“TED is like an Orgasm Machine for the human mind. It gives us the climax of epiphany, without the challenge and tension of thought.”

And if you're okay with that, here are some recent mind orgasms.

So many little screens. 

Tesla is the new Apple (by UX Week 2013 keynote speaker, Steven Johnson) 

Sitting is the new smoking. 

How to train for a spacewalk.

Read More

U.S. Health insurance companies are changing their customer experiences in preparation for 2014 and the Affordable Care Act.

You might think all the cool new tech for personal infomatics are big, but Pew says most people track their health on paper or in their head. 

A nice little animation about system-centered vs. person-centered work. 

Roger Martin of HBR blogs schools us on what a strategy isn't. And The Monitor Institute tells us that successful business strategy is an adaptive effort, a self-correcting series of intentional experiments, not a static plan.

What's Google's #1 asset? 

Read More

Fuel for your escape fantasies. 

We love this site for all those those half-pint DIYers out there who want to share what they make.

Death to fugly slides! Long live bullet-less storytelling!  

Audrey Chen, senior designer at Comedy Central (who spoke about what she does at UX Week 2008) leaves the jokes behind and heads to government. 

Should we focus on user experience? 

1938 in color! Very cool slide show and story of photographer Charles W. Cushman. 

With friends like these, you hope for some enemies. 

Read More

We're intrigued by Pair and Avocado, two new apps for couples.

Google's Mobile Playbook is pretty slick. 

Can these sunglasses make you more aware of other people's emotional states?

Important news for victims of Vibropantitis: “Phantom vibration syndrome: a cross sectional survey”

Read More

If you're not going to SXSW and all those tweets are making you regret it (or are just annoying you), you're in luck! Lanyrd can help you hide them from your Twitter feed.

But if you are attending, go see our pals and former colleagues tear it up at their panel. 

Whether you went to Interaction 12 or not, the keynotes are up! 

Why are we so afraid of creativity?

Simon Beck's snow art is crazy amazing! 

We totally want to hire this kid! 

Read More

What do you know about Fukinsei, Kanso, Kokou, Shizen, Yugen, Datsuzoku, and Seijaku? Read all about it in “Wabi, Sabi, and Japanese Aesthetics” by @Aen.

This new Lytro camera which captures all levels of focus and lets you set depth of field and focal length AFTER you take your photo will certainly shake things up, just like the Kodak camera we mentioned in Subject to Change.

Quantum levitation is brain-melting.

As is the mesmerizing artistry of Seoul’s U-ram Choe

Read More

In honor of Steve Jobs, here's a select set of our favorite and most memorable Job's moments.

Read More

Are you ready to turn your city into a monopoly?

Check out Design Week in Copenhagen

Amazon or Apple, which one will win out in the tablet competition?

Speaking of tablets, what extreme measures would you take to get an iPad?  

Did you get your 8 hours of sleep last night?  Your employer sure hopes you did.

Read More

This week we're posting this while on a break from the last session on the last day of UX Week. We're sad. It's been a great week. If you haven't been following #uxweek on twitter, check out all the good stuff flying around.

If tweets aren't your thing, UX Week attendee Mark Congiusta's awesome sketchnotes (so far) of the conference lend a more visual representation of the talks and workshops.

Exude enthusiasm. Absorb all influcenes. And other design business tips.

Read More

As we get prepared for UX Week next week here in San Francisco (and hope you’ll be joining us), here are a few of the things that we’ve stumbled upon this week that we’ve found interesting:

What an iPad Looked Like in 1994

Dance like nobody’s watching…or with the hope that everyone’s watching.

Page Trawler is a content audit tool for people who make websites - user experience designers, content strategists, marketers, information architects, and anybody who makes bits of the web.

XKCD on password usability and security.

Read More