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Security Innovation & the Bendy Hammer

February 17th, 2008 Leave a comment Go to comments

MaxstrikeSee that odd looking hammer to the left?  It’s called the MaxiStrike from Redback Tools.

No, it hasn’t been run over by a Panzer, nor was there grease on the lens  during the photography session. 

Believe it or not, that odd little bend enables this 20 ounce mallet with the following features:

     > maximize strike force

     > reduce missed hits

     > leave clearance for nailing in cramped areas

All from that one little left hand turn from linear thought in product design.

You remember that series of posts I did on Disruptive Innovation?

This is a perfect illustration of how innovation can be "evolutionary" as opposed to revolutionary.

Incrementalism can be just as impacting as one of those tipping point "big-bang" events that have desensitized us to some of the really cool things that pop up and can actually make a difference.

So I know this hammer isn’t going to cure cancer, but it makes for easier, more efficient and more accurate nailing.  Sometimes that’s worth a hell of a lot to someone who does a lot of hammering…

Things like this happen around us all the time — even in our little security puddle of an industry. 

It’s often quite fun when you spot them.

I bet if you tried, you can come up with some examples in security.

Well?

  1. February 21st, 2008 at 05:34 | #1

    You're kidding right? Did you accidentally pick up the marketing kool-aid instead of the orange juice this morning?
    I guess I can ask a pointed question: Do you really think that bend in the hammer allows you to miss fewer nails, maximize your strikes, and fit into tighter places? If so, I have a lot of security services I can dub "innovations" for you to buy…including this old box I have at home that has magic dust bunnies in it that help protect and insulate your data from hackers and the cold elements of winter…
    I like your idea of disruptive innovation, but this post…wtf? 🙂 Sounds like someone wants to charge an extra 25 cents per hammer sold…

  2. February 21st, 2008 at 13:28 | #2

    So here's the difference between you and I — and kool-aid versus reality-juice.
    I now actually *own* one of these hammers.
    To be honest, I didn't buy it, it was given to me as a present by a friend from Canada…mostly as a gag thanks to this post.
    When compared to my existing (and trusty) Red Wing 24 oz framing hammer, it actually does make hammering easier for longer periods of time. I'm pretty accurate with a hammer, so I didn't see much if any improvement there. I will further suggest that I did not test in confined space.
    If you'd like the empirical results of my testing…aw, shucks, I'll give it to you anyway:
    4×6 Douglas Pine
    Double-Head 8 nails
    I used the same relative striking force to hammer each nail once started to an equal depth into the same sectional area of wood.
    The MaxiStrike, on average, accounted for a minimum of two less strikes per nail to drive to the first stop.
    While you may not be a customer for this hammer, there are some that would see a two strike per nail difference as important enough a data point to consider buying one.
    So there's the answer to your "pointed question" and a demonstration that everything doesn't look like a nail just because you have a hammer.
    Thanks for the really constructive post though (insert rolling eyes here…) If there were a blog version of this hammer I'd buy it for you so you could:
    > maximize comment force
    > reduce missed points
    > leave clearance for railing (on my posts) in cramped areas
    😉
    /Hoff

  3. February 22nd, 2008 at 10:21 | #3

    lol

  4. February 22nd, 2008 at 10:23 | #4

    I couldn't make this crap up if I wanted to.
    I need to post something about the iPhone so someone will send me one ;(
    /Hoff

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