Book Description
The Mom Inventors Handbook. gives practical step-by- step advice for putting inspiration into action. The book takes inventors from idea development to marketing and sales covering everything from market research to prototype development, manufacturing and licensing and debunks some common myths. It simplifies the invention process; even providing stories from real mom inventors sharing their 'aha' moments and lessons learned.
Customer Reviews:
Step by step guide to creating and taking a product to market.......2007-07-27
Tamara works her way though all the steps for bringing a product to market. As the title would suggest her target audience is female but as a male I also found that it was very informative. She presents examples from her own work as well as that of others helping to show how varied and simple products really can be.
Get This Book.......2007-07-23
If you are an inventor or have thoughts about inventing a new product, do yourself a favor and BUY THIS BOOK. I created a product and recently launched my Web site to sell my invention, OnTray, on. This book was my road map throughout the whole process.
Laura Hamrick
Tremendous aid for understanding how to turn your new product idea into a successful business.......2006-06-10
I launched a new product line several years ago - learning a lot along the way. I am getting ready to launch a new line of products and decided to read this book. It was a tremendous resource! So many of the answers that I had to dig for and learn the hard (and expensive) way - are contained here in one easy to read book. I highly endorse it. It is also very motivational (as you read the stories of other people) that decided to take action and turn their idea into a successful business. Well worth the price. Very well written.
Informative and inspiring.......2006-03-12
Mom inventors wanting more info on what's involved in bringing a product to market will want to read this book. The book offers practical advice on researching your market, creating your product prototype, protecting your idea, manufacturing your product, and bringing your product to market.
What I like best about the book is that it features case studies and practical advice from real-life mom inventors.
There are also lots of helpful website links and other helpful resources at the back of the book -- very helpful for mom inventors who wish to do some additional research.
This is a terrific and inspiring book that will be very helpful to mom inventors at any stage of bringing an invention to market -- conception right through delivery.
Amazing, Informational & A Must Have.......2005-11-18
This book does it all for anyone wanting to create/invent a product that they hope to bring to market. Tamara shares in a very easy-to-read format her experiences, her expertise and saves the rest of us lots of time, energy and money. Her mistakes made along the way combined with her successes that continue to grow provide the reader with a wealth of knowledge about researching, developing, patenting, protecting, marketing (and more!) an idea/invention.
Pair this with the CD sets created by her dynamic and resourceful company mominventors.com, and you will walk away with knowledge you could not even get in business school! I wish I had read this three years ago when I first started my product line development. Thanks Tamara for sharing so freely and so generously to save the rest of us time and money!!!
Beth Butler
Creator of the BOCA BETH Program
Book Description
In this funny, poignant debut, a plus-size heroine becomes a reality TV show contestant and discovers she's already beautiful enough to be the next big thing.
Kat Larson figured she had nothing to lose by becoming a contestant on the new reality show From Fat to Fabulous-except maybe a few dozen pounds. Then she'd finally be able to arrange a face-to-face meeting with Nick, the British hunk she met online, who still thinks she's a size four. She'd finally be confident and graceful and thin-and there's that big cash prize, too, to pay for all those slinky new clothes she'd need. She'd finally have the perfect life.
Customer Reviews:
Fun!.......2007-08-28
After reading a book that just gave me a headache I needed something to pick my spirits up and this book did. It was fun, light, and enjoyable.
Reality TV Meets Weight Loss Woes.......2007-08-16
What do you do when your online British boyfriend sends you a size 4 Gucci dress and you tell him it fits perfectly, even though you're a size 18? Such is the dilemma of the main heroine of this tale of reality TV meets weight loss woes.
Author Johanna Edwards places her main character, Kat, in the reality TV milieu (in a show named "From Fat to Fabulous") and lets the fun begin. There are all the problems facing an overweight woman combined with questions of loyalty and love all in the glare of the camera. In an age of reality TV shows like "Fat March" and "Biggest Loser," indeed the plot seems more than plausible.
This book is not great literature, but for those chick lit readers with a few pounds to lose, this story is sure to keep you entertained, while addressing the glare of societal disapproval on the less-than-perfect sized woman. The ending reminds us, too, that even being the perfect size does not come complete with a perfect life. Those who've read and enjoyed books by Jennifer Weiner ("In Her Shoes," "Good in Bed") will no doubt find much to like in Edwards's novel.
Cute!!.......2007-07-05
I liked this book alot. It was a cute story and quick reading. Didn't get bored one bit, I recommend!
From Fat to Famous.......2007-06-08
Kat works at an ad agency and at over 200 pounds has always wanted to be thin, especially after starting a "relationship" with Nate from England. Then her friend tells her about a new reality show called The Next Big Thing were fat people try to loose weight and gain money-with whoever gets the most money winning.
Kat gets picked for the show and gets to be friends with some of the other contestants-but things are not all they she thought they would be-especially when she gets a suprise visit during a live show.
What happens? Read The Next Best Thing
Light Entertainment *Spoilers*.......2007-03-23
3.5 stars. This is my first book by Ms. Edwards and I wasn't disappointed. The heroine of this novel was sort of middle of the road for me. Being a natural cynic myself from Memphis, I did contect some with the character, but grew increasing frustrated by Kat's naivety, especially as far as her relationship or rather lack of a relationship with Nick. The book does suffers with a sagging middle. Reading about all the little competition games were hard for me to plow through. I thought the author cheated the reader by not digging a little further on character developement on her secondary characters. For example if you're bringing up Regan has to dance with the Laker girls-then why was the reader not allowed to go and experience that with Regan? Why didn't we experience Janelle having to take her clothes off in front of a room of art students? We were just told some things in passing and hence it felt like fluff for fluff sake. What was the point in showing me her starting a book-if this never comes into play for the rest of the novel? The book didn't pick back up until Kat's surprise showed up. I can see why that would make for good tv-but then the show totally went in a different direction that didn't make a lick of sense. Then the big finale was just glossed over like it was truly no real big deal. Still it's a decent read-I love the Lane Bryant Dance segement.
Customer Reviews:
History proved this guy wrong.......2004-02-12
I wish I could give this book less than one star. The author obviously hates Steve Jobs and chose to include accounts only by others that hated Steve Jobs and convince a publisher that could be the basis for a book.
But... history has proven that Randall Stross' assessment couldn't have been more wrong. He paints Jobs as incompetent and lucky and that time is proving him the failure-loser that he really is. I wonder if Stross is working on a sequel. The book was released in 1993. I found it especially interesting that he delighted in a story of Steve Jobs negotiating with a NeXT customer who tried to paint Jobs as a failure by virtue of his ownership of Pixar where the customer's husband had worked. Jobs had bought Pixar from George Lucas, headed it in a new direction and look where it is now--could there be a more successful company.
Stoss continually points out the inevitability that NeXT will crash and burn, but again history proves that Stross is probably the world's worst prophet. NeXT was purchased by Apple for around $300 million and Jobs return to run Apple has turned the company from issuing bonds to stay afloat to a thriving, innovative company with almost $5 Billion in the bank--this is failure?
The list of contrived reasons to hate Jobs and prove his failures is the entire basis for the book. It's not interesting when one concludes that it's all made up. I surmise that this guy (Stross) didn't have a grasp on anything related to the story--one can only conclude that this is pure fiction and very poor fiction at that.
Possibly one of the most annoying books I've ever read.......2002-10-30
For a book that claims to be a history, sort of, this has to be the least accurate and most biased history in, well, history. By the end of practically every page I found some point which was bugging me, from being arguable at best, to downright wrong, to obviously omitting important facts at worst.
For instance, Stross spends an entire chapter devoted to a glowing review of Sun Microsystems. This is arguably in order to have some sort of contrast with NeXT. No small part of the chapter is devoted to a description of the new low-cost SparcStation, which he describes in order to provide a counterexample to Job's overpriced machines. He re-iterates this point on several other occasions thoughout the book.
Missing fact #1: the SparcStation cost MORE than the NeXTcube. This vitally important point is not mentioned even once.
Want another example? He continually talks about how NeXT was non-standard and thus doomed, whereas Sun's standards-based machines were much better off that NeXT, or even other non-standard machines like the Apollo. It's so OBVIOUS that you have to be standards based, it's not even worth talking about! I mean duh, who would question that?!
Missing fact #2: all three were originally based on the same hardware (680x0 CPUs) and similar software (Unix versions). If anything it was Sun that went "non-standard" when they switched their CPU and OS.
The whole book is like this. I don't mean in a small way, I mean it in the largest possible way. I disagreed with almost every point he made, whether it be the "realities" of the computer market as he saw it, or practically any technical detail he attempted to describe. Stross seemed to be incapable of understanding any issue, no matter how large, small, technical or non-technical. It left me gasping.
Ignore the technical innaccuracies though, because they appear to be a side-story to the book's "real point". The "real point" seems to be that Jobs is incompetant at everything, egotistical, and mean. The book is filled with little anecdotes and Steve doing this (something stupid) or that (something mean), painting a very nasty picture of a man Stross implies has only a single quality: being in the right place at the right time.
Hey, he might be right, but I'll never know. I was so turned off by the continual negative vibe of this book that after a few chapters in I basically didn't trust a word he said. This isn't a history, or even a "cautionary tale". It's character assasination.
So Long Ross, and thanks for the millions.......2002-05-15
It could be that this author, who has written some very readable and penetrating stuff about Microsoft, ran into a problem when writing about Jobs. Jobs comes across as so negative, confused, and just plain destructive that Stross's book leaves a bad taste in your mouth. But this is still a very worthwhile book, and contains some good lessons, which Ross Perot learned were very expensive lessons:
1. Don't invest in someone just because they're cool, or at least cooler than you. Alpha-Nerd Perot sees a TV special on Steve Jobs, and exclaims how Jobs is "Mr. Excitement" or some such superlative. He promptly plunks down huge money to invest in the "Next" computer, which is portrayed as revolutionary hardware. But no one really knows up front what they're investing in. So what, it makes Ross feel like he can transform some of that hard-scrabble, uptight crew-cutness of his into hip, long hair, do-drugs California investing.
2. Watch the press releases. The big bomb that's hidden in a press release discloses that Next has dropped it's hardware business, and will now be developing innovative software. Which bombed. So Ross went in investing in one thing, and came out investing in something else.
3. Cool people scream a lot when things get uncool. The rest of the book is the typical tantrum about Jobs acting hard-to-manage.
A little dose of reality.......1998-05-04
Stross' sources are impeccable, which isn't all that surprising since he's a historian. Despite the fact that he was prevented from interviewing Steve Jobs, and presumably a number of other higher ups in the NeXT management, the book doesn't really suffer from the absence. Stross appears to have gone through each and every document related to NeXT's finances to compile a staggering testament to the various untruths NeXT, as a corporate entity, appears to have told its customers, the media and everybody else willing to listen. At the same time, it's a scathing critique of Steve Job's attitude, he can only be described as an enfant terrible. Stross goes to great lengths to illustrate his judgement of Jobs as a mean-spirited, perhaps "greatly insane", person with numerous anecdotes.
None of this should come as a surprise to anyone who has read about Steve Jobs. We all know he's notorious for pushing people to their limits, the stories of people leaving Jobs' projects in a state of physical and mental fatigue are well known. What comes as a surprise is Jobs' capacity for deceitfullness and disloyalty and his utter disregard for the people working for and with him. Stross marvelously brings out Jobs' ego in all its filthy manifestations. The book is really an intriguing history of Steve Jobs at NeXT, complete with the gory financial details, the stories about mismanagement, Jobs' fetish for perfection in little things he latched on, the hype around NeXT and the failure. Still, the book lacks a sense of the things NeXT let its customer accomplish, from developing the Web (Tim Berners-Lee) and creating Quake, to WebObjects and cryptography (NSA and CIA).
That said, it is probably a good idea to read this book along with, or after reading Steven Levy's Insanely Great. Insanely Great is a more balanced book, Stross at times seems to detest Jobs passionately (which is certainly not surprising), Levy presents a much more considerate view of Jobs. Of course this has to be balanced ! with the fact that Levy is writing about the successful Macintosh project, and Stross is writing about the comparative failure that was NeXT.
What Stross' book could do with is a little more knowledge of NeXT's products (especially the later slabs and cubes) and some sense of the palpable advances NeXT made. There was technology in the NeXT that was not fully realized (Optical media and the DSP for instance), but this was true of the Macintosh as well (who had heard of 3.5" disks). We cannot dismiss NeXT simply on the grounds of the technology being new, untested, and expensive. As a NeXT user, it seems to me that Stross greatly underestimated the conceptual leaps made by NeXT, in designing Interface Builder and tying the software to Object Oriented Programming (OOP), using Display Postscript, the Installer application, the NetInfo server, successfully creating a multi user machine which a single Unix novice user could operate and run. I know people who have owned NeXTs for years and have never used the Unix command prompt.
Stross praises Sun for its strategy of pushing the speed envelope, and parceling out manufacturing, but SunOS and Solaris still have to attain the elegance of NeXT, and there were certainly far fewer software based advances at Sun than at NeXT. Stross has a reasonably firm grasp on the technology, there are no glaring problems with his analysis of some of the more complex pieces of NeXTStep and the NeXT computers, but at times one notices him stepping gingerly around something that is very involved, which is as it should be because the book isn't really about NeXT or technology, it's about Steve Jobs. Still, one wishes Stross would give more credit to NeXT's technology, after all NeXTStep continues to be miles ahead of all other Unix based operating systems in terms of a Desktop/Development platform. One big mistake is Stross' claim that NeXTStep is "closed", that NeXTs were not meant to work with other computers in a networked environment. This really cann! ot be substantiated.
After reading the book, one cringes at the thought of what melodramas Jobs is currently creating at Apple, and one hopes the port of NeXTStep to the PowerPC (Rhapsody) will not be bogged down with the sort of problems that NeXT had. The future for Apple/NeXT seems bright, though there's a lot of catching up to do before Apple can seriously challenge WinTel again. True, the PowerPC architecture is way ahead of Intel, and NeXTStep is far further along the development path than NT, but it's still frightening when one sees Jobs closing the doors to hardware competitors again. One hopes Jobs has learned from his mistakes and that Apple will concentrate on software development (Rhapsody can become a serious challenge to Windows 95/98 if priced appropriately). There's hope for Apple yet, NeXTStep/OpenStep is a great Operating System, it's certainly much better at internetworking than anything Microsoft has to offer (after all the Web was created on a NeXT). All the same, Jobs can still make or break Apple.
Book Description
The time has come, argues Dr. Wess Stafford, for a major paradigm shift: Children are too important and too intensely loved by God to be left behind or left to chance. Children belong to all of us and we are compelled to intervene on their behalf. We must invest in children–all across the world.
There are strategic, persuasive reasons–beyond love and kindness–to invest in children. Today they may snuggle into your lap, if you let them. But tomorrow you may not have access to them in the corridors of power they might occupy. Now is the time to shape the future.
Dr. Stafford issues an urgent call for change. His adventures as a boy raised in a West African village provide an often-humorous and always-captivating backdrop to his profound and inspiring challenges. Wess lived the reality of “it takes a village to raise a child” and calls us to “be that loving village for children everywhere.”
This book will encourage you to turn your good, loving intentions into strategic actions and empower you to help change the world–and the future–forever: one child at a time.
Customer Reviews:
Inspirational Eye Opener - rethink children's role in our priveledged society.......2007-09-03
This book is a wonderful eye opener that guides the reader through a journey of experiences on so many levels. A MUST READ for any and everyone who cares about the future of our society, our world - which is our children. It raises many questions that need our attention BOTH WORLD WIDE AND IN OUR PRIVELEDGED COUNTRY OF THE USA. As a Mother, the book speaks to my heart and covers so many topics I have thought about and struggled with as I am challenged to raise connected loving children in this priveledged distracted media intensive society.
Please read it and change the world one child at a time starting with the children you know. It can be done and the author explains how.
Then buy a copy for everyone you love.
A Must Read!.......2007-08-01
Every human being NEEDS to read this book! Children are our future and should be most important! A wonderful book and one that I will be passing on!
What Can I Say.......2006-12-13
What can I say that hasn't been said here in other reviews? A timely, riveting piece of writing. Highly, highly recommended.
Rick Evans Chaplain Childhelp Of Ohio
Too Small to Ignore.......2006-11-10
Informative, well written, and disturbing regarding the abuse that the author and other children suffer in terms of their caretakers. At the same time uplifting in terms of the author being able to overcome the effects of his childhood abuse.
An eye opener.......2006-11-05
Dr. Stafford forces us to think about the plight and condition of children outside the industrialized world. And after he makes the case for our consideration he gives us practical ways to help. If you care about the Third World and the countless masses of the next generation growing up there, this is a must read.
Book Description
By conducting an in-depth review of the great toys from ancient times to the present, youth- marketing expert Gene Del Vecchio reveals the six core qualities that help toys achieve blockbuster status:
the toy's unique satisfaction of children's emotional needs
the toy's acceptance among parents and unique fulfillment of their needs
the toy's perfect alignment with significant historical events or social trends
the toy's ability to reinvent itself
the toy's employment of inspiring, playful marketing
and, sometimes, the toy's serendipitous rendezvous with powerful, random events
The Blockbuster Toy! How to Invent the Next BIG Thing also sheds light on the definition of what it means to be a toy in today's world. From traditional toys, to foods, to multi-player on-line games, to the importance of story and Hollywood studio alliances, Del Vecchio casts a broad net and explains, in ways that marketers can learn from and interested readers will find amazingly insightful, how playthings become pop culture.
Readers will learn here the essence of a blockbuster toy and the various recent approaches used by Crayola, Disney, and other companies in choosing their products. Six chapters discuss blockbuster marketing strategies, all designed to help toy-industry professionals ignite the smiles that can make their careers.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent.......2004-11-07
As an up-and-coming successful toy inventor, I thought this book was excellent. I have read a few others, but I found that this one inspired the most ideas. Del Vecchio's matrixes are a great tool for idea generation (or the checking of your ideas). Buy it and read it.
MUST READ FOR PLAYMAKERS.......2003-12-27
Gene Del Vecchio's new book, The Blockbuster Toy-How to Invent the Next Big Thing, provides penetrating insights and well- honed experiences. His awareness helps to clarify the puzzle of creating a successful product from many complex dimensions.
The book is well written. It provides the vantage point of history, popularity, culture and values to show "playmakers" what works, what does not, and why.This book is a must read, providing valuable guidance for every "playmaker" and everyone in the business-from inventors to manufacturers and sellers.
You will be able to compare the experiences you have had with the products discussed that can be measured against his sensible and practical guidance.Perhaps more "playmakers" will ponder the fact that many successful toys were created not for fame and fortune, but instead for the love and laughter of children-basic values that have been superseded by avaricious investors and the eager quest for the "hot toy." The many concrete examples present classic icons that surpass time and trends and remain perennially, "Evergreen." There is a lot of value in understanding the essential components that make for success and to use his principles for careful study.
Who knows what will become the next "Furby" or "Teddy." Meanwhile read this book to get inspiration,knowledge and the map and compass before you venture forth.
Review of THE BLOCKBUSTER TOY.......2003-12-06
GENE DEL VECCIO'S BOOK ON THE BLOCKBUSTER TOY IS EASY TO READ, HOLDS INTEREST, AND SUPPLIES A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE, AS WELL AS A CONCEPTUAL PERSPECTIVE, OF TOYS PROBABLY NOT FOUND ANYWHERE ELSE. IT SHOULD BE OF INTEREST TO ANY MANUFACTURER OR MARKETER OF PRODUCTS FOR KIDS (NOT JUST TOYS), AND OTHER MARKETING PRACTITIONERS, FOR THAT MATTER.
Customer Reviews:
Relentless loneliness .......2006-04-14
This is essentially a story of one person, whose world we see from inside. Julius Herz a seventy- three year old book- dealer tells the story of his life as he tries to understand 'what the next big thing 'in it may be. Of course one possibility for an elderly person is that the one 'big thing' will be what Henry James called ' the distinguished thing' . i.e. death.
Although this would seem to make the dramatic center of the work the question of what will happen 'next' in Herz's life after he has been divorced, and after he has been made a generous gift by his landlord Ostovski. But in fact the tone and pace of the work does not really work towards 'dramatic suspense'. The work is a reflective one, one in which a largely solitary consciousness reflects upon his life- relations. There is in these reflections and in the whole being of Herz a sense of non- desparate loneliness, of a sadness at life not really having been siezed or made. As Herz contemplates his life from old- age it almost appears as if ' old- age' has dominated his life from the beginning.
Brookner is as always perceptive and intelligent- and the pleasure of reading her is the pleasure of keen psychological insight.
Yet the overall tone, the sadness, the inherent loneliness of the book made it for me , a quite cheerless reading experience.
The expectancies of old age.......2005-02-14
Mrs Brookner portrays the character of Julius Herz, a 73 year old Jewish gentleman whose parents were exiles to London from Germany shortly before the end of the Second World War. His father - and later Julius himself - used to work in a shop in Edgware Road belonging to one ebullient Ostrovski. Julius's brother Freddy showed an early talent for the violin so his parents were intent on making a prodigal performer out of him at all cost and despite the fact that that he was "sick before and after every performance" since the audience always attended his recitals as "a phenomenon, a fairground spectacle." Naturally the parents' disappointment was all the deeper when their "cherished prodigy" had to abandon his career as a violinist after a breakdown.
Now that Julius is the only remaining of what used to be a family of four, he reflects on his life as he tries to get accustomed to his new flat in Chiltern Street, all the more so since new initiatives are no longer within his reach. He feels that the routine of his empty days bring him no reward, most of his actions being eternally undertaken with a sigh. After divorcing his wife Josie Burns, Julius no longer even has the heart for solitary holidays. He likes spending his time alone, aware that in solitude nobody but himself can register his decline, unable to dislodge his melancholia and almost feeling compelled by destiny to live like a recluse. Yet he knows that a solitary way of life is the only one that suits his temperament and so the time for reflecting over his past is ample. And these recollections Julius sees as a "lifetime of repeated episodes of defeat" which he considers as the essence of his sentimental education, a permanent reminder that he wasted his life.
So for a man like Herz, is there going to be anything next but death, is there a next big thing to come? After closing the book, the reader may not know how to answer the question but perhaps this is beside the point because Mrs Brookner's achievement lies in the way she captures the anxieties due to old age, to a world becoming increasingly more alien because of its modernity and to memories of a lifetime one wishes one had spent in a different manner.
A Little Gem.......2002-09-26
I absentmindedly picked this book up from the library's new releases section and I was glad to have discovered this little gem. Anita Brookner is a fine author who conveys depth and poignancy without ever being trite or sympathetic. Ms. Brookner lets you into Hertz' lonely regretful world so completely it may change the way you view "older persons" from now. A fitting ending after so much postulating.
Book Description
nanotechnology \na-no--tek-'nä-l -je-\ n (1987): the science of manipulating material at the atomic level
Although nanotechnology deals with the very small—a nanometer is 1/80,000th the diameter of a human hair—it is going to be huge. From the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the products we manufacture to the composition of our bodies, everything is made of atoms. And if we can manipulate the atom, then that changes the rules of the game for almost every product.
Coal and diamonds, for example, are both constructed from carbon atoms. It’s merely the arrangement of the atoms that differentiates an inexpensive fuel source from a pricey engagement jewel. While the science of nanotech cannot yet transform coal into diamonds, it is advancing rapidly and will begin to radically alter the business world during the next few years—and will continue to do so for the forseeable future.
The buzz surrounding nanotech is comparable to that at the dawn of the digital revolution, which changed the face of how business operates. Unlike the Internet, however, which applied new technology to many old processes and businesses, nanotech is about creating entirely new materials, products, and systems (and therefore markets), as well as making existing products faster, stronger, and better.
You may be tempted to wait until the buzz dies down before deciding how to integrate nanotech into your business, but don’t make the mistake of thinking of it as being light-years away. Even though it may sound far-off at times, within ten years nanotech will have huge effects on many industries, including manufacturing, health care, energy, agriculture, communications, transportation, and electronics. Within a decade, nanotechnology is expected to be the basis of $1 trillion worth of products in the United States alone and will create anywhere from 800,000 to 2 million new jobs.
Nanotechnology will require you to radically re-think what your core business is, who your competitors are, what skills your workforce needs, how to train your employees, and how to think strategically about the future. Jack Uldrich and Deb Newberry explain exactly how you should prepare for nanotech’s imminent arrival. They identify today’s nanotech innovators, chronicle and project the rapid rise of nanotech developments, and show how to think strategically about the field’s opportunities and investments.
The Next Big Thing Is Really Small provides a sneak peek at the technology that will transform the next ten years, giving investors and executives a road map for using small wonders to generate big profits.
Download Description
nanotechnology \na-no - tek-'nä-l -je-\ n (1987): the science of manipulating material at the atomic level
Although nanotechnology deals with the very small -- a nanometer is 1/80,000th the diameter of a human hair -- it is going to be huge. From the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the products we manufacture to the composition of our bodies, everything is made of atoms. And if we can manipulate the atom, then that changes the rules of the game for almost every product.
Coal and diamonds, for example, are both constructed from carbon atoms. It's merely the arrangement of the atoms that differentiates an inexpensive fuel source from a pricey engagement jewel. While the science of nanotech cannot yet transform coal into diamonds, it is advancing rapidly and will begin to radically alter the business world during the next few years -- and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
The buzz surrounding nanotech is comparable to that at the dawn of the digital revolution, which changed the face of how business operates. Unlike the Internet, however, which applied new technology to many old processes and businesses, nanotech is about creating entirely new materials, products, and systems (and therefore markets), as well as making existing products faster, stronger, and better.
You may be tempted to wait until the buzz dies down before deciding how to integrate nanotech into your business, but don't make the mistake of thinking of it as being light-years away. Even though it may sound far-off at times, within ten years nanotech will have huge effects on many industries, including manufacturing, health care, energy, agriculture, communications, transportation, and electronics. Within a decade, nanotechnology is expected to be the basis of $1 trillion worth of products in the United States alone and will create anywhere from 800,000 to 2 million new jobs.
Nanotechnology will require you to radically re-think what your core business is, who your competitors are, what skills your workforce needs, how to train your employees, and how to think strategically about the future. Jack Uldrich and Deb Newberry explain exactly how you should prepare for nanotech's imminent arrival. They identify today's nanotech innovators, chronicle and project the rapid rise of nanotech developments, and show how to think strategically about the field's opportunities and investments.
The Next Big Thing Is Really Small provides a sneak peek at the technology that will transform the next ten years, giving investors and executives a road map for using small wonders to generate big profits.
Customer Reviews:
Skip it...content of zero value..........2006-08-31
...Uldrich makes big bucks on the public speaking circuit discussing nanotechnology...I suspect this book was published for no other reason than to provide some "credentials" to support the speaking engagements...his most recent books published since this one have been one about George Marshall and another about Lewis and Clark -- real cutting edge technology there!...nope, don't buy it.
A complete waste of time.......2006-01-15
This book is dripping with the worst kind of technology hype... Very few redeeming qualities... Don't waste your time/$.
Predictive until 2008, Afterwhich Infinite and Beyond.......2005-09-26
IBM in 2003, introduced millipede, a nanoscale device capable of storing one terbit of data per square inch. ZettaCore is developing nanoscale organic molecules to function as memory. HP is working to develop an Atomic Resolution Storage product that can encode one bit per atom. If successful, ARS would allow for storage of material at one hundred million times the density of the current disk technology. Applied Nanotech is introducing a nanotube display which will change flat screen display. In their first demo they demonstrated a 14 in nanotube display which will be cheaper, better, and thinner than existing technology. Nanophase technologies producing nanoparticles that are being used in vinyl floors and the floors are harder, more resistent to scratching and chipping, and maintain their gloss. Nanomuscle is producing micro sized devices that are created from nanocrytals taht can change shape whien applied with electric current. Nanomuscle has been delivering to Hasbro too be used in new toy product lines. The Navy is employing nanoparticle technology to coat turbines and engine parts increasing performance and efficiency. Likewise, the Navy has been using Nanoparticles to create corrosion resistent protection helping Navy ships reduce drag, increase speed, decrease rust, and making the surfaces harder and more resistent to barnacles and tubeworms. The application of nanoparticles has produced a 10% increase in efficiency. Nippon Corp uses Titanium dioxide nanoparticles to coat mirrors, create stain resistent automobile paints, and sterile hospital rooms. Titanium dioxide is a photocatylst when combined with light will burn off dangereous bacteria. Photocatalystically reactions can use sunlight to loosen dirt and smudges from material producing self cleaning light and appliances. Nano-Tex is creating nanomaterials that resist stains helping Lee Jeans and Eddie Bauer to market stain resistent jeans. Nanotechnology is creating nanoclay and nanocomposites for use in every day plastic. Plastic has the advantage of being flexible, moldable, and cheap. The nanocomposites are combined to produce super strong plastics and increasing their melting point and facture point. In 2004 and 2005 Nanotechnology created products that were better, smaller, cheaper, and better. Nanosphere introduced a viral detection system capable of sounding an alarm against airborn substances, such as, anthrax and smallpox with ten times faster response and 100,000 times increase in accuracy. C-Sixty is researching a nanoscopic device which when injected in the body can precisely fit in the pocket of an AIDS virus and disrupt the virus ability to reproduce. Angstrom is developing nanocrystals that can be mixed with the bodies cells to help regrow bones, a promising treatment for osteoporosis which affects 28 million Americans cost Health care $15 billion. Fuel Cell storage and separation of hydrogen will use nanotechnology. Nano particle catlyst will be used instead of graphite fibers to split the hydrogen into protons and electrons. Also, nanotechnology will be used to storage the hydrogen and reduce the rate of hydrogen escape from its container. Fuel cells offer the promise of providing electricity for transportation and power to businesses and homes.
What does the future hold? Nanobots running specific algorithms similar to biological celluar algorithms. The nanobots use raw material molecules, prode, manipulate, and assemble the molecule into a material composition. The material composition are assembled into a geometric shape. For example a mound of copper could be assembled into a door knob, for macro assembly. The end result could be a home created from molecules that nanobots assemble to build a more complex structure.
Nano technology will disrupt how medicene is delivered to patients. In the future, nanotechnology will come in the form of a patch. The patch will be applied to the skin of the patient, small nanomachines will release specific drugs into the blood of the patient, as needed. The patches will be computer assembled and disseminated.
Nano technology will be used too simulate celluar functionality. These nanobots will be used able to fix celluar damage, prevent disease, destroy cancer or defective cells, or provide barriers between host and foreign cells. For example, pig islets cells contained within a protective nanocell allow glucose into the cell, produce insulin which is small enough to pass outside the cell, and block incoming antibodies that cell the pig islet cells. Nano technology can be used to deliver chemicals to cancerous cells. The nano cell adheres to the cancer cell wall, dissolves, and releases its chemicals into the cell.
Self replicating machines called nanobots. Machines will improve material compositions, organize these materials to provide specific functionality, sequence the functionality to solve a particular problem, and perfect through connected feedback. Fabrication will increase as more effective and innovative fabrication machines are built. Plastic circuits will decrease cost and increase usability. The circuit logic will blend with the print industry meaning that logic will be more distributable. The more distributable and connected the logic, the more adaptive the machine. New software interfaces will be able to query specific circuit logic, print the circuit logic, and connect the circuit logic to the fabricated device. Gernshfield was one of the first too see this possibility as describe in F.A.B.
Super CAD (Computer Aided Design) will begin bridging the gap between Virtual Reality and reality increasing the emercisive potential of the computer to affect all the senses of the human experience. Nanotechnology will be small, smart, and connected. New software will become available allowing the machine to adapt to external complexity. Data representation languages and information networks will become more standardized allowing the machine to better understand information. New designs will allow for more the machine to create increasingly complex designs. These new designs will have a breakthrough affect changing reality. The machine will be able too analyze enormous combinations of possiblities and produces a never before known design, in robotics and material compositions. The new designs will change reality and open up more innovation and change.
A new emerging class of engineers will be heavily sought after. These engineers will have knowledge in molecular biology, computer science, material science, architectural design, mechanical processing, and robotics. There is plenty of space at the bottom as Feynman suggests.
Save your money.......2005-05-18
A customer asked me to give him a brief overview of nanotechnology. This book was not helpful. Full of hype, jargon and precious little technical information, the main focus seemed to be to convince the reader to run out and invest in nanotechnology or be hopelessly left behind. I paid $12.89 for the book on Amazon, read about half of it and took it to the used bookstore in my neighborhood. They offered me $2.00 for it and I grabbed the money, though I felt guilty for taking advantage of them.
A good book, but improvable.......2005-02-11
As a biologist and a manager currently involved in leading-edge monoclonal antibodies marketing, I'm curious about latest developments in bioscience and technology, both on scientific and business side.
Nanotechnology promises to be the next frontier to medicine, even more pervasive and specific in action than recombinant DNA technology.
As this new field develops, there is a progressively growing number of publications trying to introduce specialists and non-specialist to this new world. As in the early stages of Internet development, there is some good review and an high number of garbage.
This book relies more in the first category, giving a certain overview of current developments in different fields of industry, but it has the negative side of not being specific for any of them.
The main message is certainly optimistic, and implies the rapid and ubiquitarious development of nanotech; but the substance is that most of described products and techniques are still in the realm of would-be.
The book has some interesting points about nanomaterials development, especially about spacecraft applications (it's reflecting authors' background), but information about currently developing projects in biosciences are vague and unsatisfying.
In summary, a good book when it's considered on wide perspective, but certainly not a guide to rely on in order to spot business opportunities in nanotech field.
Product Description
Collection of 31 knitting patterns using Rowan Big Wool, Biggy Print and Chunky Print.
Book Description
What do the iPod, MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube all have in common? They're fresh, they're hot, and most importantly--they're cool. But while many companies embark on the eternal quest for the next big thing, very few know how to actually find it. Coolhunting will take you into the very heart of the search and show you how to find trendsetters, spot innovations, and turn brilliant ideas into hot new trends. Major companies like Starbucks and Procter & Gamble have already discovered the power of coolhunting. Now, you can learn how to:
* Tap into the principles of cool and identify the trends that are truly cutting-edge
* cultivate the skills and techniques of highly effective coolhunters
* pinpoint developing trends using smartbadges
An invaluable tool for businesses of all sizes, Coolhunting will show you how to stay ahead of the curve and on the cutting edge of where your customers want to be taken.
Customer Reviews:
Long winded but Great Thinking.......2007-09-02
This is a thinking book and wwhile the authors present the material well this book is long winded. I love the idea of cool farming but would have loved more example of how to do it
Looking for the next big thing? This book is for you.......2007-07-10
If you are one of those people who want to discover the next thing, this is a great resource for you. If you are wanting to understand the real power of Web 2.0 technologies, especially social networking this is a great book for you. Some of their insights are straight forward, while some are counter intuitive. E.g. A company could increase its chance of surviving the dot com bubble if they actively went out and talked to their competitors quite often. Those that did not, had much higher failure rates. When in doubt follow the swarm. Bees lead! This is a slim, but thoughtful book with significant academic research (MIT Media Lab) behind it. Most definitely a book for smart folks. I still liked it.
Businesses seeking to capitalize on 'cool' ideas will want this........2007-07-07
COOLHUNTING: CHASING DOWN THE NEXT BIG THING is a key to identifying and capitalizing on trends, and is a reference any serious business library will find contemporary and important in its topic and approach. What is cool? Businesses receives tips on identifying what is presently cool and what desires will evolve from present trends. Chapters show how to identify new ideas which will spark new trends, from identifying people responsible for such ideas to anticipating and building a business model around it. Businesses seeking to capitalize on 'cool' ideas will want this.
A 3.5 star special masquarading as something a little higher. I have trouble calling this a business book........2007-07-01
This book was a tough read. When I finished it I asked myself "Why did I read it?" And I asked myself "What did I get from it?" I know I read it thinking there would be some good insight provided into how to identify trends and trendsetters so a reasonably quick profit could be made by jumping on the bandwagon. And now that I have finished the book I know that I certainly didn't get what I was looking for.
As far as I am concerned, the book uses too much of its own terminology and has to spend too much time defining terms. And the authors cite too many names and specific instances instead of smoothing over all of that and telling a simple easily digestible story. The title of the book is "Coolhunters." And that is fine. But why was there so much coverage of "Coolfarmers" in the book. That was a sideshow, and should have been left out in my humble opinion.
Basically I learned that coolhunters are seekers of trends and trendsetters. A coolfarmer is a leader of trendsetters. Swarm creativity is creativity resulting from a collective mindset. And Collaborative Innovation Networks (COINs) are teams of trendsetters who share ideas, information, and work in order to produce swarm creativity. Then social networks are cited as an example of some COINs. But so what? I still need to have all this pulled together for me so I can recommend the book to someone interested in starting a business or make their business better. I can't do that!
This book had 10 chapters as follows:
1. Why "cool" matters
2. Swarm creativity creates cool trends
3. Swarms can better predict the future
4. About trendsetters
5. Coolhunters look for coolfarmers
6. When swarms go mad
7. Do-it-yourself coolhunting with technology
8. Coolhunting by automated social network analysis
9. Five steps to becoming a coolfarmer
10. The coming world of swarm creativity
Absoluut lezenswaardig!.......2007-07-01
Coolhunting leert met de analogie van de bijenzwerm erg veel over het herkennen en medevormgeven van nieuwe trends. Gloor & Cooper tonen het geheim achter succesvolle innovatieve netwerken die zich kenmerken door samenwerking als Netscape, de open source ontwikkelaars en de negatieve varianten ervan als ENRON en de NASA. Heel praktisch kun je zelf een coolfarmer en coolhunter worden, zo blijkt uit de ogenschijnlijk eenvoudige benodigde stappen. Toegegeven, velen van ons maken al deel uit van diverse netwerken, en die kunnen nog veel productiever.
Ik zou graag de connectie leggen tussen de productieve gemeenschap uit de boeken van Robert Quinn en de COllaborative Innovation Networks van Gloor & Cooper. Absoluut lezenswaardig!
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Books Index
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