Wireless Electricity Is Here (Seriously)

I'm standing next to a Croatian-born American genius in a half-empty office in Watertown, Massachusetts, and I'm about to be fried to a crisp. Or I'm about to witness the greatest advance in electrical science in a hundred years. Maybe both. Either way, all I can think of is my electrician, Billy Sullivan. Sullivan has 11 tattoos and a voice marinated in Jack Daniels. During my recent home renovation, he roared at me when I got too close to his open electrical panel: "I'm the Juice Man!" he shouted. "Stay the hell away from my juice!" He was right. Only gods mess with electrons. Only a fool would shoot them into the air. And yet, I'm in a conference room with a scientist who is going to let 120 volts fly out of the wall, on purpose.

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Nation's First Green Gym to Run On Human-Generated Energy

Shedding pounds and expending energy is no longer just good for you – it's also a way to give back to the environment. The Green Microgym, based in Portland, Oregon, is the nation's first gym that aims to use human-generated energy from clients as they work out. Adam Boesel, the gym's owner, hopes that in the future the gym will run entirely on the energy generated by clients. While the science behind generating energy from spinning wheels – commonly used in much of the exercise equipment installed in gyms – the issue at hand thus far has been how to adapt the technology and find the right equipment. A Texas-based company, Henry Works is currently developing a device called the Human Dynamo, which Boesel's Microgym hopes to use. The dynamo connects a number of exercise bikes with a battery that stores the energy generated as people exercise. Appliances like lamps or televisions can then be plugged into the box in order to utilize this power. Although installing the energy-generating equipment is expensive, if gyms can pony up enough to do so, they stand to save significantly in the long-term. And as with all technology, the expectation is that the further the concept is developed the more affordable and viable it will become.

A Sunday stroll around innovation and customers and voices

I came across an interesting blog discussing the differences between innovation and invention recently. The relationship between businesses and their customers was also conveyed in an interesting discussion. Check this out... Innovation takes place when the customer adopts something, not earlier. Invention by itself is relatively valueless .... until and unless someone comes along with a business model that allows people to consume the invention simply and efficiently.

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New Inventors - Inventor of the Year 2008

I had the pleasure of attending the Grand Finals for the ABC's New Inventors this week and it was a gala event, complete with many VIP's, media and of course - plenty of creative and inventive people...

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The Forgotten Truth - Innovation is The Outcome of Invention

For some time now, I have been inundated with information on innovation methodologies and practices. They all offer meaningful theories around how innovation could occur. All propose systems or processes that are logically constructed and this is where I think these theories miss the point. We invent daily and naturally and we do so non-linearly, illogically and emotionally and we reflect on these inventions - some we have good experiences with, some we don't and some we are not conscious of constructing at all. However, it is the reflection on how we invent where we can best develop an expertise, capability or professionalism in whatever endeavour we work at, not through theoretical constructs. Innovation systems or theories per see don't produce outcomes. Innovation systems simply provide a framework. It is the invention, the ideas

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