Smart use of bicycle light to illuminate the signs on the road. The idea didn't win but the response was overwhelming. It's not new but this is one good example that winning an award doesn't mean your idea is better than others. The response of your clients/users is perhaps the best win.
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:25 amVertical Farming Skyscrapers
Imagine the world in 2050 with almost 80% of the planet’s population living in urban centers and our fruit, vegetables and even animals are grown in … skyscrapers. Some serious work is going into this. More photos and video after the jump.
Architect Pierre Sartoux of Atelier SOA has put together this video about his vertical farming skyscraper design.
The Skyfarm
Architect Gordon Graff design for the city of Toronto – 48 floors and millions of square feet of growing space.
Architecture firm Mithun developed a vertical farm building to incorporate various green building strategies in a mixed-use residential and commercial complex designed for downtown Seattle.
The structure is designed as a kind of built organism – completely self-sufficient and adaptive to its surroundings.
The vertical farm project above was undertaken by Chris Jacobs in cooperation with the grandfather of skyscraper farm concepts: Dr. Dickson Despommier of Columbia University.
All-in-one eco-towers would produce more energy, water (via condensation/purification) and food than their occupants consume.
More information at WebUrbanist
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Look at the video that is on the original site. Shows the various angles of the green building. Very interesting and highly useful concept to have agriculture done vertically.
Singapore's plan to be a green city is emerging. This is one of them by Foster + Partners. Many of the new public housing and private buildings now have sky gardens - a feature that is very useful in a highly populated country.
1) The Innovation Mix
According to Carliss Y. Baldwin and Eric von Hippel, the Innovation paradigm is shifting from “Producer Innovation to User and Open Collaborative Innovation”. During the shift, Companies will manage a Mix of Producer Innovation, Open Innovation, and End-User Innovation. Note particularly Figure 3 of the working paper:
http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-038.pdf
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6325.html
2) End-User Innovation
End-User Innovation will become more and more prevalent, particularly when the design costs are low. In financial services, for example, users self-provided 85% of functionally novel and important commercial and retail banking services before any bank offered them:
http://ariegoldshlager.posterous.com/users-as-service-innovators-the-case-of-banki
3) Accidental Innovation
Robert Austin adds Accidental Innovation to the Mix: “Companies spend many hundreds of billions of dollars on R&D each year, but the microwave oven was conceived from a melted candy bar, saccharin from an accidental chemical spill, and the Daguerre photo process via a shattered thermometer. Accidents happen—and we're all better off because they do.
In their recent working paper "Accident, Innovation, and Expectation in Innovation Process," authors Robert D. Austin and Lee Devin explore the concept of accidental innovation, how it works or doesn't, and how good accidents can be encouraged.”
Essentials on Innovation all in a post. Enjoy!
I was supposed to get back to the viewing area with a proper video camera. Before the final 50 mintues before the show started, I went off to look at some of the green designs nearby at VIVOcity thinking I could easily get back in time. By then I return a little too late to pass the door. It was already jamming soon after I left the area. Jammed with the rest of the crowd with a mobile phone, this was the video I could get...
Happy Hanukkah anyway ! And MERRY CHRISTMAS! ....... Enjoy the view at the waterfront nonetheless. - @karen_fu 21 Dec 2009 Singapore.
Ingenuis method of folding 1 sheet metal into a furniture. Notice how the folded angles increase the strength of the chair. It doesn't utilise anything more than a perforated sheet metal. However one concern would be the support for the user's back, especially the lower back area. Like the seat and the way the legs are folded - many people actually sit with their legs slighly open apart so the V shape fold is appropriate.
Your Robots your Dream girl. You can also order a robot twin for US$225000 who will probably be immortal. There are possible social implications with this product that needs to be resolved. First off, the realisation of human and robot relationship is now becoming a reality. How would this alone affect society ?
what makes you happy ? The process of using is. Don Norman talks humourously on user experience of products. -- the real attraction / allure to product innovation.
The following eSoles case study was featured in a W. P. Carey School's Center for Services Leadership article:
Glen Hinshaw's start-up company, eSoles LLC, is leveraging smart services to improve an age-old technique of fitting and manufacturing custom insoles for athletes. A professional cycler, Hinshaw several years ago developed a foot problem that doctors said could be corrected by orthotics (insoles). "But they wanted to mold my foot for the insoles using plaster casting material," Hinshaw said. "I used that in art class as a kid."
And when Hinshaw got new shoes -- about once every year -- he had to repeat the process all over again, despite the fact that his foot hadn't changed much. So Hinshaw set out to find a better way to mold a person's foot and digitize the record.
He created a system to take an image of his foot, digitize the image, and then send the information to a machine that would cut an insole with the specific arch or curve he needed for the specific sports he was doing. He built a wireless kiosk to take 3D and 2D images of the customer's foot and create an imprint -- which is then saved on the company's website for the customer to access any time.
In that way, eSoles LLC makes fitting insoles easier -- customers can do it at a wide range of locations, from Sam's Club to PGA Tour shops -- and less expensive, because the service is automated. Perhaps most importantly, Hinshaw said, eSoles has leveraged technology to make the insole fitting process better.
"Machines don't run things by themselves, they need humans," said eSoles CEO Glen Hinshaw. He sees a lot of customer interaction, despite the fact that people are getting fitted for their insoles at an unmanned kiosk, not a doctor's office. "We've received lots of customer feedback," he said.
For example, the company developed a microchip that is implanted in the insole which relays information to the web or a handheld device to help athletes improve their performance. After seeing the product, a doctor asked Hinshaw if he could modify the technology to provide heat and pressure information for people with diabetes, who are highly susceptible to blisters. The doctor's suggestion is now a new product in development at eSoles. "It's about the collaboration between humans and technology," said Hinshaw.
http://knowledge.wpcarey.asu.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1839
Smart process of manufacturing a form fitting shoe sole via real human control.
The development of the skeleton was one of the big events in evolution. For all big animals, except squids and octopuses, it is essential to move and hold their body in position. In 1753 the french natural scientist Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon compared the skeletons of different mammals and hypothesized about the possibility of a common ancestry. Today more then 50'000 vertebrates are know of all kind and size, starting with the 30m big blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) to the 7mm small anglerfish (Photocorynus spiniceps). However, the construction materials and principles of the blueprints are always the same.
1 of 10
Click to view largePhotographs by Patrick Gries.
Amazing evolution of animals - teaches us not only why and how we evolve but also questions us why we could be also cruel to beings who don't harm us ?
The elfin MINPHF resides on the equator under the wonderful stratosphere of thoughts, ideas and dreams about an ideal world where all elements of nature and human factors are in harmony. If you want to know more about me, you are free to romp on 'my links' above for some amicable details.In the meantime, enjoy the hunt and more importantly enjoy this site !
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