Quirky is actually the name of a company. It collects ideas on innovative products, allows “community members” on its list to vote and comment on them, and arranges to have some of them manufactured and sold. The idea is roughly similar to the wisdom of crowds, with many people being smarter than a few, and it also has the same strength and weaknesses.

The strength is that many people are in fact smarter than a few, especially about a topic that they have some knowledge about. The weakness is that a product that has never been made or sold is not a topic that most people are knowledgeable about. So, Quirky has some successes and some failures.

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