Creative Calamities

My father once told me that it is not a good idea to purchase a car in its first model year. Granted I am talking about something substantially cheaper but I just might apply that advice here.

I’d been waiting for the Wacom Inkling to hit the shelves and already seen myself sitting in Bryant Park sketching the carousel. The product faded from my consciousness after numerous failed attempts for find them for sale after the scheduled release date. The concept . . . sketch on regular paper with a special ink filled pen and receiver, and the images are saved as vector based images to be uploaded to a computer.

The video demo by Wacom (the manufacturer) makes it look irresistible, but so far on Amazon.com there are 32 customer reviews with an average of 3 stars. A video demo by V. Hutson sealed the deal, or maybe that should be, sealed the no deal and has convinced me to wait for the next iteration. If there weren’t so many other electronic “toys” out there I might be more tempted to purchase the device which lists for $199. But I think I will wait for the model to be released.

Recently I took part in that age old conversation about the which is better, seat up or seat down in a public unisex toilet.

I being a guy was, of course voted down when I suggested that leaving the seat up was best. And I stand by that especially if a toilet seat has been soiled prior to my use in a public restroom. I make sure to leave it up so that it is clear to the person entering after me that I was not the culprit to wet the seat.

That conversation brought some interesting toilet innovations to mind that stem from Port-a-Potties I have seen. A Portable toilet will often have a tiny urinal mounted on the wall with a tube that connects to the large disposal area. That little device tends to keep some of the messiness off of the toilet seat in a public, venue so why not at home. And what I feel the best advantage would be not having to remember to put the seat down or get yelled at for leaving the occasional mess. It would also be a great water saver.

Pictured is a sketch of my idea as well as a sketch of the very simple addition of a handle to a toilet set that I recently encountered in a restaurant restroom.

Recently I had to laugh when I caught myself sounding a bit like Dana Carvey’s character, the Grumpy Old Man. Who is know for statements like, “in my day, we didn’t have hair dryers. If you wanted to dry your hair you stood outside during a hurricane . . . And we liked it!”

I recently purchased the iMovie HD app for my wife’s new iPod Touch. It cost $5. Compared to most apps that is a bit pricey. But I was stunned by some of the reviews by users on iTunes. People complained about the lack of features and the price. I couldn’t help but think how lucky we are to be able to carry such powerful technology around in our back pockets. In my day when I wanted to edit video (as recently as 1998) I paid $600 for video editing machine, and I needed a quality VCR (cheap didn’t have the right connections) and a quality video camera. You are talking about a minimum of $2,500 to edit video with limited features and equipment that takes up quite a bit of space. Now for $299 for a multipurpose iPod Touch or iPhone plus $5 for the software you can shoot video, edit it while sitting under a tree in the park, have latte at a coffee shop that offers free Wi-Fi, connect and send a video postcard back home to mom.

Yesterday in my last day of class at St. Thomas Aquinas College, I was once again pleasantly surprised by my students when I spent less than an hour demonstrating iMovie. The morning of class I shot some quick video with my point and shoot camera and gave it to them to edit during the quick demo. I was surprised by some of the unexpected things they did with the raw footage and I did a version copying my favorite edits from the class.

As part of my preparation for the art fair last month I decided to finally take the plunge and get myself an iPod Touch. I’d prefer an iPhone but I’m  not ready for a a two year contract.

So I took the plunges and I will never again will I have to explain what it is that I do and hope it is understood. If I go to a job interview and there is a problem connecting to the internet, presto! My portfolio in my pocket will always save the day.

I felt I got my every penny’s worth spent on the device for those features alone.

These days,  I feel like a kid with a new toy as I carry the thing around with me everywhere I go. When I work on the computer I often use it, when I go to bed, I might read a little of an ebook or watch a podcast before lights out. Sometimes when I can’t sleep, unbeknownst to my wife, I can be found surfing the internet under cover of duvet late into the night. In the morning I use it to check my email and listen to the morning’s NPR news report or check the New York Times headlines all before getting out of bed. My iPod Touch has replaced at least $600 worth of other devices that I own and it fits in my pocket. I have probably spent $50 on apps but they too are worth every penny, most being free or a mere 99 cents.

On my iPod Touch I track hours worked and send invoices, I keep track of expenses, study Japanese, study music and write music, I study fonts, find recipes, store maps or find restaurants to restroom locations in NYC, get movies times and reviews. All in the palm of my hand. And I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface. I won’t bother to write about how amazing the games are because I would be writing into next week.

I find AppVee a great resource for app reviews because it would take far too long to try out most apps.

The best thing about the iPod Touch for me is I doubt that I will ever grow impatient when left sitting in a doctors office long past my scheduled time, well, unless my battery dies.

After finishing a postcard sketch of a scene on the Hudson River in Irvington, I connect to a free WiFi hotspot and watch an instructional video.

On trip to Japan earlier this year I was struck with the notion about how strange it is that good inventions or designs take forever to cross the ocean, or never do at all.

15 year or so ago when I first visited Japan one of the most marvelous little things I brought back was a nail clipper fitted with little plastic guards on the sides to keep your finger nail clippings from flying all over the room. It took years before I began to find them in the U.S.

In the U.S. we have low flush toilets for those interested in saving water. In Japan most homes have a options, a big flush or a little flush. All waste is not treated equal. And on top of the toilet the water pours out of a little faucet so that the user can use the water refilling the toilet to wash their hands.

This summer I searched endlessly for a flat water bottle in New York City. The closest I could come was a flask but I didn’t want to look like I was knocking back whiskey all day. I  wanted a bottle I could drop into a small shoulder back that wouldn’t horribly deform it and could carried a decent amount of water.  While standing in a convenience store, my little nephew Yuuya, less than two years old, hands me a bottle of tea. My first response was, “hey, put that back” . . . then to my surprised I noticed the flattened shape. This was a new design and I was quite please to see that I was not alone in my design thinking.

I also brought back a little clip attached to a carabiner that holds a drink attached to a belt loop. It was not the most fashion forward design but I found it very useful when my shoulder bag became too full and I needed a bit more space.

I also brought back a bottle of lubricating eye drops. The bottle has a clear flat design as opposed to the opaque cylinder shaped bottle. The flat design doesn’t roll between your fingers and is much easier to control the flow of the eye drops. And it is also nice to clearly see how much product is left. A far superior design I think but for some reason this design is not common in the U.S.

And I had to throw in my nearly useless but oh so fun Mini Cleaner. It makes great fun of cleaning up eraser shavings with the automatic brushes attached to the little car’s wheels that sweep when you push it.

I could go on forever about the interesting and useful inventions that I have seen over-seas. And I could go on forever about the cool stuff that we have that they don’t embrace.

An assortment of things I have brought back from Japan

While out on the Old Croton Aqueduct trail I passed a man, who apparently noticed my “cool” running gear as jogged by him. We said hello and he asked me about the water belt that I wore. I explained that it was a Fuel Belt as I showed him the innovative water carrying device.

He expressed disappointment because it was an idea he was working on.

It made me think of some of the inventions that I came up with only to discover that they were already in existence. One of my favorite ideas was the communal workplace for freelancers that came to mind when a friend lamented that freelancing would be a lonely business. I did a little research only to find the idea was already taking root in our society.

A few years ago, I read Tom Kelley’s books, The Art of Innovation and  The Ten Faces of Innovation. Since then I have been hit with the invention/innovation bug. Whenever I see a possibility to improve on something or design a useful device, my mind goes into high gear.

I was struck by Kelley’s statement about failure: “We’ve got  a saying around IDEO: “Fail often to succeed sooner.” Failure is the flip side of risk taking, and if you don’t risk, odds are you won’t succeed.”   —from The Art of Innovation

Here are some of my failings.

Many long distance runners take ice baths after a long run to help speed the recovery process. I designed a device to make a “mobile ice bath.” I researched it and could not find one for humans but I did, to my surprise find a very similar device for thoroughbred race horses.

Another design is just plain silly. The triathlon sock. After making a prototype I discovered a technique on the Internet of rolling your socks turn out to be faster to use than the triathlon socks.