Google - The Fastest Shade of Blue

Google tested 40 shades of blue for the links on their search results.

One shade led to people clicking on links a fraction of a second faster. Over millions of searches that adds up – faster for users, better for Google.

They’ve found that a 1/10^th or a second, or even a 1/100^th of a second faster makes a difference to users – resulting in them being happier, and coming back more frequently to search.

Source: Lecture by Matt Brittin, Vice President of Google for Northern and Central Europe, Imperial College, Nov 2011. Video here.

Hotel towel re-use

Noah Goldstein, UCLA assistant professor of HR and organised behaviour, headed up a 2010 study on how to encourage towel reuse among hotel guests. In one experiment, two different signs were tested in rooms.:

• 1st sign had an appeal saying that towel reuse is good for the environment; 35% of guest complied.
• 2nd sign added a social cue: "Almost 75% of guests who are asked to participate... do help by using their towel more than once." 44% compliance.

Source: Wired (UK) Aug 2011

Mints & tips in restaurants

If a waiter leaves a mint on the tray with the bill, his tips rise by 3.3%. If he leaves to mints, they rise by 14%.

Robert Cialdini, author of Influence, quoted in Wired (UK) Aug 2011

Plastic Bottle House

Remarkable house made from plastic bottles filled with sands.

Info: http://inhabitat.com/africas-first-plastic-bottle-house-rises-in-nigeria/

Elephants exercise

• When are we at our best?
• What gets in the way?
• What are we going to do?

Amazon Locker

Amazon's lockers are now available in 7-Eleven's in Seattle, and being rolled out in London shopping centres thanks to a deal with Land Securities.

Apparently Amazon also had a short-lived foray into pick-up stations for Amazon Fresh, its Seattle grocery service, before moving to a focus on home deliveries.

Source:

• http://www.geekwire.com/2011/amazon-locker-turned-7eleven
• http://www.geekwire.com/2011/amazon-tested-pickup-stations-turn

WePay - group payments

WePay is currently offering groups a way to manage their money in the US. You can get a debit card for the account, and send cheques.

Others have failed in this space, will be interesting to see if this succeeds.

See: www.wepay.com

House of Fraser - buy and collect store

House of Fraser have just opened a shop in Aberdeen's Union Square. It has no stock, and will probably used primarily for click-and-collect.

Source: Daily Record, Scotland

Spitfire - a long shot that paid off

The British Air Ministry funded the Spitfire prototype, for about the price of a house in London, as "a most interesting experiment".

Source: Tim Harford in Wired (UK), July 2011

Ideas from Employees

Ideas from employees tend to be more innovative than those from management.

Richer Sounds have 20 ideas per employee per year.

Toyota Lexus have 100 ideas per employee per year.

Source: Online PPT here by Alan G. Robinson from University of Massachusetts. Sadly doesn't give his sources.