The Message That a Mail Truck Delivers

Looking at the mail truck (and wagon and train), we see a metaphor for the system’s innovative history and its current problems.

Some New Spin For Vinyl Records

Rather than new technology, the recent surge in the popularity of vinyl records represents a return to the past.

Six Ways to Look at Innovation

Identifying global innovation leaders, we can look at 132 economies, at income groups, at regions, and even creative destruction.

Why You Might Not Use Bitcoin at AMC

Spending bitcoin for your AMC movie theater ticket and a bucket of popcorn will be possible this year…but will you want to?

A Lesson for Rail Transit From the Eastern Shuttle

Far behind other countries, high-speed rail transit in the U.S. just needs to copy what the Eastern Shuttle long ago did for air travel.

From Grocery Carts to Robot Armies

Looking at grocery store history, we can identify two huge innovations and ask if robot pickers are a third milestone.

When a Tap Told the Time

Undergoing structural change, the 19th century British economy had the problem of factory workers that could not afford alarm clocks.

An Innovation That Stuck

Accidentally inventing the Post-it Note, two scientists and one large corporation demonstrated where an innovation can take us.

Why Hydration Was Invented

Decades ago, before anyone started thinking about hydration, we were okay. But now, we go nowhere without our water bottles. Why? Inventing Hydration Many of us have been told to drink eight 8-ounce cups of water a day. Known as…

How a Contest Can Encourage Ingenuity

In Taiwan, for two days, people whose name was “salmon” (and five of their friends) got all-you-can-eat sushi. Offered by a sushi restaurant chain, the promotion created “salmon chaos.” Because you just needed an identity card that included “gui yu” (the…