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After World War II, Kilburn and Freddie Williams experimented with storing data with cathode ray tubes at Manchester University in England. They finally succeeded in June, 1948, creating the first stored-program computer. Their machine was nicknamed The Baby, but it was anything but -- it measured 7 by 16 feet. It solved its problem (factoring a number) in 52 minutes. In 1998, Kilburn marveled about how closely the feat was studied. "It is a wonderful thing that something we did 50 years ago is being remembered now in almost microscopic detail," he said. "If I had known at the time it was going to be inspected so closely, I might not have done it." Kilburn died January 17 in Manchester. He was 79. From This is True for 14 January 2001 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: Leander Kahney List Price: $23.95 Amazon Price: $16.29 Editorial Review: Steve Jobs has turned his personality traits into a business philosophy. Here’s how he does it. It’s hard to believe that one man revolutionized computers in the 1970s and ’80s (with the Apple II and the Mac), animated movies in the 1990s (with Pixar), and digital music in the 2000s (with the iPod and iTunes). No wonder some people worship him like a god. On the other hand, stories of his epic tantrums and general bad behavior are legendary. Inside Steve’s Brain cuts through the cult of personality that surrounds Jobs to unearth the secrets to his unbelievable results. It reveals the real Steve Jobs—not his heart or his famous temper, but his mind. So what’s really inside Steve’s brain? According to Leander Kahney, who has covered Jobs since the early 1990s, it’s a fascinating bundle of contradictions. Jobs is an elitist who thinks most people are bozos—but he makes gadgets so easy to use, a bozo can master them. He’s a mercurial obsessive with a filthy temper—but he forges deep partnerships with creative geniuses like Steve Wozniak, Jonathan Ive, and John Lasseter. He’s a Buddhist and anti-materialist—but he produces mass-market products in Asian factories, and he promotes them with absolute mastery of the crassest medium, advertising. In short, Jobs has embraced the traits that some consider flaws—narcissism, perfectionism, the desire for total control—to lead Apple and Pixar to triumph against steep odds. And in the process, he has become a self-made billionaire. In Inside Steve’s Brain, Kahney distills the principles that guide Jobs as he launches killer products, attracts fanatically loyal customers, and manages some of the world’s most powerful brands. The result is this unique book about Steve Jobs that is part biography and part leadership guide, and impossible to put down. It gives you a peek inside Steve’s brain, and might even teach you something about how to build your own culture of innovation.  By: Mary Jo Foley List Price: $27.95 Amazon Price: $18.45 Editorial Review: Microsoft 2.0 is about Microsoft's future, not its past. The coming years will be challenging ones for the Redmond software kingpin. Many of the executives currently leading the Microsoft charge are likely to go their own way. Technology will continue to advance at a breakneck pace. Microsoft will forge deals of the size and scope it previously never envisioned in order to keep pace. Foley doesn't claim to possess a crystal ball, allowing her to predict flawlessly what Microsoft plans to do in the next few years ? or even few months. But based on the many Microsoft executives, partners, customers and competitors with whom she converses regularly, she is sitting in a good spot to make some fairly educated guesses that will be most interesting to her readers. This book describes the Microsoft people, products and strategies that will be key for the next-gen Microsoft. Foley uses her professional experience to piece the puzzle together in order to reveal a reasonable, educated guess as to what Microsoft 2.0 will look like as it enters the next decade and beyond. Foreword by "Mini Microsoft!"  By: Bill Moggridge List Price: $39.95 Amazon Price: $26.37 Editorial Review: Digital technology has changed the way we interact with everything from the games we play to the tools we use at work. Designers of digital technology products no longer regard their job as designing a physical object--beautiful or utilitarian--but as designing our interactions with it. In Designing Interactions, award-winning designer Bill Moggridge introduces us to forty influential designers who have shaped our interaction with technology. Moggridge, designer of the first laptop computer (the GRiD Compass, 1981) and a founder of the design firm IDEO, tells us these stories from an industry insider's viewpoint, tracing the evolution of ideas from inspiration to outcome. The innovators he interviews--including Will Wright, creator of The Sims, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google, and Doug Engelbart, Bill Atkinson, and others involved in the invention and development of the mouse and the desktop--have been instrumental in making a difference in the design of interactions. Their stories chart the history of entrepreneurial design development for technology. Moggridge and his interviewees discuss such questions as why a personal computer has a window in a desktop, what made Palm's handheld organizers so successful, what turns a game into a hobby, why Google is the search engine of choice, and why 30 million people in Japan choose the i-mode service for their cell phones. And Moggridge tells the story of his own design process and explains the focus on people and prototypes that has been successful at IDEO--how the needs and desires of people can inspire innovative designs and how prototyping methods are evolving for the design of digital technology. Designing Interactions is illustrated with more than 700 images, with color throughout. Accompanying the book is a DVD that contains segments from all the interviews intercut with examples of the interactions under discussion. Interviews with: Bill Atkinson, Durrell Bishop, Brendan Boyle, Dennis Boyle, Paul Bradley, Duane Bray, Sergey Brin, Stu Card, Gillian Crampton Smith, Chris Downs, Tony Dunne, John Ellenby, Doug Englebart, Jane Fulton Suri, Bill Gaver, Bing Gordon, Rob Haitani, Jeff Hawkins, Matt Hunter, Hiroshi Ishii, Bert Keely, David Kelley, Rikako Kojima, Brenda Laurel, David Liddle, Lavrans Løvlie, John Maeda, Paul Mercer, Tim Mott, Joy Mountford, Takeshi Natsuno, Larry Page, Mark Podlaseck, Fiona Raby, Cordell Ratzlaff, Ben Reason, Jun Rekimoto, Steve Rogers, Fran Samalionis, Larry Tesler, Bill Verplank, Terry Winograd, and Will Wright  By: Marty Neumeier List Price: $21.99 Amazon Price: $14.95 Editorial Review: The second edition features a 220-term brand glossary and a premium softcover binding. THE BRAND GAP is the first book to present a unified theory of brand. Whereas most books on branding are weighted toward either a strategic or creative approach, this book shows how both ways of thinking can unite to produce a “charismatic brand”—a brand that customers feel is essential to their lives. In an entertaining two-hour read you’ll learn: • a new definition of brand • the five essential disciplines of brand-building • how branding is changing the dynamics of competition • the three most powerful questions to ask about any brand • why collaboration is the key to brand-building • how design determines a customer’s experience • how to test brand concepts quickly and cheaply • the importance of managing brands from the inside FROM THE BACK COVER Not since McLuhan’s THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE has a book compressed so many ideas into so few pages. Using the visual language of the boardroom, Neumeier presents the first unified theory of branding—a set of five disciplines to help companies bridge the gap between brand strategy and customer experience. Those with a grasp of branding will be inspired by the new perspectives they find here, and those who would like to understand it better will suddenly “get it.” This deceptively simple book offers everyone in the company access to “the most powerful business tool since the spreadsheet.” “The surprise book of the year!” —John Moore, Fast Company “The first book on brand that seems fresh and relevant.” —Ric Grefe, executive director of AIGA, the professional association for design “A pleasure to read.”—David A. Aaker, author of BRAND PORTFOLIO STRATEGY and BUILDING STRONG BRANDS “Cuts to the heart of what brand is all about.” —Susan Rockrise, worldwide brand director, Intel “Read this book before your competitors do!” —Tom Kelley, general manager, IDEO FROM THE INSIDE FLAPS “A pleasure to read. THE BRAND GAP consistently provides deep, practical insights in a light, visual way. Discover the power of imagery and the role of research in building a heavy-duty brand—without the heavy-duty reading.” —David Aaker, author of BRAND LEADERSHIP and BUILDING STRONG BRANDS “Finally, a book that cuts to the heart of what brand is all about—connecting the rational and the emotional, the theoretical and the practical, the logical and the magical to create a sustainable competitive advantage.” —Susan Rockrise, Worldwide Brand Director, Intel In THE BRAND GAP, Neumeier reminds us that the ultimate moment of truth for all brands is the customer experience. Customer perceptions trump our own perceptions.” —Kurt Kuehn, senior VP of worldwide marketing and sales, UPS “This is not just another book on brand. This is the ONLY book you’ll need to read in business, engineering, and design school.” —Clement Mok, design entrepreneur “A well-managed brand is the lifeblood of any successful company—and Neumeier shows us exactly how to do it. Read this book before your competitors do!” —Tom Kelley, general manager of IDEO, co-author of THE ART OF INNOVATION “THE BRAND GAP couldn’t be more timely. Just when we’re at our most skeptical about corporate motives, along comes a book that shows how to evaluate and develop a brand in a straightforward and honest manner.” —David Stuart, co-founder of The Partners, co-author of A SMILE IN THE MIND “Must-reading for anyone who wants to understand how their business strategy will succeed or fail when put to the ultimate test: ‘Do customers perceive a difference that’s desirable?’” —Steve Harrington, director of strategy and operations, Hewlett-Packard “The book slices like a hot knife through all the turgid, pseudo-academic nonsense that surrounds branding. It’s now on the course list for my graduate students, and new members of my team at Ogilvy get a copy with their training materials.” —Brian Collins, executive creative director, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide  By: Scott Berkun List Price: $24.99 Amazon Price: $16.49 Editorial Review: Scott Berkun Discusses Innovation at Amazon.com Headquarters Scott Berkun, author of The Myths of Innovation and The Art of Project Management, visited Amazon.com to discuss "epiphany myths" and the realities--and effort--of implementing innovation in your own life and work. Watch the video: High bandwidth Low bandwidthPraise for The Myths of Innovation: How do you know whether a hot technology will succeed or fail? Or where the next big idea will come from? The best answers come not from the popular myths we tell about innovation, but instead from time-tested truths that explain how we've made it this far. This book shows the way. In The Myths of Innovation, bestselling author Scott Berkun takes a careful look at innovation history, including the software and Internet Age, to reveal how ideas truly become successful innovations-truths that people can apply to today's challenges. Using dozens of examples from the history of technology, business, and the arts, you'll learn how to convert the knowledge you have into ideas that can change the world. Why all innovation is a collaborative process How innovation depends on persuasion Why problems are more important than solutions How the good innovation is the enemy of the great Why the biggest challenge is knowing when it's good enough "For centuries before Google, MIT, and IDEO, modern hotbeds of innovation, we struggled to explain any kind of creation, from the universe itself to the multitudes of ideas around us. While we can make atomic bombs, and dry-clean silk ties, we still don't have satisfying answers for simple questions like: Where do songs come from? Are there an infinite variety of possible kinds of cheese? How did Shakespeare and Stephen King invent so much, while we're satisfied watching sitcom reruns? Our popular answers have been unconvincing, enabling misleading, fantasy-laden myths to grow strong." -- Scott Berkun, from the text. "Insightful, inspiring, evocative, and just plain fun to read it's totally great." -- John Seely Brown, former Chief Scientist of Xerox, andDirector, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARe; current Chief of Confusion "Small, simple, powerful: an innovative book about innovation." -- Don Norman, Nielsen Norman Group, Northwestern University; author of Emotional Design and Design of Everyday Things "The naked truth about innovation is ugly, funny, and eye-opening, but it sure isn't what most of us have come to believe. With this book, Berkun sets us free to try to change the world unencumbered with misconceptions about how innovation happens." -- Guy Kawasaki, author of The Art of the Start "Brimming with insights and historical examples, Berkun's book not only debunks widely held myths about innovation but also points the ways toward making your new ideas stick. Even in today's ultra-busy commercial world, reading this book will be time well spent." -- Tom Kelley, GM, IDEO; author of The Ten Faces of Innovation "This book cuts through the hype, analyzes what is essential, and more importantly, what is not. You will leave with a thorough understanding of what really drives innovation." -- Werner Vogels, CTO, Amazon.com "I loved this book. It's an easy-to-read playbook for anyone wanting to lead and manage positive change in their business." -- Frank McDermott, Marketing Manager, EMI Music Scott Berkun knows innovation. A member of the Internet Explorer team at Microsoft from 1994-1999, he is a full-time author at www.scottberkun.com and wrote the 2005 bestseller, The Art of Project Management (O'Reilly). He also teaches creative thinking at the University of Washington. |
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