Electric InstrumentsEarly History Claims about electric instruments date back to 1730 when texts describe a Czech musician who “generated sound by electromagnetic excitation of piano strings.” These claims are either false or the entire history of electricity of incorrect. Until Volta’s Voltaic Pile battery, in 1800, there was no method to produce an ongoing current. Electrical … Continue reading "Electric Instruments"
Flushing Toilets / Indoor PlumbingShortly before reaching their third birthday, children learn to use the toilet. Except for Indian children whose parents somehow potty train them as infants, a trick that’d transform the west though remains a total digression towards indoor plumbing. Life was changed for the better when indoor plumbing was invented. Getting back to the toddlers of … Continue reading "Flushing Toilets / Indoor Plumbing"
Instant MessagingSending instant messages by computer is fun and convenient. Moreover, text chatting is asynchronous, unlike voice or video. Accordingly, people need not communicate in real-time. Surprisingly, text messaging became extremely popular. The earliest instant messaging system designed for that purpose was “Talkomatic” and “term-talk” for the PLATO system. College students David Wooley and Doug Brown … Continue reading "Instant Messaging"
Ethernet NetworkingEthernet is a computer networking protocol. Before Ethernet, computers were connected using a hodgepodge of various systems, a digital Tower of Babel. Background Bob Metcalfe invented Ethernet at Xerox PARC. However, Xerox failed to commercialize the technology. Metcalfe left and worked on his own Digital (see minicomputers) and Intel to set Ethernet as a networking … Continue reading "Ethernet Networking"
Blue Ocean Strategy Substack: Examples, Explainers, Cases, & ThoughtsHere is a list in reverse chronological order of the articles in our substack blog, Blue Ocean Thinking. It’s filled with explainers, cases, thoughts, articles, and the occasion recipe related to blue ocean strategy. Screenwriting & Startups: SimilaritiesTwo Fields Separated At Birth Financial Bubbles BlowInnovate Something Read Blue Ocean Example: Pastrami for ElvisA Noncustomer Example … Continue reading "Blue Ocean Strategy Substack: Examples, Explainers, Cases, & Thoughts"
Computer Assisted Design (Sketchpad)“The cinema camera doesn’t make movies; it allows movies to be made. It’s the creative people who make it real to people.” Ivan Sutherland Computer Assisted Design (CAD) uses mathematics to do the geometry and calculations necessary to draw and design. CAD is faster and more accurate than hand drawing. Sutherland’s “sketchpad” software, part of … Continue reading "Computer Assisted Design (Sketchpad)"
AirshipSporting both bodacious name, mustache, and title of nobility, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin forever changed air travel. Zeppelin wasn’t the first to try making hot air balloons more maneuverable. That honor belonged to Frenchman Henri Giffard. Basically, a big cigar-shaped balloon, Giffard’s airship was the first aircraft that enabled navigation. In 1882, with declining health, … Continue reading "Airship"
Index Investment Funds“Don’t look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack!” Index investment funds are simpler and vastly less expensive than individual stock picking. Firms mimic index funds which, themselves, are created to mimic market strength. Not only do 85 percent of hedge fund managers trail returns in the S&P 500 but also they … Continue reading "Index Investment Funds"
Nuclear Aircraft CarrierNuclear aircraft carriers are enormous ships capable of traveling the world indefinitely. Indeed, the ships feature relatively large flight-decks capable of launching and landing fixed-wing aircraft, typically fighters. At 1,123 ft. (342 m.) the USS Enterprise is an enormous ship. In contrast, only oil supertankers are larger. The Enterprise supported 4,600 service members. First launched … Continue reading "Nuclear Aircraft Carrier"
Cash RegisterCash registers help deter theft and led to modern bookkeeping. Ritty was a saloon owner who had problems with employee theft. He invented and patented the cash register, calling it the “Incorruptible Cashier” and created a company to sell it. There was little interest and he tired of simultaneously running two businesses, one manufacturing and … Continue reading "Cash Register"
Peer-To-Peer File Sharing (Napster)File sharing allows one computer to connect anonymously with others, sending and receiving files. Most files were single-track MP3s of copyright music. Background The original theory was that because mixtapes were legal then noncommercial “sharing” of any music was legal. The legality of mixtapes, a collection of songs from other tapes, stems from a US … Continue reading "Peer-To-Peer File Sharing (Napster)"
Superstore, v2 (Walmart)In 1962, the median lifespan of a US man was 67 years old. Arkansas, with 1.79 million residents, had the 33rd lowest GDP in the United States, $3.8 billion. That year, Sam Walton, at age 44, opened a new type of store in his hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas, naming it Walmart. Walton’s strategy was to … Continue reading "Superstore, v2 (Walmart)"
Digital Video Recorder (DVR)Digital Video Recorders (DVR’s) record digitally, to disk or flash memory, rather than analog recording to tape. This allows end-users to quickly fast-forward, rewind, and jump to a section of a recording rather than slowly searching. Tivo and ReplayTV both launched DVR’s at the 1999 Consumer Electronics Show. As they did with videotapes, broadcasters and … Continue reading "Digital Video Recorder (DVR)"
Nuclear WeaponsCaltech professor Robert Oppenheimer lead a team of researchers at Los Alamos to invent the atomic bomb. Along with some of the most noteworthy physicists in the world, he oversaw the development of the nuclear bomb. The Manhattan Project, like the code-breaking at Bletchley Park, was intensely secretive. Los Alamos, in New Mexico, was built … Continue reading "Nuclear Weapons"
Hybrid CornGenetic modification by people have produced virtually all plants and animals in the western world. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, and brussels sprouts are all derived from a wild mustard plant in Europe. None of these vegetables exist but-for early genetic engineering. Similarly, all dogs, cows, pigs, sheep, and chickens are modern man-made creations. Scientists … Continue reading "Hybrid Corn"