Do you like being overtaken?
And other thoughts that followed...
Picture this scene. You're out for a walk, headphones on your ears listening to your favorite music when you hear steps behind you.
You don't turn around and look. No, that would be a dead giveaway.
You increase the pace of your strides - very casually. Nothing to it. Just felt like walking faster.
The person behind you is getting closer. And then there's a passive-aggressive phase when both of you are straining every muscle without making it obvious.
Three scenarios play out.
The least likely one? You do nothing and let the other person overtake you.
You stay ahead and worry about nursing strained muscles and a lot of massaging back home.
You casually start jogging at the precise point when it looks as if he/she will draw level with you so that you stay in the lead.
And then wheeze through the rest of your walk when you know you've got a decent lead. Or else you make a quick diversion to maintain your self-respect.
Seen this kind of behavior? Of course we have.
Why does this simple act of being overtaken matter so much? Even when the stakes are zero.
It starts in childhood and never gets cured, no matter how old we grow.
The ventilator and a deep sea diving connection
Ventilators are expensive to make and involve complex manufacturing processes.
A doctor in Italy came up with an idea to help patients with respiratory distress manage at an intermediate stage
The idea involved the use of snorkeling masks, the ones used by deep sea divers to breathe underwater. The question was whether the equipment could be adapted for use by patients.
Decathlon, the sports good store, had the snorkeling masks in stock. Using a CAD drawing, they evaluated what needed to be done.
The product was dismantled, studied, and the changes to be made were examined.
A new component was then designed to guarantee the connection to the ventilator. The link was called a Charlotte valve, and it was quickly created with a 3D printing machine
It was tried in real hospital conditions and worked. Even though it has not received formal biomedical approval, it offers doctors an option to save lives at critical junctures.
The design of the Charlotte valve has been released for free and any hospital can print the valve to be used along with snorkeling masks to provide relief to patients.
Any hospital or doctor who wants to try this out can reach out to the company for additional details
What's the greatest invention since sliced bread?
It's a small step forward for bread loaves, a giant relief from pack unwrap annoyances.
Packaging problems start with solving how the product will stand out on the shelf.
They continue with usage and storage. That's beyond the manufacturer's control but it's still a niggling issue.
Have you struggled with opening bread packs? Twisting that metal tie several times before you could get to the slices?
Recently, I noticed that branded bread loaves sold locally came with a plastic band twisted tightly at one end. One pull and the pack opens.
You can't reuse it, but it simplifies the pack opening bit. And it doesn't solve the problem of re-sealing the pack.
It's like cola cans. They've gone through 4 generations of design before an elegant solution to spring them open emerged.
Strange how the last mile solution is elusive for packaging like it is for logistics. You can solve a problem 80-95% but that last 5% is really hard.
Of course there are big problems in the world to be solved.
But it's nice to know that there's someone watching out for the daily annoyances.
What were you expecting, the next product after the iPhone?