Often when we think of innovation we think of software, semiconductors of biotech. However innovation can be anywhere, not just in the sectors where we work.

Two examples of this have come up recently - both in the unlikely area of gloves. I quite like wearing gloves, but they tend to get in the way of whatever you are doing. Often safety gloves can make the task at hand more dangerous by limiting your movements and grip. And in general use, clearly gloves will stop you mixing with other people’s slobber on hand grips on public transport, they generally prevent you from working your tech toys properly.

So, introducing two new-style fingerless gloves.

DeWalt have been offering fingerless work gloves for a while now, but I only started using them this summer. They are quite superb, turning your palms from a sensitive, fragile spot into a solid work surface. Forget cuts, bruises, burns, stains and banging - your hands are seriously well protected, yet you can do everything you’d normally do as your finger tips are exposed. Awesome. Recommended for anyone who does DIY, works on cars or bikes, or theatre tech.

And now I have a pair of Etre Touchy tech toy gloves. The thumb and index figure are exposed at the tip, originally to allow them to use their iPhones in the cold. However the gloves are ideal for pretty much anything, including simply fishing change out of your purse without taking off gloves. The only concern I’d had is that they are acrylic and have started to come unpicked on on open finger in a short time. The utility, however, is exceptional.

Last week I wrote a post about how even well-established technologies like ADSL  broadband are still remarkably unreliable compared to, say, voice telephony. But just as I pressed Publish, the office internet connection went down, the Ajax-based WordPress editor didn’t recover, and my post vanished into the bit bucket.

Proves the point, though.

Steve Jobs famously said that there would be no native iPhone apps in case they “took down AT&T’s network”. Well, 300m downloads later I haven’t heard of any major outages, although from some commentators’ comments on the speed of access it might be hard to tell.

But this week we now have something that could genuinely be a threat to network integrity - the unlocked G1. It is not just unlocked in the conventional sense of not being locked to one network operator - it lets you boot your own version of the operating system on it.

This raises all sorts of interesting questions about phone testing, qualification and approvals. I’m sure the carriers are just thrilled about the impending storm of Linux fans booting their own personal favourites and adding a whole new dimension to phone phreaking.

I’ve ordered mine, but I have no intention of fiddling around with booting. I just want to build some apps for it.

There’s been a surreal amount of sniping between the Nokia and Apple fanboy camps since the N97 was demoed in Barcelona this week. Feature-by-feature comparisons turn to personal slanging matches as the relative merits of a real keyboard vs a slim case fade into the background.

But nobody that I’ve seen has fixed on the one single most critical factor that could really make the difference: the data business model. The significant differentiator between iPhone and all other devices is that that it assumes that you can use data and doesn’t repeatedly warn the user that something awful might be about to happen.

A contact at Apple said to me recently “surely Nokia can just take out those irritating messages?” - but I’m not so sure. The operator-driven terror of letting users actually commit acts of internet activity without warning them that it might cost something is deeply ingrained. As is the idea that users might actually understand which data service they need to select.

The N97 has every chance of being a real iPhone competitor if it “comes with data” and Nokia take out all those  irritating messages. With the same old connectivity warnings it’s just another nice bit of engineering with great hidden features.

I’ve a guest post at FasterFuture today as David Cushman yet again shows us the power of community. Thanks mate!

For some reason the Scottish Software Awards are always on Friday nights, in this case last Friday. We won Emerging Company 2006, and this year came away with two runners-up awards:

- Best Software Product 2008
- Best Wireless/Mobile Product 2008

Congratulations to all the other winners, especially Mobile Acuity, KeyPoint Technologies, Mobiqa and 2fluid.

You can see our awards here.

Incidentally, Colin Adams, the person on the right of the photo on the awards ceremony, was my first boss back in 1986-1988!