tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242237432024-03-13T16:05:26.130-04:00Cranial SoupPeas, carrots, green beans, and gray matter.Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-72131163353920747092017-08-17T08:17:00.000-04:002017-08-17T08:17:50.448-04:00When an Invention Doesn't Need to Be Invented<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rjr5r0UWq4Q/WZWHc73Lh4I/AAAAAAAAGeo/8FFmLB42d10-JiMI2j7gDaTgzfKQWe2OwCLcBGAs/s1600/soccer-ball-lamp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="414" data-original-width="621" height="265" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rjr5r0UWq4Q/WZWHc73Lh4I/AAAAAAAAGeo/8FFmLB42d10-JiMI2j7gDaTgzfKQWe2OwCLcBGAs/s400/soccer-ball-lamp.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
According to this <a href="https://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/using-soccer-to-supplant-kerosene-use/" target="_blank">New York Times article</a> from January 2010, a group of Harvard students decided to tackle a problem in developing nations, replacing dangerous kerosene lamps for indoor lighting with a much safer LED alternative, powered by the energy of children that love kicking soccer balls.<br />
<br />
This eventually lead to the launch of a for-profit company (<a href="http://www.unchartedplay.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Uncharted Play</a>) to produce these soccer balls, and a <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/unchartedplay/soccket-the-energy-harnessing-soccer-ball" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Kickstarter campaign</a> to fund it.<br />
<br />
With backing by the likes of Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Ashton Kutcher and other celebrities and philanthropists, these soccer balls were placed in the hands of poor children in Puebla, Mexico, in 2013.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Were these impoverished children's lives changed for the better?</h3>
<br />
No.<br />
<br />
Investigative journalists <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2014-04-08/impoverished-kids-love-soccer-ball-powers-lamp-until-it-breaks" target="_blank">traveled to Puebla, Mexico</a> in 2014, to talk to the children that received these soccer balls, to find out how well they were holding up and if the kids still liked and used them, a year after they were distributed. What they found out was that nearly all of these soccer balls no longer worked. Many of them stopped working within a few days to a few months after the children received them, not anywhere near the 3 years that Uncharted Play said they would last.<br />
<br />
The cost of putting one of these stupid soccer balls into the hands of these impoverished children, was about $60 each. <br />
<br />
<h3>
Was there a better way accomplish the same goal?</h3>
<br />
Could these impoverished people been provided with a source of light, that would be more reliable and cost effective than these silly soccer balls?<br /><br />Yes, and it did not require inventing something new to accomplish it.<br /><br />For example, you could buy a <a href="https://www.walmart.com/ip/Whetstone-36-LED-Solar-and-Dynamo-Powered-Camping-Lantern/31427748" target="_blank">36 LED solar and dynamo powered camping lantern</a> at Walmart for $15.57. <br />
<br />
You could probably get them much cheaper if you bought them in bulk, straight from the manufacturer.<br /><br />That's more LEDs and more light than the lamp that came with the novelty soccer ball.<br /><br />And I am pretty sure that if you distributed these to the same kids that received the soccer balls, they would like the camping lanterns better, and after a year of use, there would be more kids still using their camping lanterns, than the soccer balls.<br /><br />Even better, if you had asked the families in Puebla, Mexico if they could have spent that $60 better, they would have told you that it would have cost them less than that to be hooked up to the electrical grid, which would have provided them with much more than just light, for many years to come.<br /><br />
<h3>
Think before you act.</h3>
<br />If you are going to invent something to solve a problem that has the potential to change people's lives for the better, make sure it is the best possible solution to the problem, before you begin collecting funding, manufacturing, or distributing it to those that need the solution. And make sure you involve the people that need the solution, in your research. You really can't understand their needs unless you talk to them about it, first.<br /><br />Because sometimes a better solution already exists and just needs the right people to get together and make it possible to get that solution into the hands of those that need it, rather than someone running off half cocked, to invent a brand new implementation of a useless novelty soccer ball.Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-24976566143347482082009-12-09T10:35:00.001-05:002009-12-09T10:35:33.566-05:00It started with a piece of string...<p><img style="margin: 0px 15px 0px 0px; display: inline" title="string" alt="string" align="left" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/Sx_DxLa1WfI/AAAAAAAAA6U/aGnsPMmN_18/string%5B6%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="240" height="160" /> Then evolved into a short elastic strap with a set of snaps at both ends. This was my solution to a problem. </p> <p>What problem was that? </p> <p>When my daughter was just a baby, back in the mid 80's, she kept throwing her pacifier out of the stroller and then would holler like hell, and I couldn't give it back to her to shut her up because it was now dirty. So I tied a string on it and attached it to the stroller. It didn't stop her from throwing it, but it did keep it from hitting the ground and getting dirty or lost. </p> <p>But the string didn't work well for bottles, and untying knots was a real hassle, and something that couldn't stretch restricted her from being able to drink her bottle while lying down in the stroller. A string only worked well while she was sitting up. </p> <p>Elastic and snaps...it was perfect. Other mothers saw what I had done and wanted one for their kids' bottles, too. I made a bunch and kept them in my purse, individually sealed in little zip-lock bags. They cost me less than $1.00 to make, and I sold them for $2.00 each. </p> <p>Then a good friend of mine suggested I get a patent for it and find a company to mass produce them and make mad amounts of money on royalties. </p> <p>He put me in touch with a company that supposedly specialized in helping inventors get their products patented and bringing them to market. </p> <p>Word of advice: Don't deal with these companies. They will do nothing to help you. It will cost you a lot of money and you will get nowhere. </p> <p>After paying $400 for a rather poorly written "market study report", they managed to talk me into paying another $5000 and entering into a 5 year contract with them, promising to contact manufacturers and pitching my idea to them, and if a company was interested, they would get them to pay the cost of patenting it in my name, and I would get a royalty on every single copy of my invention that they manufactured, regardless of whether they actually sold any. </p> <p>They convinced me that it was far cheaper to let them handle it, since they had offices all over the world and could set up meetings with company executives. They said my cost in air travel alone would exceed the $5000 if I tried to do it myself, nevermind hotels, paying for expensive lunches, drinks, etc. They also said they were experienced and knew what to say, so I would have a better chance of getting a deal. And they had their own contract lawyers, specializing in royalty agreements, to protect my interests. </p> <p>I fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. I took out a personal loan to cover the cost, from a financing company that turned out to be owned by them. It took me 2 years of high monthly payments to pay it off. </p> <p>And what did they actually do for me? Did they contact all the big name baby product companies like <a href="http://gerber.com" target="_blank">Gerber</a> or <a href="http://fisher-price.com" target="_blank">Fisher Price</a>? No, they contacted publishers, like the one that produces <a href="http://parents.com" target="_blank">Parents magazine</a>. </p> <p>They mailed out form letters to the editors of magazines targeted at the consumer that would be most interested in my product. They never contacted a single manufacturer. Those "inventors help" companies do this all the time, for any and every product idea that comes through their doors, no matter how good or bad the product idea is. The magazine editors are used to it and know it's all crap and toss every letter in the trash without ever opening them. </p> <p>And they tied my hands for 5 years, preventing me from doing all the work myself, otherwise I'd still have to give them a large cut of my royalties if I succeeded in finding a company willing to manufacture it, on my own. </p> <p>So I decided to wait till the contract expired. There was no way I was going to let these swindlers have another dime. </p> <p>Before my 5 year wait was up, a conversation with someone made me realize that my great little invention had no hope and would cause the death of many innocent babies that had idiots for parents. The more popular my invention was, the greater the potential for it to kill, because stupid people that don't watch their kids properly and don't follow instructions, would end up using it in cribs and playpens and leaving their children unattended for hours, or using it in car seats while they were driving and unable to pay attention, resulting in strangulation deaths. </p> <p>It was perfectly safe for use by parents that actually watched their kids and only used it in a stroller where they could watch what was going on. </p> <p>If my invention had made it to market, I would have no control over it and no way to stop stupid people from buying it and killing their children with neglect. My product would be blamed and not the neglectful parents, and if it became a popular product the <a href="http://cpsc.gov" target="_blank">CPSC</a> recall could have been huge, costing whatever company that produced it enormous amounts of money in recall costs and defending lawsuits, and ultimately, cost me a fortune, too. </p> <p>And I would have these deaths hanging on my conscience for the rest of my life. I would never get a peaceful night's sleep ever again. </p> <p>So that is why you can't buy my invention and why I never became filthy rich.</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p align="right"><em>Photo credit: </em><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/88249458@N00/3008475029" target="_blank"><em>außerirdische sind gesund</em></a></p> Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com5