The "real time face detector": the software which recognizes your mood!

A group of scientists from Fraunhofer Institute (Germany) is working on a software which detects the user's mood by analyzing the characteristics of the face: the nose, eyes and the face outline.

If you look stressed, the system recognizes your reactions and adapts the flow of information in your computer to optimize the understanding.

This program is attractive for marketing analysts to catch the reactions of walkers in front of posters for example. It could be a powerful tool to evaluate the impact of the advertizing on potential consumers!
If you are curious to test it on yourself, you could download the demo:
http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/EN/bf/bv/kognitiv/biom/422107.jsp
Enjoy!

Some little annoyance less at your desk

Another simple and innovative idea: the CableDrop.

It prevents you from losing your cables behind your desk, scrambling on the floor (which is not always the better side you want to show to your collegues !)

Simple, Design and Cheap (around 10$ for a set of 6)

A fun way to drink water

Simple, Cheap and not Useless
It's not everyday you find something compliant with these 3 criterias !

Here is one: the Tapi Squeeze Fountain, designed by Dreamfarm, an Australian company

It's a very simple rubber device that fits to almost any tap so that you can drink water directly from your tap.

It is Hygienacally safe, costs only 5$ and above all, FUN.

Made a 1,474-Megapixel Photo During President Obama’s Inaugural Address

A journalist shows us how precise and scary technology can be!

http://www.davidbergman.net/blog/how-i-made-a-1474-megapixel-photo-during-president-obamas-inaugural-address/

Solar Strap for Camera

What about ading a function to the strap you have to use anyway ?

This is what Yanko Design proposes by adding solar films to its Solar Camera Strap

Simple and easy

The Spray that works in any way !

One of the golden rules to come up with breakthrough innovations is to be a response to a dissatisfaction.

What about the dissatisfaction of the spray you can only use in the vertical position, of the dissatisfaction of striving to use the end of it ?!

This is a little dissatisfaction to which Michael Pritchard has an answer. It's the AnywaySpray which can be used...in any way of course.

Hot does it work ? It's thanks to a tube, which has millions of holes, and where the laws of physics work in the pump’s favour. As long as any part of the tube is in contact with the liquid, and whichever way the container is inverted, a constant spray will be maintained until the very last drop.

Here is a video of Michael presenting its Spray

Open Innovation

Open Innovation is a neologism created in 2003, which aimed at defining a new trend in innovation: it no longer has to come 100% from within, and the combination of inside and outside knowledge and resources is often beneficial.
Co-catalyst is one of the more & more numerous "Innovation brokers": as e-bay connects buyers to sellers, the innovation brokers connect a company with a need for a new technology - or at least with one identified problem, to a company working on the solution. Innovation brokers go further than e-bay: they offer consulting, licensing and monitoring services to their clients.

An interesting article was published in February 2010 on Co-catalyst blog, concerning Open Innovation anhow to make the most of it - or how not to make mistakes!

For many years innovative organisations have been trying to resolve the conundrum of how to get to bigger impact innovation more quickly and with less investment. In answer to this, the practice of Open Innovation is increasingly being adopted as the normal mode of operation for leading innovative companies. Open Innovation, applied correctly, offers the opportunity to access leading capabilities from around the world, exploiting complementary technologies and partnerships to short-cut the need for expensive internal activity and to realise innovation strategies faster. Some companies have adapted to this new way of working quickly and relatively painlessly but many organisations have had teething problems, to say the least. We have identified 10 common mistakes which can stop organisations from benefiting from the Open Innovation way of working.
1. Engaging externally without a clear innovation strategy
2. Poor definition of the requirement or need
3. Failing to get sufficient internal business or brand team engagement
4. Not having a clear, aligned internal view about how to handle IP
5. Ruling out radical or unexpected options too quickly
6. Lack of variety in Open Innovation approach
7. Not understanding the attitude as well as capabilities of potential partners
8. Not respecting the needs of potential partners
9. Looking at potential partners in isolation
10. Last but not least…failure to build trust

Go check full post on the website: http://www.cocatalyst.com/blog/index.php/2009/02/27/10-common-open-innovation-mistakes/

Some more colours in our Cities

Wasted Spaces is a street art-based organization that uses abandoned buildings and vacant properties as a playground for its artists.

Their latest undertaking is the Smile Project which involves setting up various temporary installations depicting smiling faces, such as ’smiley balloons’, in public places in the English town of Wembley.

Eat your glass

After recycling objects, here comes the edible objects !

New York-based design consultancy The Way We See The World has developed a new version of disposable cups called Jelloware. These edible cups are made of agar agar, a gelatin derived from algae and used as an ingredient in desserts, which are cast in different flavors like rosemary-beet and lemon-basil to complement the beverage inside. Once used, the Jelloware can be simply tossed onto the grass where agar agar would nurture the plants to grow, making these cups an ideal substitute for disposable plastic and paper cups.

Label Lait 100% canadien

En 2010, la campagne de communication des producteurs de lait du Canada s'accompagne d'un label "Lait 100% canadien". Ils encouragent les consommateurs a le chercher sur les packaging.
Notamment, ce label permettrait d'éclairer le consommateur sur les desserts glacés qui ne sont pas faits avec de la crème.

http://www.plaisirslaitiers.ca/le-lait-100-canadien
http://www.craimeglacee.ca/concours

Rimouski's company competions i-pad!

Since i-pad was launched, the competition on this new market is flourishing.

From Singaporean startups (http://www.01net.com/editorial/515875/un-serieux-concurrent-pour-l-ipad-la-tablette-tactile-joojoo/) to BlackBerry (http://www.ipad-apple.net/category/concurrence/), the pad is everywhere.

A small company from Rimouski, Quebec launched a pad through a partnership with Microsoft!
http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/est-quebec/2010/02/11/002-exopc.shtml
Let's keep track of their success!