Flash Foresight

We all have it from time to time. That out of the blue insight about a future event or where a new idea is going or how something significant might pan out.

In fact, this is an important part of both an innovator's and futurist's role.

I think In my job, it is the hardest thing to do on a consistent and reliable basis. 

The times I have half-seen the way thing are going to go, but did not connect the actual end-result until the blinding flash of the obvious hit me (although in my defence much of the time I do; but do not have the time or resource to carry the insight on).

Daniel Burrus's book gives good advice on how to get to those Flash Insights and take them on into a reality context. I strongly recommend it!

Link to review.

Watch brief video (it makes sense).

South Korean Super Gun can Lock on to Human Target at 3 Kilometres

Remember the Turret Guns on Star Wars IV Battle Star? Well, South Korean Engineering has (kind of) caught up.

South Korean defence firm DoDaam just introduced the Super Aegis 2. The system features an automated turret that can target a human from 3-kilometers using special thermal imaging cameras. 

Ralph's Inventing Innovation

Wish I'd though of the title above. The whole idea of inventing innovation as a packaged concept to sell is, well, clever Rita.

And that is what the late E. Ralph Biggadike's was all about. But he past on last month. I'm sad cos I got to meet him back in the 1970s as kid when visiting my Dad at work at the Bank of America. 

Ralph, told me to think sideways and always package ideas in a way that people can touch both mentally and emotionally (I try).

He's a piece from a very recent Harvard Business Review, that tell a bit about him:

'With today's breathless enthusiasm for innovation, it's hard to remember when, as far as the management literature was concerned, innovation was something that guys in white coats who worked for companies like DuPont did in the R&D lab. Expanding an existing business into new corporate territory, or corporate venturing, was called "diversification," not innovation. It is also hard to remember that before the 1980s, very little in the way of empirical evidence existed as to what companies should expect when they ventured into new territory. We had little theory and even less evidence to guide us. Most decisions executives made were based on their own experience or intuition (to be charitable) or on the basis of their pet projects and personal biases (to be a little less charitable).

E. Ralph Biggadike's breakthrough research on the realities of corporate venturing, reported in his 1979 HBR article, "The Risky Business of Diversification," therefore broke new ground by collecting actual data about what companies could expect as they explored new markets or extended their reach to new product categories. It was in the mold of many classic HBR pieces of the day — using rigorous academic research to inform an interesting managerial question. Ralph used the then-newProfit Impact of Market Strategies (or PIMS) database and his own original research to create a sample of 68 ventures launched by 35 companies, mostly in industrial goods businesses. He examined the fates of these ventures (which had all survived for some time) to try to determine how long a company could expect to wait for them to be profitable, and how well they would ultimately do financially. One of his most significant conclusions was that "new ventures need, on the average, eight years before they reach profitability." Further, that it took another two to four years before the return on investment of the new businesses equated to returns from the existing businesses. At the time, interestingly, as now, executives often gave a fledgling business three years or so to prove themselves, after which they lost interest. It didn't make sense then, and makes even less sense now.

I first read Ralph's article about ten years after it was first published. I had gone back to school after eight years in management to begin my own Ph.D. program at the Wharton School. I was fascinated by what I'd seen of just how hard it is to get large-scale organizations to adapt. This was an era in which the leaders of American businesses were first being confronted with forces which would cause barriers to entry to erode, technologies to move faster, and competitors to come from unexpected places. Japanese companies were only the first of many that had expanded into U.S. markets with devastating impacts on American industries as varied as automobiles, steel, textiles, and heavy manufacturing. Innovation, or venturing, was slowly working its way onto the leadership agenda. Ralph's article set me on a path of trying to understand the quirky, often completely irrational, and of course uncertain, process of corporate venturing. It was one of the foundational pieces for my own longitudinal dissertation work on how companies build new capabilities.

A lot has changed since that article was published, and I had to smile upon re-reading it to revisit ideas that have evolved since then in their original, fresh, new-to-the-world form. One is the primacy of market share. For instance, Ralph was critical of what he called "timid" target-setting by venture leaders which caused them to target relatively modest market shares in their launch plans. He argued that his data suggested that aggressive entry would lead to more rapid profitability, as long as growth in revenue exceeded growth in expenses. Today, we might be more forgiving of an experimental approach to new markets, often under the rubric of a learning or options view. Our vocabulary has also changed. Today, we talk about venturing, new business development, and innovation and we don't limit ourselves to industrial firms extending their reach into new product categories, but to all kinds of companies exploring new business models. Today, the creation of entirely new categories is taking place at a clip that was unthinkable then.

Years after I first encountered his work, I encountered the man. After a successful career as an academic, and then a senior executive at Becton Dickinson, Ralph decided to explore rejoining academia and teaching at Columbia Business School for his next act. I was thrilled to be one of the faculty members selected to speak with him to see if there could be a good fit. Our conversation took place in 1994, the year after I myself joined the Columbia faculty. 

I recall his enthusiasm for the recently published book Built to Last; he described how energizing it had been for his company's senior executive team to think about the vision for the company in a decades-long timeframe and in terms of core purpose. Ralph did join Columbia and became one of the most beloved teachers in our MBA program and a highly popular faculty leader of our executive programs. He was a mentor to more junior people and a constant advocate for the importance of the job of the general manager to the future of their organizations. I was deeply saddened to learn last month that Ralph had passed away. The impact of his ideas, however, endures'.... 

Rita McGrath.Columbia Business School professor Rita McGrath studies innovation, corporate venturing, and entrepreneurship. Her latest book is Discovery-Driven Growth.

THIS BOOK WON'T MAKE YOU SMARTER!

But it is one of the best scientific anthologies I read for years. 

It is a collection of the best scientific mind's ideas around today in one place and for a mere 10 quid!

This book – I think – won’t make you smarter. 

But it will take your mind to highly refreshing places. 

And come to think about it, that would improve your mental focus anyhow. 

Link to review book.

'A Supercomputer that just about fit in a large building 20 years ago, now fits in your pocket. Your Smartphone. A Smartphone that fits in your pocket today, will fit in a (your) blood cell in 20 years from now.'

Ray Kurzweil

Is Skynet Next Nexus or Next Vex-Us?

It’s the idea that an artificial intelligence, created by our own need to innovate and push the envelope of machine capability, will one day develop on its own in ways.

Science fiction… right?

I guess that depends on your perspective and how far into the future you can see. But either way, there are some truly amazing projects happening today that can only make you excited about the possibilities for the future and maybe just a little weary at the same time.

These are 3 (scary) but truly innovative communications technologies being developed right now…

Project glass

This Google project has had a lot of exposure recently as it offers a glimpse at how technology will further integrate into our daily lives in the very near future. Google best highlights the possible future implementation with this video:

Something to think about: Integrate project glass’s ability to process the context of what a device sees with the innovative industry of robotics.

Carrier IQ

Carrier IQ’s technology provides the capability of monitoring keystrokes, calls, text messages, and location. It’s purpose is purely analytical and to provide service providers the feedback necessary to improve the user experience and troubleshoot issues.

The concern with this technology? Carrier IQ’s tools run in the background, often without the user’s knowledge and what actually gets analyzed is at the discretion of the service provider.

Very powerful and valuable technology but the concern is that at the flip of the switch this capability could create a personalized Big Brother right in your pocket or case.

Read more on Carrier IQ: Engaget provided an informative piece on CarrierIQ.

Gimbal

Gimbal is leading the drive for context aware applications. Gimbal is the context awareness platform developed by Qualcomm, a leader in mobile chipset technology. More than likely you either own or have owned a smart phone powered by a Qualcomm chip.

The Gimbal SDK allows developers of Android and iOS apps to provide a more contextual experience for their users based on the user’s location, habits, and preferences.

Gimbal and similar technologies will allow innovative developers to provide more convenient and intuitive services as well as gain more insight to their user base.

Read more on Gimbal.

10 Amazing Inventions that You Didn’t Know Existed.

I've been looking at breakthroughs in science, technology and innovation since I was young kid. When I was 7 Dr Who Ruled!

I used to wonder if the Si-Fi I watched on TV would ever happen in my life time. But the more I search these days, the more I find the real-world technological breakthrough are going ahead of what I could have imagined back then.

And the more I'm convinced that the Technological Singularity is on its way!

Take a look at this bunch of stuff:

1. Quantum Teleporter

Q-Teleportation has been successful on smaller objects according to a Study. “We were able to perform a quantum teleportation experiment for the first time ever outside a university laboratory,” said Rupert Ursin, a researcher at the Institute for Experimental Physics at the University of Vienna in Austria. In q-Teleportation it is the quantum states of the objects that are destroyed and recreated, and not the objects themselves. Therefore, q-Teleportation cannot teleport animate or inanimate matter (or energy) in its physical entirety. The device thus creates a replica of an original thing  at a new position and the original thing ceased to exist once the replicas were created. 

2. The Sixth Sense Technology

The conference TED (the name stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design) the guys from theMassachusetts Institute of Technology revealed something unbelievable, a working prototype of a multifunctional device that can become part of our lives in five years to ten. Set named “sixth sense” consists of only wearing colorful caps, perceived by a multifunctional device. See the video to understand how it works. Seeing is believing!

3. 360º 3-D Holographic Displays

The ZCam^TM is a video camera that can capture depth information (which is used to build the 3D model) along with video and is produced by 3DV Systems. The technology is based on the Time of Flight principle. In this technique, 3D depth data is generated by sending pulses of infra-red light  into the scene and detecting the light reflected from the surfaces of objects in the scene. Using the time taken for a light pulse to travel to the target and back, the distance can be calculated and used to build up 3D depth information for all objects in the scene. (Via 3dvsystems)

4. Lightsaber

And we thought they were just sci-fi! The lightsaber consists of a polished metal hilt which projects a blade of energy (plasma) about one meter long. The lightsaber’s blade cuts through most substances without resistance. It leaves cauterized wounds in flesh, but can be deflected by another lightsaber’s blade, or an energy shield or wall. HowStuffWorks has a detailed tutorial on how to create a lightsaber. It also verifies that lightsabers have been sold on ebay. There are some more theoretical explanations on the existence of light-saber technology, however we couldn’t actually discover more details about the actual product in existence. We still added it to the list because we wanted it to be real so bad. After all who wouldn’t want to see lightsaber battles as part of Olympics?

5. JetPack

Jet pack, usually worn on the back in sci-fi, that use jets of escaping gases (or in some cases liquid water) to allow a single user to fly. TAM is the first and only company in the world that produces a complete package of a custom designed Rocket Belt using the most advanced technology and aerospace materials with the special distillation machine to produce your own rocket grade fuel hydrogen peroxide. (Via TAM)

6. Military exoskeleton prototype

The Military exoskeleton is a completely un-tethered, hydraulic-powered anthropomorphic exoskeleton that provides users with the ability to carry loads of up to 200 lbs for extended periods of time and over all terrains. Its flexible design allows for deep squats, crawls and upper-body lifting. There is no joystick or other control mechanism. The exoskeleton senses what users want to do and where they want to go. It augments their ability, strength and endurance.

7. Flying Car

It’s called “The Highway in the Sky,” and here’s how it works: Every time you’re stuck in traffic, you can flip a switch and swoop into the sky (via CBS News).

8. Flying Saucer

Last time I saw a flying saucer being engineered to take to the skies was with a Moller’s prototype. Since then and till very recently – perhaps till the moment I came across this, I never thought lethal drones could also take a leaf from the extraterrestrial flyers. A British drone company called Aesir, however, thinks it’s feasible, and is thus creating models of unmanned aerial vehicles in the shape of flying saucers. (Via gizmowatch).

9. Virtual Goggles

Technology has brought virtual worlds into our computers for many years. Now, virtual reality (VR) will be in our living rooms. The underground effort that has been an experimental fantasy for decades has become reality now (Via Softpedia News).

10. Contact Lenses That Change Color To Alert Diabetics of Glucose Levels

There is great news for diabetics. A revolutionary technology has came into being to help them measure blood sugar levels without drawing blood daily. It uses extremely small nanoparticles embedded into the hydrogel lenses. These engineered nanoparticles react with glucose molecules found in tears, causing a chemical reaction that changes their colour. Developed by biochemical engineering professor Jin Zhang at the University of Western Ontario. (Via ImpactLab).

'Art is Pleasure;

Invention is Treasure!'

Trevor Baylis,

Inventor of the Windup Radio.

'The NeuroAD system by Neuronix is an innovative, safe and effective non-pharmaceutical treatment alternative with technology that is CE-approved for the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s Disease. 

It is the first medical device technology in the world cleared for this indication and has shown to deliver lasting improvement in cognitive ability of patients, as well as modify disease progression. 

The neuroAD system is based on Neuronix’s patent-pending Non Invasive Cortical Enhancer (NICE™) technology. This patent-pending technology combines two modalities concurrently: 

the course of disease progression.'

See link for full description.

Printing a bicycle with a 3D printer

The BBC explores how industrial 3-D printers can go from a nylon plastic powder to any conceivable shape. At this U.K. factory, engineers try to produce a ready-to-ride.bicycle in one go.

J-Lo promotes 'finger break-dance' app game

A Hollywood-backed app company partners with Jennifer Lopez for a new dancing game that's like Dance Dance Revolution for your fingers. Get ready for a ton of pop culture. Word.

(Credit: Bratopoulosm)

Time to get your rhinestone glove on and let your fingers do the walking -- or dancing in this case.

The Hollywood-backed app Dance Pad makes its debut Thursday on the iPad, with pop icon Jennifer Lopez as its cheerleader.

The title, a rhythm dance game for smartphones, involves hitting the right beats with your fingers, much like the popular dance game Dance Dance Revolution (where you actually dance with your feet).

The app, originally the brainchild of several USC students who were inspired by finger break-dancing videos on YouTube, has the benefit of star power. Besides J-Lo's massive fame, the app's promo video features break-dancing crew Jabbawockeez of America's Best Dance Crew fame.

Dance Pad is the first app to come fromMoonshark, a Hollywood-backed app publisher that wants to usher Hollywood into the new era of gaming with original content created with celebrities.

Moonshark CEO Matt Kozlov said he sees Dance Pad as an app that can garner the same kind of cult following that DDR has inspired. DDR fans run tournaments and hold exhibitions of their skill on the arcade machine.

"We want to create a community where people dress up (their hands) and film themselves dancing and post it to YouTube, post to Facebook," he said, adding that the company plans to do promotions to encourage the sharing of videos. App users who participate would be able to win a meeting with some of the artists featured on the app, which doesn't include Lopez, yet.

Kozlov said the company is still working on including her songs in the future, but for now, he's happy to have her as a partner for DancePad.

"Jennifer loved the game, we love Jennifer -- she's an icon in music, dance, and popular culture," Kozlov said.

The app will include 30 different bands and artists, including The Bangerz, retro soul singer Mayer Hawthorne, throw-back rock band Vintage Trouble, and DJ-singer Blaqstarr.

Dance Pad

(Credit: Moonshark)

Started in 2011, Moonshark came from the Creative Artists Agency's incubator program (the same program produced comedy video site Funny or Die), and seems to be a reflection of Hollywood's readiness to get into the mobile entertainment business. The company is also backed by Qualcomm.

Kozlov said mobile apps are a ripe medium for content creators because they take less time to develop and produce and there's a large audience thanks to the rise of smartphones.

"You can develop a great game in six months and you can reach a lot of people," he said.

He pointed to successful franchises like Rovio's Angry Birds -- which has merchandise and has long-form content in the making -- and Draw Something, which is about to be a TV show.

"We think there are lots of different types of content that would work in mobile," Kozlov said. "We're really excited about the potential for creativity in this space for all genres."

Other projects Moonshark is embarking on include stars of all kinds -- comedians, comic book creators, and directors.

Moonshark is working with John Woo, who has directed films like "Face/Off" and "Mission: Impossible 2" to create an action adventure game, and with YouTube star Philip DeFranco to create a "charming photo app that is really funny."

T-50: Russia's secret fighter jet with 'human intellect.'

We can expect a real breakthrough when the Russian-Indian collaboration on the creation of a fifth-generation prototype aircraft based on the experimental T-50 starts to become a reality.

A fifth generation combat aircraft has taken to the air in Russia. This plane is as yet unnamed it is just known as the T-50. Following its maiden flight earlier this year, the aircraft has now reached the flight testing stage.

Traditionally fighters are divided into generations, but often one aircraft combines characteristics of both current and future machines. Generally speaking, the first generation includes the subsonic jet aircraft which appeared after the Second World War and which has cannon armaments (MiG -15 and the MiG-17 are best known examples of this type).

In terms of appearance, the T-50, or as its still known the PAK FA (Perspective complex of front aircraft), is similar to the Raptor. But it may turn out to be much better and more economical. 

It is impossible to compare the features of the two aircraft, since everything to do with the T-50 is still classified information. But there are a few things that can be discussed. With its supersonic cruise speed, the Raptor can enter a combat zone quickly. 

But what's next? Then it has to transfer to subsonic speed so as to be able to open the doors of the armament store and utilise the missiles which are hidden in the belly of its fuselage. 

Russian aircraft designers were the first in the world to manage to solve the problem of opening the armament store doors and releasing a missile when in supersonic flight.

As far as the electronic 'brain' is concerned the avionics of the fifth generation are also of a high quality, and at the moment they are being tested on the Su35 and the MiG-35.

F-22 Rap­tor - 5th Gen­er­a­tion Fight­er Air­craft

...

pub­lished: 22 Jul 2009

From Italy, indoor hydroponic rotary garden fits on a shelf

DesignLibero’s Green Wheel is a micro rotary garden enabling apartment residents to grow their own without the need for a garden.

Innovations that enable city-dwellers to grow their own plants and food have been coming thick and fast over the past couple of years, with new ideas such as spiral-shaped growing environments helping to maximise the use of space. Now, DesignLibero’s Green Wheel provides a rotary garden compact enough to fit on an indoor shelf, with aesthetics to match.

In order to allow astronauts to have access to fresh produce while on long space missions, NASA developed the rotary garden as a way to grow herbs and leaves without soil. Using the same technology, the Green Wheel is a relatively miniature version that can be housed indoors. While previous versions have been bulky and definitely look like a complicated piece of equipment, Italy-based DesignLibero has streamlined the aesthetics of the system so as to make it an attractive appliance for the home. The company aims to make the device an “iconic object” and thus has taken cues from the iPod with its plain white outer case, which hides the engine that rotates the plants, as well as a water reservoir and a pump which automatically irrigates the system. The organic matter gets its light from a strip in the center of the system as well as a ring around the outside. Users of the Green Wheel can also manage their gardening using their smartphones or tablet devices through an app which allows control of temperature and light levels and warns if water levels are low.

Much like Urbio’s magnetic indoor gardens featured on these pages recently, the Green Wheel could be implemented in apartments, offices or other green-less city spaces to brighten up the environment or provide a way to grow food. As for food businesses in urban areas – could this cut down on outgoings and improve your environmental footprint?

Website: www.designlibero.com

Flying car launches in the Netherlands

The PAL-V ONE is the first car and Gyroplane hybrid to be successfully tested, enabling drivers to travel on roads or through the air.

The concept of a flying car has long been a feature in popular visions of the future, but has never really come to fruition. Now, however, the PAL-V ONE has become the first car and gyroplane hybrid to be successfully tested.

While innovative hybrids have been the subject of some of our previous articles – take the amphibiousSealander for example – the PAL-V ONE is the first to combine automobile design with gyroplane technology to create a land-air machine that apparently attains the comfort of today’s land-dwelling cars. The three-wheel slimline car, which utilizes ’tilting’ technology to make the driving experience similar to a motorbike, features gyroplane blades fitted to the top of the vehicle. Users will need to drive to the nearest airfield to take flight, however the PAL-V ONE has short take-off and landing requirements and can get into the air at fairly low speeds. Once in the sky it can reach up to 112 miles per hour and is designed to operate at 4,000 feet or lower — the designated space for non-controlled flights — meaning that it does not interfere with commercial flights. Users will need a driver’s licence and a Sports Pilot Licence in the US or a Recreational Pilot Licence/Private Pilot Licence in Europe. The vehicle will go on sale for USD 300,000 when it hits the market. The video below demonstrates the PAL-V ONE in action:

According to Wired, the PAL-V ONE is also joined by the Terrafugia Transition, a “street airplane” which is being demonstrated at the New York International Auto Show this week. Could this be the future of both the automotive and aeronautical industries?

Website: www.pal-v.com

Eddie Obeng says that the pace of change is out growing the pace of learning! 

This is big issues. I suffer from learning overload these days and it's my job to see and forecast what's next and what comes after what comes next.

‘The world is changing much more rapidly than most people realize, and creative output cannot keep up. In this spirited talk, he highlights three important changes we should understand for better productivity, and calls for a stronger culture of 'smart failure'.'

 He says,

'We spend our time responding rationally to a world which we understand and recognize, but which no longer exists.'

Link to TED lecture.