Tag Archives: inventor

Thomas Edison’s Creepy Talking Doll Not The Best Christmas Gift Idea In 1890

Like other authors who write about innovation, I love Thomas Edison stories. He was an inventive genius and found the code to serial innovation more than 120 years ago.

That code is still in use by companies like IDEO who’ve learned his lessons and both improved upon them and added to them. But the basic core is still the same.

Less well known is Edison’s entrepreneurial side.  He put financiers, government officials, politicians and inventors like himself together in an inspired coalition that built the first electrical grid in New York City. After all, what good is a light bulb if you don’t have a source of electricity to power it?

But his inventions were not always successful, nor were his attempts to market and sell them.

For example, very few people today know about Edison’s talking doll. Expected to sell during the 1890 Christmas season, she was a marketing failure.

Creepy even for the 19th Century

I think she looks like the “Bride of Chucky” and is more than a little spooky. Talking, animated objects are commonplace today, but Edison was the first to have the idea and execute it.

Creeped out? Here's some of the dolls Bing suggest after searching "Creepy Doll". Click image to hear Edison's doll speak.
Click on any  image to hear Edison’s doll speak.

What gave her voice was a tiny version of the phonograph – another of his inventions. He thought it would be novel to make a talking doll and hoped it would catch on. The doll market was already thriving, so a talking doll could potentially reach the top of the heap.

But not all of Edison’s creativity turned into cash, and his Bride of Chucky was a dismal failure. The little talking machine went inside the doll with the handle protruding from her back. Edison produced 2,500 of the dolls but only 500 sold. They were $10 each — two weeks of the average pay back in 1890 – and many of those sold were returned for quality problems.

Edison quickly turned his back on her.

I particularly like this story because it shows the critical difference between innovation and entrepreneurship. Great ideas are not always great opportunities. Opportunities possess five characteristics that differentiate them from great ideas:

Durability – They keep creating value over time.

Sustainability – The organization has the willpower, manpower and resources to sustain the idea through failure, rethinking and reformulation.

Defensibility – The potential return on investment makes it worth the time, resources and risk that accompany all new ventures, thus making it worth doing this over doing something else.

It creates value – It creates value for the person willing to reach into their pockets for money to pay for the intangible form and thus it creates value for the company.

It is compelling – The Innovation is differentiated in some critical way that makes a customer segment just have to have it.

Entrepreneurs differ substantially from innovators because they have the discipline to determine whether a great idea is also a great opportunity.  This takes a lot of work, failure, rethinking and, most of all, passion to get you through all of this vetting. Many innovators lose interest after the idea stage and don’t understand that innovation without value creation may be fun – but it’s also folly.

Edison, like many other inventors, fell in love with his baby and he built a bunch of them, assuming a slam dunk in the market. In fact, these dolls were not just spooky looking, they were big and heavy and cost a lot of money.

Edison’s enthusiasm for his ability to make a talking doll was not counterbalanced by the discipline necessary to determine whether the idea was just that or a real opportunity.  He was so eager to produce them that he didn’t ask if the market wanted such an invention and at what price.

I am sure that Edison was OK with failure, as he once said that he had not failed in his efforts to create the light bulb, but rather found a thousand ways that didn’t work.  For the Silo, Neal Thornberry, Ph.D.

 

Supplemental- Bride of Chucky http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144120/

New Book Is Inventors Guide To Open Source Arduino Microcontroller

San Francisco, CA —School’s out for summer, but learning doesn’t have to stop at the classroom door. For parents and educators looking to keep their students exploring, tinkering, and creating, No Starch Press offers the latest addition to its lineup of STEM books. This time focusing on the Arduino microcontroller.

The Arduino Inventor’s Guide (No Starch Press, $29.95USD, 336 pp., June 2017) is a project-packed introduction to building and coding with the Arduino microcontroller. With each hands-on project, total beginners learn useful electronics and coding skills while building an interactive gadget.

This is No Starch Press’s second installment in its introductory-level educational series for aspiring makers. The series is a collaboration with SparkFun Electronics, the popular electronics parts retailer dedicated to making the world of electronics more accessible to the average person. Authors Brian Huang and Derek Runberg of SparkFun’s Department of Education use their teaching experience to make learning about electronics an adventure.

“We wanted to share the magic that happens when you build something interactive with electronics,” says Huang. “The goal is to teach real, valuable hardware skills, one project at a time,” adds Runberg.

Readers learn how to make their hardware move, buzz, flash, and interact with the world as they build 10 projects, including:

  • A miniature traffic light
  • A light-sensitive, color-changing night-light
  • A temperature-sensing mini greenhouse
  • A motorized, programmable robot
  • A tiny, playable electric piano

“We’ve teamed up with SparkFun to make electronics and coding skills achievable for anyone,” says No Starch Press founder Bill Pollock. “This book will take total beginners from blinking their first LED to programming their first robot.”

 

Sample pages from The Arduino Inventor’s Guide:

For the Silo, Amanda Hariri.
About the Authors

Brian Huang is the Education Engineer for SparkFun Electronics. He combines his knowledge of teaching and engineering to create professional development materials.

Derek Runberg works in the Department of Education at SparkFun Electronics, where he runs workshops about technology in classrooms and at conferences. He is the author of The SparkFun Guide to Processing.

SparkFun Electronics is an online retail store that sells electronic parts for DIY projects. It offers classes for the public as well as resources, tutorials, and professional development for educators through its Department of Education.

Arduino Inventor's Guide The Arduino Inventor’s Guide
Publisher: No Starch Press
Authors: Brian Huang and Derek Runberg
Print ISBN: 978-1-59327-652-2
Price: $29.95USD
Publication Date: June 2017
Specs: 336 pp., 4C  Available in fine bookstores everywhere, contact marketingdirector@thesilo.ca for locations near you and online ordering information.About No Starch Press
From deep in the heart of San Francisco’s start-up gulch, No Starch Press carefully crafts the finest in geek entertainment. The growing list of award-winning No Starch Press bestsellers covers topics like LEGO, hacking, STEM, programming, science, and math. Our titles have personality, our authors are passionate, and our books tackle topics that people care about.