Glass House Opens To Public

This article on the Apple web site opens perfectly...

"In the professional design community, people have been waiting their entire careers for access to this site."

It's true. Philip Johnson's Glass House is probably one of the best examples of Modernist architecture and it reminds me much of my old neighborhood designed for the most part by Mies Van Der Rohe, which is another true gem of the modernist movement.

But beyond the beautiful vistas and clean lines, there is another part of the article that got me thinking...

No Clutter
Most importantly, the Visitor Center itself had to reflect Johnson’s aesthetic. “We knew we didn’t want it to be your typical historic house, cluttered with signage and displays,” says Dunn. “We saw it doing something different — even reshaping the way historic house museums are viewed.”

So if you clear your clutter - mental and/or physical - don't you think you can reshape how you are viewed?

Life Instructions

A fun - yet important thing to keep in mind for the weekend, from a guerilla art project by Chris Glass.



Special hat tip to 43Folders and Stefan Sagmeister.

Online Video Panel Event Thursday @ 6:30p

Wanted to give a quick note about an Online Video Panel event coming up put on by 313digital at the Birmingham Community House on Thursday.

313digital is really working to promote the online space in our region, and have hosted a series of panels (if you want a taste of what you'll get, go here to their video gallery) with great, informative guests.

This one's lineup has the following - it's a who's who of online video on the national stage.

Moderator: Charlie Tillinghast, MSNBC, President
Mark Flaharty, YouTube, Director of Sales, Midwest
Carolyn Forster, PHD, Vice-President
Christopher May, GoTV Studios, Executive Producer, Development & Brand Integration
Dina Roman, Brightcove, Vice President, Brand Marketer & Agency Solutions
Matt Wasserlauf, CEO, Broadband Enterprises

So go to 313digital, become a member - and get to this panel at 6:30p. There also will be an after-event networking and gathering session at Bastone in downtown Royal Oak (another great place).

Green Opportunities Spoken of at MSED Event

Went to an interesting event last night in Troy for the MSED (Marketing and Sales Executives of Detroit) and there was an interesting speech by the CEO of BorgWarner, Tim Manganello.

The title of the speech was "Turning Green Opportunities Into Competitive Advantages," and it mainly highlighted how green technology can be a great business opportunity and that there is money in that innovation.

From what I could gather, BorgWarner has soared in profits and share value in an economy that many would describe as in the doldrums - and through being on the cutting edge of technology, innovation which is great to see in this region. They have struck upon the beat of the rest of the world that has much stricter fuel requirements by providing powertrains and other parts (forgive me, my background is not automotive) to help those companies achieve those targets.

Check out this excerpt on BorgWarner (BWA) from Jim Cramer's Mad Money:

"Continuing his Green Day series, Cramer discussed BWA an auto-supplier which is sought-after because of its fuel efficient turbochargers, for which there is high demand across the industry. Since many of its clients are overseas, he doesn't think BWA will be affected by problems with domestic car sales."

Personally, our company is embracing green - we're going completely carbon neutral this quarter and also showing how our services can save tons of carbon through eliminated or reducing driving, air traffic, hotels, and more - and I think that it's the way of the future, especially with which ways the winds are blowing (who would of thought a year ago that George Bush would even entertain the idea of caps?)

What do you think of Being Green? Friend or Foe? And Why?

Productivity Means Avoiding Email

For anyone dealing in, with or near technology, email is a saviour and a pariah.

Email, although useful, can suck up your time in multiple-hour chunks - and considering I get hundreds of emails a day I need to take action on, it can render someone almost unproductive.

This blog post has a bunch of interesting (some tongue-in-cheek) tips for productivity. Some are applicable in your situation, some are not. However, if you feel like you or your employees are working but aren't producing, check this out:

Only doing email twice a day will make you far more productive for the rest of the day. The problem with email is that getting an email triggers that same endorphin hit I mentioned above -- the one that a mouse gets when he bonks on the button in the cage and gets a food pellet.

Responding to an email triggers that same hit. The pleasure chemical hits your neocortex and you go "ahhh" inside and feel like you've done something.

So you sit and work with your mail client open and you interrupt your work every time an email comes in and you answer it and you send another email and you feel great in the moment. But what you're really doing is fracturing your time, interrupting your flow, and killing your ability to focus on anything long enough to get real high-quality work done.

This one is far easier to say than do. And it won't be feasible during projects where lots of updates during the day really are important -- raising money, for example, or closing a big deal.

There is a ton of value to just walking over to the next cube and directly communicating.

We all, at times, hide from each other behind carpeted low cubicle walls at times, instead of using technology as a tool we use it as a shield.

Major hat tip to one of my favorite blogs, 43folders, where they look at a couple of the other items in this article. Merlin Mann, thank you.