Ganjapreneurs ~ America's Marijuana Revolution

DerSpiegel's Anne Seith writes about America's Marijuana Revolution: Ganjapreneurs Hit the Jackpot...

"Financial investors are also starting to raise money to enter the giant market at the earliest stage possible. Analysts say there is a potential market for cannabis that could reach $110 billion (€81 billion), four times the revenues generated each year by the cigarette industry. Comparisons are being made to the Dot.Com era, to the 19th century gold rush and even to the end of prohibition in the 1930s, which saw massive growth in the alcohol industry. And everyone is trying to get into the game -- idealists as well as tough-as-nails business realists, charlatans, geniuses and nut jobs."

See also Pot Paradise photogallery;-)

Kadogo Economy ~ CNN & NTV on Small Goods

Small is beautiful: Slum traders spark big business trend reports CNN's Lillian Leposo, on the retail goods transformation in Kenya, the rest of Africa, and emerging economies generally...

"A common factor in these goods is that they are sold in small packages, weighing from 45 grams to just four grams, and costing from as little as half a cent. Though now all her goods are sold in branded packaging, [shopkeeper Anna] Wanjiru has been selling the same items in similar small portions for decades to the low-income market. "My customers are poor and were locked out of the supermarkets where everyday things were packaged in large quantities, making them unaffordable," said Wanjiru. "So I decided to buy the big packs and then resell in small portions to my customers." The ingenuity of Wanjiru and other shopkeepers who serve people in low-income areas gave rise to Kenya's "Kadogo economy," which loosely means low-unit economy. Progressively, big consumer goods companies noticed the profits and decided to cash in as well by repackaging their products."

And here's a Kenyan NTV report on the Kadogo economy...

Wearables Imaging ~ Panos, FotoCAD, Translate

Cool consumer imaging apps include Occipital's 360 Panorama... And Viztu's Hypr3D fotoCAD... QuestVisual's Word Lens translator... All especially relevant for use on wearable HUD "smartshades" systems of tomorrow! Plus check out Amy-Mae Elliott 2009 list of 10 Amazing Augmented Reality iPhone Apps on Mashable (thanks to Alper Celen for pointer). These are just scratching the surface when it comes to AR in the eyeglasses!

Printennas ~ Cheap Wireless Energy Scavengers

Thanks to Vitor Pamplona for spotting Rebecca Boyle's PopSci article on New Printable Antenna Can Harvest Ambient Energy To Power Small Electronics w/ photos by Gary Meek...

"A new ultra-wideband antenna printed on paper or plastic can harvest ambient energy, enabling wireless sensors to tap into electromagnetic currents in the air around them. The device captures energy from a wide spectrum of frequencies, converts it to direct current, and stores it in capacitors or batteries. Researchers at Georgia Tech scavenged sufficient microwatts to power a temperature sensor, using the ambient energy produced by a television station signal that was a third of a mile away. More powerful systems that tap into multiple wireless bands could generate one milliwatt or more -- enough to power small wireless sensors and microprocessors. Researchers hope that when it’s combined with advanced capacitor technology, the device could provide up to 50 milliwatts. [Here] Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Manos Tentzeris displays an inkjet-printed rectifying antenna used to convert microwave energy to DC power. This grid was printed on flexible Kapton material and is expected to operate with frequencies as high as 10 gigahertz when complete..."

Transparent Displays ~ Everyday Surfaces Alive!

Thanks to Gregg Favalora for spotting the coolest thing at SID -- transparent displays! As gfav says...

"On a fridge door. With beer inside. Look, yeah, it looks like a commercial, but c'mon. This is awesome!"

easyGroup ~ Al J's Riz Khan Interviews Stelios

I admire both the easyGroup business concept and founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou's serial entrepreneur ethos. See here his One-on-One interview with Al Jazeera's Riz Khan... And here's Part 2.

MEMS Accelerometers ~ Surprising Market Shifts

Nice little info nugget from iSuppli that Nintendo Surpasses Samsung as Top Consumer and Wireless MEMS Buyer...

"Although Nintendo had been the No.-2 buyer of MEMS in consumer electronics during 2007 and 2008, the company in 2009 increased its purchase of gyroscopes -- a MEMS sensor for measuring or maintaining orientation -- for use in the Wii Motion Plus plug-in" [...] Dropping to second place after a two-year run at the top was Samsung. "From 2005 to 2007, Digital Light Processing (DLP) chips for rear-projection televisions accounted for most of Samsung’s MEMS consumption," Bouchaud said. "However, with Samsung exiting the DLP market, its overall consumption of MEMS in 2009 declined [...] Nonetheless, Samsung remains a high-volume purchaser of BAW filters for duplexers and quintplexers, and the company was also the top buyer of MEMS microphones last year."

United Villages ~ Amir Hasson in Dev't Ventures!

It was very cool to have MIT Sloan alumnus Amir Hasson return to our MIT Development Ventures class where he shared his experiences after co-founding our live-case company, United Villages, which empowers...

"...rural people by providing and delivering products, services, and information. United Villages leverages existing wireless and transportation infrastructures to cost-effectively reach rural markets that are otherwise underserved. United Villages, Inc. is based in Cambridge, MA (USA) and operates a subsidiary in India. United Villages India is headquartered in New Delhi and currently operates networks in rural Rajasthan and Orissa."

The prime business is digitizing via mobile phones the rural supply chain -- getting consumer goods more efficiently from urban hubs into small-scale rural village retailers. This is done via a local entrepreneur who serves as efficient middleman and relying upon the established bus transportation network to carry the goods between hub and middleman. The middleman is responsible for shifting from bus stop to retailers, and the retailers, in turn, sell to end-customers! This is a fantastic and fast-growing business!

iRobot Looj ~ "Less Chores, More Life!"

Brad Feld suggested his MIT fraternity brother Colin Angle's business -- iRobot -- to the Daily Grommet -- specifically their Looj gutter router! Great motto: "Less Chores, More Life!"

Prefab ~ Kirsner on Factory-Built Housing...

Great to see Innovation Economist Scott Kirsner spotlighting urban innovations, specifically the power of prefab housing in today's piece on This new house...

Dyson Air Multiplier ~ From Sucking to Blowing!

Dyson does it again, now instead of sucking, he blows!

Sourcemap ~ Unshackle Your Supply Chains!

Very cool to see my Media Lab colleagues ramping up Sourcemap, an open info system helping consumers grok their supply chains -- i.e. knowing the root source of your stuff. This helps people be informed purchasers of product by replacing opacity with transparency and letting clarity rein in complexity. You might, for example, chose to live a more sustainable lifestyle as a consequence...

Adi Dassler ~ German Original Sportsman!

Vuzix Wrap 920AV ~ First Aesthetic Info-Glasses

Wow, Vuzix is the one company that has finally made an aesthetically attractive pair of info-glasses: the Wrap 920AV wearable PC / video display...

Pico-Projectors ~ Ultra-Portable Display Modules

As I noted back in March, here are several compelling pico-projection technologies in the manufacturing ramp-up process, including this MicroVision solution... And this 3M solution... See 3M promo video...

Pimp My T ~ Hacker Mods of Ford's Model T!

A month ago, I mentioned Lindsay Brooke's NYTimes piece about the Centennial of the Model T entitled Mr. Ford's T: Mobility With Versatility, spotlighting the hundreds of add-on and specialization kits reinforcing the value of the Model T core-platform. This reminded me of mobile phones as the platform of today. And some people still think the whole Pimp My Ride movement is novel!-) Steve Lohr wrote more recently in NYTimes Ideas & Trends that A Souped-Up Model T May Have Been the First Mash-Up about the role of user innovation, since people who use the product have the best info and motive to mod it for the better. Definitely checkout the online photo slideshow of Model T variations, including these delighters... This outlook is more relevant than ever, and sure enough, several MIT students in my Developmental Entrepreneurship seminar re-invented these same core ideas by proposing turning motor scooters into power generators via an add-on and using bicycles to power laundry washers. This mod theme is certainly alive and well in the D-Labs and International Development Design Summit at MIT!

Dissecting the Livescribe!

MIT's Technology Review magazine has a nice take-apart dissection of the Livescribe...

...a computerized pen that records as you write and digitally syncs the audio recording to the notes. Write or draw on specially patterned paper; then tap the pen on a word or sketch, and it will play back what was being said when you made those marks. The pen can also solve equations and define or translate words.

Visualizing Future User Experiences

IDEO produced several futurist videos for Intel imagining how users might experience computers and consumer electronics of tomorrow...

Earbud Improvements!

Wired spotlights Truly Wire-Free Earbuds... Popular Science spotlights the Ultimate Ears UE 11 Pro earphones which have four embedded speakers -- yes, also a subwoofer...

Wiimote Projects from Johnny Lee @ CMU

Great example of what the Nintendo Wii will soon enable in the realm of consumer virtual reality. Johnny Lee of CMU shows how simple hardware plus clever code turns everyday display into a VR display with depth! Great video about his Wiimote...