Walk into Best Buy, and you’ll find shelves stacked with easy-to-categorize products: TVs are bundled on one side, computers in another, game systems somewhere else. The unshakable conclusion: The hardware world has become dangerously predictable.
Call it an addiction to “bucketed”—or easily categorizable gadgets. I was first introduced to this term I during a recent conversation with some employees of Grand St., a new online retailer that specializes in what they call “unbucketed” gadgets—many of which come from independent inventors—that shirk easy labels. Creative stuff: Slashy items like a cutting boards-slash-iPad-stand, and totally newfangled devices like a phone charger that uses heat from your kitchen stovetop.
To read the original article: Why Independent Inventors Matter For Innovation - Forbes