WD-40 vision for success (Photo credit: illuminea)

In my recent newspaper column, I shared a great story about how we recently had the privilege of helping WD-40 update its 60-year-old brand to make it more relevant with its end users by creating a pipeline of new offerings.

Related articles

• The Miracle of WD-40 (subtraction.com)
• WD-40 Will Loosen Up Your Unresponsive iPhone’s Home Button in Seconds (lifehacker.com)
• WD-40 Company and Rebuilding Together Announce Finalists for Tradesperson of the Year (rebuildingtogether.org)
• WD-40: A Superb Fix for Sticky/Unresponsive Home Button on iPhones! (hitechanalogy.com)

Photo courtesy Belkin

I’ve had laptops and phones that can keep a charge for a long time, and then there are the ones that started out powerful but lost longevity over time. We all plug in our gadgets, but I leaving them plugged in can decrease the battery’s lifespan, and we’ve all learned that the hard way. I came across an energy saver called the Conserve Socket that automatically cuts off power after a predetermined amount of time.

Many electronics companies including Apple recommend you unplug your laptop when it’s fully charged. But if you charge overnight, that’s not easy to do. The socket timers like the Belkin Conserve Socket is relatively inexpensive at only $10. You can plug your device in and set it to shut off after a half hour, or 10 hours if you want. The socket saver will charge your gadget up and cut the power when it’s done so you don’t kill the battery.

Belkin has a number of timers and surge protectors, but for this low price you may want to stock up on some stocking stuffers.

Photo via Flickr

In my weekly column, I’ve been taking a look back a few decades to look at how innovation has evolved in the automobile industry. You might be surprised to learn that some of the cars that didn’t make it to the mass assembly line were actually quite advanced for their time:

From the perfection of the assembly line by Henry Ford at the turn of the 20th century to today’s push for development of practical electric motor technology, cars have always been at the forefront of innovation.

The list of innovations would be too numerous to mention with tens of thousands of patents underlying the development of today’s automobile.

Before the gasoline or diesel vehicle engine there were other types of motors along the way, including steam and many attempts at electric-powered vehicles. Even as far back as the early 1900s there were electric vehicles that had a range of almost 20 miles and could top 14 miles per hour. Although they worked well enough to be the dominant type of vehicle motor, the early models had dozens of heavy lead acid battery cells and generated only a couple of horsepower.

And even though the concept of a hybrid vehicle seems like a modern one, hybrids were being built as far back as 1911 by companies like the Woods Motor Vehicle Co. of Chicago.

Part of the motivation in those days wasn’t alternative fuels, but the fact that electric engines were less noisy, smoother running and didn’t smell bad. It also turns out that electric vehicles didn’t require gear changes, nor a hand crank to start. Since most roads of the day were in town, the limited range of electric vehicles were an ideal fit for the time.

As roads in the country began to be built, and as problems with gasoline engine transmissions were solved through innovations from people like Henry Ford, the gasoline engine began to dominate for the rest of the century.

In the 1990s, legislative and regulatory actions led to renewed interest in electric vehicles. Electric cars began to appear and with improvements in battery technology and materials engineering, practical models are being developed today, although they are still expensive.

Tesla motors has rolled out an all-electric sports car, and BMW has displayed their i3 scheduled for 2013 production. The i3 is an impressive all-electric vehicle made of lightweight carbon fiber and aluminum that is said to have a 100-mile range.

Automobile innovations haven’t been limited to the motor or drive train, but also to safety equipment and operation. The lives saved with the invention of safety belts, airbags, anti-lock brakes, electronic stability control and crash-absorbing vehicle design can’t be understated.

Who knows what other innovations the future will bring? I fully expect electric cars will become commonplace as problems are solved regarding range, charging times, and battery life and replacement cost. Even the quietness of the engine can be seen as a problem for pedestrians who might not hear an electric vehicle approaching.

Beyond the obvious and probably necessary evolution to the electric car, some other inventions that are fun to think about include practical airless tires, smart heads-up displays to warn of potential hazards ahead, and eventually even a true autopilot.

A smart, safe, efficient pilotless car — that’s an innovation we would all like to see.

Thousands of fans went to the ebay auction site and helped raise nearly a million dollars for Michael J. Fox’s (the actor who played Marty) foundation to fight Parkinson’s Disease, which the actor has been battling for more than a decade. Interestingly, it is the fans who inspired the new shoe. Back in 2007 fans started a grassroots effort named McFly2015 to ask Nike to make the shoe with the automatic lacing system, which Nike tried to make. We’re not quite to the future yet though, and Nike is promising to launch those power laces by 2015—the year that Marty in the movie shows off his new shoes.

The popular film trilogy just celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, so fans are already looking for anything that they can get their hands on relating to the movies.

Nike released only 1,500 pairs of the shoes, and started its ten-day sale last week marketing to the highest bidder on its auction on eBay. Prices are already in the thousands!  Nike is donating all proceeds to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and Google Founder Sergey Brin are matching donations up to $50 million.

Image via Wikipedia

I am very excited about the new developments in bioplastics research! Within the past few years there have been numerous new-to-market plastic products that either decompose in the landfill or make the recycling process cheaper, easier and more environmentally friendly.

One company from France has launched a plastic “coffee pod” (like the kind used in Keurig® and other machines) that is 100 percent biodegradable. Consumers can put their pods right in their backyard garden without any worries about landfill waste. And that’s just the beginning of more bioplastics ingenuity to come, as I wrote about in my weekly column. Check it out:

Via PostCrescent.com

How long does your trash live in the landfill?

For glass bottles, the time for it to degrade can be thousands of years or more. Plastics are an improvement, but many of them can still have a life span that is measured in decades. Fortunately new plastic materials being developed are shortening that time considerably.

Today’s new “green” plastics are being made of unconventional biodegradable materials — even milk curd. It’s all possible because of bioplastics, an innovative polymer technology that is transforming the plastics industry.

In spite of volunteer and mandatory recycling programs, environmentalists have long been concerned with the plastic that remains in the waste stream. According to Penn State University scientists, it may take up to 20 years for plastic grocery bags to break down, and some plastic containers will take 80 years to decompose. Some plastic, like those of the collars huddling six-packs can take an estimated 450 years before showing signs of decomposition.

In research labs around the world, we’re seeing bioplastic engineering teams that are making great strides in addressing this problem.

For example, Barcelona-based researchers have developed a bioplastic for food packaging that is based on whey protein. Whey is a by-product of cheese processing; it is essentially milk curd. The material dissolves in water, and this makes the plastic much easier to recycle and decompose. European cheese factories are currently discarding a large percentage of their whey, but if this “waste” can be utilized as a packaging material it is a win-win for both the factories and for the environment.

The development of whey-based bioplastics is another example of an effort that requires open partnerships. Fourteen different producers and researchers have come together to implement this technology on a larger scale to produce containers, trays and plastic films.

Bioplastics from agricultural materials like corn are also being injected into new consumer product spaces. In France, the Demetz company has launched the first biodegradable sunglasses, called B-wear. These eco-friendly sunglasses use polymers derived from castor oil and corn and are claimed to degrade in months in industrial compost or in just a few years in a natural setting.

Another French company, Vegeplast, is creating a splash in the coffee pod industry by launching its 100 percent biodegradable bio-pods. After using the coffee pod, it can be put into an organic waste bin or even composted in the garden. The company has also developed bioplastic components for products like golf tees, disposable spoons and forks, and even chewable dog bones.

Look for bioplastics partnerships and innovation to continue to grow and inspire new products in the months ahead. With more of these innovative products and more effective recycling programs, we can all look forward to a cleaner, tidier environment.

Wiki Creative Commons photo

Electronics manufacturers are making a lot of progress in improving energy efficiency, and that’s good news for those of us trying to leave a smaller eco-footprint in our energy usage wake.  In my weekly column published yesterday I wrote about how manufacturers aren’t only improving the energy efficiency of electronic gadgets when they are on, but also looking to make sure that when they are off, as little power as necessary is used:

The next time you head to the electronics store to get that flat-panel digital TV you’ve had your eye on, will you be thinking about the environmental impact this set will have?

Typically when we buy a new gadget to make our lives more productive or more fun, we usually look at the capabilities and price first. But the Consumer Electronics Association says more of us are beginning to look at environmental attributes as important too.

The first thing many of us would look at when thinking about environmentally friendly electronics is energy usage…

Enjoy the rest of the article!

Photo courtesy of Yanko Design

I’ve been following green concepts over the years, and I’m always excited to see trends in energy power that will eventually make it into our hands someday. Or in this case, onto our fingers!

This innovative idea is a concept from the minds of two designers, Song Teaho and Hyejin Lee. Their new finger battery could one day be good news for those of us who are continually in need of a smart phone battery boost: A prototype mobile phone with a battery you can charge with a simple twirl of your finger.

The kinetic energy generated by the twirling motion powers the charge and would allow users to energize their cells.

It does take some coordination thought. The designers say you need to twirl for 130 rotations around your finger to generate about two minutes of talk or 25 minutes of standby power.

Perhaps there will come a day when we don’t have to expend quite that amount of effort. But it does give me hope that great minds are continually thinking of ideas for clean and green energy!

Imagine a wheelchair that can be directed by brain signals detected from a unique cap worn by the user. THis is the work of scientists at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland (EPFL).

The developers are using this technology to help people control machines via brain signals, which they say will  revolutionize the way the paralysed and disabled maneuver.

I find this video demonstration fascinating:

The main focus of bionics to date has been on providing prosthetics for amputees. Prosthetic arms can now be controlled by nerve signals in the remaining arm, which can be picked up by electric sensors on the skin.

Developers say the next innovation may be bionic limbs which are able to “feel.”

This photo is one of many you’ll want to check out on the AllCarsElectric site. It’s a concept car that will hopefully be in production someday. It is aerodynamic, futuristic and downright cool in my opinion. Nissan says it gets 150 MPC (miles per charge),but no word yet on the price one of these might cost. The 2011 Geneva Motorshow opens March 11.

Here’s a video of the ESFLOW concept car:

Photo courtesy allcarselectric.

Actually, it does have a brain, sort of. The IChef  is a touch-controlled computer that has an icon-driven touch screen. The oven is manufactured by European appliance-maker Gorenje. This unique computerized oven was featured this past weekend at the 2011 International LivingKitchen event premiering in Germany.

Imagine finding a recipie, estimating its weight and pressing GO to get cooking. There are apps like MyBake, ProBake and StepBake that allows you to program up to three cooking steps such as defrost, bake and hold warm.

The IChef also has a hot grill in case you wanted to add a sizzle to your food, and a temperature prope to make sure your food’s internal temp is right where you need it to be.  The first IChef ovens will ship in European this spring and overseas in the months to follow. No word yet on the pricetag!

Samsung’s new over-the-top refrigerator can play Pandora radio music, send tweets, check your Google calendar and more, but attendees at the Consumer Electronics Show 2011 think it may be overkill.

Check out this video from Mashable.com on the Wi-Fi-enabled appliance:

The International CES ended yesterday and is the world’s largest consumer technology trade show featuring 2,700 vendors. The Samsung booth grabbed a lot of attention for its new fridge, but I wouldn’t say all of the publicity was negative.

I wouldn’t mind pulling up a recipe or grocery list from my favorite websites, but tweets? Most of us can do that from our mobile phones! What do you think?

Here is a scriptless Morph demonstration of how scientists and technology developers might use nanotechnology to deliver more flexible materials and transparent electronics in the future:

Here’s more information on Morph and nanotechnology from Nokia.

Photo credit: Nokia press photos

Using “geofencing,” Sparkle allows for the identification and location of any phone and supports voice control, SMS and a very intriguing feature: the ability to detect motion and velocity. Developers say that might be used to automatically disable your text while you drive. You can read more about geotechnology here.

For Android and  iPhone owners, the new technology will someday be able to suggest deals or check-in points, and even set up location-based controls for your kids.

That’s just the start. From Location Labs’ website I found several fun apps that use geolocation technology:

• Mayor Maker – Automatically checks you into your favorite Foursquare places without actually opening Foursquare.
• Dine Out Cheap – Alerts you to a nearby dining deal.
• MobiQpons – Shows you when and where to redeem coupons as you walk by.
• Whatamap – Lets you roam a mall or other indoor shopping area to find great deals.
• Noel Group – For travelers wanting to know weather conditions and local events.

Graphene: A Two-Dimensional Planar Sheet of Carbon One Atom Thick

A number of people have commented about a recent story on Andre Geim, the inventor of graphene and new Nobel Laureate in physics, and his decision to not pursue a patent. One widely read recent tweet linked to a discussion on Slashdot that allegedly “Puts the lie to the claim that patents help small inventors.” The Slashdot page begins with an observation about why Dr. Geim didn’t patent graphene. Turns out he almost did, but chose not to after a conversation with someone from a big multinational company that could become a major user of graphene in the future. Here’s the content that supposedly shows why patents don’t help small business owners and lone inventors against the big boys of industry:

gbrumfiel writes

“As we discussed on Tuesday, Andre Geim won this year’s Nobel prize in physics for graphene, but he never patented it. In an interview with Nature News, he explains why: ‘We considered patenting; we prepared a patent and it was nearly filed. Then I had an interaction with a big, multinational electronics company. I approached a guy at a conference and said, “We’ve got this patent coming up, would you be interested in sponsoring it over the years?” It’s quite expensive to keep a patent alive for 20 years. The guy told me, “We are looking at graphene, and it might have a future in the long term. If after ten years we find it’s really as good as it promises, we will put a hundred patent lawyers on it to write a hundred patents a day, and you will spend the rest of your life, and the gross domestic product of your little island, suing us.” That’s a direct quote.’”

While some people, including some in the anti-patent community, see this as a self-evident case for the problem with patents, it’s actually just the opposite, in my opinion.

Look at the story again. A brilliant inventor on the verge of filing a foundational patent for a major breakthrough in technology approaches a large corporation who might benefit from the technology. The company learns that the inventor is about to file a patent. A valid patent would mean that the company would have to pay royalties for the invention, perhaps very expensive royalties. If no patent is filed, the company can use the technology for free and develop its own patents without having to cross-license or worry about what Andre Geim owns. Hmm, which would be better: paying a lot, or paying nothing? Having to work with an inventor or tech transfer office or new patent owner who may end up thinking an invention is worth billions, or having the whole thing pretty much gratis? Tough call, but I think the corporate leader was quick to recognize the advantages to nipping the patent threat in the bud. How could he talk the inventor out of a patent? What negotiating tactic to deploy? ah, how about the Hindenburg? That’s where you explain to the other party that their intended course of action would be a flaming disaster, with burning bodies falling out of the sky–oh, the humanity!–resulting in the adversary becoming toast themselves.

The Hindenburg

The Hindenberg it is. The corporate leader then explains that IF Geim is so foolish, so greedy, so inhumane as to file a patent, disastrous suffering will follow and he’ll be burned. “100 patents a day!” Overwhelming force! You’ll go into debt suing us for nothing! You’ll be toast, baby. One big flaming Hindenburg crashing into the ground.

All bluff and bluster. But the intimidation and scare tactics work. “OK, OK, I won’t file my patent. Sorry for even thinking about that. Now I see that patents don’t help the little guy, Mr. Big. Here, take what I’ve got for free.”

Patents are the great equalizer. It’s what gives lone inventors a fighting chance against the big corporation that wants to take what they’ve got for free. It’s not easy and may not work, but with patents you’ve got a chance and corporations know it. Good ones respect that and will work with out. Others will try to take what you’ve got anyway, or better yet if they can, talk you out of pursuing a patent. Without one, you’ve already surrendered. You might as well throw the keys of your car to any passing stranger and hope they will pay you someday after they drive away.

The story isn’t about why patents don’t help the little guy. In fact, I think it’s about how much some big corporations despise and loathe patents in the hands of little guys. So much so that they would make outrageous statements to trick a brilliant scientists into NOT doing the one thing that could have helped him most: filing a patent. Instead, he handed them his inventions for free. Score one for the big guys.

A facial recognition system is a computer application that verifies a person’s identity from his or her digital image. That image can be your driver’s license, a single frame from a store’s surveillance video or just about any other electronic file with your face on it.

Scientists at the University of Miami are looking at newer 3-D technology to improve the accuracy of facial recognition programs. Here’s a photo from their laboratory showing how computers can determine anatomical point pairings using a program called Adaboost for 3-D face recognition.

It works by comparing selected facial features it scans from your image with a database of other faces.  You’ve probably seen this in the moves—or some variation of it. (Think retina eye scan in movies like Get Smart.)

These days facial recognition technology companies are in the news as larger corporations swallow up the startups or invest in their technology. Over at TechCrunch this week comes word that startup company Viewdle, with its patented facial recognition system that automatically identifies faces in videos and photos across mobile phones and computers, has secured $10 million from investors in companies including Best Buy, BlackBerry Partners Fund and Qualcomm.

Recently in the news was word of Apple shelling out $29 million for Polar Rose and Face.com grabbing Yandex for $4.3 million.

The technology isn’t perfect, but getting closer to it all the time.  I think these companies and certainly the technology itself will be worth watching.

Toppan calls it the RFID Crystagram. An example of the RFID Crystagram is shown on the left below, and the act of electronically scanning the Crystagram is shown on the right.

This week Amyris announced a record number of deals and partnerships for a single week (a record among bioenergy companies, according to Biofuels Digest). These partnerships include P&G, Total, Soliance, Cosan, M&G Finanziaria, and Shell:

Amyris has taken it up a notch with a series of stunners surrounding its synthetic farsenene, which it has named Biofene – the first product that Amyris is seeking to produce at commercial scale.

Beyond its success this week with Biofene announcements, which are the basis for the P&G, M&G and Soliance partnerships — there are the broader arrangements with Cosan to develop a platform in renewable chemicals, and the equity agreement with Total that will provide needed capital as well as a broader platform for Amyris’s expansion into hydrocarbon fuels.

The mysterious agreement with Shell, regarding diesel, is one to watch. The decidedly vague disclosure was buried in Amyris’ amended S-1A registration statement, but not otherwise mentioned in a flurry of press releases from the company as it promotes its expansion in this pre-IPO environment. Shell Western Trading & Supply is one of 17 Shell trading companies that buy and sell to customers within and outside of Shell.

This news shows an interesting example of companies forming partnerships with an innovative start-up with great technology and apparently highly valuable IP. According to my Patbase search, Amyris has 21 patent families, quite a large number for such a young company. They clearly have been active and aggressive in pursuing patent protection, and those patents are critical for the meaningful partnerships they are now forming. It’s a great unfolding story of open innovation and technology transfer.

The story extends beyond the US. They have operations in Brazil, for example, which is one of the world’s hotbeds for bioenergy, bioproducts, and collaborative innovation.

Combining scientific theory and brilliant engineering, it is one of the most innovative, fascinating, and commercially successful devices ever built. Lasers provide precise, selective and controlled high-power light beams for a variety of commercial and scientific uses.

In 1917 Albert Einstein (of course) first theorized the process that might make lasers possible. He called it “stimulated emission” (hence the “s” and the “e” in the laser acronym to go with “light amplification” and “radiation”), and his idea was harnessed in the first laser-like device (called a maser) built in 1959 by two Bell Laboratory scientists Charles Townes and Arthur Schawlow. Their device was actually a microwave device, not a visible one, but their theory and publications led to the construction of the first light laser in 1960.

I can’t imagine that Townes and Schawlow would have believed how useful and ubiquitous their device would become today.

In medicine, lasers are routinely used as cutting tools with the added benefit that their burning action seals and clots a cut immediately. For example, in laser eye surgery or even ulcer removal surgery, tissue can be removed without damaging surrounding areas.

In consumer electronics, lasers are used to read the surface of CDs or DVDs so that digital bits on the surface can be assembled into bytes of information and converted to continuous analog signals for our listening or viewing pleasure. Today’s high-speed printers use lasers to precisely map locations where toner particles should (or shouldn’t) stick to an imaging drum where they are subsequently fused into place.

The pure frequency output of a laser makes them ideal tools for use in sensitive chemical analysis applications, while the precision and narrow beams of lasers also make them ideal for distance measurements. During the Apollo 11 mission a laser was used to bounce a beam off an 18-inch reflector set up on the moon, measure the round trip travel time and determine (within a few meters) the precise distance to the Earth.

Semiconductor lasers combined with fiber optics provide for high-speed data transmission among computers. Downloading of movies and data can be over an order of magnitude or more faster than over copper wires. With the information and entertainment data explosion that has been going on for the past 20 years, fiber optic connections will continue to become more commonplace.

The controllability, speed and precision of lasers are quite an advantage in many applications. Industrial uses of lasers include cutting, blasting and welding. In the military and defense arena, powerful ones are successfully being used in tests to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles in flight.

We have come a long way since the development of lasers. Who knows what advancements applications lasers will bring in the next 50 years?

To me the more interesting question is: What will be the next innovation that will have comparable long-term impact? And has its theoretical groundwork already been laid, awaiting the next Townes and Schawlow to make it a reality?

1. How about a Grow Your Own Beer Garden Kit (pictured on the left), which includes the barley, hops and wheat seeds, plus a place for them to sprout, the plant stakes, gravel and decals. It costs about $25 over at ThinkGeek.

2. If your dad likes to cook, consider an oven that uses the sun for energy. You can find the Sun Oven for about $300, or you can find online directions on how to make your own sun oven with cardboard for under $40.

3. Lots of dads want to know if their household appliances are costing them more than necessary in energy costs. He can use a nifty device called the Kill A Watt (pictured on the right). He just plugs the appliance into the outlet and a meter tells him how much energy is being used.

4. What dad doesn’t like to control the remote? You might want to check into energy-saving remotes like this one over at ethicalsuperstore.com.

5. Usually a game of golf involves green in nature only. But now dads who enjoy sustainability can tee off with 100-percent recyclable golf balls by Dixon Earth.  Along with being recycled, the manufacturing process of these balls use no lead, cobalt, tungsten or heavy metals. You can order a package of six dozens for $40.

6. Dads who like to hike but need a charge might enjoy this solar panel backpack over at Amazon. At $220, it’s great for powering up cell phone batteries on the trail.

7. If you or your dad is a Father’s Day traditionalist (as in neckties and wallets), How about this innovative gift idea: a wallet made out of recycled neckties and suits! Designer Laura Skelton created the outside of the wallet from discarded silk ties, and lined the inside with a solid gray material from men’s suits. They sell for $28 over at UncommonGoods.

Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there!