Whenever I travel, I am always on the lookout for the right kind of chocolate-as-a-gift. This is often a difficult choice as although the taste of the chocolate is certainly important, the packaging is often an important constraint as well. Tourist-focused chocolates might have a landmark imprinted on the package — say the Eiffel tower or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Finding the right degree of authenticity is one thing I seek.

For the above chocolate bar series I was drawn to the simplicity of the packaging style. The chocolate is clearly visible and a sticker is slapped onto the transparent sleeve. I felt it was an open approach first of all because the candy was not hidden behind gold foil or what-not. And in addition I sensed that the packaging process itself was one that took very little time either to conceive or execute. My takeaway was that freshness is supported by the illusion that thoughtful haste has been applied in presentation of an object.

I just subscribed to Todoist which is a simple “to-do list” manager that is remarkably sophisticated. Finally a simplified way to organize my list of tasks across multiple devices.

Recently I had the opportunity to engage in a public debate on the Economist.com with the brilliant Richard Szafranski on the topic “If the promise of technology is to simplify our lives, it is failing.” In my defense of innovation and technology I found a renewed optimism that I haven’t felt in quite a while. Mr. Szafranski pointed to some of the key issues of technology that we quite conveniently forget, and I was heartened to engage in his ideas. I do sincerely believe that the next phases of technology development will be for the better because we have no other choice really. Failure cannot be the accepted state for the future.