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How to Select the Right Battery for Wearables and Consumer Electronics

These days, it’s rare to encounter a consumer electronics (CE) device that isn’t “smart.” Intelligent features — heart rate monitoring or GPS tracking, for instance — mean that CE devices require more power than ever in order to provide consumers with the applications they care about, all within smaller, portable devices. As a result, battery […]

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Sustainable Packaging Design: Keeping Your Electronics, and the Planet, Safe

We’re insulated from the cost of our garbage in America. As kids, we were trained to carefully place trash in the cans lining our streets. I’ll never forget the shock of seeing that same trash scattered along the streets in urban West Africa, but it did get me thinking: They can see their waste. What […]

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Problem-Solving for R&D

Why was Boeing’s 747 such a huge success, while BAC’s Concorde is currently out of commission? It’s because Boeing thoroughly researched their target market before developing their product, while BAC jumped right to the development, skipping the research. Boeing’s research revealed the need for a plane that could carry more passengers, while BAC incorrectly assumed […]

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Dissecting the Apple-like Aesthetic for Consumer Product Design

The Apple aesthetic is easily recalled even by people who aren’t consumer electronics design enthusiasts. What do you think of when you are asked to describe an Apple product? Metal and glass? White? Minimalist? Someone once commented that a prototype I had built looks very “Apple.” It was a rectangular prism with rounded edges, constructed […]

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Getting Intimate with Your Prototype: Lioness Spotlight

All startups have challenges. Funding. Staffing. Marketing. Sales. Customer service. If they’re hardware startups, they need to add supply chain, prototyping, and manufacturing to the mix. That’s all assuming their product or service is rated G. Lioness, a startup in the hardware manufacturing space, has an extra challenge—they  design and manufacture vibrators for women. This […]

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Democratizing Manufacturing Through Education: Introducing the Fictiv Hardware Guide

In today’s rapidly changing manufacturing environment, engineers are constantly trying to find their way through a very complex ecosystem to gain a competitive advantage and leverage the right tools to build their next product. Just last month, we hosted an event where a Abby Soong, a Mechanical Design Engineer at Momentum Machines, said that her […]

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Prototyping Showdown: 3D Printing vs. CNC Machining [VIDEO]

There are so many different ways to prototype and manufacture physical products, and at times, the list of materials and processes can feel daunting even for the most experienced engineers. At Fictiv, we’re working to give people more streamlined access to the best fabrication technology available. We’re also dedicated to helping engineers learn which fabrication […]

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Building Technology to Build Good Habits

Silicon Valley teems with slick hi-tech gadgets that make life, work, and play fun, but that at the end of the day none of us really, truly need. Then there are those devices that do actually improve lives or make play more interactive. But can a device help us change our habits? That’s the question designer […]

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Crowdfunding for Hardware Companies: The Dos and Don’ts of Successful Campaigns

As a hardware incubator and VC, we at SVV look at a few key things when considering a company to invest in. One thing that will automatically set you apart from other companies when attempting to raise institutional funding is a successful crowdfunding campaign. If you have one, we immediately take your company much more […]

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Designing for the User [VIDEO]

Andrei Gonzales said it best:  “Design isn’t about eye-candy. It’s about problem-solving. If your ‘design’ isn’t solving quantifiable issues, than it isn’t design, it’s decoration.” Here at Fictiv, we believe design drives innovation; it establishes how users learn about the value of a product and how they actually consume it in an experience. In a […]