Over the next 10 days, the Wall Street Journal Online is taking time to celebrate its 10-year anniversary with a number of special features. For example, the Evolution of the Wall Street Journal looks at how the home page of the Wall Street Journal has changed over the past 10 years. The first screen shot is from June 1996, while the second screen shot is from March 2006. Obviously, the homepage looks a lot different now than it did then. In 1996, the homepage basically looked like a photocopy of the morning paper. After a series of revamps, the WSJ has added a whole host of features (i.e. portfolio customization tools, enhanced search capabilities, online exclusives) and a better, more attractive layout and design. Oh, yeah, and did I mention color and graphics?

However, how much has really changed in 10 years? At a time when media companies like the BBC and the New York Times are experimenting with the idea of a complete Web 2.0 makeover, the Wall Street Journal seems very content to continue to protect nearly all of its content behind paid subscription walls. Moreover, where are the RSS feeds? The user-generated content? The blogs? The quirky YouTube.com videos? For coverage of business and finance, there is no equal to the Wall Street Journal. The content is first-class and a must-read in the morning. But that doesn’t mean that the Wall Street Journal Online is perfect.

What do you think? What changes (if any) should the Wall Street Journal Online make?

Tags: WallStreetJournal newspaper innovation

Apparently, DuPont has launched an innovation-themed marketing campaign that includes print ads in the Wall Street Journal. The centerpiece of the campaign is an innovation website highlighting the company’s many patents and innovations, including a look at the DuPont innovation process:

“DuPont invests more than $1 billion a year on research and development (R&D) in multiple disciplines and is home to one of the world’s largest industrial R&D facilities, the Experimental Station. The result of such sustained R&D efforts is discontinuous innovation, the sudden appearance of a major breakthrough in technology that can yield entirely new products, processes, or services. Results occur only after great difficulty and long perseverance, and involve the interaction of technological research and market development. Collaborative R&D with other companies, and the licensing of intellectual assets (property) are also increasingly playing a role in the process.”

One of the most famous innovations from DuPont (what it refers to as “the miracles of science”) is Kevlar. If you think Kevlar is only for body armor and bulletproof vests, you’re mistaken. For example, the DuPont StormRoom with Kevlar can also offer protection from tornado- and hurricane-blown debris:

The storm’s circulation begins to pick up and throw out all kinds of debris. Many common items and building materials can become dangerous flying missiles. A two-by-four building timber from a damaged or destroyed structure, accelerated at more than 100 miles an hour, is one of the most common and deadly threats.

Common stucco, siding or brick exteriors of houses are not designed to stop this kind of threat. The incredible strength of DuPontTM Kevlar® Sheathing, built inside reinforced wall panels, helps provide the stopping power needed for a tornado shelter. It literally acts as a safety net, helping to stop and deflect debris from a tornado.

The DuPont™ StormRoom™ with Kevlar® looks like a small room inside a house or garage. Both the inside and outside of the storm shelter can be finished to match the walls of a home. The room is ventilated, and electricity can be installed. It is ideal for new home construction built on a concrete slab foundation. Installed by an authorized installation professional, the room can also be added to a new or existing garage with a concrete slab floor. The DuPont™ StormRoom™ with Kevlar® helps provide an easily accessible safe room from tornadoes and the wind-borne missiles they generate.

Tags: DuPont innovation science Kevlar

[Top image: Eurekalert]

What do you do when your customers start using your products in strange and wondrous ways that you never imagined? If you’re a company like LEGO, the answer is simple: tap into the customer co-creation process. But what happens when your customers start acting in strange and wondrous ways that you never imagined? Take a look at what happened to Best Buy at one of its Manhattan stores. The improvisational comedy troupe Improv Everywhere planned an extensive improv event at a Best Buy super store in Chelsea, in which approximately 80 people dressed up like Best Buy sales associates and proceeded to cause havoc:

“We met at Union Square North at 3:30 PM. Around 80 agents showed up, most them looking like wonderful Best Buy employees. More than a few came dressed in navy or teal, but with the belt and the khakis they still looked employee-like. After everyone arrived I explained the mission. The first step was for everyone to throw their newspapers away. The instruction to bring a newspaper was a red herring meant to throw people off the scent of the mission’s true nature. I then revealed the plan, “We’re heading up to the Best Buy on 23rd Street. We’ll enter the store one by one. Once inside, spread out and stand near the end of an aisle, facing away from the merchandise. Don’t shop, but don’t work either. If a customer comes up to you and asks you a question, be polite and help them if you know the answer. If anyone asks you if you work there, say no. If an employee asks you what you’re doing, respond ‘I’m waiting for my girlfriend/boyfriend who is shopping elsewhere in the store.’ If they question you about your clothing, just explain that it’s what you put on when you woke up this morning and you don’t know any of the other people dressed like you.”

Anyway, Improv Everywhere has posted extensive photos and videoclips of the event. It was actually an elaborate plan - stashing hidden cameras in cut-out sections of Xbox360 boxes, hiding cameras in duffle bags, you get the idea. What really struck me, though, was the way that Best Buy employees reacted to the event: “The lower level employees laughed and got a kick out of it while the managers and security guards freaked out. Some employees speculated that we were a cult, or maybe protesters…” Without giving away too much of what happens, let’s just say that the event involved a few frantic calls to 911, the arrival of the cops, and misplaced worries of a Thomas Crown Affair.

There has to be an innovation lesson in there somewhere about the customer co-creation process. If nothing else, it would make for an interesting anecdote during a ho-hum PowerPoint presentation about innovation.

Tags: BestBuy ImprovEverywhere

In celebration of its 10th anniversary online, the Wall Street Journal is running a free online open house throughout the week. Anyway, I happened to stumble on this - a collection of movie clips and an article by Andrew Lavallee showing how Hollywood’s portrayal of computers and the Internet has changed over the past 10 years or so. As the Wall Street Journal points out, “Hollywood’s depictions of the Internet range from overwrought to just plain goofy.”

Check out clips from classic movies like War Games as well as not-so-classic B-movies like Swordfish (starring John Travolta and Halle Berry) and Fear Dot Com. Just keep in mind that what you see on the silver screen may bear little or no resemblance to what you see everyday on your computer screen:

One of the first ways Hollywood portrayed the Internet – or something resembling it — was by featuring computer hackers who used their geeky skills to run amok. In 1983’s “WarGames,” for instance, a baby-faced Matthew Broderick found himself in control of nuclear missiles after accessing a military computer system using the suspiciously hackable password “Joshua.” Countless hacker movies since then have similarly stretched belief in the name of drama.

Indeed, filmmakers have been particularly interested in the notion of computers as powerful tools for wreaking havoc, though have often been less interested in portraying reality. The geek crowd has weighed in on the movies that got it right and those that didn’t. The makers of the sci-fi “Matrix” trilogy got kudos, for instance, for shots of real programming code in 2003’s “Matrix Reloaded.” On the flipside are films like 1995’s “Hackers,” which depict the Internet controlling everything, including high-school sprinkler systems. In film after film, hacking scenes involve a conspicuously large, blinking password prompt, then a few “access denied” messages before the heroes crack the code.

“If it’s an important element or story point, you don’t want to miss it. That’s what makes people say ‘let’s goose it up,’” said Joseph Garrity, the head of production design at the American Film Institute, a film school and nonprofit arts group in Los Angeles. “And that makes it maybe look fake sometimes.”

Tags: Hollywood Internet

At one time, JetBlue and Southwest Airlines were the two “poster children” for business innovation within the commercial aviation sector. Now, the whisper on Wall Street is that JetBlue - if it’s not careful negotiating the treacherous obstacle course of higher fuel prices - might wind up like all the other money-losing airlines out there. JetBlue has reported losses for the past two consecutive quarters and recently outlined a corporate cost-cutting plan, leading The Motley Fool to suggest that the airline may be on the path from great to good:

Is JetBlue now just another airline? The company posted a loss in the first quarter. It’s the second consecutive quarter that the discount carrier has closed out in the red after an industry-envying streak of profitability. JetBlue is looking to bounce back into the black in the current quarter, but it still expects to close out the year with a loss. Higher crude-oil prices and other rising costs have the company exploring expense-cutting initiatives. This will include deferring some of its Airbus A320 jet deliveries and selling at least two of the A320s in its existing fleet…

JetBlue has to be careful here. Even though the carrier hasn’t been able to charge a premium for its flights in a cutthroat, cut-rate sector, JetBlue’s bells and whistles are what set it apart from the competition. There may come a time when the company is able to justify higher fares thanks to its generous in-flight offerings. Although it may be tempted to shave off some of its overhead, it would be a shame to see the company scale back on its free signature snacks, DirecTV video channels on every seat, and digital audio programming courtesy of XM Satellite Radio.

For now, investors are not too rattled by the losses at JetBlue - they understand that it’s still an extraordinarily successful business that’s been laid low by high fuel costs. (If it costs $65 to fill up an SUV, imagine what it costs to fill up an Airbus A320!). The company’s CEO, David Neeleman, immediately went on the offensive last week, vowing that the company would return to profitability. Shares of the company promptly jumped 13.2% on the news.

However, it might be an interesting question to ask: How do you know when a great company has become merely a good company?

Tags: JetBlue innovation airline