Do you ever take the time to think?

Following a series of high-profile casualties, you could be excused for thinking that the British High Street is in terminal decline. But in the debate which has followed, intelligent voices have argued that these events aren’t all bad news.

Brent Hoberman, co-founder of lastminute.com, believes that the high street is not dead. It is being reborn. The UK government asked retail expert Mary Portas to conduct a review of the state of the High Street, but ultimately, the answers lie with retailers, not with poli… continue reading

I’ve previously blogged about 3D printing, but now it’s becoming less expensive and therefore more accessible. The concept is about 10-15 years old, but its recent rise in prominence is due to advances in software design tools along with superior hardware & software integration.

 French start-up Sculpteo  www.sculpteo.com allows independent designers or part-time manufacturers to use its industrial-scale 3D printers through its cloud-based software. Bespoke products made through the Sculpteo system include va… continue reading

Standing-up meetings are the stuff of folklore (although I don’t doubt that some businesses have tried it). The idea is to keep meetings brief by making participants stand. Now Harvard Business Review blogger Nilofer Merchant is advocating walking meetings – she makes her business associates pound the streets with her. Every week she covers between 20 and 30 miles, which leaves her full of joy and creativity. "If you want to get out of the box thinking, you need to literally get out of the box”, she says.

Cheesiness apart,… continue reading

You can sell your old CDs to whoever you like, but downloaded music and books are a different story. I was recently reminded of this when I tried to transfer an e-book from my wife’s Kindle to my own. Sure, it’s easy enough to share mp3 files, but in Europe there isn’t a legal online marketplace for “used” digital music.

According to Bloomberg, that is set to change as US company ReDigi prepares to launch in Europe this quarter, first with music and ebooks, before expanding into video games, softw… continue reading