Internet Connected Coffee Jar

A coffee jar that sends you a message when the coffee runs low? Sounds awesome to me, I often run out of my (locally roasted, direct trade) coffee 😉

Internet-connected devices can be applied to other things that regularly need top-ups like medicine, milk, diapers. Imagine if it was connected to the local supermarket, butcher, fruit & vegetable market or pharmacy.

Though, for those times when our desire for exploration trumps our need for convenience, it’s good to have an off-switch.

Source: http://bit.ly/1EOgpZi

Break free from Bias.

Cognitive is a word relating to cognition, which is the mental process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses. It is our way of discerning what is going on around us. It is basically the way we mentally process information around us to gain understanding.

Cognitive Biases, therefore, are unconscious inclinations or prejudices that are based on our historical environment and psychological development and in this way, they limit our way of interacting with the people and situations around us, and they deny us our full human experience.

When we become aware of the existence of cognitive biases, it becomes easier to break their hold by noticing when we are defaulting to that mode of thinking.

Confirmation Bias

Confirmation Bias is one type of cognitive bias that refers to the tendency to search for, interpret, favour, and recall information in a way that confirms one’s preexisting beliefs or hypotheses.

When you default to that mode of thinking, you tend to approve ideas that confirm what you already know, thus staying within your comfort zone and rejeting ideas that are totally new or unfamiliar.

In order to negate the effects of confirmation bias, it helps to detach from your usual way of thinking by asking yourself a few questions:

• Am I selecting this idea because it sits within my comfort zone?
• Am I taking the path of least resistance?
• How can I break down this idea into its various components to make its adoption easier?

Hope this helps you to push your thinking into more courageous territory.

Live consciously,

Brenda.

Estimote. Smart Beacon.

This could revolutionise the real time content we get via our phones. Click on the image below to check it out.

Quick Prototyping.

Great ideas don’t just happen at the stroke of a pen, they come after many failures and missed attempts. Before we can come up with 1 winning idea we often need to learn from 100 failed ones.

I once read a story which went something like this: Picasso invited a woman to be a still drawing model and after 60 one-hour attempts couldn’t get her portrait right. Until one day he drew her portrait from memory in under 15 minutes. The discipline and practice he received from his failed attempts is what helped him to finally draw his masterpiece from memory in a short period of time.

I’ve often argued against the traditional ideation process and ways of working, it usually goes something like this – before we venture into any new territory we must research, rationalise, investigate and prove our strategy.

I support a more organic model where we use our past experience and knowledge of market trends to develop and test many ideas & hypothesis. Because only when we test actual ideas in-market can we determine what is relevant. In today’s fast paced economy doing otherwise risks missed opportunities.

This is why I love the idea of @fastestagency based on having a 24 hour turnaround in response to a brands’  brief and their realtime marketing needs.

World’s fastest agency @fastestagency turns a brief around in 24 hours.

This is the model that start-ups use based on quick prototyping. It follows the rule of fast failure and quick learning – Conceptualise, Execute. Learn. Move on.

To find out more visit @fastestagency on twitter or check out their website.