Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)MRI allows physicians to see and diagnose soft tissue without surgery. Background MRI is one of these cases where everybody argues somebody else invented it for patent priority. However, courts and historians find that physician Raymond Damadian was first to make an MRI that scans people (prior MRI’s would scan small pieces of organic material). … Continue reading "Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)"
- Blue Ocean Strategy Basics – Buyer Experience Cycle
Put yourself in the shoes of your buyer The Buyer Experience Cycle (BEC) is a superficially short and often overlooked blue ocean exercise. In the books, tutorials, and even the tool itself, the BEC is always coupled with the Buyer Utility Map though they’re separate parts of the exercise. In short, the BEC is a … Continue reading "Blue Ocean Strategy Basics – Buyer Experience Cycle"
Shareholder Value Theory: Milton Friedman ReduxOn September 13, 1970, Milton Friedman published one of the most arguably economically destructive articles in history, “The Social Responsibility Of Business Is to Increase Its Profits,” in the New York Times. The article is available, in PDF form, for subscribers from the New York Times website. Friedman advanced the idea that managers are agents … Continue reading "Shareholder Value Theory: Milton Friedman Redux"
Modern Computer Programming LanguagesEarly computers were programmed by literally connecting wires then turning the machine on. Eventually, that evolved to assembly language; a one and zero type exercise telling the computer exactly what to do. Modern computer programming languages are more like English. Programmers write in an English-like language and a computer program turns that into the ones … Continue reading "Modern Computer Programming Languages"
NickelodeonNickelodeon’s were the original movie theaters. Many had gaudy facades but, inside, they were dark dank rooms with wooden benches to watch short movies. Movies ran on a reel and people could watch as long as they wanted, or as long as they could stand the oftentimes filthy interiors. Possibly because Nickelodeon theaters are successors … Continue reading "Nickelodeon"
Voice Over IP (VOIP)Voice Over IP (VOIP) transmits voice calls over the internet, allowing people to speak to one another. Invented in 1995, VOIP came about after countless seemingly more complex inventions including web-based video. Interestingly, the likely reason for the late invention date is incentives. Businesses believed that the internet would work well for broadcasting, displacing other … Continue reading "Voice Over IP (VOIP)"
Aspirin1899 Arthur EichengrünFelix Hoffman Aspirin is often referred to as a miracle drug. The inexpensive medicine relieves pain without addiction, reduces fever, and even helps prevent heart attack. There is some evidence Aspirin even prevents cancer. Aspirin is the distilled and purified version of medicine known since ancient times. Hippocrates, he of the Hippocratic Oath, … Continue reading "Aspirin"
Instant PhotographsLong before the digital camera Polaroid’s delivered instant photographic gratification, albeit it at a steep price. Like countless tech inventors after him, Land dropped out of Harvard. He sneaked into the labs at Columbia while developing early Polaroid light filter technology. Land’s Polaroid created polarizing light filters, especially useful as sunglasses during WWII. Eventually, he … Continue reading "Instant Photographs"
InsulinInsulin keeps diabetics alive. Banting and Best discovered insulin, winning them the Nobel Prize. Banting stole most of the credit, but historians argue they co-discovered insulin together. They won the Nobel Prize together. Banting despised Best and the two never spoke again. To continue his work, Banting received a lifetime annuity by the Canadian government. … Continue reading "Insulin"
RailroadRailroads vastly lowered the cost of moving people and goods over land. Richard Trevithick invented the locomotive engine. However, he never quite created a fully functioning railroad: Trevithick’s locomotive was a literal circus act, pulling children around a track at a circus. His core innovation was the idea of a high-pressure steam engine. Prior steam … Continue reading "Railroad"
Management ConsultingIn 1886, Arthur D. Little, of MIT, founded the first management consulting company. Despite a 2002 bankruptcy, it still exists today. Little consulting tended to focus more on technology than management or strategy. Booz started his firm in 1914, focused on management. In 1933, Bower, a Harvard lawyer and MBA, went to work for McKinsey’s … Continue reading "Management Consulting"
Water Frame Spinner / Modern FactoryRichard Arkwright’s Water Frame Spinner created factories that did not require highly skilled labor. Women and children, with no training, worked in factories that churned out low-cost good enough quality fabric at high volumes. This vastly lowered the cost of fabric. Arkwright was from a poor family: his father was a tailor. He improved on … Continue reading "Water Frame Spinner / Modern Factory"
Fighter AircraftBackground In 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright invented the airplane. Other aircraft preceded theirs, lifted aloft by lighter-than-air elements, but the wright brothers smaller and faster airplane was a new breakthrough. People could fly like birds, except faster and higher. The Wright Brothers were furiously worried about their intellectual property being stolen. In hindsight, their … Continue reading "Fighter Aircraft"
PhonographWe, the editors of innowiki, have reviewed thousands of inventions. We’ve read through countless idea, rejecting the vast majority not because they lacked merit but because they didn’t rock the world. Background Of the innovations we accept there are very few who have more than one invention. Granted, the raw number of innovations does not … Continue reading "Phonograph"
Steel ShipsWooden ships were limited in size and their hulls could be more easily penetrated than metal ships during war. Ironclad ships reduced the cost and risk of shipping by enabling larger ships that were more difficult to sink. The first known ironclad warship was The Nemesis, built for the East India Company, in 1839. Soon, … Continue reading "Steel Ships"
