AbsolutelyNew Blog

The running shoe… reinvented for its users

We recently tried out new Zoot running shoes, and just had to talk about them with you.

Ever heard of Zoot? Maybe not, since it’s a company that focuses entirely on gear for triathletes. But there's an interesting invention angle in these $110+ shoes.

You see, the people at Zoot Sports completely reinvented running shoes for their users. They triathletes' very precise needs and biomechanics, and then developed running shoes from the ground up to serve them.

Among those special needs they IDed: being able to slip on fast for a speedy transition, being comfortable without socks, channeling water out so the shoes stay dry and light even when a hot athlete is pouring water over his or her body, and providing more mid-foot support because triathletes run differently than other runners when their muscles are fatigued from the swim and cycling legs that precede the running leg of a “tri.”

Zoot running shoes have now won several awards, and athletes wearing them have won several major triathlons. They’ve also won our kudos.

Two key lessons for you and your invention:

1. Identify your bulls-eye target. Zoot branched into running shoes but never branched away from its focus on a narrow consumer target: triathletes willing to pay high prices for high performance gear. By knowing this target well, it’s able to serve this target well. Very well, in fact. It’s also able to grow its business faster because it is going deeper with a group that already knows the brand well and appreciates its track-record.

2. Make your target your compass. Zoot knew triathletes, but it didn’t know precisely how they run until its scientists studied the biomechanics in great detail... and then designing accordingly. Doing this put them ahead of Nike, Adidas and all the other established makers when it comes to serving this particular consumer segment. We can never say this enough: study your target, and then design with them—not you—as your compass. For Zoot, doing this is now enabling them to win market share from much larger running shoe leaders. Who wouldn’t want to do likewise in their invention category?

The best inventions of 2009

What do you think are the best, most revolutionary new products of 2009?

We’ve got some picks of our own... but we’ll keep them to ourselves right now and wait to hear back from the editors are Popular Science – they’re gearing up to answer this question for the magazine’s annual “Best of What’s New” awards. PopSci’s now accepting applications for a range of categories including everything from Gadgets to Home Technology to Recreation.

If you’ve commercialized a truly revolutionary invention – PopSci doesn’t give out awards for evolutionary products, no matter how absolutely awesome they may be – definitely consider applying. Note: your invention must either be available for purchase by 9.30.2009 or a future sales date must be formally announced by 9.30.2009.

And if you’re not yet ready for this year’s competition, that’s OK too. The important thing is that you’re acting to advance your invention, to make it big next year. For inspiration, here’s a link to last year’s winners. Pictured above right is one of 2008’s picks: the sweet-looking, compact, and reportedly very easy-to-operate Icon A5 seaplane.

Mad science has a whole new manual

We just recently discovered Theo Gray’s Mad Science: Experiments You Can Do At Home - But Probably Shouldn't, and we couldn’t wait to share it.

Written by one of our fave Popular Science columnists (Theodore Gray), it’s a collection of pieces guiding you through experiments in which he’s mixed, launched and/or detonated all sorts of things—all in the name of science, of course. Very cool!

So whether you’re into serious chemistry or you simply fantasize about strapping on your safety goggles and joining the Mythbusters folks at work on various inventive creations, we suspect you’re sure to enjoy reading this one. But please, don’t try these at home!

New in robotics

 

Our loyal readers have come to know that we love robots. No, that’s an understatement—we really LOVE robots. But what kind? This is an emerging question as scientists invent different types (and looks) of robots to handle different roles… and learn all the more the nuances of how people respond to robots.

So, which of the two above suits you? Or is the robot below?

 

Perhaps a little more detail will help. The new issue of Proto has a cool feature story on the latest in robots. Highlights of note:

• We’re apparently not the only folks who already go gaga for robots. A Georgia Tech study of Roomba (the breakthrough robotic vacuum) owners in 2007 found many named and decorated their devices.

• New advances and new algorithms are now enabling the development of robots that are “socially assistive” or “socially interactive” in their ability to change their behavior based on what they sense in the people around them.

• Children take quickly to robots, whereas adults are often a little slower to embrace them. (Clearly, we weren’t in that study!). People often get comfortable with a robot faster if it mirrors their personality – ie: an extroverted person responds well to a fast-talking robot.

• There’s now a lot of research on how robots should look… and the new conventional wisdom is that a robot should look somewhat but not entirely human. One Japanese scientist even coined the term “uncanny valley” to describe it – because once a robot bears an uncanny resemblance to a human, the rapport with it drops from a peak to a valley.

Cool stuff! And since we’re only scratching the surface here, you might enjoy reading more of the details in Proto. Here’s a link!

Speed and your invention

In Top Gun, Tom Cruise’s character Maverick smiles and says, “I feel the need – the need, for speed.” Now scientists say he was on to something... and their conclusions could help you in your inventing.

Specifically, they’re talking about a study that found bursts of accelerated thinking can improve your mood. They drew this conclusion after sparking quick thinking in a variety of ways: asking research participants to brainstorm fast for 10 minutes, to read fast for short periods of time, even to watch I Love Lucy video fast (on fast-forward). The speedy activities led people to feel elated, creative, a touch more energetic.

The folks in lab coats at Harvard and Princeton don’t quite understand the Why here. But they do have some additional thoughts:

• The speedy behavior likely triggers dopamine, an adrenaline-like chemical our bodies produce.
• Some of the happiness is likely a self-fulfilling prophesy: you think speediness is a sign of being happy, so being speedy puts you in a happy place.
• This effect applies to the sprinter, not the marathoner – the researchers found fast and repetitive behaviors sparked anxiety instead of elation.

You can read more at Scientific American. How can this learning help you with your inventing? Perhaps in one or more of the following ways:

1. Can’t figure something out? Try speeding up with very short problem solving sessions.
2. Feeling a little down because immediate invention success eludes you? Literally, take a quick break—spend a few minutes very quickly doing something else to kick-start the endorphins
3. Watch some I Love Lucy, even at normal speed, because it’s just plain funny. Our fave episode: Lucy and Ethel working at the chocolate factory.

How else might you apply these new learnings?

What inspires you?

One of the many cool things about invention is that you can find inspiration anywhere, any time, in just about any thing.

That’s why we enjoyed reading about a coffee-drinking doctor (of metallurgy) who looked at the oily film atop yesterday’s coffee and was inspired to develop a new form of biodiesel.

Really. Yesterday’s joe inspired the University of Nevada at Reno’s Dr. Manoranjan Misra, along with two colleagues, to ponder, then explore, and ultimately figure out how to convert used coffee grounds into fuel. Real fuel. To power real cars. And as if that weren’t cool enough, there’s more:

• This new fuel burns with a faint coffee scent (decaf coffee, we guess), compared to other biodiesels and regular gasoline that don’t always smell so nice.
• Whereas other plant-based biodiesel sources like soy use up land and the actual plant, the coffee biodiesel only uses the leftovers that would otherwise be thrown out.
• The coffee biodiesel performs well – no sacrificing on quality here – and would likely cost an estimated $1/gallon to make at a medium-sized processing facility.

Does this mean you'll be able to fill 'er up in more ways than one when you visit your local Starbucks? Only time will tell. We do know that the Starbucks folks in Reno were happy to give the docs used grounds for their research.

To learn more, click here to read The Economist coverage of this story.

Notes from the Consumer Electronics Shows

We’re back from the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. And let’s just say it was awesome – so many cool new technologies we can’t wait to get into our homes, our offices, and everywhere else.

PC World did a nice job highlighting some of top products, so rather than reinvent the wheel, here’s a link to check out what they wrote.
 
More broadly than any specific product, we were struck by the vast number of products and technology platforms that are built from the ground up for easy interaction and use the way we really live, without constraining “hardware.” Imagine using any surface as your keyboard, and using your finger as a mouse, a laser pointer, even a welder. It all makes yesteryear’s breakthrough devices like the Nintendo Wii controller seem downright primitive by comparison.

A couple other major trends, based on our observations and discussions with key players:

1. Managed content – like the ability to control precisely what programs even make it to your TV – is only in its infancy. Look for this to grow exponentially in the months ahead.

2. GPS technology is navigating its way into everything. And its stands to revolutionize everything from traffic patterns to fashion to global security.

To go a lot deeper, you can click here to check out CNET’s expansive coverage of all things CES.

The Anchor Gets Re-invented

Picture a ship anchor.  You know exactly what it looks like.  Or so you thought... as a group of ingenious scientists at MIT have completely re-invented the anchor to be far smaller, lighter and more effective than those clunky metal ones we have long known.

This newly invented anchor is called the RoboClam.  Pictured above right, it's inspired by and functions a lot like the razor clam (aka: Atlantic jackknife), pictured above left:

• It vibrates in a manner that turns the relatively solid sea bed to a quicksand-like, digging-friendly consistency.
• It then pushes down into the sea bed and expands its “shells” to lock in place.
• It then repeats this again and again... digging itself down to 15 inches with 80 pounds of force.

So cool.  And not just because it has Robo in the name!  The invention's apparently already strong enough to anchor a small sub, and there’s talk that, with tweaks and improvements, this thing could be strong enough to anchor even the largest of ships and off-shore oil platforms, and perhaps be modified for applications including drilling on dry land.

You’ve gotta love it when Mother Nature inspires great invention.  Once again we tip our hats to her... and to the folks who tinkered based on her inspiration.

For additional info, click here for MIT’s official take on the RoboClam.  Thanks also to MIT’s Donna Coveney for the photo.

What sparks you?

When my head’s clogged with ideas or I can’t seem to figure something out, nothing does me more good than a nice 8-mile run.  Twelve to 14 miles if it’s something really complicated, like curing world hunger or figuring out what my wife really wants for her birthday.

What works for you?  A few weeks ago I wrote about how napping and sleep are proven to help people connect thoughts and get to solutions that had proven elusive.  Ever since, I’ve heard of many different approaches, from running and walking to cooking (one inventor said chopping vegetables helps him clear his head) and ironing (no joke).

I’ve even heard from two of our licensed inventors – two guys who live in different states and don’t know one another – saying they were struggling to develop their respective invention... and then the design came to each of them when they were driving on the freeway.  Hmmm.

So, could it be that monotony sparks innovation – freeing the brain to think but taking up just enough brain power to keep you from getting too distracted?  I don’t know... but my driving’s pretty bad so I’ll stick to the running.

And 2008's top invention is...

What’s THE coolest invention you’ve seen this year?  Does just one come to mind?  Maybe two or three that you’re torn between?

Well, the folks at TIME have their answer to this question, as they’ve just published their annual picks for the best inventions of the year.  Among the 50 for 2008: a collection of sweet cameras, multiple Wii and Apple products, several stylin’ cars that are likely a little (or a lot) too pricey for me, and of course the requisite robots and NASA spacecraft.

And TIME’s top pick: 23andMe, the home DNA test kit that will map your genome and, to use the TIME editors’ words, revolutionize how society views healthcare and personal health information.

You can click here to check out TIME’s online content.

So, what do you think?  What’s missing?  Have you figured out your #1 yet?  And what will you now be adding to your list for Santa?

And most importantly, what are you doing to get on the 2009 list?