This video clip is from the beginning to Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 landmark film Apocalypse Now. If you turn up the volume on your PC, you'll hear some great music by The Doors. The lyrics are some of the most beautifully haunting in all of rock-and-roll: "This is the end / Beautiful friend / This is the end / My only friend, the end / Of our elaborate plans, the end / Of everything that stands, the end / No safety or surprise, the end / I'll never look into your eyes...again / Can you picture what will be / So limitless and free / Desperately in need...of some...stranger's hand/ In a...desperate land..."

Which is all a way of saying that this is the end of the Business Innovation Insider. I hope that you will join me at a new place on the web called Endless Innovation. (The name of the blog actually has several meanings, one of which ties in to the Doors song, and another to the final line of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species). All questions and comments, please direct to the following: basulto@gmail.com. Let's picture what will be, so limitless and free!

[video: Apocalypse Now]

A study of Silicon Valley's technology evangelists [Guy Kawasaki]
The exhibition title of the year [Richard Florida]
Larry Keeley on innovation [Success Books]
The most innovative engineering creations of 2006 [EDN]
Brain activity provides novel biometric key [New Scientist]
An innovative crime that will give any parent nightmares [New York Times]
Turning an industrial site into a green space for art [Olympic Sculpture Park]
Lenovo's "innovation triangle" includes Raleigh [WRAL.com]
The introspective leader's advantage [Management Issues]
The first thing ever sold on eBay [I did not know that yesterday!]

[video: Bryan Griffin of Chicago's Lyric Opera] (sorry, Colts fans!)

The global war against terror is apparently sparking a rise in the number of innovation prize competitions with a distinctly military flavor. For example, Singapore has launched an innovation prize contest to build a robot that can operate in urban warfare conditions without the assistance of satellite navigation or any kind of remote control device. Such a robot would be able to conduct search-and-destroy missions in war-torn, densely populated urban areas:

"The country's Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) is offering one million Singapore dollars ($652,000) to whoever develops a robot that completes a stipulated set of tasks – yet to be revealed – in the fastest time possible. DSTA said individuals, companies, universities and research institutes are all welcome to participate in the contest, dubbed the TechX Challenge, although foreigners must collaborate with local partners. "Operation in urban areas represents a significant challenge," DSTA chief executive Richard Lim said at the launch of the contest. "Recent military experiences in Iraq, the Middle East and other locations have clearly illustrated these challenges."

One day soon, instead of a "troop surge" in Iraq, I suppose the U.S. government will be announcing a "robot surge" in various terrorist-infested locations around the world.

[image: Black Hawk Down video game]

As CNN points out, the latest product innovation appearing at the corner coffee shop just might be a super-caffeinated donut:

"A molecular scientist who moonlights as a café owner [has] developed a way to add caffeine to baked goods, one that eliminates the natural, bitter taste of caffeine... The amount of caffeine in his creations can vary, but Bohannon can easily put 100 milligrams of caffeine -- the equivalent of a 5-ounce cup of drip-brewed coffee -- into the treats he plans to market under the "Buzz Donuts" and "Buzzed Bagels" names."

This is more than a half-baked idea (pun intended) -- there are already plans afoot to sell these caffeinated creations to companies like Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks. Nutritionists, of course, are aghast at the idea of doing anything to encourage the development a "super caffeine generation" that consumes way too many calories and way too much caffeine.

[image: Buzz Donut via AP]

According to Wired News, the U.S. military is stepping up development of "micro-munitions" -- tiny vehicles that fly through the air and deliver mission-specific payloads. (Trust me, these little robotic insects aren't delivering the mail - their payloads will be much more deadly) Apparently, the Israelis and British already have a few working prototypes:

"Israel is developing a robot the size of a hornet to attack terrorists. And although the prototype will not fly for three years, killer Micro Air Vehicles, or MAVs, are much closer than that. British Special Forces already use 6-inch MAV aircraft called WASPs for reconnaissance in Afghanistan. The $3,000 WASP is operated with a Gameboy-style controller and is nearly silent, so it can get very close without being detected. A new development will reportedly see the WASP fitted with a C4 explosive warhead for kamikaze attacks on snipers. One newspaper dubbed it "The Talibanator."

The only problem, of course, is if the bad guys wind up with a few of these MAVs: "Big dangers can ensue from terrorists. For instance, using MAVs with small explosive charges to assassinate high-level politicians or to transport biological/chemical agents into protected infrastructure."

Let the arms race begin! Last week, AeroVironment (ticker: AVAV), a maker of these micro-munitions for the U.S. military, raised more than $100 million in its IPO, with Goldman Sachs as the lead underwriter.

[image: AeroVironment's WASP]