How many phones do you have today? An office phone, your mobile phone, your home phone  plus a phone or two more for different reasons, I guess and when you multiply this with all the friends and contacts you have in your phone book, life looks really complicated when you want to contact somebody. But, it won't be a problem anymore.

GrandCentral is a brilliant new web app that lets you consolidate all of your phone numbers into one number, meaning someone can call you on your GrandCentral phone number and all of your phones (cell phone, work phone, home phone) will ring. And then it gets interesting.

If you don't want every one of your phones ringing each time someone calls your free GrandCentral number, you can set rules by friends, family, work, and others, defining where the calls should be directed. When a user leaves a message, you can listen to it online or directly on your phone. The remaining set of features on GrandCentral are a little mind-blowing, in that "I'd never thought of that, but how am I now living without it?" sort of way.

Here’s a list of some of the features:

• Incoming phone calls ring on different phones according to which group you’ve placed a caller’s phone number in.
• You can play different voice mail greetings for friends, family and work calls.
• Voice mail is stored indefinitely.
• Voice mail can be listened to and replied to with just a few clicks.
• Voice mail messages can be listened to in real time and you can jump in to initiate a conversation in real time with one click.
• Telemarketers or others can be banished to the spam folder so if you’re called by the same number again your phone will simply not ring.
• You can click to have GrandCentral call both the person who left a message and your phone.
• You can record a section of any call with one button on the keypad of your phone.
• You can seamlessly switch from one of your phones to another.

thro' Techcruch

Looks like if you have the right mindset and not willing to get bogged down, even a boring, age old wallet that we carry, can get a makeover.

Jimi™ wallet is a compact, water resistant and colorful alternative to that stodgy, old wallet that attracts old receipts and out of date library cards like a paper magnet. Jimi™ wallet holds just the essentials: five cards, a few bills, and even has a detachable money clip if you need to go super slim. Jimi™ wallet actually fits in your front pocket, but you can also carry it the slimmest of bags, or around your neck on a lanyard (which makes it a perfect student ID holder-cum-wallet).

There is a nice write-up about this in NY Times.

See the demo

Peter Davidson writes:

The 20th century was all about standardization, the 21st century will be all about user customization. Technology has developed to the point where there is no reason why products, services and experiences need to be the same for everyone. Why should my Pepsi taste just like yours? We've seen this mass customization trend before with products like athletic shoes and even cars but this is mass DIY customization. Before mass customization has been a manufacturing system that allowed users to request special configurations of products. Mass DIY customization is about a end customer being able to customize the product with options or ingredients provided by the manufacturer. It plays into the desire of customers to have experiences of play and experimentation with a product.

Read more

Here are some brain exercise tips from Dave Pollard

Few of the tips include:

1. Reconnect with your intution
2. Reconnect with your senses
3. Use analogies and metaphors
4. Learn something outside your comfort zone

and there's more. Read on.

Via emergic.org

I have often wondered with best of the brains and talent working in large organizations, why is that they lack the innovation edge. I have always been suprised how local businessmen or young start-up companies innovate so easily. And how is that organizations that were once touted as being innovative lose their edge as they build-up size?

I believe this clearly affects the way they serve their customers and the products that they design and launch.

I came across this insightful article by Mohan Sawhney on Seven Innovation Myths ( Download innovationmyths.pdf ) . Here are a few things I liked in his article:

1. He says it is not the paucity of ideas that's the problem. It's the incubation that's the problem. I loved the analogy -.." To get more tadpoles, you don't need more eggs, you need better incubators!"
2. Innovation is a company-wide competency, not a department responsibility.
3. Innovation is not about  a loose process but enabling it thro' a structured process. Quite different from what we are often told.
4. Accept early mistakes to innovate.

I really believe innovation is a question of consistent practice, follow-up, measurement and rewarding people who make it happen. Else, there will be lot of talk and no action.

Businesss Week has come out with a new cover story  on Creativity & Innovation.

Also, got to read in the same issue about fuseproject a great design firm and its brilliant philosophy. Look at what he has to say about Mini Cooper. He says it's not about the car but about the driver's lifestyle. I was so inspired that I put his quote ( Yves Behar, Fuseproject) as the headline and a mission for me to remember when I work with my clients .

We many times miss the "motivation" that drives consumers to own these brands. Designing products and communication around these motivations is increasingly becoming important.

Just waiting to grab my copy.

Many thanks  to brand autopsy  folks for this info.