Innovation
Methane Missile
BI-GOODNESS is a bi-monthly column dedicated to the quirky, generally funny and often dangerously impractical inventions and business concepts that occasionally come our way. It is a tribute to the one-eyed entrepreneur, the nutty professor and dotcom jockey in each of us.
Motorola’s market dilemma
Wandering through the halls of the enormous 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona in February, it was plainly evident that mobile communications is still in the very active stages of the innovation cycle. This event, which brings together most of the world’s top telecommunications technology and network companies, has come a long way from its humble beginnings last decade in the French seaside town of Cannes, when early attendances numbered in the hundreds.
Defence tech
In these pensive days, where a backpacker on a bus could pose more of a threat than a cave-dwelling Taliban, Governments and corporations are hungry for technology that will help secure their people and resources. It has fed a boom in the defence tech sector; a world of cutting-edge machinery and multi-million dollar contracts, and home to some of the world’s keenest strategic and technical minds. Several Australian companies are emerging as genuine players in this highly competitive space. Liz Heynes and Catherine Kerstjens take a look at six on this new front line.
Dot-com survivors downunder
Has it really been six years since the world’s first wave of internet entrepreneurs fell through that plump cloud they’d conjured in the sky, taking with them the turgid hopes of our fledgling new economy? It’s been six years peppered with hard luck stories, investor reluctance and, lately, cautious hope rekindled. Australian internet startups were in the thick of it back then. The survivors emerged with slightly bloodied noses and wisdom far beyond their years.
Kissing shield
BI-GOODNESS is a bi-monthly column dedicated to the quirky, generally funny and often dangerously impractical inventions and business concepts that occasionally come our way. It is a tribute to the one-eyed entrepreneur, the nutty professor and dotcom jockey in each of us. People of a certain vintage will remember the first truly shocking series of [...]
Light bulb changer: US patent 6,829,983
How many people does it take to change a light bulb? At long last, NONE! Inconveniences pepper our domestic existence. Whether it’s lifting and lowering the toilet seat, mowing the lawns, stirring coffee or the oppressive burden of maintaining personal hygiene, it’s the hum-drum of modern life that keeps us from the important stuff, like… [...]
All-terrain stroller: US patent 2,425,688
In these times of terror, you can never be too protected against the unexpected. But if your nerves are a little frayed these days, imagine how people felt in 1947, with two destructive world wars behind them and a potentially more menacing era of conflict underway. In this context, the robust inspiration behind US patent [...]
Anti-eating mouth cage
BI-GOODNESS is a bi-monthly column dedicated to the quirky, generally funny and often dangerously impractical inventions and business concepts that occasionally come our way. It is a tribute to the one-eyed entrepreneur the nutty professor and dotcom jockey in each of us. So it’s been a long festive season and you’ve grown a little soft [...]
Hijacker Injector
BI-GOODNESS is a bi-monthly column dedicated to the quirky, generally funny and often dangerously impractical inventions and business concepts that occasionally come our way. It is a tribute to the one-eyed entrepreneur, the nutty professor and dotcom jockey in each of us. HIJACKER INJECTOR It’s fair to say that aeroplane hijacking is a pursuit reserved [...]
Pumping out the IT
Software companies are not the cash cows they used to be. Most software development is done for internal use or on a bespoke basis. Developing software with no guarantee of a sale is a risky business and the risk is normally left with those that can afford failure the least. So listen up, all those [...]
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