AbsolutelyNew Blog

Cool Product Expo

We’re back from the Stanford Cool Product Expo!  The event, held annually on the Stanford University campus, showcases interesting products and projects from start-ups, university research labs, global manufacturers and local design studios.  We were excited to exhibit at the show so that we could show off some of our newest products and present alongside some of the brightest minds in Silicon Valley. 

 

Everyone was interested in testing out our products and finding out more about AbsolutelyNew.  In addition to networking with other local companies, we also had the chance to speak with students in the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Engineering School.  Stanford has no shortage of creative thinkers and product designers who were anxious to give us feedback on our products and share some of their own work with us.  The show was a big success, and we can’t wait to return next year. 

 

Did you attend the show this year and get a chance to stop by our booth?  We would love to hear what you thought of the product samples we were displaying and any other cool products you saw at the expo this year.

Innovation at the Vancouver Olympics

The Winter Olympic Games will commence on Friday in Vancouver.  Companies have been innovating like crazy since the last Olympics to enhance the performance of Olympic athletes.  From a newly designed high-speed bobsled to downhill ski equipment, innovation will be on everyone’s mind at the games.  In addition to improvements in athletic equipment, the Vancouver Olympics will showcase a lot of environmental innovation.  Here are a few things to watch out for:

 

Eco-friendly venues:  The organizers of the Vancouver Olympics have had sustainability on their minds since the planning first began.  Many of the Olympic venues include state of the art eco-friendly designs that conserve energy and protect the environment.  The Convention Centre boasts a living green roof, on-site water treatment, and a fish habitat built into the foundation, while the Olympic Centre captures rainwater and siphons it into the building to flush toilets and urinals.

 

Carbon-neutral partners: Twenty-five partners of the Olympic Games have joined forces to help make the Games carbon-neutral.  Corporate sponsors, governments and broadcasters have all volunteered to offset some of their own carbon emissions related to the Games by investing in a portfolio of clean energy technology projects.  Coca-Cola will also be going completely green for the games, aiming to have a net-zero carbon footprint and net-zero waste at the Games.

 

Olympic medals made from electronic scraps:  The medals that the Olympic champions will proudly wear around their necks will be made of precious metals reclaimed from old electronics.  Gold, silver, and bronze have been extracted from electronics that would otherwise end up in landfills to make the coveted medals.  It would take more than 17 tons of gold ore to net the same amount of gold reclaimed from the circuit boards of a single junk PC.

Dispatches from Factoryland… Number 3

 

Our heads of Retail and Manufacturing operations hopped a flight from China to Taiwan this week, so they could spend some quality time visiting tool factories and analyzing product samples—critical steps before we launch a number of inventive new items. We’ve already heard from these guys with their recent observations in mainland China and Hong Kong, but here are some new tidbits from the island nation of Taiwan, again courtesy of our own Tom Krysiak:

• Most of the manufacturing companies in Taiwan operate sister companies in mainland China. The Taiwan branches usually do all the heavy engineering work and quality benchmarking, because they have a much higher level of expertise in these areas. Meanwhile actual production is usually handled on mainland China, given the lower assembly costs.

• To make sure you’re comfortable with the operations, you’d be wise to visit all locations that will touch your invention.

• Even when everything looks like it’s tracking nicely, be ready to address new issues. We had a last-minute challenge with one of our new product’s assembly screws, and the team had to roll up its sleeves and make adjustments in order to meet our high quality standards.

• We Americans think we’re great fans of baseball, but the Taiwanese people may have us beat: Taiwan’s $500-bill (worth about US $20) actually has a picture of its national baseball team on it.