You can, I guess--but should you?

Meet the nanocopter. This palmsized device, from Looxcie (Look See?), attaches to your ear and buzzes around you constantly recording your life from every angle. The MeCam.

You do not use a remote control--this "thing" responds to voice commands. You can tell it "up," "down," or "follow me."

A filter strips out the buzing motor noise. Then you download this deathless record to your phone--or certain phones.

Yes, it's creative--but I am not sure it passes the "should you" test.

What if everyone had these buzzing around their heads? What if they crashed into each other. A fireball? Nah, probably not.

"Look, the Grand Canyon--and here is the back of my head as I look into it."

For more info, go to http://www.alwaysinnovating.com. If you dare.

Coming everywhere--infographics

Let's be kind and not say that with the slow demise of cursive handwriting and multisyllabic prose, we are becoming post-literate. However, I am approached almost daily with offers of infographics--information jammed into a snappy chart instead of a paragraph. Creative? Sure. But can't we still have some words? The above is from http://www.herzan.com/resources/articles/hearing-loss-and-musicians.html. It has to do with not sitting too close to the speakers if you plan on hearing the rest of your life.

The quick--and the retweeted

When the lights went out during the Third Quarter of the Superbowl, many people got flustered--but many other PR and ad people got busy.

Instead of wringing hands over the fate of their spendy ads, they spat out some tweets that caught attention almost immediately.

"Power out?" Oreo tweeted. "No problem. You can still dunk in the dark."

They were prepared--all the personnel were in a war room and could hop on this in a hot one.

Tide and VW also posted funny messages.

I liked Tide's: "We can't get your blackout--but we can get your stains out."

VW doubled down on its current theme: "Low power during big game...Don't worry. Be happy."

They knew how the game was played, with or without lights.

One-stop for self-publishing

Kevin Downey, Arizona Republic, Jan 30, 2013, writes about a local conference held in Phoenix for anyone who is writing a book or thinking about it.

It's the Indie Author Publishing Conference & Pitchapalooza. Why not throw one where you live?

Publishing is so balkanized these days--big majors, self-publishing print, digital, and so on. No one knows what to do--and going to Google just increases the confusion.

Sponsored by a book store here (Changing Hands), this "do" is a day-long event. Featured are a thriller author, Landon J Napoleon ("Zigzag"), an acquisition manager at a traditional publisher, someone on bookkeeping for authors, someone on working with designers, someone else on working with editors.

The Pitchapalooza gives everyone a chance to make a one-minute pitch to publishing experts. Names are drawn from a hat--and 20 people will get the nod.

I think this is a neat idea--and if you have a book idea, a great opportunity.

But I also think you could wrestle one of these together where you live. Everyone has one book in them, or so they say.

If I could add one thing? A session on audiobooks. I can no longer read books and must listen. This is an art--and more and more authors are hiring their own narrators.

Bossy pen

It takes so much faith, time, money, and smarts to bring a product to market that I hate to be too snarky.

But sometimes I think items are a solution looking for a problem.

One example of either this--or of creativity in the extreme--would be the Lernstift--a newbie Austrian product.

The Lernstift is a pen that vibrates when the user makes a legibility error or a grammar error.

I have not tried it but it seems almost impossibly complex to detect in all sorts of handwriting what is being written.

Maybe I lack imagination.

What do you think?

This thing would drive me nuts. With my bad vision, my handwriting looks like I write with my elbow anyway--this thing would be shivering and shaking continuously.

Still, they do have computers that translate handwritten script, so who knows? For more info-- http://lernstift.com/index_en.html

Getting all jiggy with college

When I ran an employment mission at my church, we told young people they would have seven careers, not just seven jobs, in a lifetime.

We got this from the government. Yes, ours.

Over the decades, I have seen higher education change--it may not even be needed for the jobs being offered to the new middle class, or what's left of it.

I see people getting a job, being trained or certificated, doing the job, moving to another at some point, training, etc.

Another creative innovation has been MOOC's--Massive Open Online Courses.

You can "go" to Harvard free in the privacy of your home. How about "Introduction to Computer Science?" Harvard, Duke, Stanford, AZ State, University of Virginia, Univ of Edinburgh, Wesleyan Univ, Columbia, and the Univ of Illinois are just a few of the universities offering online courses free. Some educators say this may be a game changer as college gets more expensive.

Also--the University of Wisconsin is now going to allow people to take a battery of tests on their knowledge--without taking courses. This could lead to a BA.

Things are morphing! Stand back! Change can splatter.

Thimk--for more efficient government

Referencing the David Kelley interview (below, scroll down), Steve Ressler of Government Technology magazine, Jan 24, 2013, says even 'crats can use "design thinking" to zip up government services.

In design thinking, teams observe human behavior--how people use a product or service--to see how it could be improved. Example: People leave ATM cards in the slot--so why not eject it before the transaction?

To improve government services, there are 10 questions one could ask.

1. Where are people getting stuck in the process?

2. What is the experience like filling out your forms?

3. What hours do you need to be open to meet needs?

4. Does the language and documentation make sense to people?

5. How can design thinking reinforce good employee behaviors?

7. How do people learn about your agency--and how can this be improved?

8. Where do citizens normally interact with you? From home, the library, in person, with family, alone?

9. What are the biggest frustrations? How can you increase delight?

10. What assumptions are you making? That people still call from home? That everyone who calls does not know there is a website?

Yes, the term efficient government is an oxymoron--but maybe we can make it little more oxygenated and a little less moronic.