New Florence. New Renaissance.

My office this afternoon…

…is the Cafe Gala at the stunning Dali Museum in St. Petersburg. The family is enjoying the art, me the wi-fi and the view of his signature mustache below.

The artist and the museum made a cameo appearance in my book

“It helps to think like Salvador Dali, who once said, “At the age of
six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my
ambition has been growing steadily ever since.” The new Dali museum
in St. Petersburg, Florida, reflects that big thinking of the artist it honors.
While its architecture and waterfront location are stunning, even more so
is the design and technology to withstand the hurricanes that frequently
threaten the state. The glassed areas are made up of 900 triangular shaped
panels, each unique. The areas holding art have 18-inch concrete
walls with about 200 miles of reinforcing steel, and have been tested to
withstand a Category 5 hurricane.”

Come visit – no hurricanes in sight :)

Digital Mourning

In this new era, the bereaved readily share their sorrow via Facebook comments. They light virtual candles on memorial websites, upload video tributes to YouTube and express sadness through online funeral home guest books. Mourners affix adhesive-backed "QR code" chips to the tombstones of their beloved, so visitors can pull up photos and videos with a scan of a smartphone.

Those in need of consolation can replay the streaming video of a funeral service to hear a cleric's comforting words. Those who want help remembering a yahrtzeit — the anniversary of death in the Jewish faith — can get e-mail reminders from websites such as ShivaConnect.com.

USA Today

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Fabergé and design thinking

Fabergé eggs, the focus  of many an expensive auction and museum collection, and the Google Doodle today had an even more profound impact on design and creativity in the 19th century:

“But there's a greater lesson in these eggs. According to Mr. Schulman, Fabergé changed the way Europe's upper class thought about jewelry.

"Until that time, many felt the value of jewelry was intrinsic, based upon the precious metals and stones," writes Schulman. "Faberge felt that the artistic creativity and fine craftsmanship of jewelry made it art that transcended bullion value."”

Christian Science Monitor

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Sonos at 10

USA Today on how Sonos has adapted to changing home audio technology and buying patterns

“Three developments helped Sonos turn the corner, says MacFarlane.

•Reaching store shelves in Target gave Sonos access to a larger, female customer base. Before its Target launch in October, its customers had been primarily male.

•Developing an app that lets listeners control the music from anywhere via smartphones and tablets.

•The rise of online music services such as Pandora, Rhapsody, Rdio and Mog. Two-thirds of Sonos' customers use the services. Pandora, which is free, is the most popular, MacFarlane says.”

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The Big Jambox

The Big Jambox works in largely the same capacity as the Jambox, offering high-quality audio via any device with a Bluetooth connection. (Yes, including your iPad.). Unlike the original Jambox, the Big Jambox actually supports multiple simultaneous Bluetooth connections, allowing multiple devices to control the music output at the same time.

Sound, of course, is also a big deal. Much of the Big Jambox’s audio fidelity comes from things like “neodymium drivers” and “opposing passive bass radiators”, which, while important and pivotal on a technological level, probably won’t matter to most of the Big Jambox’s potential owners. Take from it this: the device is able to pump out quite a bit of sound in a not-so-big footprint.

ZDNet

Man Made Waves

coming to a park near you even if you are nowhere near a beach..a couple of Memorial Days from today

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Energy – and Water – from Wind

Wind turbines have long produced renewable energy but a French engineering firm has discovered another eco-purpose for the towering structures.

Eole Water claims to have successfully modified the traditional wind turbine design to create the WMS1000, an appliance that can manufacture drinking water from humid air.

The company aims to start rolling out the giant products for sale later in 2012, initially focusing on remote communities in arid countries where water resources are scarce.

CNN

For Memorial Day

Facebook developed an app and asked 2 million people to hang a Memorial Day Wreath on their Facebook profile in honor of fallen soldiers.

As of Sunday night over 31 million wreath had been posted!

Happy 75th, Golden Gate Bridge

The iconic structure celebrates its anniversary today. Visit this site for plenty of celebration activities, and a walk back into the history of this engineering marvel.  

The viral success of a humble bracelet

I heard Lance Armstrong speak of the amazing success of the yellow LIVESTRONG bracelet at SapphireNow last week –over 50 million since they were introduced in 2004 (particularly striking since I was walking around asking why SAP itself cannot show more than a handful of sales of its own new products)

It is an inspiring story especially when you hear it against the backdrop of his cancel survival. I had first heard its story a few years from Doug Ulman, another cancer survivor, and CEO of the LiveStrong Foundation and along with Lance, a social media star on his own.

BTW, in the humility thread I like the fact that Lance in his Twitter description highlights he is “father of 5 amazing kids”. In his talk, he took time to describe a meeting with the Dalai Lama more than talk about his current Ironman passion. 

The latter, of course,  will help popularize the bracelet even more.

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