Information systems innovation

Archive for the ‘Innovation example’ Category

Mercedes-Benz has released Active Night View Assist Plus in cars which is meant to detect pedestrians on the road ahead by highlighting them on the display in the car using infra-red light projectors.  Once a pedestrian is detected, a spotlight is shown on them, meant to warn the driver and pedestrian.  A person can be detected from 262 feet away and has been proven to help alert people of oncoming traffic.  The spotlight is not a distraction to other drivers according to this article.

I would consider this an incremental sustaining innovation in car/headlight safety.  There are many preventative measures added to cars to prevent accidents and death; this is one of them.  According to the article, this innovation is one of many being done to headlights in cars.  Since more pedestrians are killed at night than during the day, this seems to be a great innovation that will help alert drivers of people on the road, giving them time to decrease their speed and avoid the person.  I would like to see this in all makes of cars and not just Mercedes.  I am unsure as to whether this Active Night View comes standard in the cars or if it costs more to have put in.

Thoughts?

http://www.gizmag.com/mercedes-benz-active-night-view-assist-plus-spotlight/17224/

The Phone market is gradually taking over the rest of the hand held device market. This new and upcoming phone, Star, produced by LG offers many new and exciting features that many phones today do not yet have. The specifications include a 4-inch screen (bigger than the Iphone 4), front facing 8 megapixel camera (for video chatting), rear facing 8 megapixel camera (for catching everything else), an HDMI output (for playing HD video on your television or other devices) and a processor (Tegra 2) on a phone that apparently outclasses all other available phones at the moment:

All in all this is clearly a sustaining innovation aimed at customers who are already in the smart phone market, however, with its dual 8 megapixel cameras and HDMI output, they’re aiming this product at undershot customers who would also be interested in using this phone for taking HD quality pictures and even HD video. This product could begin to cut other products’ (videocameras + regular cameras) business. This is an interesting trend because we could eventually see phones overtaking the hand held product market (smart phones, cameras, game consoles).

Lemme know what you think fa sho, also, yeah this phone won’t be out for a while so don’t get excited, yet.

http://www.androidcentral.com/lg-star-dual-core-tegra-2-smartphone-gets-hands-treatment-gsm-israel

http://androidcommunity.com/new-lg-star-pictures-and-details-leaked-20101129/

Eletric Tinting

My article is about Smart Glass. Its a fairly new technology being used in homes, cars, airplanes, and by the military.  Scientist have developed a way to combine normal glass with liquid crystals. When the crystals are touched by low levels of electricity they realign causing a difference in the amount of light being let in or out of an area. This technology have a lot of real world applications in regards to security and energy conservation.

This is a Sustaining Innovation aimed at Undershot customers because of the price. You can have the technology applied at your home or car for a significant sum of money. Currently the technology is standard  in the Maybach which cost $345,000.

This article described a discovery may by Dr. Yen-Hsun Su at the Research Center for Applied Science in Taiwan.  Through his research Dr. Yen-Hsun Su found that when gold nanoparticles were implanted into Bacopa Caroliniana plants and when the plants were exposed to high wavelength ultraviolet light, the gold nanoparticles  produced a blue-violet fluorescence that triggered a red emission of the surrounding chlorophyll.  The immediate goal of the research is to use trees as a replacement to standard LED street lights.  Also the use of bio-LEDs is hoped to replace many other applications of traditional LED light sources as well.

The new bio-LED process that Dr. Yen-Hsun Su is said to have discovered will save energy and absorb CO2 as the bio-LED luminescence will cause the chloroplast in plant leaves to conduct photosynthesis.  Also it will be safer then traditional LED light sources because it will not use phosphor powder which is highly toxic.

Overall this new technology would be a sustaining innovation because it improves upon traditional LED lighting by making it safer and more cost effective.  Also it could be considered a radical rather then incremental change based on how many industries it has the potential to effect.

http://www.gizmag.com/glowing-trees-using-gold-nanoparticles/16917/

I read an article on Philly.com regarding Comcast’s new Internet TV service. The article goes over how Comcast is offering it’s Xfinity TV service to Comcast cable customers. I think that with the success of  Hulu, and online television as a whole the Cable Giant is trying to break out into a new-market. This service is also aimed at existing customers.

Chttp://www.philly.com/philly/business/homepage/20101025_Comcast_offers_TV_online_to_its_TV_subscribers.html

The half-inch chip can be implanted into the human body to identify individuals in medical treatments. The chip gives a detailed medical history that could prove to be a life saver that could increase survival rates. PositiveID Corp. from Florida is the inventor of such a chip. Some people in Mexico City, Mexico; Barcelona, Spain; and Rotterdam, the Netherlands have started using this chip.  

Before implementation, the chip is coded with the individual’s personal information, including the allergies and prior treatments. Once scanned in a doctor’s office, the information would appear and provide the physician with the information needed for efficient and successful treatment.

Even though there are some controversies whether or not to implant a chip into the human body due to privacy reasons, this chip actually has some benefits. Some individuals have already agreed to the chip being implanted into their bodies in order to identify them as employed by some particular organizations. These organizations are usually high sensitive such as FBI, CIA, Airport and national border security etc. These chips also have the capacity of opening doors atomically and logging into computer networks once identity is confirmed.

I am considering this particular chip as an up-market sustaining innovation because this particular half-inch chip is an improvement of RFID that was innovated quite some time ago. This new chip also focuses undershot customers. These customers want some new ways to track their health information.

http://www.positiveidcorp.com/index.html

The Chinese organization Shenzhen Huashi Future Car-Parking Equipment has developed an idea that could pave the way for the future of public transportation. Since traffic and road congestion are developing into big problems in both China and the United States, this innovation will definitely be a sustaining up-market innovation. Essentially, the idea is to have these new buses/trolleys travel via rails on the divisions between lanes, somewhat similar to the trolley system here in Philadelphia. However, the seating areas will be above the road and above the cars, eliminating traffic caused by public transportation. Cars will still be able to drive underneath this new mode of transportation without a problem, as long as they practice safe driving and stay in their lanes. This innovation targets the already existing market of consumers who use public transportation, and probably applies most to undershot customers. They are the ones who want faster public transportation, less traffic, and will be willing to pay higher costs for guaranteed arrival and departure times. As an added benefit, public transportation companies will not lose money, since they will still be able to operate during the new mode of transportation’s construction time period. As long as the Chinese company can find the proper funding and companies to back their idea, we could see a new wave of public transportation that will free up the roads in the very near future.

Check out these talks!

If you don’t have time to watch the whole thing, start watching at 14:45, at around 15:30 he discusses disruptive innovation (drag the bar at the bottom to skip forward).

Watch 10:25 to about 11:15 to see the video of his disruptive innovation in action (it’s pretty amazing).

Here Engineer RA Mashelkar shares three stories of ultra-low-cost design from India that use bottom-up rethinking, and some clever engineering, to bring expensive products (cars, prosthetics) into the realm of the possible for everyone.

If you have never visited Ted.com before, take some time to check it out, high informative and concise presentations on a variety of pertinent issues affecting our world.