Nearby, Yuka Yoneda tilted her head back as her boyfriend, Albert Yuen, drizzled Tabasco sauce onto her tongue. She swallowed and considered the flavor: “Doughnut glaze, hot doughnut glaze!”

From NYTimes.

I’m wondering if you experience new tastes, or if you just don’t taste certain parts of foods as a result of this.

First, my sample is, of course, limited to men’s bathrooms. However, even in that limited sample, you can start to look at some common variables. Are there privacy shields between urinals? Do the urinals extend to the floor? Do they have deodorizers in them? How clean are they? How tight are the toilet stalls? How low are they? Do they include sanitary guards for the seats? Auto flush? Bidets or no?

You’re rolling your eyes right now. You are asking yourself–”what does this say about the cultures?” I think you can break down the elements, and if you have a large enough sample, make inferences about what the culture values. How designed are the bathrooms? Or are they utilitarian, or at worst, forgotten necessities?

I used to sketch the layout, shapes, and design elements where I traveled. I’ve lost those records to many moves and many boxes that accumulate. But rather than focusing on the insights I could generate from those drawings, I’d like to push myself to find common cultural items — the more mundane the better — and break them apart, and compare and contrast them. As I get deeper into some global client work, the more interested I become, again, in understanding cultures — what unites us and what defines us.

His book (Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative) is in my Amazon cart.

Mike Rhode, who I became aware of via his sketches of SEED, is so inspiring — from thoughts on journals and pens at Journalisimo, to his blog (Rohdesign), to his logo work, to his sketchtoons…

Another similar inspiration: Butter Label.

“They depend on upon material culture to make their culture material.” from Grant McCracken in Culture and Consumption II.

Wired would probably say yes. But in a world of transparency, what happens to the idea of appropriability? How do you appropriate the value of a completely transparent thing? This type of thinking leads me, from my econ undergrad days, to the world of public goods. In human capital intensive markets there is an increasing tension between capturing the value of an idea and inherent freedom of the idea.

Lot’s more to think about here. More to come on the topic.

Various “media-components” are provided in a “multi-media center.” In modular architecture, a module-controller communicates with media-modules provided for various media-components. A media-module can include or obtain data pertaining to a particular media-component, identify media-player(s), and access information related to their media. However, the media-modules are isolated from each other, and the module-controller effectively controls output generated in response to user input. A user interface library is provided for the media-modules. Media-modules can obtain a template or other tools from the library and construct their user interface (e.g., menus). Media-modules can also identify a media-player that can be initiated in response to user input. Subsequently, the media-controller forwards user input to the media-player.

I’ve been having conversations along this line, with friends, for years now. There are many pieces of the puzzle sold in separate chunks, but never the full picture. Difficulty — Apple’s DRM stranglehold (EMI press release aside) impedes any UI, design, simplicity, and connectivity strengths they can bring to the table. Perhaps all the hub bub about DRM stems from the knowledge of this?