News

Mysterious Cubicle Crud

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 04:00:00 GMT

4.4.06 | Washington Post | The reason I can't blog this morning is that I have just moved to a new cubicle and am totally out of sorts . . . . I don't want to be seen as a Work Station Complainer. Every office has people whose work stations are, at least in their imagination, killing them.. . . Changing workstations can be every bit as emotionally devastating as going through a divorce. There is a pervasive strangeness to everything. There are unfamiliar sounds, light hitting the eyes at an odd angle, peculiar vapors from a photocopier, plus the reorientation of the body with regard to magnetic North.

Simple Retrofit Options Explored in Office Lighting Field Study

Thu, 14 Jul 2005 17:18:51 GMT

7.12.05 | Lighting Research Center | The Lighting Research Center conducted a field study to identify simple retrofit solutions that save lighting energy in open-plan offices while providing enough brightness to give workers a cheerful impression of the space.

Elevator Lighting Gets an Upgrade with LEDs

Thu, 14 Jul 2005 17:08:22 GMT

7.12.05 | Lighting Research Center | A recent field study from the Lighting Research Center demonstrated that LEDs can be effective, energy-saving alternatives for incandescent downlights in elevators. The field installation using prototype LED fixtures showed an energy savings of 45 percent compared with the original incandescent lights. LED fixtures may also change the way elevator cabins are built, resulting in further energy savings.

Tapping Consumers Early in the Product Development Process

Wed, 09 Feb 2005 11:31:10 GMT

2.9.05 | Forbes | Should companies let a bunch of amateurs design their products? Up to a point, yes. But they're doing it, letting customers put in their two cents on cars, insurance products, fast food, toys and appliances. Maybe it's an act of desperation, but they have concluded that instant feedback is one way to cope with the pressure for shorter product cycles and with the high failure rate of new products. Of the 36,000-plus new products that will hit the shelves in the U.S. this year, 80% will fail, says New Product News. By MELANIE WELLS

Book Spotlights Herman Miller Design Process

Wed, 26 Jan 2005 15:11:38 GMT

1.25.05 | New York, NY | A new book documents Herman Miller's successful use of design to solve business problems and lead the creative process. Herman Miller: The Purpose of Design (published by Rizzoli International and available now through booksellers) details how the company's focus on design in problem solving has successfully guided it through decades of growth and change. Author John Berry, a 16-year employee of Herman Miller through the mid-1990s, credits the company's ability to create breakthrough products to its skill in asking the right questions and identifying the right problems to solve.

Samsung Cell Phones to Get Tiny Hard Drive

Fri, 10 Sep 2004 02:17:44 GMT

9.9.04 | SAN JOSE, CA | Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has announced the world's first mobile phone to sport a tiny hard drive. With the built-in 1-inch, 1.5-gigabyte hard disk, the SPH-V5400 could store about 15 times more data than conventional handsets -- everything from digital music files and photos to video, Samsung said.