July 1963…
New boat can either fly or sail. Towed by a powerboat, this craft takes to the air under its flex-wing sail.
On its own with the wing tilted to catch the breeze, it sails like a catamaran. A plane type stick controls the wing in flight; rudder pedals steer the boat on the water.
Flight Dynamics, Raleigh, N.C., designed it with two skis mounted on an aluminum-pipe frame.
May 2020
Go on a nature walk with your children – collecting leaves, pine cones, twigs, etc.
When you return home, create some artwork using water paints and the items collected.
By Liz (UK)
You can purchase a highly rated water paint set from Amazon. (affiliate link)
Well, my ex-boyfriend was too much of an $@£@$# for me so one day I went to his car and put an apple in his car so that it wouldn’t start so he had to stay where he was for over 5 hours.
by Nonjabulo
(USA)
Sometimes taking a break and listening to music and having a solo dance party helps me.
by Marla Padilla
(Hesperia, California )
Want to listen to endless music then why not try Amazon Prime music! (affiliate link).
December 1963…
How do they take those movies of skiers winding down the slopes? Professional photographer Red Allin does it this way. He attaches his camera to his helmet (for a total weight of 18 pounds) and takes his pictures while skiing with his subjects.
He is shown at Mount Snow, Vt., while shooting a ski-safety film for Aetna Life Affiliates of Hartford, Connecticut.
In modern times you would probably use a Go Pro such as this one sold on Amazon (affiliate link).
I once got even with someone by posting his name and phone number on a gay dating website.
The message said, “call anytime and give a graphic description of what you would like to do to me”.
He got so many offers and explicit messages on his voicemail that he finally had to have his phone number changed!
July 1963…
Mirror helps level level.
You could make an ordinary bubble level do a transit’s work by clipping on this recently patented side mirror.
To establish a true horizontal line at a distance, you’d watch the bubble’s reflection while sighting along the top of the level, adjusting to center the bubble.
With the mirror folded in, you’d use the level as usual.
Back in April 1963, this midget scooter was built for transportation, fun or a combination of the two.
It was able to squeeze 125 miles from a gallon of gas and can speed along at 35 miles per hour while doing it.
Known as the Wren it had a 38-inch wheelbase, weighed 62 pounds, and used to cost $100. The clutch fitted to the scooter was an automatic centrifugal one and it used to be manufactured by Bird Engineering in Omaha.
More companies are outsourcing innovation which is in part due to global markets, geographically dispersed subject matter experts, and a faster emergence of disruptive technologies.
Companies may also choose to outsource in an effort to lower their research and design costs or when they are trying to tap into a market that they have little knowledge or experience. Sometimes they may outsource simply because the project does not fit strategically with their core competencies or to avoid internal bureaucracy and politics or because they have limited resources.
Done well outsourcing innovation has the potential to reduce risks, reduce cycle times, and lower innovation costs.
Research by Linder, Jarvenpaa, and Davenport in their 2003 paper “Toward an innovation sourcing strategy” highlights that 45 percent of innovations originate from external sources and this figure is nearer the 90 percent mark for service-based industries.
SUCCESS DRIVERS FOR OUTSOURCING INNOVATION
- Building a high degree of trust and strong communication channels with your innovation partner. Meet and communicate regularly and build trust by doing what you said you would do.
- Ensuring that your partner has the appropriate knowledge, competencies, and resources to complete the project. Check for evidence of competence by analyzing your partner’s efforts on previous projects.
- Ensuring that you as the purchaser of the innovation have enough related knowledge. Outsourcing a project in which you have no related knowledge is highly risky.
- Having the problem clearly defined. This is a success driver for most projects but needs to be mentioned as it is essential for an outsourced innovation project in which the uncertainties are much greater. Define the problem, define the business case, and define your success metrics, goals, or targets. To reduce the likelihood of disagreements further down the road define these in a legal drafted statement-of-work and master service agreement documents. Meet with your partner to discuss and ensure an understanding of the statement of work prior to signing.
- Define the key stakeholders of the project and enable communication channels to these stakeholders on a regular basis.
- Employ an experienced project manager to manage the project. The project manager can report back in monthly or weekly meetings on progress related to defined milestones.
- Involve your customers: Reach out to them for ideas, requirements, and expectations. However, be aware that they can be a source of risk for radical innovations.
Service innovation can be a significant aspect of a business’s strategy.
We all know how important good service is. Good service leads to happy customers and “word of mouth” based referrals. Bad service gives the exact opposite, an unhappy customer and one who is ready to inform as many people as possible of the bad service received.
DEFINITION
Service innovations are defined as new services offered by organizations to meet an external user or market need. Three types have been identified.
- Total innovations: These provide new services to new users
- Existing services: Provided to a new user group and therefore expanding the reach of the service
- Evolutionary innovations: Delivering a new service to an existing set of users
EXAMPLES
Examples of businesses that have based much of their core strategy on an innovative service model include:
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES
Started in Texas on March 15, 1967, by Rollin King and Herb Kelleher, WestJet transformed the airline service model by offering cheap fares, frequent service, and fun for its customers. It was originally developed to compete with on-ground bus and automobile services. Its innovative service led to SouthWest being one of the most profitable airlines in the United States. Many other airlines copied their innovative ideas towards service, including Ryanair and EasyJet in Europe and WestJet in Canada.
DELL COMPUTERS
Dell revolutionized the service delivery model of computers by cutting out the middleman and selling its custom made personal computers directly to the end customer. Later they also made innovative changes to their supply chain management which ultimately led to them being one of the most successful computer manufacturers in the world.
REFERENCES
Katz R (2009) The Innovators Toolkit – 10 Practical Strategies to Help You Develop and Implement Innovation, Boston, Harvard Business School Publishing
Walker, Richard M (2008) An Empirical Evaluation of Innovation Types and Organizational and Environmental Characteristics: Towards a Configuration Framework, Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory, Vol. 18 Issue 4, p591-615