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Phil McKinney

Phil McKinney is an innovator, podcaster, author, and speaker. He is the retired CTO of HP. Phil's book, Beyond The Obvious, shares his expertise and lessons learned on innovation and creativity.

Moderating The Plato@50 Innovations In Hardware Session at Computer History Museum (CHM)

I was recently requested by the Computer History Museum to moderate a session on Plato Hardware that was part of a two day event celebrating the 50 year aniversary of Plato.  If you asking “what is Plato?” then you are missing a key … Around 1959 Chalmers Sherwin, a physicist at the University of Il

Moderating The Plato@50 Innovations In Hardware Session at Computer History Museum (CHM)

Slides From “Garage Based Innovation” Speech At Stanford

A few weeks back, I gave a speech at one of the Standford Breakfast Briefings. The topic was on “Garage Based Innovation” with the emphasis being on the personal ability to innovate.

Slides From “Garage Based Innovation” Speech At Stanford

Slides For “Predicting The Future: Answers Versus Questions” Speech

Last week, I gave a keynote speech at Edelman’s Leadership event in Chicago. The company brings together the top ~100 executives from around the world once a year. Richard Edelman asked me to present a talk at lunch about the “future of technology”. I took some liberty with the topic and focused on

Slides For “Predicting The Future: Answers Versus Questions” Speech

Video of “Hacking The Future” Speech

The video of the “Hacking The Future” speech I gave at Maker Faire 2010 has been posted over at Fora.tv.  The foundation for the speech is the precept that the world in changing at an ever increasing pace.  To ensure we, as a civilization, are prepared for this changing future, we need to spend […]

Video of “Hacking The Future” Speech

Science Fiction Impact On Innovation

On Saturday, I gave a speech at Maker Fair 2010 on “Hacking The Future” where I talked on predicting the future through a variety of influences.  One that I shared was the role of science fiction. It’s staggering how much of what we do today is last generations science fiction!  Did you know: Suba w

science fiction

My Latest Forbes Column – When Should You Buy The New, New Thing?

My latest column for Forbes has just been posted … One way technology companies make money is by pushing their latest and greatest gadgets to their most rabid customers—and charging a premium for it for as long as they can.  The question: Do you plunk down early and often to get an edge on […]

My Latest Forbes Column – When Should You Buy The New, New Thing?

Help Create The 12 Killer Questions To Innovate US Education

I’ve been asked (more like challenged) to create a dozen or so killer questions that could be used by teachers, schools, districts, state education agencies, federal agencies, etc. to help  innovate the educational system in the US.  I took up the challenge as a “pay it forward” project to help the

Killer Questions that lead to breakthrough innovations

Joining Computer History Museum Board Of Directors

My wife would argue that my office looks like a computer museum. I’m setting here looking at a stack of old IBM punch cards, an original Compaq lugable, old HP Jornada’s and 100’s of other gadgets …. not to mention my collection of Byte and Wired magazines. I will admit it, I’m a pack rat. So it see

Joining Computer History Museum Board Of Directors

Getting The Timing Right For An Innovation – Like a slate!

I’m a firm believer that the difference between a good idea and a great idea is getting the timing right.  There are a number of items to consider when deciding when is the right time to bring an innovation to market. For example: Is there a technology coming that will transform the experience/marke

getting the timing right clock

The “Creating Killer Innovations” CD Is Finally Here!

The long awaited Creating Killer Innovations CD is finally here!  The CD has been two years in the making and I’m sure that many of you had given up that it would ever become a reality.  To “thank you” for you patience, I’ve arranged for a $5.00 discount on the CD for listeners of the […]

The “Creating Killer Innovations” CD Is Finally Here!