thought this article written by Clayton Christensen and Jerome Grossman and Jason Hwang is particularly good.

From my own research:

Twenty-five percent of the U.S. community population are reported to have one or more of five major chronic conditions:

• Mood disorders.
• Diabetes.
• Heart disease.
• Asthma.
• Hypertension.

Total expenses for people with these five major chronic conditions accounts for ~ 49 percent of total health care costs.

And, I’ve heard that all chronic conditions actually represent around 85% of spending.

The really interesting thing to me is that technology is well positioned to disrupt current models of care for these chronic conditions. Internet-based interventions can potentially treat mood disorders and hypertension (in lieu of expensive pharmaceuticals and other consumables). The Internet can also be used to more effectively manage diabetes and heart disease, to decrease the risks of these diseases, as well as prescribe preventative measures for those in the population at risk of these conditions.

I’ve heard the analogy that routine healthcare (checkups) etc. should be treated like a car’s oil change, an out of pocket expense, and insurance should be structured, to focus on catastrophic or emergency health.

The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose is premiering the largest, most comprehensive exhibit of works of Leonardo da Vinci.  There are more than 100 life-size, interactive, working or scale models crafted from his original notebooks, as well as a selection of his original notebooks.

The exhibit also features other Renaissance artist-engineers, including Filippo Brunelleschi, and the Sienese engineers, who inspired Leonardo.

The exhibit ends January 4, so if you’re in Silicon Valley, go check it out!

Many in the West believe Islamic society, which is primarily centered in the Middle East, to be backward.

But, early Islamic society was way more literate than Europe, and between 700 and 1200 the Moslem civilization was arguably the most tolerant and cultured society in the world, and had many technological achievements (Singer, 1958):

The Lateen sail, which allowed for the building of larger and faster ships than the Roman square rigged ships.

The Moslems were the first to use a tidal mill in Basra around 1000 ad.

In 793 ad, the fist paper factory was set up in Baghdad, and by 1000 the entire Islamic world was enjoying bound books.

The Islamic world made substantial advances in textile production.

Al Jaabir and Al Razi wrote books that for centuries were the recognized standards in the field of chemical technology.

The Moslems invented greatly improved glass and ceramic products.

They produced a flammable petroleum akin to kerosene, and their perfume and acid industries were far superior to anything known before.

In mechanical engineering, from water mills to clocks, the Moslems were for centuries far ahead of the West.

In metallurgy, craftsmen in Toledo and Damascus produced swords of a quality that was proverbial in the West.

Egypt in particular became famous for its sugar and confectionery products.

[source: The Lever of Riches: Technological Creativity and Economic Progress by Joel Mokyr]

Hopefully, the region will invest its oil wealth wisely, to fuel economic progress after the oil is depleted or eclipsed by green technology.

thanks, Guy, for this!

TechCrunch has an interesting profile of Kluster, a Burlington, Vermont startup, which plans to offer market incentives, to facilitate crowdsourcing for the development of projects.

In the vein of TED videos – you must check out this excellent selection of videos from the Gadgetoff conference – click here for full selection.

3 representational videos below of Tony Tether, the Director of DARPA, Luke Williams of frog design, and Marvin Minsky of MIT:

first upgrade in over 100 years – a simple innovation to help reduce the number (500,000 people / year) who drown, but sometimes there’s brilliance in the most simple of solutions.

Check out this CNBC segment featuring Lego’s innovation efforts. The Company actively solicits ideas from its customers, and customers even vote on the products they would buy, to assist Lego with product development priorities.

You can imagine the advertising possibilities with this 3M display technology…

A Discovery Channel feature on the possibility of developing a time machine.

Finally, a 1939 video for the World’s Fair, which presents a vision of the futuristic world of 1960!

great story about the potential of franchising for economic development and better healthcare in Africa.  Franchising, coupled with micro-lending, holds the potential for huge quality-of-life improvements in the developing world.  The is also the model Dean Kamen envisions for his water purification systems, but he says, there is ridiculous resistance for innovative solutions from global aid agencies, as well as well-funded foundations and non-profits.