2017 innovative design

Charles Eames was once asked to define the boundaries of design. “What are the boundaries of problems?” he replied. That was more than 50 years ago. The impact of design has only grown. As the boundaries of problems have expanded, so has design. We believe it must expand even more in the years to come. advertisement advertisement The problems facing business and, indeed, humanity are becoming even more intractable, intertwined, and complex. The global population will be nearly 10 billion by midcentury. Cities will house some 2.5 billion people by 2050, making them more crowded and clogged. Meanwhile, the global demand for everyday goods, housing, and transportation is rising—requiring material resources that we don’t have and squeezing our planet’s ecosystems. Mass migrations, booming income inequality, raging pandemics, and the impact of AI and automation add dramatically to the challenges we face. The world is screaming out for new solutions to … [Read more...] about Today’s top design innovators have it all wrong. Here’s how to think bigger

Amazon.com, Inc . ( AMZN ) has rolled out several enhancements to its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing offering that are designed to enhance its utility to a wide range of customers. In particular, AWS is focused in 2022 on enabling many organizations—including startups, large enterprises, and government agencies—to become more agile and innovate more rapidly at lower cost. During the AWS Summit in San Francisco on April 21, 2022, Swami Sivasubramanian, vice president of data, analytics, and machine learning services at AWS, offered details on several new product offerings. The innovations that he described range across several service categories, including databases, machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT) , and application development. Key Takeaways Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced six major enhancements on April 21, 2022. Two increase flexibility and lower costs for AWS users. One makes creating digital twins easier. One facilitates … [Read more...] about Amazon (AMZN) Rolls Out Web Services (AWS) Innovations

Walking the stairs in one of the new buildings on Adidas’s corporate campus in Portland, Oregon, one can’t help but look up. Plastered on the undersides of the staircase are brightly colored supergraphics of patterned lines and shapes. Appearing at first to be abstract art, the images quickly trigger the mind to recall a familiar, if under-appreciated, design: the sole of a sneaker. advertisement advertisement Studio O+A with LEVER Architecture , the two buildings use the apparel brand’s designs and materials, plus a subtle dose of sport-centric imagery, to celebrate the ubiquitous but perhaps overlooked design flourishes that abound in the company’s sports gear and apparel. advertisement advertisement advertisement “We looked at doing abstractions of field lines or working with the Olympic rings and the colors. But at the end of the day, it came about from looking at what’s in our own … [Read more...] about Adidas’s jaw-dropping new office sets an audacious standard for the future of work

The federal government has a long slog ahead, and it has nothing to do with politics. advertisement advertisement The Biden administration has set a series of ambitious energy and carbon emissions goals, including using energy that is 100% free of greenhouse gas pollution by 2030 , purchasing only non-gas-powered vehicles by 2035 , and producing net zero carbon emissions from federal buildings by 2045 . With a portfolio of more than 300,000 buildings and a fleet of 600,000 cars and trucks , meeting these goals will require a lot of new technology—and soon. The U.S. General Services Administration is on the hunt for that zero-emission, energy-saving technology, and has just announced the latest batch of novel tools and building materials that may help the government meet its goals. Through its Green Proving Ground program , the GSA is using some of the buildings in its portfolio to evaluate these technologies, utilizing real-world conditions … [Read more...] about See the cutting-edge tech turning government buildings into lean, green machines

After an immersive experience that took the world by storm, Van Gogh’s Starry Night is coming to your home—in 2,316 pieces. advertisement advertisement Starry Night set. Inspired by the Dutch painter’s iconic masterpiece, the set uses various techniques to capture the look of the original artwork: 3D elements help the moon, the 11 stars, and the famous swirling cloud stand out, while different-colored Lego bricks, stacked at specific intervals, emulate the signature brush strokes. Starry Night resting on an easel. All of them can be attached to the main set to make it look like Van Gogh is painting the scene unfolding in front of him—much like Van Gogh painted the view from his window in 1889, at the Saint-Paul asylum in Saint-Rémy, France. Starry Night set was designed by Truman Cheng, a 25-year-old PhD student from Hong Kong. Cheng submitted his idea through the Lego Ideas platform, which gives fans the opportunity to submit their own … [Read more...] about See Lego’s stunning new set, which turns Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ into 3D art

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Anthem and Cigna on Friday morning announced a historic $54 billion merger that would make the new, combined company the largest health insurer in the country, by total customers. The deal's size is especially notable. (It's the largest-ever merger in the insurance industry). And the timing is remarkable. Just three weeks ago — to the day — rival insurers Aetna and Humana announced their own mega-merger , a $37 billion deal. If both deals get federal approval, America's Big Five health insurers will be winnowed to a Huge Three. So what happens next? And what will it mean for consumers? Anyone who says he knows those answers isn't worth trusting: America's health care system is in uncharted waters. First, there are real questions over whether either or both mergers will receive federal approval. The Department of Justice was already scrutinizing the Aetna-Humana deal — which now … [Read more...] about Anthem Just Paid $54B To Buy Cigna. No One Knows What Will Happen Next.

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin America is outraged — outraged! — that Turing Pharmaceuticals hiked the cost of a drug called Daraprim by 5,000% last month. (The drug is used to fight infections in patients suffering from AIDS and other conditions.) What took everyone so long? Turing CEO Martin Shkreli is a repeat moral offender. He pulled off similar price hikes at his previous company, before getting fired and sued for $65 million. Martin Shkreli, the CEO of Turing, says the company will cancel its planned 5,000% price hike to a ... [+] drug used to treat infections in AIDS patients. (Paul Taggart/Bloomberg.) But there's a much bigger problem than Shkreli here: The skyrocketing cost of generic drugs. It's nothing new. And it hadn't gotten much attention until this week, partly because most pharma companies aren't run by evil executives who happily explain they're making a profit by over-charging AIDS patients. Here's an … [Read more...] about Greedy Pharma CEO Cancels 5,000% Price Hike — But He Didn’t Fix The Real Problem

Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (Photo by Zahid Izzani/The Edge filepix) - A + A SHAH ALAM (May 18): A former director of Ultra Kirana Sdn Bhd (UKSB) on Wednesday (May 18) told the High Court here that his company was paying cash in Singapore dollars (SGD) on a monthly basis to former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi from 2014 to 2018, in relation to the Foreign Visa System (VLN) contract. Harry Lee Vui Khun said the payment to Ahmad Zahid which started with SGD200,000 per month and began in late 2014 was increased to SGD520,000 per month some time in 2017. “If I can recall correctly, the payment of SGD200,000 per month began in late 2014 and continued until mid-2015. Around that time, we went to his (Ahmad Zahid) house in Country Heights, Kajang and in that meeting Datuk Seri Zahid (Ahmad Zahid) requested that the monthly contribution be increased. After discussing with Wan Quoris and David Tan, we agreed to a sum of SGD300,000 per month. … [Read more...] about UKSB director admits giving cash to Ahmad Zahid every month for 4 years

When a $70 million NFT sold at Christie’s last spring—a time before Bored Apes, Cool Cats, and Lazy Lions roamed the earth—some scoffed at the fortune spent on computer pixels that could be copy-pasted to your screen for free. But the lot wasn’t just a jpeg, it was the jpeg—and the money went to claim the original work, or the one we would call “authentic.” Take away that distinction, and yes, the file is worthless. advertisement advertisement It’s a high-stakes game that’s rife with fraud, abuse, and theft, and not even the biggest players are immune. But OpenSea, the planet’s largest NFT marketplace, might have a few tricks up its sleeve. This morning, it’s rolling out two products to safeguard the authenticity of collections on its platform. The first streamlines the verification of creator accounts, and the second banishes copymints, or spoofs of existing NFTs, using image recognition. Verified badges are among OpenSea’s so-called … [Read more...] about OpenSea is on a new quest to ban copymints, armed with AI, Twitter threads, and Discord chats

The Philippine National Police Headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City on Tuesday, June 15, 2021. Niño Jesus Orbeta/Philippine Daily Inquirer MANILA, Philippines — At least 13 senior officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) would assume new posts as the retirement of several officials triggered movements within the police force, officer-in-charge Lt. Gen. Vicente Danao Jr. said Wednesday. In a statement sent by the PNP’s Public Information Office (PIO), Danao said the minor reorganization was based upon the recommendations of the Senior Officers’ Placement and Promotion Board. Among the officials getting new posts are: Brig. Gen. Emmanuel Peralta, Acting Director for Information and Communication Technology Management (DICTM) Brig. Gen. Jon Arnaldo, Acting Director of National Police Training Institute (NPTI) Brig. Gen. Lawrence Coop, Chief of Supervisory Office for Security and Investigative Agencies (SOSIA) Brig. Gen.  Samuel Nacion, Director, Integrity … [Read more...] about More reshuffling within PNP as retirement of senior cops triggers movement