Overheard

“In 1956, a Japanese entrepreneur named Mr. Y. Okada stumbled on an innovation that would end up making life better for homeowners around the globe. It happened one day at lunch, while he was breaking apart sections of a chocolate bar and thought, “Why not apply this same concept of snap-off sections to a factory-sharpened utility knife blade?” When the tip becomes dull, simply break it off at the scored division, exposing a fresh, sharp end.” Toronto Star, 10 Top Tools: OLFA L-1 Utility Knife

“When you heat up leftovers in the microwave, what time do you enter? 2:30 or 2:22? One is close enough and much faster.” Fly on the Wall, Signal vs. Noise

“Some archaeologists believe that pottery was invented in China in order to cook snails; before that, people cooked plants or animals directly over a fire, but snails require more thorough cooking.” The 20 Most Important Tools - No. 16: The Pot, Forbes.com

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” Steve Jobs

“This really sums up Microsoft’s problem in a gorgeous nutshell, doesn’t it? There are several ways to do EVERYTHING, and usually one will kind of not work and another will be kind of a kludge and if you try a lot you might find one you kind of like, but lord god Microsoft couldn’t just pick the good way and go with it, they HAD to include them all, like Pokémon in reverse.” Wil Shipley

“Accept the invite! Click yes. You have to click yes. No in the other window! No, there!” Russell Beattie, on starting video conversations in MSN or Yahoo! Messenger

“There will be cynical people.” Gillette’s Wade Bayne, on public reaction to their new 5-blade “Fusion” razor

“Google has the functionality of a really complicated Swiss Army knife, but the home page is our way of approaching it closed. It’s simple, it’s elegant, you can slip it in your pocket, but it’s got the great doodad when you need it. A lot of our competitors are like a Swiss Army knife open—and that can be intimidating and occasionally harmful.” Marissa Mayer, Google’s director of consumer Web products