You’ll be pleased to hear that this week I’ve managed to curb my Kickstarter addiction for long enough to allow my Sin-Radar to pick up signals from elsewhere in the product development realm. And those ominous signals emanated from the rather unlikely setting of coach C on the TransPennine Express; actually, a conversation held whilst sitting in Coach C to be more precise. A fellow passenger seemed quite intrigued at [...]
Let me start by saying that there have been a few comments made in relation to my Air Umbrella and HappiFork blogs which suggest I may be a little cynical in my outlook. Cynical! Moi? These blog commentators suggest that at the heart of the ridiculous Bluetooth connected fork and unworkable replacement umbrella are really neat ideas, trying desperately to get out. They say I should constructively deconstruct the insight [...]
Reading through various tech publications this week, I’ve noticed a certain Kickstarter project seems to be creating a lot of noise. And by ‘noise’ I’m not referring to whoops of excitement, -more the collective sound of palms slapping foreheads (from those with a little common sense at least!) This is the offending invention: A turbo toilet plunger? Some kind of beacon? A cost saving Olympic Torch for cash strapped [...]
Having recently blogged about the HAPIfork, -a bizarre attempt to re-engineer a humble piece of tableware as a weight-loss aid, I have been inspired to venture a little further in to the peculiar world of cutlery craftsmanship. Alongside the standard ‘novelty items’ (cake slices that play Happy Birthday music, chopsticks shaped like mini lightsabers), intended purely for entertainment purposes, there seems to be an altogether more serious streak of products [...]
The average toddler’s ‘working day’ is a stressful one indeed; there’s the morning commute to the high-chair for a briefing with some eggy soldiers, followed by offsite meetings with the board members of Tumble Tots. Then there’s the ongoing ‘deliverables’ of smearing jam across furniture and chewing crayons….not to mention the regular tantrum sessions. With such hectic schedules, I can imagine these little ankle-biters often struggle to find time to [...]