Good Thinking
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NetFlix Type ''Borrow and Return'' Retail concept
December 10, 2005 Business models morph, mimic and evolve at a rapid rate these days, which is just one of the reasons we love the borrow-and-return fashion retailing concept borrowed from NetFlix DVD rental system. Fashionable handbags cost a lot of money and given that most women would prefer to never to be seen with the same bag twice, the rental concept makes sense. Internet-based Frombagstoriches is finding enormous success with the model of 'borrowing or renting' designer handbags. This designer emporium will let anyone borrow a purse by the week, month or longer and then exchange it for another, making it a NetFlix for handbag addicts. It's the ultimate indulgence...an endless stream of pristine Designer handbags delivered right to your door. Now, America has enough shoe-addicted women to drive a shoe rental service, and maybe jewellery rental too and at a stretch we might one day see watch rental for men? (read more...)
Hitwise announces Search Intelligence V 3.0 Keyword Research Tool
December 8, 2005 According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) internet advertising is growing at an increasing rate (33% this year compared to last), with search marketing maintaining its 40% share of the gargantuan marketplace. So if you’re going to spend money, make sure you’re doing it intelligently. Online competitive intelligence service Hitwise has announced the release of Search Intelligence Version 3.0, an update to its suite of search marketing tools. Version 3.0 brings online marketers industry-first keyword research to help them instantly identify new search terms that have proven to be successful in attracting customers to competitors' websites. (read more...)
Building a better exhaust jack
December 5, 2005 Innovative off road accessory company Bushranger won a major accolade for its X Jack exhaust-operated car jack at the recent SEMA Show in Las Vegas winning the Best New Exterior Accessory Product award. Exhuast-operated jacks have been around since the off-road market first boomed in the 1970s, but got a bad reputation in the early years for being puncture-prone on the underside of the vehicle and lacking in stability on surfaces such as sand, mud and loose gravel. The X Jack features a triple layer lifting surface for better durability, a hard core insert and a base with spiked feet for greater stability but the clincher which makes it an infinitely better mousetrap is the dual inflation system. Exhaust systems can be damaged which makes them difficult or impossible to use for the inflation, and sometimes they may be buried rendering them equally useless. By utilising either the vehicle’s exhaust or a portable 12 Volt compressor, the X Jack solves several of the problems associated with exhaust jacks. (read more...)
Wanted: problems requiring technological solutions
November 30, 2005 A new Channel 4 (UK) television reality show will soon be taking on some of life’s most persistent irritations by employing some ingenious engineering and science to help members of the public. “Men in White” involves three maverick PHD students who will tackle these challenges by building gadgets and inventions to solve the public's dilemmas, aiming to make science, technology and engineering more accessible to the general viewing public but most of all to make it cool! The age-old issue of unwanted parking tickets and car clamping is one of the problems that the Men in White have already started on, and some others under consideration include a silent hairdryer, a prosthetic limb that can power a phone or ipod charger and a personal airbag for a novice snowboarder. There’s even the suggestion of building a handy gadget to tell you when your girlfriend has PMT!So here’s your big chance – the show is seeking ideas for gadgets. Read on for details on how to get involved. (read more...)
Lie detectors begin to go mainstream
The widespread use of lie-detection technology is approaching and the chances are the first you’ll encounter it will be at an airport. While the fabled polygraph remains in use today, it is nowhere near as accurate as modern voice analysis techniques which are so accurate they are now being used in anti-terrorism and law enforcement, reporting on the veracity of verbal statements with an accuracy of better than 95%. The Israeli-developed technology is also being used for insurance and workers compensation claim assessment and is available as a downloadable PC program which can analyse live and recorded telephone conversations. Now the Domodedovo International Airport is introducing Multilevel Voice Analysis Technology to process passengers – the test asks passengers four questions, analyses psychological and emotional voice characteristics and makes a decision to channel them through the green or red corridors. It processes a person a minute and has already identified a number of “persons of operational interest”. The GK-1system will be used on security queues at the airport, at the customs control and border control to detect and prevent terrorist attacks, the smuggling of weapons, ammunition, explosives and poison gas. There’s even a portable unit which uses a portable computer and a heads-up display. Last but not least, there’s a version for analysing telephone conversations and specialty analysis tools for working out whether your prospect is in fact in love, and whether your spouse, is in fact telling the truth. Reader reports on the usefulness of this tools are invited. (read more...)
One laptop per child prototype shown
November 21, 2005 If education is the only sure-fire way to cure poverty, the world moved a step closer to solving many of its major problems this week when United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan unveiled a prototype hand-cranked US$100 laptop at the Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis. In what could turn out to be an event of major historical significance at some later date, the launch of the initiative complete with working prototypes could herald a new era of education for the world’s poor. The initiative was first announced by Nicholas Negroponte, MIT Media Lab chairman and co-founder, at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland in January 2005 and in late September when Negroponte showed the first prototype images and concept drawings to the world’s press. Negroponte and his group believe that education via the laptop, will help to alleviate many of the problems afflicting developing and chronically poor countries. (read more...)
Levitating office chair for heavy hitters
November 19, 2005 There’s a time and a place to feel confident and on top of the game, and sometimes the things around us can help us feel grounded, comfortable and empowered. When you’re next in your office and doing serious business, imagine yourself seated on this comic-book inspired throne – the chair weighs lots, but thanks to a having a hovercraft style levitation system, the 200 pound chair can be moved around to suit your moods. The objective behind Marijn van der Poll's “Chairman” was to “give today’s CEO the ultimate corporate seating object with special powers.” http://www.marijnvanderpoll.com/ And that’s when you’re sitting still. When you turn on the seat, you can take full advantage of the weightlessness to ride around the room – it’s your own personal amusement park ride too. Watch the video here. (read more...)
The PowerSquid: a better powerboard
November 19, 2005 Controlling the under-the-desk clutter is a problem now that so many objects require a power supply. and that's where the PowerSquid design is such a fundamental breakthrough. How many times have you cursed at one of the power-boards that live under your desk? Power-boards or power-strips were at first a GodSend when they were invented, but as a species, they have never really evolved much and until now have remained quite basic in their design. The Flexity PowerSquid Surge Protector, the latest product from the inventors of the PowerSquid, offers the logical next step in the evolution of the power strip and anyone who has ever covered up two outlets on their power-board with a power transformer will understand the advantages. The cephalopod design incorporates flexible arms for the female outlets which can easily accommodate transformer plugs without wasting any outlets, provide greater reach and flexibility, and they’re easier to plug and unplug than traditional power boards. Now it has a new sibling with a built-in surge protector – we think this is a better mousetrap, conceived by stepping outside the box-like approach of all of its predecessors. It has reinvented the moribund power delivery category for modern, mobile lifestyles. Now, what should a third generation power delivery device offer? (read more...)
Landmark housing design for near-water dwellers
October 30, 2005 The 'Landmark Houses' programme was envisioned specifically for the site at Lower Mill Estate, in the Cotswold Water Park in the UK and has invited a wide variety of architects – both an older generation at the peak of their inventiveness, but still in wonder at the world out there, and a younger generation in the process of re-invention as they gather a second breath - and asked each one to speculate on the architectural poetics and ecological considerations for the design of a 'landmark house' within the context of a waterpark. Follow the links not just to eight stunningly original designs, but the floorplans as well. Inspirational for near-water dwellers. (read more...)
Human Performance Management Software
October 29, 2005 We have a dashboard on our car which reads the vital data continuously, and we get hourly, daily, weekly or monthly reports on our investments and companies, yet the workplace is still largely devoid of effective, monitorable indicators of human performance. Edolution Software’s flagship product ePerformance Guide software is a feature rich product that is inclusive of three main modules: Employee Performance Appraisal, 360 Degree Feedback and eSurvey, an online survey tool. EPG allows employers and employees to communicate and implement the review process in an efficient and expedient manner necessary to be competitive in the 21st Century. EPG supports SMART methodology (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-Framed) setting cascading objectives, allowing multiple action items and target dates for each objective and success factors to align employee’s goals and objectives with corporate goals and strategies. EPG provides master libraries of objectives and success factors with a powerful search engine that also allows clients to create their own searchable custom libraries at both corporate and employee levels. The use and reuse of these libraries fosters a superior knowledge of expectations by encouraging common terminology and reduces the amount of time reentering data while increasing productivity. (read more...)
ZORK NOT CORK – it was only a matter of time
October 29, 2005 Wine has been one of man’s greatest pleasures over the last 10,000 years, having played a prominent role in the Phoenicean, Greek, Egyptian and Roman civilisations with the latter responsible for beginning all of the major European wine producing regions, not to mention the wine barrel, the wine bottle and the basis of the current wine appellation system. For the first few thousand years, the bitterness of wine spoilage was overcome by flavouring the wines, and many different methods have been used to prevent spoilage, such as topping wine containers with olive oil, leather tied with vine, clay stoppers, oily rag closures and most successfully, cork. But cork is inconsistent and still has an unacceptable spoilage factor and ever since French microbiologist Louis Pasteur discovered wine spoilage was caused by microorganisms, the search has been on for the ideal closure system. More than a century later, around 10% of the 15 billion wines bottled each year with cork are spoiled. The screw cap has begun capturing market share in recent years but still labours under a downmarket stigma. Now another system looks set to make its mark. Many people believe the unusually named ZORK is the greatest advancement to winemaking since the treading of the first grapes. ZORK manufactures soft re-sealable wine closures that replicate the performance of a screw cap, but pop like a cork, all without the need for a corkscrew. Adding yet another aspect to the enjoyment of wine, it also effectively reseals the bottle. (read more...)
X|Media|Lab think-tank becoming more potent
October 27, 2005 In the ever-evolving media landscape, everyone is focussed on new and better ways of doing things and one of the more interesting think-tanks built in this landscape appears to have found a potent mix of all the key ingredients. Originating in Sydney, Australia, the X|Media|Lab began with the premise of putting the world's best new media practitioners to work with local project teams and companies on their own project ideas. The X|Media|Lab has now been held several times in each of Sydney, Melbourne and Singapore and events are now planned for Dubai, Mumbai and Shanghai with strong prospects it will be held at many of the world’s new media hotspots during 2006 and 2007. At each event, local and international projects are workshopped for several days by a stellar array of the world’s best in the particular nominated niche with the broad aim of improving the creative, technological, and business propositions of the project ideas, and improving the chances of them getting to market and achieving commercial success. If you think your project might benefit from being workshopped by a dozen people with international success in your field, applications are now open for projects in the areas of Factual Content (Melbourne, Australia, November 25-28) and Computer Games (Singapore, November 17-19). If you’re thinking, “just another event”, check out the project teams. (read more...)
The eScan Electronic Voting System
October 24, 2005 There is no doubt that one day we will have a more efficient electronic electoral system and a machine that’s hoping to play a big role in the future of e-voting is the eScan Digital Voting System. The company claims the eScan is more accurate and secure than optical scanning systems. Texas-based Hart InterCivic is responsible for the development of the eScan System. The eScan is a precinct-based voting system that digitally captures voter selections on printed ballots and integrates vote totals from other absentee-by-mail and electronic voting systems, including Hart InterCivic's eSlate Electronic Voting System, to produce a single set of election reports. (read more...)
Oxfam innovates to tackle shelter crisis in earthquake zone
October 20, 2005 Aid organisation Oxfam International is having to innovate to fill the gaps in shelter provision for the hundreds of thousands of people left homeless by the recent Asian earthquake. The current lack of thermal tents combined with the massive logistical challenges in getting aid to the most inaccessible areas is putting thousands of victims of the quake in danger. (read more...)
Meet the finalists: the most innovative companies in Science and Technology
October 18, 2005 This week the World Technology Network (WTN) announced the top individuals deemed the most innovative in the world of science and technology. Voted by their peers in 20 categories, such as biotechnology, ethics, entertainment and space, the top five individuals in each category have been named WTN Fellows. The WTN is a global meeting ground, a virtual think tank, and an elite club whose members are all focused on the business and science of bringing important emerging technologies of all types (from biotechnology to new materials, from IT to new energy sources) into reality. Read on for the list (with hyperlinks for easy browsing) of the best and brightest as voted by their peers. (read more...)
Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge finals underway
October 18, 2005 The seventh Annual Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge finals are underway at the University of Maryland this week. The 40 finalists are competing in team-based, interactive simulated challenges designed around the theme of "Forces of Nature." In the wake of the recent natural disasters that ravaged the Gulf Coast of the United States and Southeast Asia, each student will face challenges - from fog banks, to hurricanes, to tsunamis - that utilize their broad range of knowledge in order to understand the implications and scope of natural disasters. The action-packed activities will be taped for broadcast on the Discovery Channel. (read more...)
The Viper: an advanced, flexible, high-capacity stereolithography manufacturing system
October 16, 2005 When English physicist, futurist and science fiction master Arthur C. Clarke wrote “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” (in “Profiles of the Future”,1961), he may well have been describing the type of rapid 3-D printing, prototyping and manufacturing solutions available today. We’ve already written about Renault F1’s use of a Sinterstation in developing parts for its 2005 cars, InVision’s HR 3-D Printer and the array of 3-D printing solutions from Z Corporation but we can't help but be enthused about the ability to design a three dimensional part and manifest it from thin air. All of these systems reduce the time and cost of designing products and facilitate direct and indirect manufacturing by creating actual parts directly from digital input. These solutions are used for design communication and prototyping as well as for production of functional end-use parts. A new 3-D machine that caught our eye during the week is the Viper Pro SLA from 3D Systems. (read more...)
American Inventor - the TV Show
October 14, 2005 Reality Television keeps reinventing itself and this time it has a format that’s certain to interest Gizmag’s readership - AMERICAN INVENTOR is an exciting new primetime reality show for ABC from Simon Cowell and the producers of American Idol . Set to premiere in early 2006, the show will undertake the search for America's best new invention and aims to turn one person's idea into the next big thing. AMERICAN INVENTOR will visit Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, New York, Washington, Atlanta andAustin between November 14 and December 14 to meet inventors from all over the country. The competition is open to individuals or teams of inventors that 100% own the idea, the product must be something that can be sold in a retail outlet and you can take a sketch, a prototype or even just an idea to the casting call. There’s a list of FAQs here and the winner gets US$1,000,000. (read more...)
Product Placement: stealth advertising
October 6, 2005 Product Placement is set to be on the agenda of many advertising and marketing discussions over the next few months thanks to the release of a new report detailing extraordinary growth over recent times in the at best, questionable practice. Movies were the first to do it, but recently television has embraced the new revenue streams - the value of US television placements grew 46.4% to US$1.87 billion in 2004. If you weren’t aware of the depth of the relationship between film, TV and the marketers of the world, this article entitled Why Product Placement Works by advertising psychologist Dr Max Sutherland covers the topic exceptionally well. Product placement is booming – the first-ever report on the size and structure of the product placement market says the total value of the Product Placement Market grew 30% in 2004 to reach US$3.46 billion. Now reports in respectable journals such as the the New York Times and International Herald Tribune are beginning to bring the insidiousness of the practice to the publicattention. (read more...)
Xtreme Gravity Racing: Soapbox Derby meets Formula 1
October 1, 2005 The 2005 Xtreme Gravity Racing Series has been run and won, with yet another quantum leap forward in corporate support, automotive company participation and global recognition for the sport attempting to bring soapbox racing into the 21st century. Nissan proved to be the ultimate winner of the series from the gravity racers of Volvo and Chrysler and it was also clocked at the fastest speed - 52.38 mph – in the second and final race of the 2005 series at Irvine, california. The two vastly different courses saw five different teams on the podium with Nissan Design America (NDA)winning overall courtesy of the best aggregate time at Jack’s Peak and Irvine where it placed second and third respectively. Chrysler won the day at Jack’s Peak and Audi won outright at Irvine. Most impressive of all was the opportunity to see the exquisite design work of the contenders – see the extensive photo gallery of the racing with close-ups of the Xtreme Gravity Machines inside. (read more...)
The Electronic sommelier
As the world’s wine consumption increases, the supply of staff capable of offering knowledgeable advice on wine matters at the point of sale has fallen well behind demand. That was what inspired the creation of the wine expert – kiosk-based sommelier software with a simple interface that assists customers in choosing the most suitable wine for an occassion. Customers can search the stock of the store by characteristic (sweetness, dryness, etc), country and region of origin, price category, grape variety or by specifying the type of food you intend to consume with it and having the wine expert suggest the most complementary vino. Developed through extensive field trials, the service can be implemented painlessly by the sales outlet as it requires no maintenance and monitors the store’s ordering of wine and electronically updates the kiosk each night with tasting notes, food matches and recipe ideas – even awards and recommendations – for every wine in stock. Now if you think that’s clever, there’s also a version that runs on a wireless tablet and functions as a winelist for restaurants – so instead of looking at a list of wine names, the customer can make intelligent decisions about wine choice with all the information. (read more...)
Lifestraw, iPod and Softwall take major design awards
September 27, 2005 The winners of the prestigious INDEX: awards for design that has most improved life during the last five years were announced last Friday evening in Copenhagen across five categories: body, home, work, play and community. The LifeStraw won the body category for obvious reasons, and Apple’s iPod/iTunes won the “play” category for changing the way people experience their music. Softwall, a lightweight, transportable, collapsible wall for partitioning buildings won the “home” category and a network/website focused on improving competitiveness and awareness of 40 million craftsmen in Latin America, won the work category. The “community” category prize went to “Architecture for Humanity”, a nonprofit organization and network designed in 1999 to promote architectural and design solutions to global or humanitarian crises. (read more...)
Hand-cranked radio, torch and cell phone charger
September 24, 2005 The ETON FR300 is a wind-up radio that has a built-in torch, weather and TV band audio receivers, AM-FM radio and it can also charge your cell phone – accordingly, we reckon it qualifies as the ultimate emergency device as it keeps you on the air in more ways than one. The ability to listen to television when you’re not at home can be handy too – such as with sporting broadcasts or award shows or weather channels. All for US$50 (read more...)
Firelidar enables first responders to see through glass and flame
September 24, 2005 Tests on FireLidar, a new portable lidar (light detection and ranging) system developed by US Navy research, show it enables first responders the ability to see through glass and flame - a capability unavailable on the market today. The left side image was taken without FireLidar while the image on right shows a photo of a child in a firefighter outfit which is clearly visible through the glass and flame. This potentially life-saving technology has numerous military and peacetime search and rescue applications in that it enables the user to see through fire, smoke, glass (windows), water/steam, fog, and other similar environmental conditions. (read more...)
The Scooterdesk
September 22, 2005 The ScooterDesk is a design with an enormous future – a wheeled standing-aid with a built-in writing tablet, making it ideal for improving interactivity between co-workers in open plan offices, a smart alternative to relieve the static posture of workstations and the freedom to work and move in environments such as a factory, warehouse, or even outdoors. The utility of the ScooterDesk and the lighthearted way in which users toboggan around the office make it a delightful product to have around and one that helps to create a playful, group dynamic at the same time as facilitating collaboration and spontaneous group meetings. It also makes a great base for a wireless laptop! (read more...)
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