Being an innovator often means being an early adopter. You are the one testing tools, gadgets, and technologies before the rest of the world even knows they exist. In my gadget-strategy blog I explained why I set aside a yearly budget to explore emerging technologies. Not just for fun, but to understand their real-world value and anticipate which innovations could shape the future.

Being an innovator means stepping into the future before it is fully ready.

And here is the truth: living on the edge of innovation is both a struggle and a delight.

Innovation Struggles - When Systems Do Not Match

Take my journey with Philips Hue smart lamps. I was a fan from day one. At first they were just a fun gadget, but things got really interesting when Google Home voice control became available. Suddenly, controlling light in an open space by voice was not just cool, it was practical.

We expanded our setup so much that we eventually hit the technical limits of the Hue hub. Voice worked fine for global room control, but for more complex setups we felt the need for physical buttons again. Enter flic.io, a neat solution that gave us back tactile control.

Everything was great - until I upgraded to the Hue Pro Hub. That is when the system broke. Flic buttons were not compatible, and when I contacted the company, they explained that since the hub was not even available in Sweden yet, they had not been able to test it. Instead, they directed me to the Matter interface, which can work as an alternative to the native Hue interface - but of course, it is another layer to manage in an already complex setup.

In innovation, the roadblocks rarely lie in single products. They appear in the connections between them.

This is classic early adopter territory: innovation often breaks at the intersections of different products and systems.

It is a wider truth in innovation. Products have different life cycles, and when those cycles need to collaborate, friction appears. Think about it: my house is perfectly fine after 25 years, but the home control system inside it has become a liability. Programming it still requires a Windows 98 computer that I hope continues to boot up. That is the reality of mismatched timelines - some things are built for decades, others for just a few years.

When product life cycles clash, even solid systems start to crumble.

The lesson? Pre-release testing across systems and life cycles is not a luxury, it is essential. Without it, innovators become the accidental beta testers, shouldering the frustrations that eventually help technologies mature.

Innovation Delights - When Technology Simply Works

Of course, there is the other side of the coin: the joy when something just works.

Take the newly released COMET browser by Perplexity. As an innovator, my curiosity meant I had to try it immediately. I was hesitant to make it my default - switching browsers is a big deal - but one test changed everything.

Delight is not just convenience - it is the tipping point where innovation turns into loyalty.

I opened the webpage of an event and simply asked COMET to add the event to my calendar. What happened next was pure delight. Not only did it execute flawlessly, it actually searched the website for relevant details and enriched the calendar entry automatically. No manual copying, no fiddling. Just smooth, intelligent execution. Check the video below.

For the first time, I felt a glimpse of the long-promised virtual personal assistant - tools that do not just respond, but proactively help. We are not fully there yet, but COMET by Perplexity is certainly a strong promise in that direction.

For the first time I have the feeling that the long promise of a virtual personal assistant is becoming real.

The Innovator’s Journey - Balancing Struggles and Delights

Being an innovator means living between frustration and fascination.

• The struggles reveal where systems need to mature and where mismatched life cycles hold back progress.
• The delights show us what is possible and spark the energy to keep exploring.

Innovation lives in the tension between friction and flow.

Both are essential. Without the struggles, there is no pressure for improvement. Without the delights, there is no reason to adopt.

Struggles push innovation to mature, delights give us the energy to adopt.

And that is why innovators keep experimenting. Not because every gadget is perfect, but because every trial - whether it ends in a broken button or a seamless calendar entry - brings us closer to technologies and collaborations that truly deliver progress and growth.