Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, visited our studio and talked with Chris Flanagan of the Business Innovation Factory. Roger is a renowned expert on the marriage of innovation and business, an author of several books on the topic, and the mind behind Rotman’s pioneering business and design curriculum.

Listen to the podcast.

I had two Value based experiences recently, first I had a real estate broker come by my house to give me an estimate of what my house might sell for. I was unpleasantly surprised when they told be houses are selling for “Assessed Value”. Most of us know that’s just what our taxes are based on. But, now it’s means to buyers that they are getting a deal or the best Value for their dollar.

The second experience was around one of the hundred circulars we received this year in the mail. It had a page full of gifts for under $5.99. It got my attention; I saw three or four deals on the page that caught my eye. I even mentioned to my wife we should go to this store and pick up some these things that were a great deal. My wife very astutely pointed out that we nor anyone we are buying gifts for needed a wooden puzzle or keychain flashlight. I had been sucked into the “can’t pass up a great Value” mind set.

What does this mean?

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Our own Ilan Moyer was featured in MAKE this week. Nice going Ilan! Here’s the entire article.

Bug Labs is a new kind of technology company, enabling a new generation of engineers to tap their creativity and build any type of device they want, without having to solder, learn solid state electronics, or go to China. Bug Labs envisions a future where CE stands for Community Electronics, the term “mashups” applies equally to hardware as it does to Web services, and entrepreneurs can appeal to numerous markets by inventing “The Long Tail” of devices.

Picked this is up from Core and its right in our own backyard.  Definitely one to attend if you are in the area.

Design and Play

Featuring Constantin Boym, Chris Foster, Jim Crawford, and Ellen Lupton
Looking at the prevalence of playful, brightly colored, and unique design across many design disciplines, the panelists will address how their work has developed in recent years and why people want to play.

Details are here. Give us a shout if you’re going to attend.

Check out this video about Shepard Fairey’s iconic poster for the Obama campaign. He talks about the unexpectedly viral quality of the image he created.

By the way Shepard Fairey’s also going to have a show a the ICA in February.