Spin-Off Businesses

Some products create unique industries all on their own. When Thomas Edison invented the phonograph/gramaphone, he created a list of 10 uses for his invention, which consisted mainly of business applications and recording books for the blind. Interestingly, playing music didn't register on his top ten, yet playing music spawned the massive music industry that we know today. 

Other spin off business occur all the time, such as an on-the-go mobile phone charging station found in a Manila convenience store. It seems the kind of product that is almost too-obvious for Nokia and the likes to invent. 

The Black market is Blue

Hello from Manila,

Visited a resort near a volcanic lake on the weekend, and the resort had about 12 of the above birds... beautiful macaws from South America. The cheapest you can buy one of these in the us is $12000, AUD $24 000. Considering the resort had 12, the origins of the creatures is quite dubious, however the owners insisted they were bred locally. 

Which leads me to this question:

Even if the original stock was black market purchased and smuggled, are the descendants still black market? Is it ethical to buy from what essentially has become a local breeding program?

Absolutely gorgeous birds...

Fish Tank Energy Meter

A design from 2007 for an in-house energy meter. The aquarium hangs from the roof and changes colour with your monthly energy use.

Two modern mad scientists

Associations de Scientifiques Fous, the Associations of Mad Scientists. Two extraordinairy collections of inventors:

La Machine 

www.lamachine.fr

Creators of wonders such as giant mechanical spiders, elephants and giraffes, La Machine is a collection of artists, engineers and technicians who are notable for their ambition in creating mechanical spectacles.

Prototype This

The result of MIT graduates getting a Discovery Channel sized budget to create anything they wish.. such as body covering airbags so that anyone can survive a ten storey fall, or this giant waterfall simulator.

DeWalt PowerVac

2008 - A Vacuum Cleaner concept using the DeWalt rechargeable battery. This project was about enhancing the brand of DeWalt - i.e. strong, tough, over the top, powerful. Box Packaging done in the DeWalt style

Design Work 1

Since design work prevents me from blogging as regularly as I would like, I thought I would start putting up some of the work thats kept me so busy. Here's one from 2007, an exercise in Photoshop Rendering for a SunBeam Hair Dryer:

Dogs and Canon

Independent Candidate for Strathfield Daniel Lim grabs attention with his references to modern culture. Strathfield Station, Sydney, August 2008.

Canon Literature is that which stands the test of time and becomes universal - essentially they shape the way you view the world. The typical examples of canon are of course Shakespeare, and at times Hemmingway and Austin. But how long does a media need to exist before it can enter canon - think of how the Simpsons shaped a generation, or certain internet videos like the "star wars kid" or the "you kick my dog".

Fame and Fortune

On Fame

In the age of the internet, nothing needs to be remembered. Any formula, fact, address, or phone number is just a search engine away, and people expect the information instantly. This has spilled into other areas of life - a 2 minute late train is a disaster, McDonalds burgers that aren't cooked before you enter the store is a hassle. What chance does my generation have of every wanting to be come farmers when it takes ten years for fruit trees to flower?!

This concept of Life Instantaneity exists in other places - for example the perception of success. The advent of certain reality tv shows, such as Big Brother or Idol has ingrained a perception that success, fame, and instantaneity is intertwined. Fame and success in the modern perception comes from being picked to star on a show - working hard doesn't enter the equation, and would merely direct energies away from becoming the instant pop star.

Too often this idea of instant success (and concurrently, instant awareness of failure) would prevent people from really working hard to achieve their dreams - the presence of a barrier makes the possibility seem insurmountable, regardless of the nature of the barrier. Randy Pausch reflected on this in his "Last Lecture", given a few months before he died (18/9/2007 at Carnegie Mellon University)

"The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They're there to stop the other people"

On Fortune

The concept of passive income enters many a discussion and seminar on business and entrepreneurship. The idea is creating an asset - not a negative geared or even cashflow neutral asset such as a house may be - but an asset that actively creates wealth for you. An example might be a royalty on a patent, or a business product that sells consistently with little marketing input or product updating. Or of course, the real killer, money lent by banks generating endless income.

We use money every day but rarely think of its origins - the notes and paper money (plastic in Australia) we take for granted aren't actually more than plastic and paper, but are symbolic of a "promise". In its original incarnation, money was a promise for goods - wheat, for example, in Ancient Egyptian systems, or gold in Classical Time Europe. A promise and a debt are basically the same thing - the guarantee of returning something of value. The promise of repayment plus interest is age old, but its perception today is very different.

"One thing to realise about our fractional reserve banking system is that, like  a child's game of musical chairs, as long as the music is playing, there are no losers.

- Andrew Gause, Monetary Historian

Nearly every religion at some stage saw lending money for interest, or usury, as immoral. It was condemned to make money off ones money without contributing to society. However today it happens all the time - think Maquarie Bank, Hedge Funds, Aussie Home Loans - all businesses that make money of money. Today the perception is that there is risk in lending money so interest is justified, but in doing so, what have bankers really done to contribute to society? They can amass huge amounts of wealth without building a single bridge, education or healing a single person, or improving anyone's life. It may be acceptable, but is it still Moral?

So the big philosophical question for my entrepreneurial years is this: is it moral to develop a passive income and create wealth without further work?

For now, my answer is: Only if a passive income allows you to contribute to society, environment etc . The business model of core business being separate from income (think Google - free email and searching doesn't generate income, but it's advertising does) is established, so perhaps it is reasonable for a persons income to be separate from their core activities. For me, the dream is a passive income so that the rest of life can be dedicated to family, friends and development. 

What do you think? I would love your comments.

Reuse

 The above is a stand at airport departure and arrival lounges - free newspapers! Upon disembarking from the plane is the same stand, but with a bin marked "please recycle your newspapers". Why not place it back on the stand for someone else to read?

My generation had 3 R's hammered into us from a young age - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. When is it ok to reuse, or not ok so recycling is preferred? A hire car is just fine when someone else has used it, even a washed plate in a restaurant, or a book from the library - is a newspaper such a precious thing that it must be opened new everytime?

It is interesting to note that according to William McDonough in "Cradle to Cradle" recycling is not an eternal cycle - paper fibres deteriorate with each reincarnation until you are left with a useless powder - not recycling, but downcycling. That newspaper will never again be a newspaper, let alone high quality office paper, but will become cardboard box, then toilet paper, then nothing.

Hack

The origin of the word "hack" is German, meaning a person who makes furniture with an axe, implying a lack of finesse in the final product. Today the most hacking people might do is changing the wallpaper on their iphone, 5 years ago it may have been buying a new cover for your nokia. At what point is it acceptable to actively engage in change of a product or design? Few designs ever account for fundamental changes the way the original PC's of the 80's did - these days you are expected to replace or upgrade rather than modify what you already have. There are some exceptions, and often these become real drivers of innovation.

Consider Artist HD41117, and his adaption of mobile phone cameras (above)

Photos taken by the phone at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hd41117/sets/72157594578302055

Or the classic Wii Hack, creating with $10 dollars of hardware what computer companies claim is prohibitively expensive in RnD.

www.ted.com/index/talks/johnny_lee_demos_wii_remote_hacks.html

Psychology and Learning

Turns out there are two types of people in this world: Those who think talent is a constant and decided at birth, and those who think talent is created. Carol Dweck in her book "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" terms it "Fixed" and "Growth" mindsets, suggesting that Fixed mindset people are concerned about making their existing abilities look good and Growth mindset people look to cultivate their existing abilities. Of course this, like all things in psychology, is not an absolute, and fixed mindset people are not doomed to be unsuccessful, nor are people necessarily in one mindset their entire life. It does however relate to how you might react in a given situation. Myself for example was in a fixed mindset in high school maths - preferring to develop elaborate methods of smuggling formulae into tests rather than actually learning something new. It is however possible to acknowledge and then flip a mindset entirely! For parents and educators, this would suggest praising children for effort and improvement rather than talent and intelligence. Perhaps the "most improved" awards at school were the best after all?

Pastafarianism

A debate rages in US school boards about the teaching of creationism in the science classroom. Unlike Australia, there is no scope for teaching of religion in the normal school system, and so a network of Christians, with the funding and support of the Discovery Institute, have launched a progressive battle to have Creation taught as an alternative science. Of course, religion is not a science (it offers no falsifiable arguments, only absolute "truths"), and so instead the Discovery Institute launched a campaign based on "Intelligent Design Theory" which uses scientific arguments to prove that something 'higher' must have created life. Arguments mainly affect Evolution, a well documented process, such as reductionism (for which a typical argument is "what good is half an eye - a lens without a retina is useless and vice versa, how could they both have spontaneously arisen?"). However, the courts have systematically proven each one of Intelligent Design Theory's proofs to be invalid (such as the innumerable examples of proto-eyes, as can be found in everything from jellyfish to insects). 

Note for the religious: Evolution is an extremely well documented process, showing what is happening and has been happening for millions of years. Evolution, as a process, does not in any way discuss the origin of the process, and as such does not rule out any theory about gods, creators, or spontaneous chemical reactions. Evolution is not an attack on religion, but is often framed that way. Please don't take evolution personally!

The latest assault has been to defend individuals teacher's academic fre

edom to teach what they like - including non-science in the science classroom. By framing Intelligent Design Theory's ban as censorship, the lobby is once again gaining momentum. However, consider that if Intelligent Design Theory can be taug

ht in science, why not astrology? Scientology? Or my favorite, Pastafarianism?

Pastafarianism

Pastafarianism is a response to Intelligent Design Theory and is a mock-religious movement insisting that their creation also be taught in the science classroom. Pastafarians believe that the world was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster, a belief supported by a well documented sighting of his Holy Noodlyness in the galaxy NGC 1275 (see below).

 

Accidental Design

Bicycles can do amazing things for entrepreneurs and the inventive.

No matter how careful a designer is to make their work intuitive, simple to use or idiot proof, they are no match for human ingenuity and adaptiveness.

Namesake Genius

Adam Grosser has created an electricity free refrigeration device. Heated over a fire to evaporate ammonia, it then provides Intermitent Absorption refrigeration has the ammonia recondenses internally. The fifth prototype, shown here, can be manufactured for as little as $25, with half an hour of heating over a fire providing 24 hours of refrigeration.

All it needs is a method for maintenance and repair, and it is a great example of appropriate technology

Genesis

There is creation in destruction...











In Memory of HP Lovecraft
Mike Nelson (2008)









Show Room
Los Carpinteros (2008)


...and the occasional flood.










Normally, Proceeding and Unrestricted Without Title
Gelitin (2008)