Rick Robinson

What The Seven Sins May Teach Us About Innovation, And Its Risks

One morning at our local bagel shop I watched as a tall man in skinny jeans approached to order, still scanning his iPhone 11 and intently push-pulling through the posts of some app or other. Standard behavior these days of course, but what happened…

AARP / Innovation Labs Team Honored

WASHINGTON—AARP has been named one of Fast Company’s 2020 Best Workplaces for Innovators. Now in its second annual year, the list honors businesses and organizations that demonstrate a deep commitment to encouraging innovation at all levels. AARP…

How Older Entrepreneurs are Helping to Shape the Tech Landscape

A conversation at the United Nations Crossing off "speaking at the UN" is not something I ever imagined having the privilege to do. (As life goals go, it's a good one.) But this Fall I was surprised by an invitation from the United Nations via my…

Innovation at AARP Labs

"It's simple. I just remove everything that is not David." This quote is commonly attributed to Michelangelo in response to Pope Julius II's question about how he was able to produce such a masterwork. No evidence indicates the exchange ever…

7 Startups Decamp to the ‘Smartest Place in the World’ to Rethink Mobility

This was originally published on Street Fight Marketers using mobile phones to connect real-time data and buyer-intention to drive and measure consumer foot traffic is a tired vision of the future from last year … it has more to do with our past than…

Voice Bots Have One Big Problem: Human Behavior

I love you. What are the best shampoos to fight hair loss? When does the next season of Girls begin? Find local spas with a male masseur. What is the average weight of a 5’7” woman? Please make a dinner reservation for our anniversary. Find the…

Mobile 1.0 Had Its Own Uber: Recalling the Birth of the Future

When mobile devices first arrived, they promised to unlock entirely new consumer behaviors around products and services — with the most successful experiences still rooted in core human desires to connect and interact, as on the desktop. And it was…

App Connects Travelers With Revelers, Parties Ensue

(Originally published on Street Fight) So you’re finally taking that big trip to Athens, Greece — the one you’ve talked about ever since daydreaming over pictures in a fifth-grade history book. You’ve got mental sketches of the incredible sights…

Will an ‘Internet of People’ Threaten the On-Demand Heavies?

This article originally appeared in Street Fight In short order we’ve seen a share of local commerce move from brick-and-mortar to digital to mobile, as SMBs discovered new ways to take advantage of the variety of platforms promising efficiency in…

With New Bots, Local Scheduling a Lot More Fun

This article originally appeared in Street Fight Hello world? Well hello there. And how are you today? Could I get you something? Looks like you could use a haircut… How about we schedule that? Uh… Welcome to the future — which is also a vision of…

After School, Generation Z, and the Localization of Anonymous Expression

This originally appeared on Street Fight Broadly speaking, there are bullies and there are the bullied. Some people might suggest they are both — but most of us were among the latter camp while back in high school. Our memories can serve up painfully…

Smart Keyboards Redefining Local Search

Originally published on Street Fight Keyboard shortcuts and commands are nothing new, and in fact date back to the earliest of those clunky desktop islands — grey hunks battling for desk space with the big metal boxes holding our motherboards. Ctrl +…

Tomorrowland: How Digital City Foreshadowed More Than Future of Local

This was originally published on Street Fight. As Aol prepares to dial in Verizon’s mobile growth, the acquisition milestone serves as a reminder of another property that once upon a time peppered the online juggernaut with scrappy, prescient and…