The olive was hidden deep in a hunk of steak.
To extract it, Paul Lubock turned to a state-of-the-art ultrasound scanner and breast biopsy probe.
That’s not because he’s an over-the-top fan of kitchen gadgets. The olive extraction simulated a new method for breast biopsies that Lubock and his team of engineers have developed at SenoRx Inc. in Aliso Viejo.
READ MORE including:
– Innovator’s books
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WATCH VIDEO of the olive demonstration.
Second of two columns on new uses of mobile phones. Last week: an info-on-demand service for cell phones. Today: Local initiatives to bring environmental ratings, Wikipedia answers, and social networking to cell phones. Plus three more “cell-phone secrets” below.
Cell phones aren’t living up to their potential. At least not yet.
They don’t excel at much except person-to-person communications, whether that’s a phone call, a text message or e-mail.
If you pay enough money or have enough patience, you can use smart phones, PDAs and specialized cell-phone programs to keep track of your datebook, ask for directions, avoid traffic accidents, find cheap gas and more.
But because most people don’t want to spend the money or time, cell phones remain underachievers.
In contrast, the Internet is a place where people use PCs to hunt for information, download maps and directions, make friends, watch videos and shop. Unlike cell-phone networks, the Internet is easy and relatively inexpensive to use.
It’s easy to use because it operates through standardized software such as HTML and, like it or not, Microsoft’s near-monopoly operating system for PCs. In contrast, cell phones are a hodgepodge of software and hardware.
The fact that the Internet is a bargain stems back to its roots as a publicly supported government /academic initiative in the late 1960s. Cell-phone networks were built by for-profit companies, which are slow to innovate and want to get repaid for the billions they’ve put into them.
Despite those obstacles, cells phones are slowly becoming more versatile, and companies nationwide are working on ways to make them as useful as personal computers.
As a result, people with the right devices can already do some cool, free cell-phone tricks that give a sense of what’s to come. Here are a few local examples:
Three other “cell phone secrets”: These three cell-phone downloads from non-O.C. companies were recommended to me by a PR agency. They sound interesting, but I haven’t tried them out yet.
– Colin Stewart
iSkoot: (Based in Cambridge, MA) – With the click of a button, users can instantly chat with their Skype contacts, make and receive Skype calls, and use SkypeOut to inexpensively call regular phone numbers nearly anywhere in the world. iSkoot is a simple application that is downloaded to a mobile phone. iSkoot is the certified partner of Skype. Want to call a loved one overseas while shopping around town? Use iSkoot to remotely access your online Skype account using a mobile phone and stay connected while saving money. [Apparently only on BlackBerry at present.]
GPShopper: (Based in NYC) – Sprint and GPShopper announced the launch of Slifter, the first mobile local product search application that employs GPS technology to find products at neighboring retail locations. GPShopper has also partnered with PayPal to provide mobile check out so you can pay straight from your phone!
Shopping in NY and don’t know where to find the latest gadget or pair of shoes? Just type into Slifter and find out the closest location where you can find it. Not close enough? Use Paypal on your phone to pay from your cell phone!
JuiceCaster: (Based in LA) – Mobile to MobileSocial Networking!By downloading a simple application to their phone, JuiceCaster members can browse profiles and add friends–similar to that of Web-only networking sites. Write a blog using your cell phone and post it online immediately. At a concert? Let everyone on your network see using your camera phone to broadcast it online in seconds! Create your own channel and let others know what you are up to in real time! Welcome to mobile blogging!!! Stay connected!
Reader’s comment: The article has a tease about finding cheap gas yet does not say how to do this. Not very nice, Colin.
Colin Stewart’s reply: That wasn’t supposed to be a tease about cheap gas. I’d covered it in a previous column and two sidebars. They’re at these URLs: http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/money/yourcounty/article_1178733.php
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/money/columns/article_1178600.php
and
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/money/innovation/article_1178734.php
If FuelFinder is your choice, MobileGates provides some info (at http://mobilegates.com/fuel.html), but you might want to contact your cell-phone company to see if it’s an option there.
Want to play a game that will test service for Web-enabled mobile phones? If you have a Web-enabled cell phone or PDA, you’re invited to join a Cell-Phone Scavenger Hunt.
The scavenger hunt started as a contest, with prizes, but it’s still available to anyone who’s curious (and doesn’t care about the prizes).
To try out the five-minute hunt, either text “MGP919″ to 70734 or point your mobile browser to www.cellfo.com and entering “919″ in the text box.
If you do, you can check out a real estate ad for the Taj Mahal and auto ads for wrecked cars. You’ll receive congratulations, but no prize, at the end.
On shopping trips, you probably take along a powerful computer that could help you compare prices and consult product reviews. But that’s not how you use it.
The computing power is packed into most new cell phones, which you’re unlikely to do much more than chat on.
MobileGates Corp. of La Palma wants to change that.
It has just launched its Cellfo service, which will allow consumers with Web-enabled mobile phones to send to their phones:
For free, with attached advertising, consumers could also send:
Angelina Jolie’s full lips, Joan Rivers’ taut skin, Nicole Kidman’s arched eyebrows, Virginia Madsen’s wrinkle-free forehead – they all play a role in prompting innovations in modern cosmetic medicine.
That’s because celebrities are a reference point that people use to tell dermatologists and plastic surgeons their ideas about beauty and ugliness.
Doctors in turn tell manufacturers and researchers, who use the information to fine-tune their ongoing quest for “the Holy Grail – fantastic results with no downtime,” in the words of Martin Braun of Vancouver, the Canadian doctor known as that nation’s No. 1 injector of Botox.
Many of the resulting technological achievements were on display at last weekend’s Aesthetic Show, a conference in Las Vegas organized by the Medical Insight market research firm of Aliso Viejo. In attendance were hundreds of doctors, nurses and med-spa owners. They examined the newest breast implants, dermal fillers and skin-rejuvenating lasers.
Because Hollywood stars and fashion magazines influence people’s ideas about beauty, conference speakers who talked about celebrities weren’t just gossiping. They gave professional advice about medical procedures, described the state of the cosmetic-medicine marketplace – and gossiped too.
(Click here to read more of this column about cosmetic technologies and the following celebrities)
Ellen Barkin, 53.
Ellen DeGeneres, 49.
Princess Diana.
Linda Evangelista, 42.
Angelina Jolie, 32.
Nicole Kidman, 40.
Virginia Madsen, 45.
Sandra Oh, 35.
Joan Rivers, 74.
Julia Roberts, 39.
Consumers with incomes of $1 to $2 a day aren’t an appealing market for most businesses.
“They’re struggling to put food on the table – if they have a table,” says Ashok Gadgil, vice president for scientific affairs at WaterHealth International in Lake Forest.
Yet the 100-person company believes it can make money by selling clean water to such customers in some of the world’s poorest communities.
If it succeeds, it also would strike a blow against one of the world’s biggest health problems. The World Health Organization says about 2 million people die each year in developing countries from diarrhea caused by contaminated water.
In pursuit of both goals, WaterHealth has spent 11 years seeking the right formula for doing well by doing good.
Along the way, it has installed its water-purifying systems in India, the Philippines, the Mexican state of Guerrero and a few in South Africa and Sri Lanka. Those systems now make clean water available to nearly 1 million people in 500 communities.
Chief Executive Officer Tralance Addy hopes 2008 will be the year when the company also makes a profit.
See also:
Jerry Fitch doesn’t like putting all his eggs in one basket.That’s why his company, Teridian Semiconductor in Irvine, doesn’t just make chips for televisions’ set-top boxes even though, as of last week, it had sold 100 million of them.
Teridian also makes chips for electric meters, digital video recorders, Ethernet networks, retailer credit card devices, and smart-card readers.
The company designs and sells chips for all those different markets in order to ease Fitch’s mind and to keep Teridian’s revenues flowing despite different industries’ ups and downs.
That’s a big job for a company with just 105 employees; too big, some say.
Favorite quote: “Take action. Goals are nothing without action” – Bill O’Neil, founder of Investor’s Business Daily Favorite work-related book: “Good to Great” by Jim Collins (“It identifies the corporate culture necessary to be outstanding.”) (BUY THE BOOK)
(CHECK OUT OTHER INNOVATORS’ BOOKS)
Tip for innovators: Understand the details of why your innovation works for your customer.
Tips for companies that want to be innovative: Innovation is a group effort. Get multiple perspectives.
Video: Take a look inside Teridian and its artfully designed chips
(Photo of Teridian CEO Jerry Fitch by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register)
A startup business can fail for so many reasons. Maybe its prices are too high, its customer service is poor, or its marketing is lame. Maybe its founder is a brilliant inventor who turns out to be an overwhelmed and disorganized chief executive.
But the chance of such failures is reduced if the startup can grow in the shelter of a business incubator such as the one in the new Digital Media Center in Santa Ana.
“We’re here to assist,” incubator director Bart Hoffman says, too simply.
His incubator gives innovative startups high-quality, low-cost office space. But the more important boost is putting them in touch with experienced advisers, potential investors, and strategic partners.
Quote: “Think of these things: whence you came, where you are going, and to whom you must account.” – Benjamin Franklin
Tips for innovators:
Favorite work-related book: “The Extraordinary Leader: Turning Good Managers into Great Leaders” by John H. Zenger and Joseph Folkman. (“Offers practical information based on extensive research.” (BUY THE BOOK)
LOOK AT OTHER INNOVATORS’ BOOKS
(Second of two columns about incubators in Orange County.)
“It all started with your article,” said David Schetter, assistant vice chancellor at UC-Irvine. “I hold you partially responsible for what happened.”
He was referring to my column of Oct. 3, headlined, “Glitch hatches brainstorm on tech incubator.” It told the tale of a late-September gathering of educators and businesspeople that ran into technical problems. In place of a planned Irvine-Washington, D.C. teleconference about America’s competitiveness in education and technology, all they could see was a black screen.
Instead of cursing the darkness, Schetter asked the group to brainstorm about what Orange County needed to do to be more competitive, especially in Schetter’s domain – turning the discoveries of UCI faculty into commercial enterprises.
The result was a recommendation for a business incubator that would give a boost to technology start-ups in Orange County. Schetter liked the idea and promised to reconvene the group to start making detailed plans.
The follow-up meeting, held early this year, included members of the first session plus volunteers who offered their help after reading the “Glitch” column. Now, nine months after that technical meltdown, the effort is close to bearing fruit.
The O.C. Medical Device Incubator could open within a few months, if supporters chip in financial support to back up their praise for the idea.
(Photo: Prospective incubator CEO Greg Ruehle. Register photo by Michael Goulding.)
“It all started with your article,” said David Schetter, assistant vice chancellor at UC-Irvine. “I hold you partially responsible for what happened.”
He was referring to my column of Oct. 3, headlined, “Glitch hatches brainstorm on tech incubator.” It told the tale of a late-September gathering of educators and businesspeople that ran into technical problems. In place of a planned Irvine-Washington, D.C. teleconference about America’s competitiveness in education and technology, all they could see was a black screen.
Instead of cursing the darkness, Schetter asked the group to brainstorm about what Orange County needed to do to be more competitive, especially in Schetter’s domain – turning the discoveries of UCI faculty into commercial enterprises.
The result was a recommendation for a business incubator that would give a boost to technology start-ups in Orange County. Schetter liked the idea and promised to reconvene the group to start making detailed plans.
The follow-up meeting, held early this year, included members of the first session plus volunteers who offered their help after reading the “Glitch” column. Now, nine months after that technical meltdown, the effort is close to bearing fruit.
The O.C. Medical Device Incubator could open within a few months, if supporters chip in financial support to back up their praise for the idea.
(Photo of incubator advisory board co-chairman Greg Ruehle by Michael Goulding, O.C. Register)
