An Illustrated Weekly of World Design, 24 May 2013

BRCK is a battery powered internet router developed by Ushahidi. BRCK aims to serve areas with limited availability to power by creating a wifi hotspot anywhere. The Ushahidi team have experience in getting data, now they are moving into supplying internet connectivity. BRCK’s motto “if it works in Africa, it will work anywhere,” helped define the rugged design of the innovative product, we think it will be a huge success. 

While designing our Arivi Eva stove we gained an appreciation of well designed stoves, our latest favourite is the Baker Stove. Claesson Koivisto Rune, a Swedish architectural and industrial design studio collaborated with Top Third Ventures to produce a wood burning rocket stove. The stove is more efficient than traditional three stone fires and has lower emissions. It is set to retail for $59, which seems expensive, but using the product results in a 69% savings in wood use. The Baker Stove is currently fundraising on Indiegogo.

We are currently reading inGenius, A crash Course on Creativity by Tina Seelig, a book that explores ways in which everyone can be more innovative. Seelig is Executive Director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. InGenuis uses learnings from the d.school curriculum and has excerpts from the book at Fast Company. The first one, How Reframing A Problem Unlocks Innovation looks at how changing our perspective make it is possible to find innovative solutions. The second article, 5 Ways To Innovate By Cross-Pollinating Ideas includes tools that are useful for people in organizations who want to be more effective and innovative.

While many people may not be aware of opportunities in the huge pet product market, the people behind Petcube know that by combining pets and technology they can create interesting products. Petcube is a camera and laser pointer that you can control with your smartphone. Which means you can be sitting in your office and play games with your cat. Sounds weird, we know, but we think the idea has potential.