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Design Economics

Watch Alain de Botton’s “A kinder, gentler philosophy of success” talk at TED

Alain de Botton examines our ideas of success and failure — and questions the assumptions underlying these two judgments. Is success always earned? Is failure? He makes an eloquent, witty case to move beyond snobbery to find true pleasure in our work […]

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Design Software

Watch Tom Wujec’s “3 ways the brain creates meaning” talk at TED

Information designer Tom Wujec talks through three areas of the brain that help us understand words, images, feelings, connections. In this short talk from TEDU, he asks: How can we best engage our brains to help us better understand big ideas? […]

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China Innovation

China, Technology and the Environment: first 10 million-kw-level wind power station to be built in mid-July 2009

Workers would begin construction on China’s first 10 million-kw-level wind power station in mid-July in the far northwestern city of Jiuquan, Gansu Province, a local official said recently […]

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Consumer Behavior Software Trend Watching

Watch Seth Godin’s “Why Tribes, not money or factories, will Change the World” talk at TED

Seth Godin argues the Internet has ended mass marketing and revived a human social unit from the distant past: tribes. Founded on shared ideas and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make big change. He urges us to do so […]

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Design Readings

Listen to Christina Wodtke’s “Business-Centered Design” talk at IA Summit 2009

In this talk, Christina Wodtke, founder of Boxes and Arrows and product developer at LinkedIn, walks through the most common business models, the desired user behavior that supports them, and how those business models affect the architecture of the website including features and functionality […]

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Design Readings

Listen to Joe Sokohl’s “A Real Nowhere Man: Managing Remote Teams Remotely” talk at IA Summit 2009

Not only do we work with people across the hall, across town, and across the country, but we also work with people we never meet from countries we know about only through Wikipedia or the Travel Channel. UX Lead for PracticeWorks, Joe Sokohl discusses principles to live by when managing teams remotely including: communication, flexibility, sensitivity, courage, and the best tool of all, empathy […]

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Design Software

Autodesk Launches Online Site for AutoCAD Users to Interact and Learn from Each Other

Autodesk announced recently the AutoCAD Exchange, an online destination for AutoCAD users to connect and learn from experts, provide feedback to the product developers, and access professional tools that can help them do their jobs better. The online community is rich with original multimedia content, including an entertaining video series about “working for the man”, eLearning tools and aggregated CAD information from Web-based resources. Visitors can also create profiles to personalize their experience and share their own tips, scripts and applications, projects and experiences with the global community of AutoCAD users […]

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China Economics

China, Technology & the Environment: City in Henan Province to resettle 27,000 for south-north water diversion

Resettlement of about 27,000 downtown residents of Jiaozuo City in the central Henan Province started this week to make way for China’s massive south-to-north water diversion program, the provincial water diversion office said Friday. Resettlement is scheduled to finish at the end of September, when work on the trunk channel of the central route will start […]

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Trend Watching

Steven Pinker’s “A brief history of violence” talk at TED

Steven Pinker charts the decline of violence from Biblical times to the present, and argues that, though it may seem illogical and even obscene, given Iraq and Darfur, we are living in the most peaceful time in our species’ existence […]

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China

Living in China: “Feeling tired” biggest complaint of Shanghai office workers

Feeling tired is the top complaint of local office workers, followed by worries over their jobs and emotional problems, according to an online survey. Covering 405 employees aged between 25 and 40 in Shanghai earning over 5,000 yuan (US$731) a month, the survey is the first in the city to study office workers’ lives and barriers to their satisfaction, said the organizers, consultant Nielsen Company (Shanghai) Ltd and the local branch of Cerebos, producer of BRAND’S health products […]