Monday, August 19, 2002

The E-Business Chutzpah Still Lives!

So get a load of this blurb. I know it is long, but bear with me:
Affinnova enables consumer goods companies to improve their products’ success by including the “voice of the customer” quickly and effectively at any stage of the product development process. With Affinnova, consumers are no longer limited by static and abstracted Q&A market research instruments, but can participate directly in the design of new products by "evolving" preferred designs individually or as a group. At the heart of Affinnova’s platform is its patent-pending Interactive Evolutionary Design Algorithm (IDEA TM) technology that enables consumers to visually explore and react to high-quality images of potential product and packaging designs via the Internet. Based on simple “I like it”/”I don’t like it” feedback to holistic images, the Affinnova platform dynamically evolves the product’s color, shape, configuration, branding, and messaging to generate a new design with a greater affinity to the consumer’s preferences. As a result, Affinnova’s clients receive validated designs and rich market insights for new product innovations, product updates or brand extensions.
Yup, somebody is trying to build a market reasearch company by taking the "Am I Hot Or Not" paradigm and applying it to product development.

I think I know how to claim prior art to the patent: it sounds remarkably like the preview User Interface in the plastic surgery station in "Logan's Run", you know, where Farrah had her cameo.

Yes, I evaluate and remember UIs I see in movies.