Berkeley Innovation

hello captains,

for those of you still thinking about tuesday's brainstorm session, you might be interested in intel's familiar stranger research project, incidentally right here in berkeley.

and, regarding our color-coded cafe experiment, can i get a quick estimate of who'd be interested in dedicating some time to make it happen? it could be that cool.

v

trying somethin out

The future of personal computing?

1 - Bin Exchange - the garbage company takes your trash bin away and replaces it with a clean one.
2 - Trash Eating Animals - worms, giant mutated ants, or some type of animal can help eat and break down trash.
3 - Accelerated Composting - speeding up the breakdown process to save space and yuckiness.

1. Can someone with some graphic design skills make this blog look slick?

2. Check out this article on Venture Capital and Innovation http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewArticle&id=1299

3. Check out this blog: lifehacker.com

Tom Kelley and IDEO's latest literary offering about the innovation process. Let's not make you work too hard. The Ten Faces of Innovation are:
1. Anthropologist
2. Experimenter
3. Cross-Pollinator
4. Hurdler
5. Collaborator
6. Director
7. Experience Architect
8. Set Designer
9. Storyteller
10. Caregiver

who's who at Berkeley Innovation?

There are a world of applications possible with the miniaturization of current sensors. 'Smart' clothing is an expanding application with high potential. Here's an innovative product combining clothing with GPS, and temperature sensing for a really practical application, just read the testimonials:

forget-me-not

10-11-05:

• powdered tea to avoid dripping tea bags
  
• cold in morning -> stuck with sweatshirt in afternoon
  
• laptop screen dynamically able to rotate 90 degrees for sideways viewing
  
• books need to be redesigned
  
• taking out the trash sucks. bags messy, gross
  
• band-aids fall off
  
• parking meters inefficient, hassle
  
• grass has bugs
  
• need place to sleep/hang between lectures
  
• construction disruptive to life
  
• roomates sleep at different times: light, noise disturbing
  
• sludge from sink gross
  
• too many keys
  
• in lecture prof. wastes time erasing
  
• how to tell if lecture is useful ahead of time
  
• forgetting to turn stove off
  
• food should be able to tell when it is done
  
• bike locks don't work
  
• hard to find parking spot in parking lot, on street
  
• healthy way to get caffeine (ie. coffee/energy drink alternative) (drink tea ^^)
  
• coffins/urns expensive and impersonal
  
• airplane overhead compartment space hassle
  
• packing/unpacking sucks
  
• insomnia
  
• waiting for cable guy to come / too large of a time frame
  
• laptop screens not ergonomical, rigidity, strain
  
• extension cords, electrical plus have no creativity. all same. ugly, get tangled
  
• how to tell if fruit is ripe? (supermarket food picking)
  
• ice packs don't stay on desired body part (ie shifting, falling)
  

Cannibalising tools to make cool stuff. a howto manual on getting sensors and actuators out of toys and doing fun things.
http://lowtech.propositions.org.uk/
by Usman Haque [www.haque.co.uk] and Adam Somlai-Fischer [www.aether.hu]
(via John Thackara - btw maybe we should make use of 'Thackara on demand')

Away Messages for Phones: Wil
Because it sucks when you have to tell mama you busy in clizzass. Aim-style away messages to save on minutes and frustration for your cellular phone!

RSF Reservations: Vanitha
Ever getting tired of waiting 20 minutes for a precor or treadmill, only to use it for 30 minutes? Hate signing up for a machine only to find you've been skipped because you've been exercising elsewhere and no one bothered to call your name? Come up with a better solution to make exercising less of a hassle!

Craigslist for People: Aron
Adscreen on Sproul: Rishi
Need a chapter, need to bring a textbook: Leslie
Insomnia: Luna
Sink Sludge: Jim
Perfect Dipper: Jono

Other project ideas:

Bike Racks
Asking ?s in class
Forgetting passwords
Picture taking woes
Library stuff
Interactive Computing (yay!)
Electronic Communication with other cars
Class Archives
Cold/Hot clothes
Parking Spots!?!
Walking to class (sucks)
Fresh Fruit
CD Storage

Board near the back door:

Limited Food: few combos
Gathering Essentials
Transporting/changing loads, hip carrier?
Needing to bring textbook when you only need one section
food smush vegetables
fresh fruit?/grocery shop
Walking between classes
Walking/leaving big groups
What does this taste like? (on a menu)
Eye contact with acquaintences
Communicating with other cars
Poking Pencils
Notes in books
no "good" caffenated drinks
Charging devices
communal jacks?
Task management
organization
noise in classrooms
cars (aahhhh)
Food sharing
One @ a time recycling
Where do i put my snot?
Working day stuff to do
washing paints

Board on wall in front:

Jono, Vanitha, Khang, Luna, and Aron's whiteboard
Space-efficiant CD storage
*Queueing for the RSF precors and treadmills
Automatic audio archive for big lecture classes
Opt-in contact list for library recalls
Remote study room availability checks/reservations
Alternatives to library copy cards
Disperate course website systems are annoying
Bike racks: design, distribution about campus, use of space, accessibility
Who else from UCB is going to a conference?
The perfect dipper
Text message games
Lecture hall powerpoint projection levels
Food waste at DCs
a better way to use your cell phone?

Away msg for phone
Quick way to get around campus
- no parking
- bikes/scooters cumbersome
- buses never on time
in Hearst: how to know which bathrooms are being used
library: how to have your stuff watched when you go to bathroom
having someone take your picture
telebears
falling asleep with lights on, during class/mtg, while driving
dry erase markers that stay w/ the whiteboard
riding bike in the rain
Craig's list for ppl
forget passwords
ad screen
photo-id outdated
asking ques in class wirelessly
left/right handed desks
meter feeding
translucent laptop screens
no bags
waste paper towels
coordinating schedules efficiently
flushing

Could we do something like this around campus? I'm sure there's lots of students out there who need a good idea, name or problem-solved in a hurry...

From Great Ideas in Aisle 9

Sidebar: Ideas While You Wait

"The BrainStore" is a fun name for a group of smart creativity consultants whose clients include some of the world's biggest companies. But it's more than just a name. Along with offering consulting services, Markus Mettler and his colleagues run a store that actually sells over-the-counter creativity. One customer walked into the store (it's attached to the
factory) in search of ideas about what to say in his wedding speech; a woman came in looking for a special way to celebrate her father's 50th birthday; and a group of schoolgirls visited to learn how to make their classroom look better.

The BrainStore outlet helps customers meet creative challenges -- usually within 15 to 30 minutes, and usually for less than $20. "We spent about a year developing the idea for an idea shop," says Mettler. "We realized that it's possible to compress the entire idea-generation process into just 15 minutes. While that may not be enough time to develop a new product, it is enough time to name a hamster."

And that's the real value of this retail outlet: It continues to shed light on the process required to generate any idea. "The most important thing that you can do is to open your eyes and your mind," says Urs Heer, 29, the BrainStore's chief of production. "And it helps to think fast. Without speed, people get bored, and boredom allows for distraction. That's true whether you're working with Nestlé or with a little-old lady who wants ideas on how to handle her cat."

Group Takes Aim at the Little Things Vexing Students - The Daily Californian, Thursday October 6th

"I've been very impressed," said industrial engineering and operations research professor Ken Goldberg, one of the club's faculty advisors. "They are very ambitious, a very energetic bunch."

Next time somebody says "that'll never happen," have them read this:
The Law of accelerating returns
a+