Caimes

Mass production is now in the hands of the masses. And, it’s got nothing to do with standardised, low-quality, generic products. Instead, crowdsourcing is the smoking gun. It’s the 'Weapon of Mass Construction' for those wired to the web and online communities. It’s collaboration at a global scale. Finally, we might just make this world work!

In this typically thought provoking TED talk, architect and ecologist Mitchell Joachim shares some of his recent experiments 'growing' houses out of trees and... meat! Imagine using animal fat for insulation and "sphincter muscles for doors and windows".

The word 'anthropology' refers to the social science that studies the origins and social relationships of human beings. It would be hard to think of a more instructive tool for the analysis of modern human behaviours than YouTube.

What makes your business stand out above your competitors? What makes individuals select your products and services over theirs? What makes them stare at your website, brochures or you, desiring what you have to offer, and yet, at the end of the day, they fail to make a purchase and then move on to one of your competitors? The ‘inconvenient’ truth is that your business simply isn’t remarkable.

In his last article, marketing consultant Steven Howard argued that businesses must invest with a social purpose to win back the trust of consumers. Here, he continues his analysis of a recent worldwide survey on consumer preferences.

Picture it: a packed basketball stadium with fans going wild. It’s my son’s basketball grand final. There are four seconds on the clock. His team is down by two points. And he’s just been fouled – meaning he has two free throws. He makes his way to the free-throw line – the enemy of even the most accomplished NBA player. If he nets both shots, the game goes into overtime. If not, his team will lose the game.

Yesterday, in Sydney, I was fortunate enough to spend some time with Dell's Richard Binhammer. According to the company bio, he's "a core member of Dell’s Social Media Advisory Council and responsible for designing and implementing digital media and blog outreach, with a special emphasis on communities and corporate reputation." What does this mean? He's the guy largely responsible for Dell's pioneering moves in social media over the past four years.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), last week, released a 'How to' guide for for innovation in industrial research. Called Innovation in Industrial Research, the book was written for Australian scientists, managers and students.

Twitter taps into our need to collaborate and to collect. But the compulsion to build a long list of followers can throw those needs out of balance. One solution: Replace the follower count with something that truly measures our Twitter influence.

Hibiki Kono is a 13-year-old, self-confessed, Spiderman fan who spent five months developing the technology to climb like his idol. Using two 1,400-watt vacuum cleaners (purchased from a local supermarket), the King's College School, Cambridge, UK student, modified a suction device that enables him to crawl up walls.

Do you have a 'pitch video', 'rave reel' or other form of digital media that you'd like us to publish? If you do, we're creating a place on our site where you can showcase the spoils of your toils to our highly entrepreneurial (and influential) community.

Sponsored message: There’s a special place for those with a vision and the get-up-and-go to start something. www.thesbhub.com.au is an information resource and online community where you can learn a thing or two about starting a successful business! The course will help you assess the feasibility of your business idea and develop it further.

The inventor, Henk Van Harselaar, is Dutch born, came to Australia at 18 and has been a trainee pastry chef, car salesman, property developer in Hervey Bay and a pilot. The Aurora System had its genesis, in the great Australian tradition, under Henk's house and on his kitchen table. Henk is an incorrigable tinkerer and has invented a few other things along the way. The spark for the germ of the idea occurred in Henk's mind 20 years ago when he saw pictures of 15th-century windmills and initial prototypes looked very very different.

In this podcast, Fanshake's Dana Al Salem tells Brad Howarth about the opportunities for brands of all kinds to engage with the people that love them and gives some tips on how to work with that most fickle of audiences, like Generation Y.

frustration as to the few Australian companies claiming R&D Tax Breaks led an R&D Tax Specialist (myself) with over a decade's experience to create a series of simple online tools to make the R&D Tax Claim process much easier and more worthwhile than is currently available. The goal is to get all the smart SMEs in Australia claiming what they are entitled to, without the need for hours reading tax legislation or expensive consulting fees. Currently only around 7000 companies in Australia claim R&D versus the 30% that claim to be innovative.

This innovation initially came to life when two of the founders, Mike and Michael, were looking for a new, innovative online retail product to launch in Australia. The third founder, Jodie, had been designing her own shoes and having them made in Asia for a while. The three co-founders figured this could be done online and the idea for Shoes of Prey was born.

When I finally screwed up the courage to leave the world of corporate cubicles and launch my own start-up company, it presented me with an interesting problem – what do I say when people ask me what I do? At first, I liked calling myself an entrepreneur. It made me feel dashing and innovative, a heady mix of Zorro and Richard Branson. However, now I am not so sure.

We've all heard the horror stories. Someone we know who has taken a photo of their privates, uploaded it to a web site to show their friends, only to be surprised when they become the darling of the Friday afternoon email set. A friend of a friend tweets about an evening's indiscretion and wonders just how the hell their partners, friends and partners of friends found out.

A sale is a process and the first step in that process is not to demand exclusivity. Exclusivity is either bought or earned and, in the case of raising capital, it is usually earned. An NDA implies exclusivity and that brings with it constraints on both parties. Would you ask a date to sign a pre-nuptial agreement before the first date?

Talking Business is a weekly 15-minute podcast review of the Australian economy, presented by seasoned business journalists Leon Gettler and Garry Barker, produced in association with the RMIT College of Business. It features interviews with prominent business leaders and expert analysis from RMIT academics, such as Sinclair Davidson