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

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.

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.