Eye on Innovation, Design and Technology

My Personal Videos on Innovation and Technology

This is a summary of my personal videos on presentations and interviews on the subjects of innovation, design, technology and social media 

Social Innovation Fast Pitch at the Social Good Summit in Austin, TX

I'm participating in a non-profit event and we could really use your help, if you're able. 

   

I'm a finalist in a social innovators fast pitch event which is tied to a crowd funding campaign for the Social Good Summit Austin and we're off to a great start but we need more donations to achieve our goal of $5,000. We're using Crowd Tilt and we only receive all the donations if we reach the $5,000 goal.  If you'd be willing to jump in a make a contribution, it would mean a lot. The minimum donation is only $5. 

  

This is what it's all about:

In the spirit of community building and sustainable innovation, we felt that the best way to embody the spirit of Social Good Summit Austin was to allow the community to come together and decide how to best impact the city.   Therefore we have launched the first ever Social Innovators Fund. This campaign will help raise awareness and create a system where new ideas from social innovators can be supported and have an opportunity to flourish. You, the community, will not only be able to support the fund but you will get to select the winner of this prize when you attend the Summit on September 24th.

  

I will be discussing the use of Frugal Innovation to improve the quality of life of families living in extreme poverty around the world.  

1.2 billion people live in extreme poverty, less than $1.25/day.  That is almost 20% of the world's populationIf you are part of the world's lowest socioeconomic level you may be living on a house that can barely be called that. It's a collection of sticks, cardboard, plastic sheet. A dirt floor, no water, electricity or sewage. Enter frugal innovation or frugal engineering: The process of reducing the complexity and cost of a good and its production. Usually this refers to removing nonessential features from a durable good in order to sell it in developing countries. In this presentation we will explore simple, low cost, effective and proven global design solutions that do not require exotic technology but that when combined can dramatically improve the quality of life of people around the world.

My blog post on this idea can be found here, and this is a link to presentation slides.

  

The  mission of the Social Good Summit is simple, fund a movement of social change in Austin, TX and create a positive impact on the world.  Mina Chang, President of Linking the World will deliver the prize winnings to the winner.

  

Registration for the event is free via this link.  I'd love to see you there!

  

You can make your donation via this link:

  

Thank you for taking time today to read this post.  As always, I appreciate your support. 

ProductCamp DFW 2013

Registration is now open for the 3rd annual ProductCamp DFW! Saturday November 9, 2013

ProductCamp DFW is a collaborative, user organized professional conference, focused on New Product Development, Innovation, Product Management, and Marketing topics.

ProductCamp DFW is the premier event where thought leaders in the product management and marketing profession from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex converge.

ProductCamp is an un-conference, meaning that it is FREE to you! Your only cost is your participation. Rather than having pre-scheduled speakers, anyone who is interested in leading a session can submit a proposal. Proposed sessions will be voted on by the ProductCamp participants with the most popular sessions getting on the event schedule.

ProductCamp DFW will take place at 8:30 a.m. on November 9, 2013 at the University of Texas - Dallas (UTD) School of Management, 800 W. Campbell Rd., Richardson, TX 75080

Big Weekend in Mobile

It was a big weekend on mobile technology developments:

Microsoft buys Nokia's mobile phone business, Samsung will release a SmartWatch beating Apple to the punch, Motorola's much anticipated Moto X is available for sale and Apple's announcement of the new iPhone is apparently confirmed for September 10.

Patent Highlighted in New Book "Polyvinyls Advances in Research and Application"

My 2012 patent "Additive composition for mortars, cements and joint compounds and cementitious compositions made therefrom"  was highlighted in the new book "Polyvinyls Advances in Research and Application" - 2013 Edition by Q. Ashton Acton.  This is a link to the relevant section.

ScholarlyEditions, Jun 21, 2013 - Technology & Engineering - 733 pages
Polyvinyls—Advances in Research and Application: 2013 Edition is a ScholarlyEditions™ book that delivers timely, authoritative, and comprehensive information about Polyvinyl Chloride.

The editors have built Polyvinyls—Advances in Research and Application: 2013 Edition on the vast information databases of ScholarlyNews.™ You can expect the information about Polyvinyl Chloride in this book to be deeper than what you can access anywhere else, as well as consistently reliable, authoritative, informed, and relevant. The content of Polyvinyls—Advances in Research and Application: 2013 Edition has been produced by the world’s leading scientists, engineers, analysts, research institutions, and companies. All of the content is from peer-reviewed sources, and all of it is written, assembled, and edited by the editors at ScholarlyEditions™ and available exclusively from us. You now have a source you can cite with authority, confidence, and credibility.

 

BlackBerry: The Ultimate Case Study for the Innovator's Dilemma

My old Android phone finally broke down. While waiting for the release of the Moto X from Verizon I am using one of my old backup BlackBerries model 8820. This phone was their state of the art model in 2007, the same year the iPhone was released. It is really bringing back memories of the reasons why BlackBerry is going out of business. 

The saddest part of the story is that the iPhone should not have blindsided Blackberry. It was not that difficult to predict that eventually there would be a smartphone with touch screen and a huge ecosystem of software "apps". This is because most Blackberry users were already familiar with such a device albeit without phone or email capabilities: The incredibly successful Palm Pilot.  When the Blackberry was launched, most Palm Pilot users like me, were willing to give up touch screen, apps, games, book readers, cameras and a whole other set of features in exchange for getting email and phone on the go. In retrospect, the iPhone simply merged and improved the simplicity of the Palm Pilot design and ecosystem with the capabilities of the Blackberry. The moment anyone offered that option migration was a foregone conclusion.  So next time anyone tells you how much Android copied from the iPhone show them this 2001 photo of the Palm Pilot M505 

Infographic: "Marketing Resources Checklist for Small Businesses"

I just published a new MindMap Infographic Handout: "Marketing Resources Checklist for Small Businesses".  It is available for free download.

2013 Top 50 Innovation Sharers on Twitter

Thanks to the Innovation Excellence website for including my name on the list of 2013 Top 50 Innovation Sharers on Twitter!  Innovation Excellence's list of the top innovation personalities, information sharers and great innovation people on Twitter in 2013

Proposals to the South by Southwest Interactive Conference

Dear Friends,

I am submitting a couple of idea proposals for presentation to the South by Southwest Interactive (SxSWi) conference and right now is the voting period until September 6th.

Frugal Innovation: Simple Designs To Improve Lives

Innovation: The Intersection of Invention & Value

I would appreciate your support via either the voting button (need to register on the site) or one of the social sharing buttons.

Thanks in advance for your support.