The Incredible Tale of the Greatest Toy Man You've Never Known
He brought Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Cabbage Patch Kids to our living rooms. He made and lost fortunes. Can Al Kahn stay in the game?
inventions-innovation
How factories were made safe
The fundamental cause was a wrong attitude towards the core question: who is responsible for safety?
The Stories Behind 20 Inventions That Changed the World
From blood banks and barcodes to the Super Soaker and the pizza box, here are the fascinating stories behind inventions that changed the world.
Eternally five years away? No, batteries are improving under your nose
Under the hood, lithium-ion batteries have gotten better in the last decade.
Keep On Connecting: 5 Connectors That Changed The World - Outfunnel
Connecting things physically, mechanically or digitally can have profound effects. Here’s a list of 5 connectors that changed the world.
How to Build an Invention Machine — 6 Lessons That Powered Amazon’s Success
Former Amazon execs Colin Bryar and Bill Carr helped build the "invention machine" that enabled the company to successfully launch everything from AWS to the Kindle. Here, they share granular advice and concrete takeaways for startups looking to alter their own trajectories.
The Egghead Gap — The New Atlantis
If America wants to keep China from setting the global course of science, we need a crash program to recruit international talent.
One of those boring yet fascinating innovation articles
Physicians who also have extensive training in scientific methods, often a Ph.D., are ideally suited to learn from the unusual clinical manifestations of Covid-19, such as strokes in young adults and autoimmune Kawasaki syndrome in children. Physician-scientists, however, are…
Cracks in the Great Stagnation?
Why the Industrial Revolution didn’t happen in China - The Washington Post
What really sparked the world’s incredible revolution in wealth.
Mathematical Model Reveals the Patterns of How Innovations Arise
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The work could lead to a new approach to the study of what is possible, and how it follows from what already exists.
The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius
How Pizza Hut stopped innovating its pizza and fell behind Domino’s
Once an innovation powerhouse, with creations like Stuffed Crust and BigFoot, Pizza Hut has been forced to shift focus from food to technology.
Why did we wait so long for the bicycle?
The bicycle, as we know it today, was not invented until the late 1800s. Here are some theories about why
The Future of Television | I, Cringely
I’ll be surprised if broadcast television in the U.S. survives another decade.
The case for general excellence
In his new book, Range, David Epstein argues that although specialization has its virtues, businesses need people with wide horizons and ranges of interests in order to succeed.
Iterative Development: The Secret to Great Product Launches — MindK
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is winning the space race. His secret to success lay in the iterative development process, borrowed straight from the software industry.
Don’t Sell a Product, Sell a Whole New Way of Thinking
Customers need the right mental model to understand why they need your product.
Why Doctors Reject Tools That Make Their Jobs Easier
From the thermometer’s invention onward, physicians have feared—incorrectly—that new technology would make their jobs obsolete
Why big companies squander brilliant ideas
J F C Fuller did not invent the tank. That distinction should probably fall to E L de Mole, an Australian who approached the British war office in 1912 with a
Research: 83% of Executives Say They Encourage Curiosity. Just 52% of Emplo
Curiosity is incredibly important for organizations, yet leaders assume—mistakenly for the most part—that their employees feel empowered to be curious. They see few barriers themselves to asking questions and assume the same is true for their employees. But employees describe a…