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The Building Blocks of Product Concept Generation

This article was written by Olivia Eaton, Product Design Engineer at Verily Life Sciences , and Kassidy MacPhail, Product Development Engineer at Neptune Medical, when they were part of Generate at Northeastern University. ‍Great ideas form through critical observations of everyday things and by envisioning potential improvements to the mundane. While it’s easy to assume […]

Article

Keeping Copycats Away: A Guide to Patents for Hardware Products

As an entrepreneur, you’ve probably heard this many times: “Ideas are worthless until you get them out of your head and see what they can do.” Every big idea starts with a small first step and many leaps of faith to get it realized. However, you’ve probably also seen big Kickstarter projects get funded, only […]

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Hardware Sessions: Waterproofing & Reliability Testing with Hind Hobeika of Instabeat

To gain actionable insights on how real hardware products are developed and manufactured, we interviewed top engineers and designers in the San Francisco Bay Area in our Hardware Sessions series. In this edition of Hardware Sessions, we sit down with Hind Hobeika, a mechanical engineer and founder of Instabeat, a connected accessory for swimming goggles […]

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8 Tips to Maximize the Impact of Your Prototypes

You just finished the initial design of your product, and it looks great! Well, it looks great on your computer screen. So, you decide to make a prototype and see if your design looks and works as intended in real life. Odds are that the first prototype won’t meet all of your expectations. In fact, […]

Article

Fictiv Hardware Sessions with Sam Hickmann of Joy

One of the best parts about working at Fictiv is being surrounded by a community of amazing engineers and designers, building the next generation of hardware products. To shine some light on who those creators are and their best kept product development secrets, we’re launching a new video series called Hardware Sessions. Hardware Sessions is […]

Article

Get Prepared for CES with These 5 Prototyping Tips

It’s December and while most people are giddy with the holidays upcoming, consumer electronic companies around the world are in crunch-time preparing prototypes for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). It can be a stressful time of year for engineers and designers, so here are a few prototyping tips to help you understand all your options […]

Article

5 Crowdfunding Lessons for Hardware Startups

Crowdfunding is tough. From developing and managing the campaign, to choosing a manufacturer, to staying on-time and under-budget–it’s a lot to manage, especially for young companies. I’ve launched two crowdfunding projects for PocketLab—a wireless sensor for makers and STEM educators—and have learned a lot in the process. Here are five crowdfunding lessons for hardware startups […]

Article

How Ford is Redefining Its Business to Meet a Shifting Industry

The development of autonomous vehicle technologies, coupled with a growing demand for personal transport options and decreasing interest in vehicle ownership, is radically impacting the automotive industry. Forward-thinking OEMs* like Ford are responding with a bold new strategy: redefining themselves as service-oriented mobility companies. We talk to Adi Singh, Research Scientist at Ford’s Silicon Valley-based […]

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On Demand

3 Strategies to Mitigate Risk in Product Development

In this on-demand webinar, Lockitron CEO Paul Gerhardt shares his lessons in bringing three versions of the keyless-entry smart lock to mass production and the strategies used to minimize delays and failures. During the webinar Paul offers insights on: Design for Simplicity: Learn how to balance consumer demand with factory capability and avoid over-complicating your […]

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Tracking New Life: Designing Prenatal Hardware

What would you say to an entrepreneur who wanted to make a product that customers could use for literally just nine months?  We’re not talking about planned obsolescence; we’re talking about a literal, physical inability to use the product. Not too smart in terms of user engagement, right? Of course, when we say “prenatal,” it […]