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Part of the appeal of the Wikipedia phenomenon has been that in a group edited model, it is more likely that individual biases in writing can be removed through frequent editing. Indeed, for many of the self appointed Wikipedians who guard the content of Wikipedia, their mission in life is to objectivize any entries that … Read more
I love Firefox. From its signature "tabbed browsing" to its open source heritage – Firefox has experienced huge growth thanks to the legions of brand believers who have spread the word about Firefox. The Firefox brand has become a badge of honor – just as most graphic designers would never willingly choose to use a … Read more
The phenomenon of Internet users sharing their opinions about products and services online is well into the mainstream now, with large etailers like Amazon.com encouraging customer reviews, sites like TripAdvisor asking travellers to review lodging in destinations around the world and ratings systems for buyers to evaluate sellers on sites like ebay and others. Online, … Read more
Tagging is in right now. From a network for teens to Yahoo’s purchase of del.icio.us and Flickr … everyone in the industry is betting big on tagging. And why shouldn’t they? Search is no longer the only way to find information online. Jakob Nielson (the controversial usability guru) even categorized search engines as leeches. That … Read more
One of my favourite holdover sites from the dot-com era that is still around today is Spun.com. I have always loved the idea of creating used cd and dvd store online for people to sell their old stuff and use credits to buy new stuff. I think I still have a spundex somewhere. I came … Read more
In times square this weekend, I spotted a long billboard with mathematical equations and schematic drawings along with the cryptic URL – www.beyondthedrawingboard.com. Unfortunately, a visit to the website delivers neither a new online community for tech geeks, nor an innovative new virtual drawing board for users to collaborate on. Instead, the site is nothing … Read more
Like many last minute males, I spent last night searching online for restaurants in the Washington DC area to plan that perfect last minute romantic evening out with my wife for Valentine’s Day. As I surfed online, I recalled my dot-bomb efforts to launch www.dc-restaurants.com almost ten years ago (the design stinks, it hasn’t ever … Read more
Shawn Gold shared this great soundbite at the AdTech conference in Chicago more than a month ago, and it stuck with me as a wonderful distillation of what many bloggers and non-bloggers have already noticed … search engines love blogs. In a way, the structure of blogs is a throwback to the days of academia … Read more
Most everything outside of the Internet is vertical. We walk upright. Skyscrapers are, well, sky-high. Books are printed in portrait sizes. Memos, printouts, legal documents too are all printed vertically. Newspapers, magazines, guidebooks – again, the majority are all vertical. Yet computer screens and TV screens are horizontal. Television and movies take advantage of this … Read more
The unending focus on converting "browsers to buyers" has become a mantra for retail ecommerce sites driving an increasingly formulaic approach to interface design. Select a type of product, filter by brand, price, or size, select the one you think you want, and add it to your cart. Unfortunately, this negates the more frequent task … Read more
Non-Obvious Thinking is my upcoming book about the 4 secrets of becoming a non-obvious thinker - coming 09/24!
Rohit Bhargava is a trend curator, founder of the Non-Obvious Company and the 3-time Wall Street Journal bestselling author of ten books.
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Rohit is the author of 10 books on trends, the future of business, building a more human brand with storytelling and how to create a more diverse and inclusive world.
