Playing is how we learn. Through play, we develop large and fine motor skills, refine language and social interaction, and discover important facts about everything from the cycle of life and death to the laws of physics. When we play, we test the world around us, and share and grow.
But play is changing because it’s now filled with technology. In the coming months, I’m going to be looking at how data and connectivity are changing toys and the very nature of play. I’ll be talking to designers, inventors, technologists, and educators, and publishing the results in a report for O’Reilly Media.
Read MoreLast year, when I found out that this hoverboard was a hoax, I felt like I'd been dumped, punched in the face, and told my cat was killed by wild dogs, all at the same time. That's how badly I wanted hoverboards to be real, and how easily convinced I was by a video which was ultimately revealed to be a Funny or Die promotion. Tony Hawk even apologized for his involvement in the end.
Read MoreAll my life, I've been different. As a child in elementary school, I climbed into the rafters rather than sitting at my desk. As a teenager, I loved getting lost in the city and trying to find my way home. I’ve always craved change, and challenges, and new perspectives.
Read MoreThe symbolism of the current digital age was established during my generation's youth (and yeah, I'm kind of old). This means that although my son will never hold a floppy disk, the symbol for 'save' in most applications is still a floppy disk, and not a USB key.
There’s a word for these metaphors we bring into a later age with us to help us navigate it—skeuomorphs. But these skeuomorphs are changing, too. Thus, we now click clouds with arrows instead of floppy disks when we want to save data.
Virtual reality is pushing this change forward. Affordances like cursors don't work that well in a full VR environment, especially if you add gestures into the equation. Moving your arm is a counterintuitive action when moving a cursor in 3D space. Cursors were designed to move in 2D space - that's how we expect them to move.
Read MoreThe best way to find out if your idea is going to work, or how to make it work better, is to make a mockup really quickly and get it into people's brains. I find a lot of resistance to this from businesses in my city; maybe because I'm from a pretty pragmatic, conservative place, and people expect an idea to be complete before you try to sell it.
Read MoreIf you are from a small town, there is a chance you will NEVER MEET YOUR CUSTOMERS IN PERSON. So you have to establish trust online. That is a hard thing to do, and you should consider the person you put in charge of it carefully...
Read MoreDocument everything. Get a good camera. Take video of your journey. Start a blog, and write about your challenges and successes. Schedule a regular time each week to update documentation, including your website. Your company story is important. You have to remember to document it, though, or no one else will ever know it.
Read MoreA business plan is what you want to do, written down. It's not an 80 page MBA document with a bunch of pie charts. The sooner you come to terms with that, the better. Write that stuff down, show it to people, and make sure you can explain it properly. Your plan will change as new opportunities emerge, but it's important to always know what you want at any given time, otherwise you won't get it. No one else is going to figure that out for you and hand it to you, so you need to think about it and aim for it.
Read MoreWhere should you look for feedback? The short answer is that you should seek advice from anyone you think should be interested in your company, whether you see them as potential or actual customers, investors, or people who have done things you respect that are related to your own or your company's goals.
Read MoreA pitch is the business equivalent of a Plenty of Fish profile. You want to present enough information to get a first date, preferably with someone who's not a complete nutjob. A short, clear overview is much better than a long, detailed breakdown. Make sure your last slide has contact information on it. Your pitch should invite people to ask questions.
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