WisconsInnovation

3D Printing Food

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Lenser) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:27:00 +0000

Although I'm not sure that this invention will change our world at this point, a 3D Printer called Fab@Home has been developed to print food using different materials.

I thought this was a cool concept that might eventually catch on with baking companies to develop elaborate designs, but who knows where this might lead to.

Check out this Podcast around 6:40 to see for yourself the creations of the printer.

LuminAID: An Inflatable Solar Light -- IndieGoGo

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:59:00 +0000

Image via CrunchBaseCrowdsourcing is a effective way to get the visibility and funding needed to launch a great idea. Like Kickstarter, Indiegogo a crowdfunding social site, requires the entrepreneur to provide details on the project - I think this works best with a video as well as text based details and images. In the case of LuminAid, they have all three.

They had some additional help through other social channels. They had a friend who leveraged the blogger community and was successful in getting the product featured on the gadget blog, Gizmodo and several others.

The ran a promotional campaign on FaceBook, and have chosen to maintain a business page for the product. In the effort of sustainability of a social business effort, these two are students or recently graduated but are responding actively to commentors on the page. Their website is current with a regular blog for updates.

The also made use of email as an outreach campaign, but the information doesn't indicate if this was done to a purchased mailing list or contacts shared via Columbia University who holds the patent and licensees it back.

According to Open Forum interview

“From there, the word spread and we raised $10,000 in six days,” says Stork.

In the end, they have a wonderful and useful product that can truly make a difference in a disaster relief situation and beyond. Their product brief on Indiegogo was direct and to the point - it clearly outlined the problem and their solution. The choice of video and images were excellent and helped extend the impact.

Even though the campaign for funding is over, I want to buy some to help others. What do you think?

LuminAID: An Inflatable Solar Light -- IndieGoGo: LuminAID: Give Light, Get Light

About the Project

LuminAID Lab is proud to introduce the LuminAID light: a solar-rechargeable, inflatable lamp that packs flat and inflates to create a lightweight, waterproof lantern. Safe, sustainable, and portable, the LuminAID light provides up to six hours of LED light, ideal for disaster relief situations, recreational use outdoors, or in the home as an extra light source. Our mission: make light more affordable, sustainable, and available for everyone.

Crowdsourced Tattoo Design!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:36:00 +0000

Createmytattoo.com is a site with a concept similar to 99designs we heard about in class. Users describe their tattoo idea and enter a contest where 10 or more designers will compete to come up with the best idea. Like 99designs, you can give designers feedback and they can tweak their designs so you get exactly what you want! This goes to show that crowdsourcing can be used for just about anything we can imagine. This is an exceptionally creative use, and I'm interested to see where innovators take this concept in the future!

New Bill Threatens Innovation

noreply@blogger.com (mbaran) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 23:01:00 +0000

A few new pieces of legislation, PROTECT IP Act and SOPA, are currently being voted on in the House this week. Although these bills are meant to stop online piracy, they have the potential to seriously change the internet and stifle innovation. I don't want to push a political agenda on anyone so I recommend doing your own research. Here is one article that I found helpful and fairly unbiased.

The future, it turns out, starts in 2020

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:41:00 +0000

The New York Times recently published an article about a crowd sourced timeline from Science Times of what people predict to be reality in the coming years. Think cancer will ever be cured? The timeline predicts that will happen in 2023. How about making cash illegal? Readers predicted this will also happen within our lifetime, 2056. Finally, everyone's favorite, artificial intelligence. According to the timeline this will happen by 2063. Here are some other predictions the timeline made:

2012: COMPUTER ON A CHIP
2013: ELECTRONIC INK
2019: ONLINE SCIENCE
2019: UNIVERSAL MEDICAL DATABASE
2022: HALO OF DATA

2024: PRACTICAL ROBOT CARS

2026: PROGRAMMABLE ORGANISMS

2031: FULL LIFE RECORDING

2039: DIGITAL ‘LIFE’ AND EVOLUTION
2056: CASH IS OUTLAWED
2058: CYBERNETIC INTELLIGENCE

2060: FLYING CARS
2063: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
2114: MEMORY BACKUP
2259: COLLECTIVE LEARNING

This is a great example of how firms are using open source publishing and incorporates how innovation will change our lives going forward. It is a pretty interesting timeline and something fun to think about.

Open Source Software Example: "HP to Open-Source Its WebOS Mobile Platform"

noreply@blogger.com (kkautza) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:25:00 +0000

This is an interesting article about HP's failed attempts at developing a lasting WebOS mobile platform. Instead of scrapping the WebOS mobile platform, HP has decided to open-source its development. I think this could be a successful move for the company. Unable to develop an attractive, lucrative WebOS mobile platform on their own, open-sourcing the project may be just what the company needs.

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Zeasman) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 22:57:00 +0000

Social Business is the biggest thing to happen to enterprise software in many years. Jive brings the innovations of the social consumer web to the enterprise. You get the great social features and user experience you love in your favorite consumer apps – while at the same time meeting stringent IT requirements. Jive allows you to:

Use powerful tools and applications for sharing, collaboration and relationship building: blogs, activity streams, status updates, messaging, polling, profiles, and more.

Meet less, hold fewer conference calls, and even put an end to reply-all.

Rapidly find answers, people, expertise, conversations, and documents needed to make decisions and take action.

Harness the collective intelligence of your organization, partners, and customers for innovation and competitive advantage.

Leverage external customer communities to slash support costs, enhance marketing efforts, and crowdsource innovation.

Jive brings together the features of social networking, collaboration tools and community software to deliver the richest user experience for every type of Social Business network.

Twitter Joins Facebook, Google, Launches 'Brand Pages' for Marketers | Digital - Advertising Age

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 17:24:00 +0000

Twitter Joins Facebook, Google, Launches 'Brand Pages' for Marketers | Digital - Advertising Age: Twitter is looking to strengthen its relationship with advertisers by launching brand pages that will be unveiled today as part of a more comprehensive redesign.

Twitter's existing brand pages have been under the radar, especially compared with the buildup around Google brand pages, which were launched last month. But Chief Revenue Officer Adam Bain said that he's spent the better part of the past year meeting with chief marketing officers, and brand pages were a recurring and frequent request.

Wendy's Note: Nope I wasn't on the list of partners to get access to the Brand Pages but I did get on the #newnewtwitter version right away. This really isn't innovation, its also ran to copy Google+ and Facebook. I am waiting for Twitter to really take the next big leap to incorporate the next new idea. Something that someone hasn't done yet.

Here are the companies who were in the initial launch:

Twitter is launching brand pages with 21 marketers: American Express, Best Buy, Bing, Chevrolet, Coca-Cola, Dell , Disney, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, JetBlue, Kia, McDonald's, Nike , PepsiCo, Staples, Verizon Communications Wireless, NYSE Euronext, Heineken, Subway and Paramount Pictures, specifically for the release of "Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol." It has also partnered with some charities and individuals that it hasn't disclosed.

Do you suppose the only way for innovation is to create a new brand and separate from the existing Twitter?

Innovation is Everyone's Job

noreply@blogger.com (tlaughland) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 16:22:00 +0000

Why are so many companies struggling to innovate today? This Harvard Business Review blog entry by Ron Ashkenas attempts to inform managers of the importance of having every employee in a working to innovate. Ashkenas believes, "organizations require innovation on all fronts." This means moving outside simply innovating the main product. To do this, he believes firms need to have all their employees, including sales, supply chain, packaging, etc., seek new ways to innovate on their processes.
This is crowd-sourcing the employees for innovations in the company. Shouldn't employees already be doing this? The problem appears to be that firms only encourage engineers and scientists to innovate, leaving other employees to follow their normal methods.
To solve this problem, Ashkenas recommends three steps for building a culture of innovation:
1) Identify and implement an innovation in your area
2) Once employees have confidence that they can innovate incrementally, work together to identify a more ambitions innovation.
3) Make an atmosphere that encourages people to develop and experiment with new ideas
By successfully completing these three steps, a manager can crowd-source their employees for innovations just as many user innovation companies would source from their customers.

Kindle Fire Hacked Already

noreply@blogger.com (mbaran) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 00:17:00 +0000

Hacking and modifying software is becoming more popular than ever. According to a recent story in Wired, the new Android software which is set to run on the Kindle Fire has been hacked already, even prior to its official release. This story really shows how eager the hacker community is to solve their own problems and contribute to open-source initiatives.

Fonera Global Wifi

noreply@blogger.com (Justin Meister) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 21:28:00 +0000

Fonera Fon is a hotspot router that allows people to share their internet connection in exchange for free WiFi at locations across the world -- but there's more. By sharing your connection you can make money; the more people that join your network, the more money you make. Here's a video if you want to learn more. It is a pretty interesting concept. I am a huge supporter of free global wifi, as I'm sure many of you are. It seems through various blogs people are indeed making money using the Fon Router.

Dropbox

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle Zeasman) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 14:46:00 +0000

While writing our final research paper for another class this week, my group members and I decided to use an application called "Dropbox" to share files and edit our paper. Dropbox allows users to "drop" any file or document into a designated folder that is then synced with Dropbox's internet service and to any other of the user's computers/devises. These files can also be shared with other users who have Dropbox, and are invited to join a "folder."

I had never heard of this before, so I did some digging to find out how it was started. The story is rather interesting. The founder, Drew Houston, used to forget his USB drive when he was a student at MIT, and therefore never had everything he needed for class. So he tried to solve his problem. Once he figured out how to share files through an application, he decided to market it to other people with similar problems. In its infancy, Steve Jobs tried to buy Dropbox, and Houston actually declined his offer, even though Jobs was his hero. Steve Jobs was bitter, and told him that Dropbox was "a feature, not a product," and would therefore need to be backed by a large company or it would fail. Houston was determined to make his startup work, and he succeeded, as Dropbox is currently valued at over $1 billion. There is also Dropbox applications for smartphones, and you can access the application from any computer by going to its website.

This story illustrates how companies were not addressing a user need - a way to share files between computers or over the internet in an easy way - and how an individual took it upon himself to develop the next big thing while solving a problem through user-innovation. Houston made his product simple enough that the average person could use it, and helped solve many frustrations with file sharing. I am very thankful for his wonderful invention and how it is helping me with my class projects!

3D Printing Software on the Rise as 3D Printer Costs Decline

noreply@blogger.com (Liz Prinz) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 03:34:00 +0000

In class we have talked a lot about 3D printers and have experienced one first-hand. More and more, 3D Printers in the last few years have materialized in the marketplace, and consequently prices have dropped. Along with this desktop manufacturing revolution, the software that goes along with such a machine is beginning to prosper as well. An example of 3D printing software is from a company called Autodesk. Here is an article from The New York Times concerning Autodesk and some of its software, as well as its announcement to offer its consumer software free of charge to bolster awareness and hopefully improve the software itself.

Dance vs. PowerPoint

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 05:48:00 +0000

While we are still in the midst of our class presentations, I thought our class would enjoy this TED Talk on using Dance to convey a message instead of using PowerPoint. This is certainly an innovative presentation itself, but the idea is even more remarkable. The speaker (John Bohannon) claims that by using PowerPoint, we are distracted by pictures and reading words on a slide and never fully understand the message. Do you think dance can convey any idea, or does it have limits? When watching the video, do you find the dancers just as distracting as a PowerPoint? Read some of the comments to get an idea of what other experts (dancers, scientists, etc.) think!

Gifts From The Future

noreply@blogger.com (pspaulding) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:44:00 +0000

As we embrace the holiday season, we begin thinking about gifts to give family, friends, and other loved ones in our lives. This article highlights several technological advancements of 2012 that may be deemed the perfect gift for another, or maybe even yourself. Although new to the market and quite expensive, the question is whether these inventive product offerings will take to the market and become commonplace in the household or merely become lost in the multitude of product offerings, some of which are much cheaper to purchase?

How Lego Embraced User Innovation

noreply@blogger.com (tlaughland) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:19:00 +0000

This article does a good job of outlining how Lego struggled with the notion of opening up its innovation model and listening to its adult customers. Similar to Microsoft and hackers of the Kinect, Lego had to decide, "Do we sue them or embrace it," when faced with hackers of their Mindstorms products. Ultimately Lego embraced user innovation and saved their company. This article also discusses how adults have left high paying jobs to become "Lego Ambassadors" or Lego artists and make their own designs.

How to Help Brands Innovate With Social Media

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 21:05:00 +0000

I recommend watching this video interview by host Erik Michielsen of CaptureYourFlag.com. It's interesting to hear Mike talk about his battles with larger B2C companies about engagement with social media for innovation and how they have changed their perspective. Two years ago, they were thinking that social media was a flyby tactic. Now they have changed their minds and are using more avenues to integrate into the entire product cycle.
Today, in working within the B2B space and with many manufacturers who have technical products, the same story resurfaces.

What they say is, "It's a waste of time and resources. It's an incredible time sink. That is our intellectual property we might be sharing. " Ironically, in the same breath those same companies tell me that they rely on word-of-mouth, referrals, and relationships to get the work they do. Strange that the statistics show that 90% of B2B executives refer to online networks for recommendations of companies and products to work with.

What is your experience?

Tumblr Going Through Users To Fight SOPA

noreply@blogger.com (Wing) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:03:00 +0000

This article discusses how Tumblr, a blogger website, allowed their users to sign up and receive phone calls from company employees who informed the users on various talking points of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Afterwards, the users were connected to their U.S. representatives to voice their opinion on the act. SOPA, if passed, has the potential to severely limit the amount and type of information Tumblr, and other websites such as Youtube and Reddit, would be allowed to post on their site. This move by Tumblr to employ users to fight this act rather than typical corporate lobbying is an innovative approach utilizing customer collaboration.

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny Friedman) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:26:00 +0000

Can you think of examples of innovation we have discussed in class that could have been improved or weakened based on the environmental elements of the context?

In one of my classes, The Management of Teams (MHR 401), we are discussing creativity in teams. One of the most important factors for accomplishing effective creativity is the environment in which teams operate. Although it is not a new concept for firms to be interested in innovation, growth, and high performance, many companies are beginning to go about such success in a different manner: collaboration. Regardless of the individuals, resources, and tasks, it is difficult to effectively and efficiently collaborate without a supportive environment.

In New Product Development, we frequently discuss examples of innovation that may seem a bit out of our reach at the moment, but collaboration within the business environment is something that should be of interest to everyone with previous work experience or in the midst of a job search. If you're interested in learning more about different tactics companies are using to generate teamwork and collaboration in the business environment, check out "Wikinomics: How mass collaboration changes everything" (http://www.wikinomics.com/book/).

Wisconsin Innovations

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:10:00 +0000

The Wisconsin Historical Museum has a new exhibit, "Wisconsin Innovations: From the Iconic to the Unexpected." I plan to go before the semester is over, and you should too! Did you know that the typewriter was invented in Wisconsin, as well as the answering machine? I sure didn't! Innovations from the Badger State have changed our lives in more ways than we know.

Admission is only $4.

Madison Region Community and Economic Development Blog - Advance Now - Thrive

noreply@blogger.com (Wendy) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:11:00 +0000

Image via WikipediaIf you haven't had a chance to review this report done by Thrive you should to see how Madison faired.> WS

Madison Region Community and Economic Development Blog - Advance Now - Thrive: State of the Madison Region

Most Innovative Companies

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:26:00 +0000

Here is a link to an article published by The Economist on the nation's most innovative companies and what industries the operate in.

How Microsoft Learned to Stop Worrying and (Almost) Love Open Source

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Lenser) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 22:23:00 +0000

Here is an interesting article from Wired.com discussing how Microsoft transitioned from comparing open source software with a "malignant cancer" to embracing and starting its open source division.As we discussed in class, this shows that open source programmers aren't living out of their mom's basements anymore. I found it interesting when it says that Linux isn't their main competitor anymore, but rather Google.

Apple Software Becomes Open Source

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Preston) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:55:00 +0000

It's interesting to see that a tech firm as powerful as Apple, who is notorious for closed software programs like OSX, has joined the open source movement. Apple recently made their software for compressing music files open source.

Article: Apple Lossless Audio Codec Project Becomes Open Source

What is Apple's goal? Why did they make this program open source?

Computing for Cheap- The Wave of the Future?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul Lenser) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:44:00 +0000

With technology's advancement, the internet is become available to more people each day. As of March 31, 2011, Over 2 billion people were connected to the internet.

Soon, there may be even more people connected to the world wide web. This invention, called the Raspberry Pi, is a functional $25 computer that runs on Linux and is the size of a USB drive. Granted, one would still need a monitor, keyboard, and mouse of their own, but this is extremely cheap and could be extremely practical.

I was skeptical of how well this "ultra-low-cost" computer would work, but then I found some videos such as this, showing it can run computer games and apparently output 1080p video.

What do you think? Could Raspberry Pi make an impact on the world?

WisconsInnovation

3D Printing Food

LuminAID: An Inflatable Solar Light -- IndieGoGo

Related articles

Crowdsourced Tattoo Design!

New Bill Threatens Innovation

The future, it turns out, starts in 2020

Open Source Software Example: "HP to Open-Source Its WebOS Mobile Platform"

Twitter Joins Facebook, Google, Launches 'Brand Pages' for Marketers | Digital - Advertising Age

Related articles

Innovation is Everyone's Job

Kindle Fire Hacked Already

Fonera Global Wifi

Dropbox

3D Printing Software on the Rise as 3D Printer Costs Decline

Dance vs. PowerPoint

Gifts From The Future

How Lego Embraced User Innovation

How to Help Brands Innovate With Social Media

Related articles

Tumblr Going Through Users To Fight SOPA

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything

Wisconsin Innovations

Madison Region Community and Economic Development Blog - Advance Now - Thrive

Most Innovative Companies

How Microsoft Learned to Stop Worrying and (Almost) Love Open Source

Apple Software Becomes Open Source

Computing for Cheap- The Wave of the Future?