Watch these two new commercials from Volkswagen. One of them is a hip beetle cavorting through the undergrowth. The other is a young Darth Vader who scares no one. I see the hip beetle and smile. The other one makes me feel warm inside. The beetle has close to 70,000 views. Darth Vader has 635,000 views. No prizes for …
If anyone wanted to compete against the mineral water giants, here’s the ammunition. Just fill up any of these water bottles with filters from the nearest available tap and you get water that is 99.99% free of all dissolved contaminants, pollutants, heavy metals, microbial cysts, etc. In other words, mineral water – without the waste. …
What is the image that comes to mind when you read the word ‘bulb’? The icon for ideas, the bulbous round and transparent glass with a filament that lights up in the middle, right? So here’s a different take on the humble bulb. Goodbye Edison – nice brand name. Don’t waste time looking for the light source, …
The idea that simply asking people questions gets the right answers is open to debate. In surveys, people say things they don’t mean, do diametrically opposite things from what they say. So, is there an alternative? A company called Affinnova calls it evolutionary design. The research does not ask people what they prefer about a product. They …
Why is it that seeing the world through a camera looks different from what we see naturally? This article explains what the similarities and the differences are. It makes a distinction between subjective measurement (real eye) and absolute measurement (camera). But cameras allow us to distort and comment on a situation through nuances in the way a …
It may not be as famous as Colombian worldwide, but in Chennai, ‘filter’ coffee is the drink to have. The original is served in stainless steel cups, not in pretty ceramic. You still have places where a tumbler full of coffee is inverted inside a larger bowl. You carefully unpack the scalding hot liquid, let it flow …
Reading a set of articles from one point of view, we arrive at a conclusion. Take the sensational case that has been ruling the airwaves for the last few days – the murder of the Addl Collector of Malegaon, Yashwant Sonwane, burnt to death by the ‘Oil Mafia’. If we were to read only the reporting on …
All it requires is an upward movement of the lips. That’s what we are aware of anyway. Until animation artists tried to replicate the smile, it became painfully apparent that turning simple manipulations of the lips into smiles instead of grimaces was high art. The problem is that we are finely attuned to human emotion. We don’t …
It’s great business for the big hotels. Or for exhibitions where the product is unveiled with much fanfare. At CES this year alone over 100 tablets were launched, apart from the big ticket 3D televisions and other electronic gadgetry. Launches are glitzy, expensive affairs with a lot going into the planning and execution of the event. How many of …
We’re getting addicted to ease. Less work, more convenience, fatter paychecks, endless vacations. We’re not just celebrating the people who are successful, we’re making heroes of those who made it with ease. Answer 15 questions and you can become a millionaire. Children obsessed with gaming find studying difficult? The solution is to make learning fun. Timothy Feriss …
