September 22, 2009 • 1:15 pm 0
Watching techcrunch’s video summary of Seedcamp, a conference for internet start-ups, there’s a great quote from a Hjalmar Winbladh of Rebtel that sums up the frustrations faced by innovators through the ages:
“When I tried to sell this idea, for the first four years, they said I was stupid. Then there was a very brief flash when they said I was a genius. Then everyone said it was obvious.”
Filed under: Uncategorized, innovation, startups, web
July 23, 2009 • 8:44 am 0
Working in the creative/media industries, it’s all too easy to get caught up in high tech for high tech’s sake, or digital gimmicks and talk of ‘going viral’ – encouraging bored consumers to spend a minute or two of their time interacting with your content before moving on.
So it’s great to see how innovators are using consumer technology to solve realworld problems at a simple level.
Take the team at University of California, who have built a simple add-on for a standard Nokia cellphone camera to transform it into a microscope that is powerful enough for doctors in inaccessible regions to use in diagnosing diseases such as malaria and TB.
The microscope can pick out objects just 1.2 micrometers across – smaller than red blood cells – and when coupled with a cellphone’s ability to send images across the globe, doctors in the developing world could soon find themselves within a text message of a confirmed diagnosis.
New Scientist has the full story
Sure, iPhone apps like iFart and Bubblewrap have their place, but if we’re talking about quite literally going viral, this one gets my vote.
Filed under: Uncategorized, developing world, innovation, mobile
Unscrambled 