Gimme an Innovative Product

[focus]

I need an innovative product to write papers about for my Management of Tech and Innovation class.

Ideally it's something that I can use for multiple reports/papers, so it would be nice if there was a good bit of buzz about it for references. Stuff like carbon fiber skis (dbskis/dpskis) doesn't really work (I've tried) because there just isn't enough material out there from varied sources, at least not readily available. At the same time I'm not doing the fucking iPod like everybody else, and I'd like something a little more interesting than a harddrive.

Thanks for any and all suggestions....

[Daywalker]

Softshells, Gore-Tex, Lesbostraps, Soft toilet paper, hybrid cars (threw up in my mouth a little there), automated checkouts.

Shit, it's your paper. There enough new things out there. It's a Brave New World...

[marshalolson]

climate modeling software?

softshell/schoeller could be pretty interesting, with the remarketing or old technology...


edit: AT bindings (ramer, fritschi, silvretta, etc...)

[gorms]

The Spork

[Platinum Pete]

the sony walkman
surgical laser
fiber optic cable
solar panels

[kidwoo]

Making lint brushes with adhesive and calling them skins, camelback, standardized DIN releases, avy beacons, handheld gps units..........

[K-Stormchaser]

iRobot Roomba and Scooba. Worlds current greatest inventions. My house has never been so clean!

[pechelman]

those toilet seats that clean your ass for you
i remember there was article in the NYTimes a few weeks ago.

they're heated, have water sprayers and air dryers
i think they have more luxurious ones as well.
really popular in japan

[Sutter]

avalung, dawg.

[LegoSkier]

Not all things that seem innovative are. Have you read this book yet? http://www.businessweek.com/chapter/christensen.htm

Gives lots of good examples in there.

[1wsguy]

A friend of mine has this. It is amazing, and has totally changed his life. It uses some of the same tech as the Segway.iBOT® Mobility System: Home

[daveg]

Tracker DTS. There's quite a bit of stuff from past ISSW's written about it and other digital beacons.

[DBdude]

GPS - tons of stuff - started as military guidance systems, now in cars, cell phones, excercize monitoring electronic, watches, etc
velcro (was not devised by NASA or first used by NASA)
Duct tape - was called 500 mile an hour tape in Vietnam, because it covered holes in aircraft until they surpassed 500 MPH

[s.p.c]

The Spork

Heehee, i was going to say they knork:

http://www.knork.net

i also think the washlet (heated toilet seat with water spray) is the a great innovative product.
a good angle would be the hemrhoidal rate of people with washlets vs. people without.

[horizon]

stuff related to digital photographic equipment:

sensors (CCD/CMOS/Foveon) - there's gotta be loads of info out there
image stabilisation (CCD shift or optical - nice example of two different ways of doing the same thing)

[focus]

avalung, dawg.

Winnah! Thanks.

I had a few ideas of my own, but none of them were very interesting. I appreciate y'all helping me brainstorm.

[AbsolutStoli]

ballpoint pen
optical mouse
digital camera
rotary (wankel/renesis) engine

[cj001f]

the pocket rocket vibrator

[truth]

Those little cocktail umbrellas. Pure genius.

[RootSkier]

What about the fist shaped vibrator?

[cj001f]

Those little cocktail umbrellas. Pure genius.

The original Don the Beachcomber Zombie was a game changing cocktail.

* 4 ounces or 8 tablespoons or 1/2 cup water
* 3/4 ounce or 1-1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
* 1 ounce or 2 tablespoons fresh grapefruit juice
* 1/2 ounce or 1 tablespoon sugar syrup
* 1 ounce or 2 tablespoons dark rum
* 1 ounce or 2 tablespoons golden rum
* 1 ounce or 2 tablespoons white rum
* 1 ounce or 2 tablespoons 151-proof rum
* 1-1/4 ounces or 2-1/2 tablespoons spiced golden rum
* 3/4 ounce or 1-1/2 tablespoons Cherry Heering
* 1/2 ounce or 1 tablespoon Falernum syrup
* 2 dashes or scant 1/2 teaspoon Pernod or other anisette-flavored pastis
* 3 dashes or scant 3/4 teaspoon Grenadine


Other notables include the Daiquiri and Cuba Libre

[Tippster]

Cuba Libre = Rum & Coke. Not very earthshaking. The Mojito is on a much higher plane, Ceej. GOSH.

Why not go old school? The plow, the wheel, the arch... or do something on Leonardo to cash in on the whole DaVinci Code craze.

Otherwise go with the Pocket Rocket or Astroglide. Sex sells, Baby!

[cj001f]

Cuba Libre = Rum & Coke. Not very earthshaking.

For 1900 it was - mixing drinks with modern manufactured syrups instead of natural ingrediants like lime & mint (which had been done for centuries)

[rippah]

I would've done the Flowbee.
Hell, even James Bond's brother uses one.



r.

[Buster Highmen]

I need an innovative product to write papers about for my Management of Tech and Innovation class. ...

Skis.
The wheel.
Polio Vaccine.
The light bulb (vs electricity, which nobody really knew what to do with for about 200 years).
The Web, html and browsers (vs the internet which was around for about 20 years before anybody, including BG, knew what to do with it.)

Aids drugs, interferon (Mammogen), arthritis drugs.

What's an interesting approach is when a technology has been around for a while and somebody figures out how to make it into a product. There's lots of interesting angles to investigate regarding the differences between innovating a technology and productizing a technology.

Look up Nils Lonberg and trace his story (p.i) from Hahvahd to GenPharm. Interesting guy.