodesk and now a fully endorsed project in the open source community through the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo), allows users to store, retrieve, update, and analyze geospatial data…

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China Design

Chinese Calligraphy: candidate for world heritage designation

Chinese calligraphy has been submitted to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a candidate for the Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity (MOIHH) designation. With a 3,000-year history, Chinese calligraphy developed along with the evolution of Chinese characters, Li Shenghong, an expert with the Chinese National Academy of Arts, said recently […]

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Design

Autodesk Student Engineering and Design Community is Redesigned and Reaches Record Number of Members

Just in time for the Back to School season, Autodesk has redesigned its Student Engineering and Design Community website with a new look and feel that is more closely aligned with other popular social networking sites frequented by students. The enhanced Student Community offers several new features and benefits to more than 350,000 students and educators…

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China Innovation

Intellectual Property: Shanghai to establish IPR protection fund

Shanghai is proposing a fund to help Chinese enterprises protect their intellectual property rights (IPR) overseas. It will protect Chinese enterprises’ IPR not only with fund, but also with related policies, said Chen Zhixing, the director of Shanghai Intellectual Property Administration at a press on September 24, 2008…

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China Information Technology Software

China’s Software Service Industry Achieved US$50 Billion Revenue in the first half of 2008

According to Zhao Xiaofan, an official in charge of the software industry with the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China’s software service industry maintained a rapid growth in the first half of 2008 and its revenue reached CNY345.67 billion (over 50 billion US dollars).
Zhao said at the ongoing 12th Xiamen International Trade and Investment Fair that in the first six months of 2008, China’s software industry realized a year-on-year increase of 30.4% […]

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Design Economics Innovation Software Trend Watching

Autodesk Releases Sustainability Report

Autodesk has just released it’s sustainability report, which is designed to encourage the develop of a community of innovators in the area of sustainability. This report describes how 3D digital modeling technology enables designers to innovate in ways that save energy and optimize materials use. It also highlights Autodesk’s collaboration with the U.S. Green Building Council, American Institute of Architects, Designers Accord, and sponsorship of the documentary series e2: the economies of being environmentally conscious.