Doug Gross at CNN has a list of the top 10 tech product failures in recent years (hat tip to Greg Aharonian’s Patnews newsletter). The list includes: LaserDisc Apple Newton Google Wave Segway Microsoft KIN Pets.com TwitterPeak Atari Jaguar HD-DVD Virtual Reality Some great ideas and even some cool technology went into most of these …
I’m back from the week-long Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) in Salt Lake City, Utah, where over 4,200 engineers from around the country and many other nations were gathered. Hundreds of technical papers were presented from researchers and leaders pursuing advanced in energy, biotech, materials, nanotechnology, chemicals, and related fields. …
Nussbaum on Design (BusinessWeek) has a though-provoking column that mentions several innovation principles from designer Diego Rodriquez. One of these is “Killing good ideas is a good idea.” That’s the kind of counter-intuitive blasphemy that merits reflection. Of course, developing good ideas is essential, but without the killing phase, good ideas can lead to “idea …
Idea Cancer: The Danger of Good Ideas (Growing Out of Control) Read More »
Crazy Foods, an intriguing spot I photographed in a small and actually very innovative town in Veracruz State, Mexico, represents the wild and crazy ideas of prospective innovators that, like most innovative concepts, end up in failure. Brilliant ideas deemed crazy by others often really are, and those that have potential for crazy success can …
When traveling, I feel like I have a gift in meeting cool innovators on airplanes. Almost every time I fly, I meet someone whose story intrigues me. Recently I met a manager from Shurtape, the company that introduced the innovative Frog Tape® product. Frog Tape® is a masking tape for use with latex paint that …
Today I heard a story about Norwegian carpenters who literally turned what they knew upside down to solve a difficult problem through innovation. This occurred in the nineteenth century in the wild Western frontier, where a team of Norwegian carpenters were helping to build a large and complex structure in Manti, Utah. These men were …
As part of the series on Magic and Innovation, today I’m using a simple magic trick with a balloon to illustrate some of the trials in producing successful innovations within a corporation. I begin by discussing the challenges and barriers that inventors and prospective innovators within a corporation face. Available on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiF6IQO79ag
My co-author, Mukund Karanjikar, suggested this demonstration of the principles of combining elements in new ways as a basic building block of inventing. It’s not explicitly discussed in the book, for the material most relevant to inventors already assumes skills in inventing, but it is a good reminder of some ways to strengthen whatever innovations …
Quick Demo on Combining Elements to Create Inventions Read More »