Brooklyn-based Kickstarter enables people to "crowd-fund" new artistic projects (books, movies, films, etc.) and then follow along the progress of the project through regular updates. In my first-ever Kickstarter project, I helped to crowd-fund a new book from Robin Sloan (a former Current TV exec and aspiring novelist) after reading about it on CNET:

"I'm writing a book: a detective story set halfway between San Francisco and the Internet. And the more people who reserve a copy, the better each one will be! The basic setup is: Imagine a Sherlock Holmes for the 21st century. All the really good cases are on the internet. And Holmes is a woman, and Watson is an A.I., and San Francisco... oh, poor San Francisco... [...]

Now, the goal of this project is to put a book in your hands. And the cool thing about books is that they enjoy tremendous economies of scale. So here's the opportunity: as more people reserve books, everybody's book gets better, because a bigger print run means everything is cheaper. If I can get 300 backers, the book will be really nice: perfect-bound with a crisp color cover. If I can get 600 backers, suddenly we're talking better materials, more colors... maybe even hardcover? And more than 600...? Why, it'll be made of PURE GOLD."

Robin's goal was to raise a modest $3500 from other micro-funders in a period of about two months, but he ended up raising nearly $14,000 from 569 backers! Along the way, he provided 16 updates about the status of the book -- including one ingenious update while flying in a plane, and another update about the clever technique he used for the naming of characters in the novella. (Just an aside - Robin gained another 15 minutes of Internet fame this fall when Twitter announced that he was the author of the five-billionth tweet).

Anyway, I'm looking forward to receiving the book in the mail -- as well as funding other interesting artistic projects featured on the Kickstarter site. If you've ever used a site like Kiva to make micro-loans, the overall look and feel of Kickstarter should be familiar. As with Kiva, the actual funding for the project is not disbursed until the entire pledge has been met, so even though I "funded" Robin nearly two months ago, the money wasn't actually debited from my bank account until November 1.

[image: Robin Writes a Book via Kickstarter]

WIRED Magazine recently commissioned Italian design firm Density Design to create a Map of the Future based on the scenarios developed by the Institute For The Future in Palo Alto, California.

The results are stunning -- an eye-pleasing amalgamation of trends from 7000 of the world's top thinkers in areas including politics, infrastructure, the environment, economics, and society (i.e. each of the brown tabs at the top of the image).

Behance Network has done a nice job of deconstructing the entire map into its respective pieces -- just in case you'd like to peer deeper into one of the areas. In the field of economics, for example, get ready for a future of Filters as Brands, Open-Source Development, Solidarity Networks and Alternative Currencies (mobile phone minutes as currency, anyone?).

[image: Map of the Future]

Chances are, you're at least familiar with "the singularity" even if you've never picked up Ray Kurzweil's book or read anything at all about "transhumanism" or "augmented reality" or HET ("human enhancement technology"). Simply stated, the human race appears to be on the cusp of overcoming its current physical and mental limitations through a mix of biological and computational means. The magazine that has become the voice of the singularity is h+ magazine (the name is rather self-effacing, but it stands for "humanity plus") -- and the Fall 2009 issue is one of the most, well, mind-bending magazines that I've read this year. It's like WIRED magazine mixed together with those New Age magazines at the checkout stands at Whole Foods, spiced up with a healthy mix of inscrutable Matrix-style science fiction. The current issue includes:

• Excerpts from a Stephen Hawking lecture, in which he notes that humans "may have entered a new stage of evolution"
• A story by Surfdaddy Orca on how people are using "cognitive enhancers" to improve brain performance
• An article on "psychedelic transhumanism" that references Timothy Leary
• Advertisements for "cryonic suspension"
• Discussion of "nano-persons" and "macro-persons"

Oh, and just to bring it all back to pop culture and make it somewhat accessible to the masses, the magazine features a cover story on Fox TV's The Dollhouse -- the futuristic, sci-fi show starring Eliza Dushku that's about "programmable human dolls" made possible by breakthroughs in neurological technology.

In its first-ever edition of The 27 Brave Thinkers Who are Shaping the Future, The Atlantic magazine takes a closer look at the creative -- and often courageous -- thinkers who are unafraid to take on the Establishment and challenge the conventional wisdom of how things should be done. In other words, think Profiles in Courage mixed with TIME Magazine's Person of the Year, and you'll have a good idea of the type of people that The Atlantic has in mind. There are some obvious picks (is there any feature these days that doesn't include Barack Obama?), as well as some choices that may not be so obvious (the two co-creators of South Park!).

Within the business & technology space, The Atlantic singled out the following individuals for their unique contributions and innovative insights:

(1) Shai Agassi, for his conceptualization of a national electric car infrastructure

(2) Arthur Sulzberger Jr., for his attempts to bring the New York Times kicking and screaming into the Web 2.0 publishing era

(3) Mark Zuckerberg, for continuing to push Facebook in new directions while risking the displeasure of an engaged user base (i.e. for his attempts to turn Facebook into Twitter)

(4) Jeff Zucker, for challenging the conventional wisdom of prime-time programming at NBC Universal

(5) Steve Jobs and John Lasseter, for their groundbreaking creative work at Pixar Animation Studios

With the exception of Agassi, the list reads like a who's-who in the digital media space. Which begs the obvious question: Is it really the case that the only brave thinking is occurring in the world of digital entertainment? Frankly, I was a bit disappointed not to see other corporate thinkers singled out for their unique approaches to problems like healthcare, poverty and global warming.

[image: The Atlantic cover November 2009]

In an op-ed piece for the New York Times, Thomas Friedman riffs on American economic competitiveness and the state of our nation's educational system. Friedman suggests that companies are once again placing a premium on innovators and out-of-the-box thinkers:

"A Washington lawyer friend recently told me about layoffs at his firm. I asked him who was getting axed. He said it was interesting: lawyers who were used to just showing up and having work handed to them were the first to go because with the bursting of the credit bubble, that flow of work just isn’t there. But those who have the ability to imagine new services, new opportunities and new ways to recruit work were being retained. They are the new untouchables."

We assume here, of course, that Friedman has in mind the Capone-era Untouchables, and not the untouchables of India. The Untouchables, in this context, are the types of workers who have high-end analytical skills and all the attributes of innovators: "Those with the imagination to make themselves untouchables — to invent smarter ways to do old jobs, energy-saving ways to provide new services, new ways to attract old customers or new ways to combine existing technologies — will thrive."

Friedman pushes the case even further -- even as the U.S. economy steadily moves out of recession, it is up to our nation's schools to produce innovators and creative thinkers: "In a world in which more and more average work can be done by a computer, robot or talented foreigner faster, cheaper “and just as well,” vanilla doesn’t cut it anymore. It’s all about what chocolate sauce, whipped cream and cherry you can put on top. So our schools have a doubly hard task now — not just improving reading, writing and arithmetic but entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity."

[image: The Untouchables]

Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word.

Benjamin: Yes, sir.

Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?

Benjamin: Yes, I am.

Mr. McGuire: Plastics.

Benjamin: Just how do you mean that, sir?

**

More than 40 years ago in the film The Graduate, the buzzword of the day was "plastics." In 2010, I'm wondering if the buzzword might just be "high speed trains." There's been a lot of chatter out of Washington about building a national high-seed train network, partly as an economic stimulus measure and partly as an environmentally-sound move to get more cars off the roads. In California, there's talk of using high-speed trains to connect the northern and southern parts of the state. And there's even been mention of converting Detroit's shuttered auto factories into high-speed train factories.

The push toward high speed trains is not just an American domestic issue. High-speed trains have always captivated the imagination of innovators in Japan and Europe. Now Russia is getting into the act. The magnificent Sapsan ("peregrine falcon" in Russian) trains (pictured above) will now connect Moscow and St. Petersburg in less than four hours. Moreover, those trains will have plush leather seating, gourmet meals, and presumably, a very nice selection of premium Russian vodkas.

Back in the day, I remember leaving Leningradskiy Vokzal in Moscow for the long overnight trip to St. Petersburg. Even on the rapid "Red Arrow" train (the favorite of American expats -- sorta like the express Acela trains that Amtrak has), it was still 7-8 hours to get into Petersburg. By cutting down the time to less than 4 hours, the Sapsan trains are making it significantly easier than ever to travel between the two cities.

[image: Russian Sapsan high-speed trains via New York Times]

The traditional view of global innovation is that innovation from developed markets eventually "trickles down" to emerging markets in the form of lower-end, less-sophisticated products at lower price points. Think OLPC. Yet, in countries like India, it's increasingly the case that innovation actually "trickles up" to more developed nations when products are completely re-engineered and re-thought practically from scratch. The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating front-page article on how Indian innovation is upending our traditional notions of how innovation works. Whether it's the Tato Nano for $2200 or the Godrej Little Cool Refrigerator for $70 (pictured above), multinational corporations are taking a closer look at what they can learn from Indian engineering know-how and innovation.

 GE Chairman Jeffrey Immelt refers to it as "reverse innovation" -- the tendency now for innovation to migrate from emerging markets to developed markets:

"Such innovations represent a fundamental shift in the global order of innovation. Until recently, the West served rich consumers and then let its products and technology filter down to poorer countries. Now, wth the developed world mired in a slump and the developing world still growing quickly, companies are focusing on how to innovate, and profit, by going straight to the bottom rung of the economic ladder. They are taking advantage of cheap R&D and low-cost manufacturing to innovate for a market that's grown large enough and sophisticated enough to make it worthwhile."

What's surprising about the Wall Street Journal article is that it never once mentions C.K. Prahalad's excellent book on emerging market innovation: The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. Prahalad, of course, is among the leading experts in the world on how Indian companies in sectors ranging from health care to hospitality are at the forefront of global innovation.

[image: The ChotuKool Refrigerator via The Wall Street Journal]

Until last week, it was easy to think of iPhone apps more as a distribution channel, less as a full-fledged business that deep-pocketed venture capitalists would attempt to bring to market. After all, for any Fortune 500 company, the current revenue stream from iPhone apps would most likely amount to little more than a rounding error. Is it possible that start-ups selling iPhone apps for as little as $0.99 -- or, more likely, giving them away for free -- can ever transform themselves into billion-dollar companies?

The answer could be "yes." Celebrated venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins – the same Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers that has invested in some of the biggest names of the Internet -- recently announced that it was investing an undisclosed amount of money in popular iPhone app Shazam through its new $100 million iFund. As a rule of thumb, big-time VC firms like Kleiner Perkins don’t invest in companies unless there’s an identifiable billion-dollar market opportunity, so methinks that KPCB has a future vision of greatness for Shazam. Claire Cain Miller of The New York Times has the details:

“[Shazam] will soon be able to do a lot more, propelled by new capital from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the elite venture capital firm that is investing its $100 million iFund in start-ups that develop applications for the iPhone. It has invested an undisclosed amount in Shazam, which had previously raised $12.3 million from Acacia Capital and DN Capital.

Shazam’s app has been downloaded 10 million times on the iPhone and has 50 million users across all platforms, including BlackBerry and Android phones. It already helps people discover new music and results in more purchases from the iTunes Store than any other company, said Matt Murphy, the Kleiner Perkins partner who manages the iFund.

Shazam will add other ways to find new music, like recommendations and sharing with friends, he said. It will also move into other types of media, like video, and partner with media companies and artists, he said. For example, Shazam will most likely start selling items like band tickets and merchandise from within the application, he said.”

In the case of Shazam, it’s easy to see that the iPhone app is highly scalable across other entertainment fields beyond music. What’s also interesting, of course, is the new business model that Shazam is bringing to the music industry. In the ongoing battle for supremacy between intermediation and dis-intermediation, this time it looks like Shazam is playing the role of the intermediary, matching seekers of music with the sellers of music. Shazam is developing a diversified business model and exploring new ways to monetize the “discovery” process:

“Shazam is a model for how businesses can be successful with iPhone applications, because it began with something simple and started expanding once it got popular. Shazam is already cash-flow positive, with a variety of revenue streams. It makes money from carriers that preload the application on phones or that charge for the application. It gets a cut when users buy a song on iTunes and download paid versions. (Shazam’s app is free on the iPhone, but there are paid versions for BlackBerry and Nokia phones.) It also makes money from mobile ads… Shazam will start offering subscriptions for premium versions of its application, which is a popular model these days. Users will get a certain number of song identifications and some features free, and pay for unlimited identifications and features.”

These are exciting times for the mobile space, and especially for iPhone app developers. Any ideas on which other iPhone (or BlackBerry or Android) apps could also be ripe targets for deep-pocketed venture capitalists?

[image: Shazam ad via iPhone Blog]