GPS Technology to end car crashes
Wired magazine features an innovative use of new GPS technology that I thought could be the harbinger of all kinds of opportunities. The system is called “StarChase Pursuit Management System” and it works like this: When a police officer is chasing a suspect’s car, they can launch a laser-sighted homing device with a GPS tracking transmitter from a sort of cannon. The transmitter attaches itself to the fleeing vehicle, and then starts to send real-time location information back to headquarters over a cellular network. The police then automatically know where the car is, and don’t have to engage in those dangerous high speed chases.
The system is being tested now, and the LAPD are going to be adopting it in 2008, they hope.
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How one industry was nearly undermind by its own success - Cycling
Imagine, if you will, that your industry received global attention for many years, had a popular and charismatic heroic character for people to look up to, and sparked waves of interest and enthusiasm among all observers. Wouldn’t you think that would be a wonderful thing?
Turns out, not so for U. S. based manufacturers of bicycles. The industry has been in flat growth or in slow decline mode for decades, but was enjoying a false sense of security after Lance Armstrong’s incredible 7-string winning streak in the Tour de France. Then, interest in the Tour and in performance biking led to sales for high-end, sportsmanlike bikes to spike upward. But who got left behind? The 161 million of us who don’t ride, don’t look good in Spandex and wouldn’t know how to operate a performance bike if someone handed us one. Designer Shimano’s response (working with design firm Ideo) was to develop the Coasting line of bicycles. They’re built for comfort, not for speed, with automatic shifting instead of gears that have to be changed, a comfy seat and easy to maneuver brakes and so on. We’ll see how they are received in the market, but it certainly has the potential to revive biking “for the rest of us…”
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- Posted Rita McGrath on October 08, 2007
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Opportunity Idea: A financial product that would help those crippled by credit card debt
People that owe a lot of money on credit card balances would just love to have a lower-interest loan that would help them get that monkey off their backs. WIth some people getting hit by interest rates as high as 30% or more, surely there is a profitable space for conventional financial institutions to help them. Now, of course, some people are just addicted to credit. But there are a lot who just had a negative event, or who were stupid at some point, who could use a fresh start.
There must be some way of addressing this growing problem.
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