People often ask me about what books I like. I read voraciously, and these are some of my favorites.

I read 95% nonfiction, so keep that in mind.

By offering a set of sophisticated project management tools, Kluster aims to enable crowds to develop new concepts. The system is currently being demonstrated at the TED conference in Monterey, where the event’s attendees will be able to work together to create a product prototype in 72 hours. (Rapid prototyping machines and a team of modellers are standing by.) Kluster wasn’t developed just for tangible objects though. It can also be used to create brand identities, plan events or for any other project that would benefit from crowd input.

Granted—Kluster isn’t the first venture to create a platform for crowdsourcing. Cambrian House and CrowdSpirit both operate in this space. The main advantage Kluster offers is incentive: a highly developed system of rewards. Members can earn ‘Watts’ (the local currency) by helping solve problems or suggesting refinements or enhancements. They can also invest their Watts, and can cash out if a project is purchased by a third party. Investments grow along with a project’s value, and a member’s stake is based on how much he or she has contributed. As explained by Kluster: ‘Watts encourage users to participate and stay on target, keeping the community productive.’

Anyone can initiate a project, and Kluster claims to use complex algorithms to let the brightest ideas surface, not just the loudest ones. Several companies have signed up to engage Kluster’s community and tap into their collective creativity. In the best case scenario, the crowds will help brands create new hit products. At the very least, using Kluster will let them interact with their most dedicated customers. Smaller companies, meanwhile, can use Kluster as an instant research and development lab, enlisting (and rewarding!) the community to help ‘flesh out’ ideas that they might otherwise not be able to develop. One to experiment with!

Website: www.kluster.com
Contact: team@kluster.com

Spotted by: Kare Anderson

(Via Springwise: Promising new business ideas for entrepreneurial minds.)

QING WANG, Morgan Stanley, on China’s potential policy shift:

Chief economist for Greater China on why investors should prepare

Qing Wang on faster renminbi appreciation a certainty in 2008:

Chief economist for Greater China gives his outlook for renminbi

Qing Wang on why China’s A shares will avoid a bear market:

Chief economist for Greater China optimistic on Chinese shares

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(Via View from the Markets.)

Mark writes about our venture.

I was having lunch with Scott one auspicious day when he asked me, ‘How many gourmet mustards can find in a supermarket? And how many gourmet ketchups?’ It’s unlikely you got past Heinz yourself on the second one. After that, I got to thinking: why is it that I can stroll into Whole Foods and be entirely overwhelmed by the diverse array of mustards (whole grain, dijon, upmarket, hot dog brand, etc…), yet I see only one successful ketchup?

I believe that there is a demand for a luxury-level ketchup, one that is positioned upmarket in a similar fashion to Grey Poupon. The concept of ‘trading up’ is demonstrably successful, and there should be no reason why ketchup would be immune to this principle. Ketchup is an incredibly versatile condiment, one that gels well with more than just burgers and fries. High-end restaurants may even have the desire to serve ketchup, but are reluctant to place a bottle of Heinz on the table because of the message it may send. What if there were an gourmet alternative, a ketchup so oozing with class and sophistication that not only did it come with specialized silver serving bowls, but also tuxedo-adorned butlers to serve it?

To this end, I’ve embarked on the perilous journey to create a gourmet ketchup with Scott. Its name: Sir Kensington’s Gourmet Scooping Ketchup. Its website: SirKensingtons.com. As you can see, we’re all about high-end branding. Please also enjoy our business card design to the right (and ask me for a card if you see me around).

Our first step in this ludicrous journey was to come up with a product, and as we all know, focus groups are the best way to go for this. So we did what anyone would do: we hosted a ketchup tasting party. We made eight different ketchups, using 6 different recipes, over 40 different ingredients (including raw ginger and chipotle peppers), all in a bit over 10 hours of cooking time.

The tasting party was a resounding success (as were the invitations for the party, which can be found here), and the results were very interesting. We created eight ketchups total: 3 variations on standard ketchup, 3 spiced ketchups, and 2 blond ketchups. We handed out surveys to everyone at the tasting in order to judge which ketchups were successes and which weren’t, and in the end the responses were across the board: people don’t all like the same thing, and sometimes people don’t even know what they like themselves. To make things even more confusing, we also had Heinz present as a control, and few even realized it was Heinz!

This ketchup venture is nowhere near over, but rather is just beginning. I’ll keep you all updated as we progress down this rabbit hole, and there will likely be more tasting parties in the near future. We’ll see where this all takes us. In the meantime, below are some choice photo selections from the tasting party, and the entire gallery can be found here.

(Via Black Napkin.)

Visit Mark’s new food blog at www.blacknapkin.org

Food Lesson #21: “

‘Mark!’, you exclaim, ‘What’s the difference between a taste and a flavor?!’. Well, first of all, let’s calm down. A taste is something that can be sensed solely by your tongue. You have five basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami (more on umami another time). A flavor, on the other hand, is something that is received by both taste and scent.

Hold your nose and taste lemon juice: simply sour. That’s lemon taste. Now taste it again with your nose open: you can sense the lemony zest and citrus power of the fruit. That’s lemon flavor.

As for visual aids, here’s a diagram of where your tongue picks up tastes:

And here’s a diagram illustrating how tastes and flavor (odor) interact:

Notice the taste ‘mouthfeel’ in the wheel: that’s umami in a nutshell. It’s the fullness in the mouth / heartiness / proteiny taste that adds sensory heft to any dish. We all love umami, let’s not lie.

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(Via Black Napkin.)

Help Stavros paint the world, his canvas: “

The World is My Canvas is a new site by FarFar for Nokia featuring Stavros and his soon-to-be realized latest work of Position Art, art created by moving while tracking your GPS location. You can submit a sketch for the chance to co-create his next masterpiece live in Rome on March 14th.

via the serif

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(Via core77.com’s design blog.)