Hands Free, Bag Carrying Umbrella

I was walking from the parking lot today in the rain carrying many packages as well as holding an umbrella.

I either need an umbrella that frees up my hands for carrying OR one step further frees up my hands and allows me to attach/hang bags with handles to it.

I know there are a few hands-free umbrellas out there, but none that I found that also carries bags.

What do you think? I'll expect some ideas at the next lab :)

Innovators Rise to the Haiti Occasion

Here are two cases of innovators donating their wonderful inventions to the people of Haiti!

If you know of more cases, please comment on this blog entry or e-mail me at tmccaffrey@juno.com.

Solar Suitcase

This suitcase-sized solar device stores enough energy to operate lights and surgical equipment. Given unreliable power sources, patients in surgery are in danger of dying because the electricity goes out unpredictably--if there is any electricity to begin with.

This is just one of the uses for the Solar Suitcase.

http://www.wecaresolar.com/news

Shelter-in-a-Box

A ten-person tent, blankets, and cooking utensils--all in a box!

That's thinking "inside the box!" :)

http://www.shelterbox.org/

Here is a CNN video about their impact on Haiti.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2010/01/29/cnnheroes.henderson.salute.cnn?hpt=T1

how to move the Stonehenge rocks by hand!

Check out this problem solver's solution to how to move extremely heavy stones by hand!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK1Rzch89Dw

Separating Recyclables

You run a recycling center. Your trucks bring in the recyclable items all mixed together: plastics, cans, and glass jars.

How can you easily separate them by some automated process?

At the end of the process, the plastics should be together, the cans should be together, and the glass jars should be together.

Please try this puzzle on your own before googling current solutions. You might come up with something better.

Drying Tennis Shoes?

I got caught in a bizarre downpour yesterday and my tennis shoes got soaked.

How can I dry them in a dryer without them banging around?

Drying them with a full load of towels (or something) helps, but there are more creative ways. How can you do it?

Reinventing the Shopping Cart

Because the shopping cart is so familiar to us, when we try to reinvent it there are so many ways that we can fall into mental ruts and functional fixedness (i.e., the tendency to consider an object only through the lens of its designed use--and so be oblivious to other possibilities).

Watch this group from IDEO counteract these negative forces that inhibit creativity.

(part 1: 7 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUazVjvsMHs&feature=related

(part 2: 7 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_civr9fr4iw&feature=related

(part 3: 7 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zddv5Bv7da8&feature=related

Aha! Productions Mission Statement

Here is a draft of a mission statement for a new company that I'm designing called Aha! Productions.

The human mind is the source of all innovation; and unfortunately, often its worst enemy. Those who understand how to get the human mind “unstuck” when it is solving problems will have a distinct advantage in any race to innovate. Aha! Productions first uses behavioral and neuroimaging experiments to test the effectiveness of our innovation-enhancing techniques; then communicates our scientifically demonstrated techniques and insights in media products such as television shows, board games, video games, books, and educational materials. Our first three products are the following: Aha! Guess the Invention (TV show), What Box!? Thinking Outside the Box by Dissolving It (a book for a general audience), and Mad Scientist (a board game for ages 8 and up).