We at BeHeron find what motivates us to invent fascinating. Sometimes it's money, other times it's pure enjoyment of developing something new, and many times it's for business survival. All of those motivations can be powerful and beneficial. One of our favorites is the "invent for business survival" motivation. Why you ask? Well, because when the pressure is on, sometimes we come up with some great inventions. Just ask NASA. Today however, we are not talking about NASA. Rather, we are going to discuss Sony.

You see, Sony has been attacked before, but this time, they have been attacked by a surprising competitor, Apple. Evidently, many iPhone users have enjoyed their games so much that Sony is starting to feel the pressure. They need to develop a competitive product, or they fear that their mobile platforms may be impacted. So, the rumor is that they are developing a portable gaming device that is also a phone. Now will this work? We think not. It is much easier for a PDA/Music-player/Phone to add games than vice-versa. Whatever Sony ends up creating, it will be interesting and a great case study. But it just shows you that you should never stand still, someone is always looking to take your market share!

What is the number one trait of a good inventor? We believe it is an inquisitive mind. Those who question everything typically find problems that nobody realizes, and are then able to find solutions that many will use. Apple has always been one of those companies that have questioned everything. Recently, they realized that only 5% of laptop owners buy a second battery. So what do the other 95% do? Well, they charge their laptops like everyone else, and are happy with the 2hour lifespan. So why are companies wasting valuable weight and space on 5% of the market? It seems Apple could not find a good reason either, so they started making integral batteries within their laptops. This has allowed them to save weight and utilize a larger battery that allow the user to have longer battery life (46% more to be precise). Now if making the battery part of the laptop is such a simple idea, why didn't anyone else think of it? Well, the problem is that nobody else was asking the question! So remember, when inventing don't take anything for granted. You never know what assumptions were made in the past, and if they are still valid!

What do the Chia Pet, Pet Rock, and Shamwow all have in common? No, not snazzy names! They have great marketing. Marketing can be the great equalizer. Done correctly, it can convince people that certain products have more value than reality. It is the one thing that nerdy inventors like ourselves seem to overlook. It is the second half of any good invention.

Which brings us to V-Vehicle Co. It is a small and mysterious auto company that has emerged from relative obscurity lately due to some high profile investors, T. Boone Pickens and venture capitalists Kleiner Perkins. The company has also announced that they have received $82 million in state and local funding from Monroe, Louisiana. So what is the marketing catch? Well, other than a "car", nobody knows what they are building. People are guessing that it will be an eco-friendly car due to funding from Kleiner Perkins, and some believe it will have a natural gas component due to T. Boone Pickens. But what will it really be and why the secrecy?

Well, if you were likely to be overshadowed by Toyota's Prius, GM's Volt, or the beautiful (in our opinion) Tesla Model-S, you would seek out an edge as well. That marketing edge is secrecy. They are hoping that the curious will hype their product more than any advertising campaign could. Will it work? That's anyone's guess, but if the company takes off, they will have their marketing campaign to thank for the early publicity!

We at BeHeron don't like to discuss politics simply because that would be a distraction from reality. Inventors and entrepreneurs can't change the rules, rather, they must simply adapt to the hand that is given to them, good or bad. To argue about something that is out of your control can be unproductive. Rather than argue about what's best, let's focus our energy on how to take advantage of the rules we are given or are about to receive. For example, take the gargantuan energy bill that is marching down the halls of Washington. With the current political makeup, we know something is going to pass. But how can you take advantage of this?

Well, we should take a look towards California for some insight. Much of what is proposed at the federal level is, or soon will be, law in the golden state. Utilities will be required to get an increasing proportion of their electricity from renewable resources. Most likely, this will not include Nuclear Energy. It is also likely that polluting industries will see higher taxes, or other regulation to curb their carbon footprint.

Now rather than fuss over the good and the bad, lets see if we can find some opportunity. First, utilities will look for large gains in renewable energy quickly. The longer they wait the less leverage they will have with energy producers. This will mean less focus on small micro plants (very profitable in the past), and more investment into large scale, easy to approve ideas. This means proven technology in locations that don't have many "NIMBYs". In California, this has meant large land buys in the desert and Indian reservations, and utilization of proven technologies such as wind and solar thermal. Meanwhile, industry has taken steps to reduce their carbon footprint by taking advantage of tax breaks for smaller scale solar power, and have purchased energy contracts from clean energy providers. However, to make this all work, larger more flexible power networks will need to be created to manage the new power from the far reaches of the state, and the local power created by industrial ( to a smaller scale residential) sources (i.e. the smart grid). The real opportunity may be to the company that is able to provide power management tools to both industry and utilities, or the company that enables large scale power to be stored more efficiently.

Remember back on May 26th when we first talked about customized shoes, and later on, on June 1st, 2009 when we discussed customized eyeglasses lenses? Well, we stated in both of those articles to be on the lookout for more and more customized products to hit the showroom floors as technology drives manufacturing costs lower. Today, we found another example of exactly this. It appears that Schering Plough's Dr. Scholl's have found ways to provide customized products to their customers as well. As reported by prweb.com, Schering Plough and Tekscan have partnered to develop a revolutionary new kiosk designed to assess your feet and recommend the optimal Dr. Scholl's® Custom Fit™ Orthotic for consumers looking to add more cushioning and support to their footwear. The kiosk is quite simple, you simply stand on it and it measures the pressure points of your foot to tell you which Dr. Scholl's insert would be best for your foot. Now that we have written three articles on this subject you shouldn't be surprised the next time we write about this topic. Better yet, you should be the one taking advantage of new products such as Tekscan, and cheaper manufacturing methods!

The real geeks out there probably noticed the news that Nokia has developed a cell phone that can passively recharge itself by harnessing the multitude of RF waves that are bursting through the air at any time. Now the power that it will harness is tiny (3 to 5 milliwatts), and that amount of power will not power your phone while talking. However, it would be enough to slowly charge yourphone over time and extend the battery life. The question we had was, "Nokia surely couldn't be the first to develop this technology"?

Well, we were right. A little help from our friends at Google and we found the Powercast Corporation. Thay take wireless power to the next level by purposefully generating radio waves that could then be turned into power at some distance. This would enable several low power devices to operate without wires. The nice thing about Powercast is that they are looking to partner with anybody who has a need to untether their devices. As stated in their website, "Powercast technology enables unique product enhancement, product differentiation, and market extensions. We are continually building a roster of strategic collaborations that benefit from wireless power and continuous charging." So the next time you develop a product and are hindered by wires, think Powercast, and make your device really stand out! And no, they didn't offer us cash to plug their product...yet :)

We at BeHeron like to believe that bad news can often bring opportunity. One such opportunity has been created due to the horrible drought out west. The San Diego Business Journal has written a great article about how landscaping companies and nurseries have seen an up tick in sales for specialized plants and sprinkler systems. It also reveals that this trend will increase due to further tightening of water use as the drought worsens. However, the story doesn't end in Southern California. Water shortages have been popping up in places from Arizona to Northern China. Inventors who develop products that can save water or create water will surely have a market. We at BeHeron will be on the lookout for water saving products. Will you be one of those developing the solution?

Sometimes inventors come up with great ideas, but they have a lingering worry in their gut. Will people actually buy this cool little gadget? One invention that falls into this category is the Zeo Personal Sleep Coach. As described by their website, the Zeo is a new kind of educational tool and motivational program that helps you understand how you are sleeping, reveals habits and behaviors that may be helping or hindering your sleep, and teaches new ways that may help you get a better night's rest. Zeo is a three-part personal sleep coach product, combined with a highly personalized sleep coaching program. The soft, lightweight Zeo Headband uses our SoftWave™ sensor technology to simply, comfortably, and accurately track your unique sleep patterns. The headband sends your personal sleep information safely and wirelessly to the bedside display.

• Your Sleep Graph – summarizes your pattern of sleep phases each night.
• Your ZQ - a single score we created to help you quickly gauge the quantity, quality, and depth of your sleep each night.
• Total Z – how long you really sleep each night, counting any perceived and unperceived awakenings that we can detect.
• Time to Z – the time it took you to fall asleep.
• Time in Wake & Times Woken.
• Total amount of REM, Light & Deep sleep.
• Morning Feel – quickly record how you feel about your sleep when you wake up, so you can compare how you feel you slept to the objective data Zeo provides.

Now we love the technology and the idea, but we also have a few questions. Will customers want to wear a headband to sleep every night? Will people really think that this is worth about $400? Finally, will people have the discipline to change their habits in order to get a better nights sleep? This reminds us of so many exercise programs that require personal discipline for it to work. We half expect this to be something "cool" for a few weeks, and then get hidden away in storage. Who knows, we may be wrong, and we actually find this cool. But we can't ignore that lingering feeling in our gut about this one!

Ever get frustrated with Wi-Fi networks or those pesky wireless internet cards? What about when college students are studying off campus, is it really necessary for everyone to have their own wireless connection? Well, it appears that Verizon has something a bit better than your standard cell-phone based wireless USB Card that many cellphone companies offer. Verizon now has the MiFi. It is a small cellular modem like the USB Cards in use today, but instead of being directly connected to your network device (such as a laptop), it creates a 30 foot bubble of Wi-Fi around you. Thus, it creates your little own Wi-Fi hot-spot for you and your friends to use. We think this will be a hit for small businesses or college students. If your interested in the technology Wired.com has a great article on the subject here.

This is one of those neat little technologies that will spread the internet to new places and make larger networks more affordable. The only question we really have is, "Why didn't we think of this"?

After a few days away on a business trip, we are back, and back with something a bit different! When you think of the fourth state of matter (plasma), you may think of lightning, florescent lights, or even plasma cleaning in the semiconductor industry. But have you ever thought of cleaning your teeth with it? Crazy you think? Apparently not according to work being done at the USC School of Dentistry and USC Viterbi School of Engineering. In an article by R&D Magazine we learn that, "Though it looks like a tiny purple blowtorch, a pencil-sized plume of plasma on the tip of a small probe remains at room temperature as it swiftly dismantles tough bacterial colonies deep inside a human tooth... But while many natural plasmas are hot, or thermal, the probe developed for the study is a non- thermal, room-temperature plasma that’s safe to touch. The researchers placed temperature sensors on the extracted teeth before treatment and found that the temperature of the tooth increased just five degrees after 10 minutes of exposure to the plasma... The cooler nature of the experimental plasma comes from its pulsed power supply. Instead of employing a steady stream of energy to the probe, the pulsed power supply sends 100-nanosecond pulses of several kilovolts to the probe once every millisecond, with an average power less than two watts..."

This just goes to show us again that technology transfer is really the "invention" of the future. There are so many applications for high tech today that one person or company can not simply think of all the possibilities. It really is turning into the age of the inventor who can "adapt" existing technology into viable products.

What can we learn from a small time inventor who decided to take on Victoria's Secret? Well, let's just say we can learn more from that inventor than most. We came across a story about a Pennsylvania woman named Heather Knox who is fighting against Victoria's Secret because she believes that her bra patent has been infringed by the lingerie giant. Now we geeks here at BeHeron won't go into which side is right because, we will admit, we don't really know much about bras. But neither do we really want to. It does, however, show us that getting a patent to defend your product is only half the battle. The second half of keeping an intellectual property advantage is keeping an eye on your competition. Your competitors will usually try to push the envelope just to see if you are watching and to see if your willing to fight for your idea. So don't let a big company push you around. The nice thing about big companies copying your ideas is that, if you win the suit, you will win big. Most of the time, when a big company notices that you are paying attention, they will usually just buy you out or license your product. A win-win situation if we ever saw one.

Some might say we at BeHeron are delusional. We'll let history be the judge of that. Others might say that we pump clean tech too much. We might agree with some of you there. But, we really do want to drive home the point that money is starting to build up and that banks, venture capitalists, and everyday rich folks are looking for places to put their money. Another sign of this was just reported by the San Francisco Business Times. US Bancorp has provided SolarCity with additional financing to install solar panels to its customers.

Now for those of you who are not familiar with SolarCity, they are a company that provides solar panels to its customers for little upfront cash. They make their money by sharing energy cost savings with its customers. For example, lets say solar energy would save you $100 per month, then you would get a percentage of that savings and SolarCity would get the remainder for a set period of time. This enables customers with little cash to start saving on their electricity bill today. The problem was that SolarCity would need to fund the purchase of the solar panels upfront and pay for their installations. They have been able to sign thousands of contracts, but in today's tight financing market they couldn't deliver. Talk about not being able to take advantage of customer demand! But they have finally been able to convince US Bancorp to fund it, so that they can finally get back to installing solar panels and start making money. The next time you can't get a small business loan, don't feel bad, you are not alone. But just be persistent and keep pushing. Remember, there is just way too much cash ready to flood the market for you not to take advantage of it.

If you remember, on May 4th, we had our 100th post and provided a detailed analysis of the market for inventors. Today, we would like to give you an update. Back in May, we stated that it was our belief that, "...most of the money (private equity) is simply being held until the direction of the market is more clear". Today, we received more evidence of that being the case. In an article by the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, we learned that private equity funds have accumulated more than $400 Billion, and that 18 new funds have raised $25 Billion in the last 60 days alone. So what does this tell us? First, large investors are still willing to give funds oodles of money. Second, private equity firms are still seeking cash. And finally, when the market does turn around, money is going to flood the market like never before. This will be amplified by the fact that most Federal Stimulus Dollars will not be spent until the market is already on the rebound. If there was ever a time to start developing new product, today is the day!

A few days ago, we talked to you about changes in technology moving products towards customization. This was due to cheaper manufacturing methods and better technology. Today, we move from beyond simple shoes to something a bit more challenging, eye glasses and contacts. You may think that your contacts and glasses are already "custom". You have a basic eye shape and a vision strength and a ophthalmologist prescribes the right one, right? Well, the part that is missing is that, according to Ophthonix, your eyes have tiny microscopic irregularities, or aberrations, that oftentimes distort light as it passes through the cornea and lens and onto the retina. This can have a significant impact on the quality of your vision affecting things like depth perception, crispness, contrast, color perception and even nighttime vision. Until now, there was nothing your eye doctor could do to identify or address these imperfections unique to your eyes. But now, with the information and data from your eye exam and your very own unique iPrint, your customized iZon High Resolution Lenses can be produced. And because these lenses take into consideration both traditional measurements and the unique aberrations of your eyes, your vision, for the first time, will be truly optimized. And according to the manufacturer, with iZon Lenses your vision will be clearer, sharper and more vivid than you ever imagined. Current iZon wearers describe it as seeing the world in High-Definition vision.

Now we aren't the only ones who think that this will be a revolutionary improvement to eye care. According to the San Diego Business Journal, the Vista ophthalmology company Ophthonix said May 26 that it raised $25.9 million in venture capital money to continue the launch of its iZon high-resolution lenses for eyeglasses. So as we said before, just because mass customization was not economical in the past, don't give up on the dream!