The opera is a fascinating art form combining both text and music to dramatize a story. Most operas contain both arias and recitatives. The aria is the full blown and usually passionate singing in an operatic piece that highlights a key emotional or narrative theme of the story. The recitative is the “connective tissue” that…
One of the great product designers of our generation passed away earlier this month. Bill Moggridge was the designer of the GRID computer (the first true laptop with a "clamshell" design), the founder of both ID Two and IDEO, and most recently, the director of the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum. Bill was an icon in…
Edward Paley January 12, 1924 – July 19, 2012 My father is the embodiment of the American dream. He was a war hero, a self-made man who started and built a large and successful company, and wonderful father and family man….
In the early 1980’s Dr. David Thornburg, professor of Design at Stanford University, came up with a concept which he called Zero Mass Design. He proposed categorizing products along two axes. The x-axis ranged from “simplicity” to “complexity” (these were qualitative assessments), and the y-axis charted functionality. Thornburg proposed a “U-shaped” curve. He said that…
I know this topic has been beaten to death, but, based on personal experience, I’m afraid I have to jump in as well. Sony, as we all know, has wonderful technology and has been the inventor or on the forefront of many new consumer innovations (wearable electronics, gaming consoles, etc.). They have a wide breadth…
What is the most important trait that an inventor needs to possess? My answer is that by far, courage is the most important trait. That is, the courage to venture into the unknown and not turn back when things seem uncertain or bad. Along with courage goes perseverance. The ability to persevere through long periods…
How many times have you been trapped by the obvious when trying to solve a problem? By the obvious, I mean the obvious rational approach or solution that is clearly in front of you. This solution to your problem would be great, except that it doesn’t work. I have certainly fallen into this trap many…
With the death of Steve Job’s many people have been eulogizing him and writing about his contribution to American innovation and industry. With this entry, I will add my own two cents by quoting a few paragraphs from my book. The story is taken from Steve Job’s 2005 speech at Stanford University’s graduation ceremony. If…
I am often asked: “Of all the things you’ve invented, which is your favorite?” I guess my favorite invention is whatever I am currently working on. However, I can give you a few that stand out. 1. Perhaps the most successful in terms of dollars was the invention of the sealed-edge wiper – a…
What does it take to make a success in the marketplace with your invention? Well, the trite answer is money. But let’s assume you don’t have a lot of that. What you have is ideas, ingenuity, and a basement or garage full of cool stuff. Often the lone inventor can become very frustrated. Our sense…
My father once told me a great story of how he learned to be an entrepreneur. He was released from the army after World War II and an uncle of his had a business buying up army surplus junk at cheap prices. One of the things he purchased was a large container of rifle slings….
When I ran the research laboratory for our company, I used to say (somewhat facetiously) that 99% of everything we did ended failure. And yet, I considered our efforts a great success. How can this be? Failure is a word that has very negative connotations in our vocabulary. But if we look at what happens…
As I say in my book, ‘Invention often sprouts from the cracks between areas of knowledge’. This means that creative ideas are often born at the intersection of two (or more) totally unrelated things. Often when we try to bridge to seemingly unbridgeable ideas, our innate creativity springs into action. How does this work? Let’s…
Sustained innovation in a business is a rare thing. When large corporations such as IBM and AT&T were virtual monopolies, they could lavishly fund innovation at places like “Yorktown Heights” or “Bell Labs” which did not contribute to immediate profitability. When push comes to shove in tough economic times, that funding is the first to…
Business and innovation. Now there are two words that seem to go together. You would be hard-pressed to find a business that doesn’t preach innovation to its employees, customers, and shareholders. There is, however, a much different reality. While most businesses preach innovation, their actions belie their words. In truth, most well established businesses run…
Way back when (actually, in the 1960's I think), a company called AR which stood for Acoustic Research came out with a turntable. As I remember it, their turntable was unique in that it had no automation. Other consumer turntables that were being marketed were full of features — you just needed to plop down…
Imagine that you had the task of designing a robotic hand. Certainly the phrase "robotic hand" suggests modeling the human hand. After all, the human hand is incredibly dexterous and capable of grasping all kinds of objects. Most robotic hands are modeled in one way or another after the human hand. That is the obvious…
Perhaps one of the greatest examples of innovative thinking in 2010 was the Stuxnet virus. Let me explain. I am not referring to the technical aspects of the virus, which I'm sure were brilliant as well. I am speaking about the idea of creating a computer virus to solve an otherwise intractable problem. The problem…