Get rid of your keyboard and your mouse, begin using LeapMotion.

This simple, elegant device allows you to control your computer in three dimensions with your natural hand and finger movements. This isn’t just for gaming.

We started with keyboards, then the mouse began a revolution in pointing and clicking.

Now, we have LeapMotion. It’s the size of a flash drive. It looks like something Steve Jobs designed himself. It can distinguish the movements made by individual fingers down on 1/100th of a millimetre. It’s that accurate.

This is as a big a revolution in human-computer interaction. It’s as big a revolution as the mouse was, back when it was created . Except, you don’t have to learn how to use your hands.

Before you know it, we’ll all be looking like Tom Cruise in Minority Report.

How much? At the risk of sounding like Steve Ballmer, it’s not $1,000. It’s not even one tenth of that. It’s RRP is $USD70 plus shipping.

Backed by some of the biggest names in VC in Silicon Valley, LeapMotion really is looking like a great leap forward.

Leap motion for human computer interaction

It’s the stunning process that IDEO used to design these, well sort of, every day items. Some people may have a need for an every day killer whale. Granted, not everyone.

IDEO is one of the hero companies of Silicon Valley. It has turned design and innovation into an art form that many envy, but few can copy. Unless you are a designer or work in customer based research, you may not have heard of this remarkable company.

This one company has designed many of the every day products that we use, so technically it is an industrial design business. But one that has become the envy of many an entrepreneur.

In this video, ABCNews in the US, challenged IDEO to redesign the shopping cart in just five days. At a high level, you will get to understand the design process. It can be applied not just to designing products, but also solving problems and testing theories.

This video is about three years old. Some of the design features IDEO created in this made-for-television challenge are now incorporated into newer shopping trolley design. So, it goes to show how a group-think approach, a no-holds barred creative thinking process coupled with real-life customer observations can create true innovation.

One of the mantra’s at IDEO, sums it up nicely:
Enlightened trial and error succeeds over the idea of a lone genius.

If you’re feeling inspired, you could do worse than to read Tom Kelley’s book, The Art of Innovation.

How IDEO redesigned the shopping cart

It seems like only yesterday that it had just a few thousand videos. Now, it’s serving more than four billion videos a day. Four billion videos a day.

It’s also one of those strange situations where it also feels like it’s been a part of our lives always. Can you honestly remember how you used to reference a Simpson’s quote in a chat with friends before YouTube?

From the good (OK Go) through to the bad (Justin Beiber and that horrible Friday song), this video show cases some of the amazing things YouTube has brought us in the last seven years.

Plus, there are the stunning statistics of how much it has grown over that time.

Happy 7th birthday YouTube

This video doesn’t help.

On November 20, 1985 when Microsoft released Windows 1.0, Steve Ballmer stepped in front of the camera to sell it.

Ballmer, employee number 30 at Microsoft, had been hired five years earlier by Bill Gates as a Business Manager.

1985 had been a big year. In the first week of November, the Theme song to Miami Vice was the number one single. Hence, the nod in the general direction of Don Johnson in Ballmer’s antics. A week later, We Built This City by Starship had cracked the number one position.

So, even back in 1985 trends moved quickly. Well, it did when it came to big hair and power rock.

Try to imagine Steve Jobs or Steve Wozniak doing a similar performance to the Ballmer informercial for the Apple IIC, which also launched in 1985. Oh wait, they didn’t.

Instead, they used Alan Greenspan to flog their wares. Check out Video #2 for Greenspan attempting to appeal to the affluent.

This was also the year that Jobs left Apple. If he had not been ousted, Jobs may not have become a product marketing genius.

So, here are two ads from the same era for two technology products that shaped the world we are now living in.

Here endth the 1985 technology advertising history lesson.

Video 1: Steve Ballmer selling Windows 1.0

Video 2: Alan Greenspan selling Apple IIC

Now, he can add accidental U.S. Memory Champion to his list of accomplishments.

After discovering that a good memory is a learned skill, Foer set out to play with memory tactics, just for fun. He thought he’d enter the U.S. Memory Championships to be able to write a first-hand experience piece. But he surprised even himself.

As technology increasingly fills our lives, the training of our memories is falling on the wayside. If we can program phone numbers and calendar alerts into our smart phones, why bother remembering?

As Foer discovers in his journey to having a remarkable memory, to live a memorable life, you need to be a person who remembers to remember.

In this TED talk, Foer discusses why so many people are bad at remembering, and what can be done about it.

As Foer so eloquently puts it, “Memory training is not just for the sake of performing party tricks; it’s about nurturing something profoundly and essentially human.”

Feats of memory anyone can remember

You will watch the opening to this TED video where Kelley, of IDEO and Stanford’s d.school fame, tells this story and it will hit you.

You will remember the time that someone, be it a teacher, friend, classmate, parent or a complete random stranger, shattered your creative confidence.

This was the first time that you became aware of the fear of judgement. The first time your defence mechanisms kicked in and you thought you couldn’t do something.

It may have been when you were a child. It may have been this morning. But I am sure that, at some point, this has happened to you.

We live in a world that likes to label. People are often defined as being creative, analytic or practical. Yet, the truth is, we are all every one of those things.

Kelley explains the process that is needed to allow everyone to regain their creative confidence.

Without creative confidence, what has an entrepreneur got?
OK. We’re all witty, charming and ridiculously good looking.

But you also need to have confidence in your ability to create and implement.
Go on. Let your ideas fly.

Regaining your creative confidence

Last week, it was a QR code that became a sundial in order to get Koreans shoppers into stores at midday.

Now, we’ve got QR codes built out of Lego selling, in a shock twist, Lego.

In this clever campaign, the Lego QR code not only took customers to the MyToys.de website, but it also provided an idea of what could be built with the brick set they were directed to.

If you squint at the QR codes, you’ll see princesses and castles or maybe pirate ships and sharks.

OK. You have to do more than squint. You’ve got to do that thing with your eyes that allows you to see pictures in a Magic Eye poster. You know, it was beyond the skills of William in Mallrats.

Back to the Lego campaign.

The results were stunning. The campaign accounted for 49% of all traffic to the website. Plus, sales of the relevant Lego box sets doubled.

See, Lego can even build the sales volume of Lego.

Lego QR Code

Before you can even attempt to get consumers to hand over their credit cards, you first need them to give you their attention. With today’s folks spending all their time studiously ignoring flashing billboards, snubbing celebrity endorsements and navigating around Google Ads, getting attention has become tougher than ever.

Even fancy new publicity stunts like attempting a Guinness world record, releasing a sex tape or flash-mobbing a crowded train station at peak hour have become so totally meh. It’s a Global Attention Crisis.

Well, for all you bored and disenfranchised folks who’ve seen it all; here’s an advertising campaign that takes ‘attention-grabbing’ to the next level. With an emphasis on the grabbing. And the attention.

Rather than try to cram one more ad into the already-overcrowded marketplace, a group of extremely-clever Belgian advertisers decided to try something unique. They based their campaign in the quietest town square they could find. A square “where nothing ever happens. Ever”.

Then they packed in the drama, with help from some unsuspecting passers-by, a team of stuntmen, and a bikini-clad girl on a motorcycle. Even though only a few dozen small-town Belgians saw the original ad, the video has gone viral and now has over 650,000 views on YouTube.

Now that’s clever advertising.

Is the most brilliant publicity stunt ever?

We’ve all hit a 404 message. And we all hate them.

While they are a part of the system that makes the internet the magnificent thing that it is, it does mean something is wrong. Suddenly, your happy online experience is broken.

In this TED Talk from earlier this year, Renny Gleeson, the Global Digital Strategies Director for advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy, takes us through the case for being remarkable when it is least expected.

Some thing as simple as a customised, intriguing 404 message can actually capture the essence of your brand.

As Gleeson rightly points out, little things, when done right, actually matter.

404, the story of a page not found

Some pitches are sophisticated and require 20 minutes in a boardroom. Others are casually thrust his way during social gatherings, like so many under-cooked snags on a backyard weber.

In this three minute video, Richardson reveals three don’ts (and one do) when speaking with an investor.

1. Don’t ask for ‘just a little bit of money’: Rookie business builders under-estimate the amount of capital required to succeed on a large scale. A sophisticated investor does not want to back your pipe-dream or hobby. As the name suggests, they seek sophisticated investments.

2. Don’t ask your prospective investor to sign an NDA: It’s almost impossible for a professional investor to agree to a confidentially contract. Jordan Green talks about this Catch 22 at length here. (Why won’t prospective investors sign my confidentiality agreement?)

3. Don’t arrive without help: Form an advisory panel in advance or gather partners in the industry. It will show that you are serious. It’s rare for a newbie in any industry to succeed where experienced professionals have failed.

Venture capital advice for Australian entrepreneurs

Well, a few years ago, the franchise took over the local Walmart’s and turned them into E-marts. Now, 141 E-mart stores can be found in Korea, and China is next in line. With 22 stores already open on the mainland.

So, they’re big. Yet, despite the store’s huge success, there was a problem. Sales peaked at the start and end of the day. The middle of the day was slow. Very slow. Ghost-town kind of slow.

The staff still had to be there but the volume of sales was extremely low. It was far from the most profitable time of the day. Overall, slow lunch time sales were creating a gaping hole in the operating model.

Part of the solution was very ordinary: offering coupons and discounts for shoppers who purchase during this dead time. However, what was done to promote these offers was far from ordinary.

A three dimensional QR code was created. Only at midday, when the shadows and light were just right, did it become viewable as a QR code. Only customers who viewed the site behind the QR code were given access to the coupons, sales and discounts items.

It’s not the first innovative marketing for groceries to come out of Korea. Check out the second video below of the Homeplus Subway Virtual Store.

Two videos in the one post? That’s the kind of crazy midday discount offer you’d expect from a Sunny Day E-mart promotion.

Sunlight activated QR Code

Homeplus Subway Virtual Store

Yet, even though they keep happening, we keep being surprised.

That’s got to be one of the more endearing things about human nature, our ability to be surprised and delighted.

In this video, Copenhagen’s classical radio station organised a flashmob on a metro train. Those in the carriage are treated to a stunning performance of Peer Gint, Suite No. 1, Op. 46, Morning Mood. If you don’t know what that is now, you will as soon as your hear it.

It’s hauntingly beautiful. And, in this instance, unexpected. Some people even stop listening to their iPods!

So, what does this flash mob have to teach an entrepreneur?

It proves that you don’t have to be the first, you just have to be remarkable.

Copenhagen Metro flash mob

To test my suspicions that it’s a fad, in April I ran a highly sophisticated survey. OK. Truth is, I ran a Facebook question amongst my friends asking them when they used Pinterest.

I know my friends are highly digitally savvy, so they are not the ‘average customer’.

Yet, what they told me was this:
- 29% use Pinterest when they receive a Facebook alert that someone has pinned something
- 21% use Pinterest when they were procrastinating and decide to pin some cool pictures
- 21% use Pinterest when someone stumbles across their boards, follows them, which reminds them that they own an account

While this is indicative only, 50% of people said they only went to Pinterest when they got a reminder. That is, they did not wake up in morning and check their Pinterest account, like many do with Facebook. They needed to be prompted.

So, Pinterest, while increasingly popular, does not seem to be capturing people the way that Facebook does.

I’m not saying this is gospel, due the highly unscientific nature of the survey, but it is interesting.

One thing I do find interesting is how you gain access to Pinterest. The wait-list to join is an interesting marketing ploy.

You have to wait to join the ‘cool kids’, who are already on Pinterest. It makes people think they are missing out on something. This gives the illusion of exclusivity. Like bars that have a queue out front to make them appear popular but they are, in fact, are empty inside.

Now, if you want some real statistics about the rise of Pinterest, this video is for you. The data is U.S. based but nonetheless, Australians tends to follow our American neighbours.

Why you should be on Pinterest

WHAT IS A HUMP DAY? According to Anthill’s founder and editor-at-large, it’s the logical name for a Wednesday (also known as ‘hump day’) brain dump. Once a week (or when he can be bothered), James Tuckerman records (often poorly) an unusual insight gathered from the many interesting people he meets during his travels. It’s a Hump Dump!

Last week, I was surprised to receive this linked email from Barkles, an online debating platform.

The startup, barely a year old, was calling it quits. I suppose that’s not so unusual. The mortality rate for start ups in Australia has always been high. What was unusual, however, was the candid nature that the Barkles founders, Diesel Laws and Jay Whiting, approached their sad news.

Given what little I know of human nature and our incredible reluctance to turn our back on any sunk costs (indeed, it’s called ‘Sunk Cost’ theory and it’s what keeps casinos buzzing with habitual cost sinkers), I can imagine that the decision to close any venture must be extremely painful.

Hence, most startup entrepreneurs take what I call The Hollow Men approach. (Their worlds end not with a bang but a whimper.)

However, if you are going to close your business, I can hardly think of a more mature and responsible way than like this.

Coincidentally, I ran into Barkles co-founder Diesel earlier today and I couldn’t help but ask for an interview. His philosophical and practical outlook simply has to be admired. If you have ever had to mercy-kill an ailing venture, share your wisdom below (for the mutual benefit of all Australian business builders).

HUMP DUMP: When to call it quits

Even if you delete that crazy Facebook post you wrote at 3am last Saturday morning, it’s still out there, somewhere.

The Onion has again risen above all other media outlets with this exclusive report into what Facebook means for the future of American politics.

I’d like to think it may work the same for Australian politics but instead of thinking it through, everyone seems to be preoccupied with fighting within their own parties. Again.

But it’s OK. With the collapse of the pool of potential Presidential candidates comes to the rise of the FourSquare Mayor. I’m sure it will all sort itself out in the end.

Facebook and the future Presidents