Constipation of needs, diarrhea of ideas

Disclaimer: I may be a little emotional here, but I think its okay. After all, this is my blog.

I am beginning to feel a pain in my stomach, as I read about some of the "innovations" described by Tom. Like, designing a beach-chair that automatically turns based on the direction of sun. Or like a smart highway. Give me a break!

I am challenging my yesterday's thoughts. We don’t yet live in an "experience economy". Not even close. When we are talking of economies, we are talking of an entire cross-section of people. Is it safe to assume that there would be no dial-up in a few years? Well, I don’t know. But, I can say a resounding - No, if we just think beyond Uncle Sam.

Designing in a world of scarcity is so different from designing in a world of surplus. As a student of human-computer interaction design and as a citizen of the third-world, my challenge would be to use my design skills to innovate the bridges for the digital-divide. That would be real innovation for me.
On a lighter note, I am reminded of this "Astronaut-Pen" joke that I heard long back:
"During the heat of the space race in the 1960's, NASA decided it needed a ball point pen to write in the zero gravity confines of its space capsules. After considerable research and development, the Astronaut Pen was developed at a cost of $1 million U.S. The pen worked and also enjoyed some modest success as a novelty item back here on earth.

The Soviet Union, faced with the same problem, used a pencil."
I think the greatness of innovation is also its simplicity. Like, say Google. Just look at what they have done to the internet. I am disappointed that Tom doesn't even mention about Google anywhere. And, still manages to talk of innovation.