Innovative Intersections
It is often said that innovation occurs at the intersection of seemingly unrelated ideas. As an example, consider urine and origami. A recent paper in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A titled “Urine-Activated Origami Microbial Fuel Cells to Signal Proof of Life” by researchers at UWE Bristol has the details. The problem statement would seem […]
Zipperbot
Marvel Comics currently has 10 characters with names beginning in “Z”, but Zipperbot is not one of them. The ability to automatically unzip might pass for a super-power in some settings but that was not what the team at MIT had in mind. In a world where robots can put out fires, respond to disasters, […]
Buzz-Kill Tech
For those who are not up to speed on the latest jargon, here is a working definition of “buzz-kill.” The “buzz” – You meet an attractive woman in a bar. You buy her a beer. When you smile and clink bottles, they light up and begin flashing in synch to the music. She laughs in […]
Death, Taxes and the Speed of Light
We take great comfort in knowing that some things never change. The sun always rises in the morning and sets in the evening (except at the North Pole in June). Water always flows downhill (unless you are a scientist at the University of Rochester). And every week the Internet will have a new party-photo of […]
Lip-Synching Cars
As a Prius owner for 7 years, I know this story well. In parking lots, pedestrians ignore me. They make absolutely no effort to move out of the way. When running on electric power, my car is nearly silent; so much so that there is a serious debate over whether or not Toyota should be […]
Finding That Special Someone
The phrase “Meeting someone the old-fashioned way” used to refer to starting a relationship at work, school, church or some other group gathering. These days, the “old-fashioned way” is probably Match.com, which has been around now since 1995. Over that 20 year period, there have been plenty of variations, many offering specialty meet-ups based on […]
Technology Requires Sacrifice
You have to give up something in order to get something else. The evidence of this is all around us. Building a retirement fund may require postponing a new car, losing weight could mean passing up that piece of cherry pie, and the many joys of becoming a parent involve giving up some freedom. Freedom […]
The Adrenaline Junkie App
One of the coolest things to have (if we limit the discussion to inanimate things) would be the latest smartphone. One of the worst things to have is the anxiety that floods in when you drop that smartphone. As any good product engineer knows, there are two ways of dealing with a problem – fix […]
Digital is Not Always the Answer
In my basement, I still have a box of vinyl records and another of cassette tapes. Nearby are some shoeboxes full of photos, and a stack of 35mm slide carousels. Next to these is a rack with some 3-ring binders stuffed with lecture notes which I used when I stood before a class of anxious […]
Technology is Probably a Good Thing
While most of us struggle to come up with a crisp definition of technology, we somehow agree that it is a good thing. After all, what would life be like without light bulbs, refrigerators or antibiotics? Surveys tell us that twice as many Americans think that technology will make our lives better than think it […]
