10,000 Brilliant Ideas

#6723 Gym bike

2012-01-02T00:06:00.000-08:00

I like the idea of beefing up at the gym, but it seems like a bit of a waste of time to me. Can we make a commuter bike with several different ways of propelling it that will work out different muscle groups? I realize this would make one look like an idiot going down the road doing curls to move, but that's not an idea I'm worried about.

#8678 point to point air club

2012-01-01T23:53:00.001-08:00

How hard would it be to arrange an ad-hoc arrival and departure at an airport for a 747? If the answer is "not impossible", then this idea might work. (disclaimer, I think I already posted something like this. Consider this a refinement.)Get a plane and a web site and a group of admin people who are superb at figuring out arrangements. Then open up for people to join the flying club. You join, then put in possible travel plans way in advance. You can see what routes other people are thinking about to see what's more popular and more likely to actually happen. Then when some cut-off point occurs, whether enough people interested or 6 months ahead or whatever, then an itinerary is laid out and people get the chance to buy a ticket. Those who already expressed interest are given first priority. This works out to the plane flying an irregular schedule around the world. The admin team then arranges arrival and departure with each airport. As long as passengers are buying their point to point ticket, it's cheaper to run than other airlines, since each passenger is in the air for a shorter amount of time. Of course, you could actually have a bus-like stop to stop that's actually more or less on course that would work as well. I.e. the plane goes to New Zealand and then on to Australia. People could buy tickets for both legs and still come out ahead.Could this run as private travel rather than commercial? I don't know. But cool if it did and we could manage our own security/baggage/etc. I could also see classes being divided up differently, since this may not be too appealing to business and first. I could also see a more communal culture being developed where people help each other with bags and share food, because hey, you're all part of the same club.While this does depart (npi) from the traditional set airline schedule (Now with 5 flights a day to Miami!), I move that that is a very airline-centric way of looking at it. And this isn't just because it was only a few years ago that I realized there even was a set schedule. Airlines think like train schedules. Passengers do not. They commute on schedules. They fly more like taking a road trip. Whenever that plane going to where I wanna go leaves, I'm gettin on it.

#7483 Hi-and-dry rain gear

2011-11-11T05:08:00.001-08:00

When the rain is coming down lightly so that it's a bit annoying in your face, a regular umbrella works wonders. Anything more and it really is lacking. Okay sure your head and hand are dry, but the rain comes down off your umbrella and onto the bottom of your pants. Even with rain boots on, you have to be wearing waders to avoid any splashing. And if there's even a bit of wind, forget it.

The other day, I saw a woman with a dome umbrella, which is the kind where you're meant to stick your head up in the umbrella and look out through its see-through self. (I didn't know people actually used these, but there she was). This re-sparked my idea for the ultimate commuter rain gear.

Imagine a set of attractive rainboots with clear durable plastic connected to the tops, which then goes all the way up to connect to a dome umbrella. You take off your shoes, tuck them in a bag, step into the boots, pull the umbrella up over your head and zip up the side. There are plenty of vents around the hands and in the top for air and for you to put your hand out to unlock a door or whatever and you can walk out in the dumpiest of pummeling rain and literally, not get wet.

#7654 hot-button on phone for answering during meetings

2011-10-31T09:05:00.000-07:00

If you're one of those people who absolutely must answer your phone no matter what meeting you're in, then this might at least avoid some embarrassment. You answer by pushing the green button, you push another button that plays a pre-recorded greeting in your voice to the caller that says "hello", then you decide to take it or not and push another button that either says "I'm in a meeting, hold on one second while I walk out of the room" or one that says "I'm actually in a meeting, can I call you back as soon as it's finished? Okay, thanks. Bye." And you never have to say a word out loud.

#4783 EyeSpy iPhone app

2011-10-25T14:55:00.000-07:00

I heard some complaints about kids being glued to their digital media during road trips and missing out on the "that's the way we used to do it"-type scenery watching etc. So how about an app that makes a giant I spy game based on images on google maps? As you're driving, it will tell you what to look out for. Kids can vote up and down the images to keep the good ones at the top. They can also take pictures while they go along to add to the game.

#0893 incentivise long-lasting products

2011-08-26T07:51:00.000-07:00

Companies have no incentive to make their products last particularly long. Of course they have the incentive to make their products last as short as possible without customers believing they are of lower quality or too environmentally irresponsible. Is there some way to reverse this by having an insurance scheme type approach where, let's say you pay into a yearly membership for, I dunno, cleaning sponges. You pay your yearly dues and whenever your sponge gets stinky or wears out, you pay a small amount (representing a loss for the company/manufacturer) for a new one. Thus, the company/manufacturer's incentive is to have their sponges last as long as possible and help you the consumer make the item last as long as possible.

But then, we all like new stuff, right? True. See this idea. Perhaps there's a way to hibridize these ideas. Hmmmmmm.

#9845 New-stuff club

2011-08-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love new stuff? Ever since your first day of school when you had brand new shoes, a new shirt and pair of pants, a new spiderman belt with a magnet (well I did anyway) and even new socks and underwear - you love being in new stuff.

So instead of getting something new occasionally and then wearing it to the ground or disposing of things willy-nilly, you can join the new-stuff club. It works like this.

- You pay your dues (of course)
- You get a catalogue and pick out the new things you want
- On a pre-determined schedule you receive a notice that you can now pick out a new one of the item you got.
- A robot or something comes and picks up the old one and leaves you with the new one.
- The old one is re-sold

The pre-determined time would be based on optimum re-sale possibilities. This could even work like a charity where your used products are given away or sold to the poor for cheap. I think some people do this anyway, but why not formalize and officialize the process?

#8594 drum head yogurt cups

2011-08-26T07:34:00.000-07:00

A promo scheme for some yogurt maker (or the like) where the yogurt comes in tight plastic (or something else) cups that can be played afterward. You can have several sizes and collect the set. Of course you could also pay a little more for sticks and the stand where each of the containers fit snugly into.

#9873 Linked-fuse fireworks

2011-08-03T00:59:00.000-07:00

Fireworks are one of those sketchy areas where the only reason they're still allowed to exist is purely tradition and anything that departs from the norm is tragically unsafe because the whole thing is unsafe, even though the new idea might make it less unsafe. If you follow me.

That said, this is a brand of fireworks that has an in-fuse and an out-fuse (color coded). The out-fuse is exactly the right length for the time it takes the firework to go off. Thus, when one finishes, it lights the next one. In this way you can daisy-chain several fireworks together and have a full show that you only have to light once.

Could this be safer? Well, fewer lightings mean fewer chances of getting hit or burned. A controlled method of lighting multiple fireworks means fewer cobbled-together attempts that so often result in bottle rockets pointing non-upwards. And if you made the spark on the fuse very obvious, then people are unlikely to walk-up mid-show to see if the next one needs lighting.

#4325 Cologne money clip

2011-08-03T00:52:00.000-07:00

Mr Klein, here's an easy one for you. Make a credit-card sized bottle of cologne. Slip it in a leather pouch with a pocket for a couple credit cards and a money clip on the other side. Dudes headed out a clubbin' will have everything they need right there.

#6724 LinkFace

2011-08-03T00:48:00.000-07:00

The job hunt is not fun for anyone. You tweak your resume to look hoity toity - synonyming every verb to give maximum punch. You drop your current friendships into the sacrificial volcano of 'business contacts' - and feel like you're doing dirty murder in the process. You spend hours perusing job listings and writing and re-writing cover letters and that ol resume, to look like you are the guy reincarnate who just left the job.

The employer side isn't much better. You try and imagine the requirements of this ideal future candidate. You wait on HR to screen the butt-load that come in. You go over the shortlist trying to find that one person who isn't going to be a pain in your side for years to come. You interview and try to size up someone based on 15 minutes, extrapolating interview skills to fork-lift driving skills (or whatever it is). And maybe you feel like a horrible person smashing each candidate's orb of hopes and dreams with your baseball bat of reality.

It takes forever and is rarely any fun. And despite all these prerequisites, how often does the right person get the right job? Only about some-that-I-should-look-up% of the time.

What you really want to do is steal that one girl from the neighboring department. Everyone likes her. And she's good, you've seen her stuff. And she has a personality that you could really get along with, yea even enjoy. How awesome would it be to have her on the team.

Am I making broad assumptions here about the hiring process, the table of which I have only been on one side? Yes, yes I am. If you know otherwise, correct me.

The answer to this dilemma is surely multifaceted, but here is perhaps a solution to part of it.

So, my resume is a mess. I'm the guy who didn't have a "clear trajectory" in my development path. In fact, I always envied the people who knew in middle school exactly what they wanted to do (besides astronaut and mermaid). But alas, that wasn't me and I flip-flopped from engineer to artist, to filmmaker, to public healther. When employers and worse yet, people trying to help me out, see my resume they let out a big breath and say, "okay, hmm. Where should we start..."

And yet, I'm brilliant at what I do (don't laugh). No really. I think there are loads of people out there who are the types that employers want, but "don't look good on paper". But actually they would probably do pretty well in an interview with the right kind of open-minded employer. In fact, I'll take it a step further. I'll say the truly innovative, truly game-changing, truly interesting and creative employees don't have such a clear-cut resume. Sure, if you want a guy to be exactly like the guy that just retired, yes, use the traditional hiring means to get someone who matches that exactly. But if you want to stay cutting edge competitive, you have to hire in ways you haven't done before. (At least, for my sake, I hope these theories are true.)

Finally, jeez, am I going to get to my idea? Well, almost. Lastly, I hate LinkedIn and the like. I feel so cheap and salesy on those things. I feel like if I don't have a studioed head-shot I'll be put to the bottom of the list. And the regular emails that pep me up with "stand out from the pack" type phrases, do nothing for me. Probably because I know in my heart of hearts, my resume can't stand out, because I can't say "ivy league" or "supervisor" or "cum laude" on there without being a bald-faced liar.

So, how about a type of linked in for the "bad on paper" crowd? One where you can effectively "interview" each other and identify the strengths of each person. Could we rate each other? If I were hiring a programmer and I saw someone's ranking on stackoverflow I'd have a pretty good idea how useful they are (and how much time they answer people's questions for free.) Perhaps a bigger focus on ideas and outside-the-box stuff rather than touting inflated accomplishments. It would be the kind of place a brand-new start-up would find partners rather than an established company would fill functions.

And then could finding a job be . . . fun?

# 7986 News by importance score

2011-06-29T02:29:00.000-07:00

I have a plethora of issues with the consumption of news network news. I don't trust news people to be competent or fair. By the time I get wind of a story I should really know about, I can only find stories about the ramifications caused by the byproducts of the actual event. And for the most part, I'm not that interested in the fluffity fluff that editors/directors have to fill their papers/newscasts/web pages with.

For these reasons, I only have three news sources - Wikipedia, the Onion, and my friend Fred.

I'm not sure really the answer to all of these problems, but this idea seeks to fix the fluffity fluff.

What if you have a news feed that instead of based on importance rank (e.g. most important on the front page, next important below that, etc.), is based on inherent importance of the story. Let's say score is given 1 to 100. Riot in Egypt is given a 90+, Quiet Riot reunion tour a <10. Then you can subscribe to whatever level you want. If I'm only interested in/have time for 90+ stories then I receive no emails until something big comes along. Then maybe I'll get two in a row, because another riot breaks out in Libya. Then maybe a lull for awhile and so on. This may be analogous to Aunt Margaret phoning with important family news.

How would the score be determined? I don't know. Google hits? A crowd-sourced news feed? Editors assign a score? Many options could work as long as they are timely.

Google alerts of course exists, but this is still by rank. You know, maybe I am still interested in rank, just on a bigger scale like yearly. If I could be notified of the top 25 stories of the year as they happen and nothing else, that would be magic. Well, actually Fred does this for me, but what about the rest of the world?

#6675 Froggersection

2011-06-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've been ironing out the details of this for a few days (once the hamster wheel gets turning it's hard to shut 'er down).

This is a bridge-less intersection where one road never has to stop. Permit me to illustrate in 8 easy steps. Yes, I did make this in so-elegant powerpoint 2003. Yes, some of the steps are doubled up. (You know. I had dreams of animating this thing.)

#6555 Two cruise control settings

2011-06-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

Perhaps this is only a problem in Switzerland, but here the freeway is 120 and for tunnels and around cities it's 100. Of course, there are a lot of tunnels here. How about a cruise control that memorizes two speeds?

#7689 Learn statistics computer game

2011-06-04T02:13:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking of a game where you can send out your lemmings to gather data on a population. Then it's up to you to crunch the data to estimate the factor in the population. This can then be compared with the true population numbers. Thus making statistics a little more grounded and meaningful.

This could also help learn other population-based disciplines like public health or public policy.

What is SIMS, but a trainer for Urban planning?

#5623 Counter-top recycler

2011-05-26T10:29:00.001-07:00

For those not yet on the single-stream craze, imagine a cool recycling thing that accepts, let's say, glass, paper, cans and plastic bottles. You remember those cool sorting coin banks they used to have? You put a coin in and it sorts it into the right compartment? Sort of along that same vein, you put something to be recycled in the top, turn the crank and it shreds, smashes, or flattens the item and lands it in the correct bin. This has many advantages. 1-it's fun. 2-kids will love doing it. 3-it takes up a lot less space for apartment dwellers. 4-it takes up less space in recycling bins saving more energy. 5-it looks cool.

#4534 Vacuum side-suck

2011-05-26T10:27:00.001-07:00

You know the corners that you try to vacuum as close as you can, but it's never close enough? How about a little door on the side of your vacuum that opens when pressed against something (like a wall). When open it sucks out of the side of the vacuum. When moved away from the wall it automatically shuts.

#8763 18-yr-old "welcome to the board" brochure

2011-05-12T05:35:00.000-07:00

I realize I wasn't the most with it teenager, but I certainly wasn't the bottom of the ladder. My knowledge of politics and the political system was restricted to national systems and that was last informed in 5th grade. What I'm thinking of is some kind of letter or email or web site where a new 18-yr-old can go to and see "Hey, you're of legal voting age. Welcome to the board." This would then explain that there are a whole lot of public servants out there working for you. And in fact, you don't have to hate the police, because in effect they work for you. And if you have a problem you can contact Mr Chief of Police or you can vote for the other guy when reelection time comes up. Also you have all these other people working for you including the mayor, governor, and up. If you think things should be run differently (and chances are they should) you should write to this person, or attend this meeting, or vote this way.

Essentially demystify the behemoth of government and get the power back to the people (albeit 18-yr-old people). And of course this can be useful to other not-so-18 citizens as well.

#4803 kids playing in the sink/tub pump

2011-05-12T05:32:00.000-07:00

Kids love to play in the sink. Mine do anyway. They enjoy a basin of water as much as the next kid, but they really want the tap on-full blast. Couldn't we invent a pump that keeps the water flowin without causing local droughts? If electric isn't feasible, perhaps using the pressure from the tap to circulate some water (albeit not at the same volume).

#4565 Soft Skills Certification

2011-05-07T04:40:00.000-07:00

Employers want someone with skillz, mad skillz. True. But they also want someone they can work with. Someone with soft skills. We all know people who were hired because they looked good on paper, and actually they could do everything they said they could, but they just didn't get along with their boss, coworkers etc. Personality conflicts. Are they unavoidable? Do you just have to hire with your fingers crossed and try someone out for 6 months? You can contact references, but legally in the US about all you can ask is "did this person work for you?" And why in the world would that person give an honest appraisal? What have they got to lose? And chances are, they could be a competitor.

And what about the potential employee? There are scads of people that would be great to have on board. But how do you put soft skills on a resume?

Well with this new company, you can. Much like microsoft certification, this company certifies people with soft skills. The difference with microsoft is this seeks to certify people who already have the skills, not necessarily train them in the skills. I'm of the opinion that these can be honed, but you kinda either got em or you don't. I'm not sure how this can be done, but I'm sure it could be figured out. Perhaps a combination of rating from current employer, colleagues and customers to overall analysis of "soft resume". This would be a challenge for sure, but anything's better than what we have now.

So maybe there's hope for you, yet, mr nice guy good communicator!

#4789 Child tracker

2011-05-06T05:23:00.000-07:00

Surely this already exists and a bit of research would turn up whether it serves this exact need or not or if it needs to be adapted. But how about if a school puts in little scanner thingies on every classroom doorway and then requires each child to wear a badge or something. If a child hasn't come through the door at the specified time a text is instantly sent to the parent. Although this may be handy for all kids (teens will game the system of course) I'm thinking more for primary school-aged kids. This would prevent the dreaded situation of a child being forgotten in the car in the parent's work parking lot or left sleeping on the bus.

#5674 Globe groups

2011-04-10T03:44:00.000-07:00

An idea stemmed from my conversation with a friend last night. For teens who's eyes have just been opened to the world, how about an on-line group where each logger-on fills out a profile for where they're from, and nationality, etc. and are then matched into a group with exactly one person from each country/region. The group defines a strong community and each member feels important since they are the only one of their kind in the group. Perhaps this could overcome the insulated effect that teens get into where the rest of the world is just too far away.

#8094 Meta-analysis explorer

2011-04-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

Why doesn't this exist? If it does, where is it?

I want a tool not unlike gapminder that takes summary statistics from tons of studies and allows me to mash them together.

Traditionally, this has been done with meta-analyses which are studies of studies that compare these outcomes and using different weights and probably other things (you want me to read wikipedia on this?) to come up with some sort of broad conclusion based on all the evidence.

Granted, this may not be as scientifically sound, but hey, everyone's doing homemade ecological studies (these are the gapminder kind) and I don't see anyone cryin'.

Here's the experience (for anyone I haven't lost)

I have a kid who hates to wear his seatbelt (hypothetical here of course). I think what are the actual risks if you don't wear a seatbelt. So I look up the Meta-analysis explorer under seat-belts for kids and I narrow it down to around his age range and I get some statistic like, A kid in the US who doesn't wear his seatbelt is 45 times more likely to die in a car crash. Hm, then I think, what's the chance of having a car crash? And then I look that up and it says "on average in your state 80 serious crashes occur every day. If you are on the road today, you have a 1 in 10,000 chance of being in a crash. If you drive everyday this year, you have a 1 in 400 chance of being involved in a crash." Hm, I guess I better make him enjoy his seatbelt.

Okay you're right, some of that data would come from highway crash reports, not a specific study. But why can't we have all this evidence in one place? And not have to swim through a hundred hefty journal articles to get to it?

Breakin' free

2011-04-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

Dear reader,

I address you as reader, because I am making the brash assumption that there is one of you. I realize this may be an overestimation. Unless I include myself.

You may think this blog is getting rusty and dusty. That I've forgotten all about it. This is entirely sort of not true. The truth is I've been throwing in posts now and again, but I only save them as drafts meaning to polish them up later. Yeah, hm.

So now, I'm posting willy nilly. You're getting it raw and uncut. If I do come back and edit, it will be on the live post. So if you're hoping one of these will never change, tough beans. Copy it to your hard-drive, you. Get off my back! You don't know what it's like to be me!!!!!

Sorry, but that is the rawness I'm talking about. From now on, you're getting draft posts whenever I think of em. I may give it a read over before posting, but maybe not. I'm a productionist afterall not a perfektionist. Be warned, I may be straining the definition of "brilliant" with this, but better alive and ugly than dead and beautiful.

Yours truly,
Tom

#8905 Scarfglovat set

2011-02-15T04:47:00.001-08:00

All I want is a big scarf with a big pocket in each end. In one pocket is a pair of matching gloves and in the other a matching hat.

That's all.

#5913 Polychronic watch

2011-02-07T23:45:00.000-08:00

There are people who are late, and then there are people who are really late. Most of us have had a run with showing up 5 minutes late for a series of events - there's just too much to do in the time allotted. But then there are people who are really late - like hours late. I won't pretend to understand the science behind this, but I'll give these people a cop-out and say they are just running on polychronic time.

I may be misunderstanding this, but for my purposes, I'll say it's looking at time like when you were a kid. You didn't know when the school bus came. You just waited until you mom said "your bus is here" and then you went outside. 7:52 meant nothing to you. I've occasionally relapsed into this mode as well, but I think the hour-laters are in it much more often.

Enter the polychronic watch. It works thusly. You enter an appointment in your watch and it asks you a series of questions: what time the appointment is, how much time do you need to get ready (none, some, a lot), where is it (address or town). Then as the event approaches the watch gives smart reminders like: "You probably want to start finishing up now. You should be driving out in about a half hour." or "If you want to make it before the beginning, you'll need to leave in five minutes." The watch also looks for holes in the schedule and asks if there is anything planned during that time, so events aren't missed. When an event is repeated, the watch asks if it is a repeated event and then plans accordingly. The watch also has a GPS device that calculates necessary travel time. It keeps records of how long things take and tailors itself to the user (ie when the user says some time to get ready how many minutes does that really mean).

Think of it like a GPS with turn-by-turn directions. Or think of it like a mini robot-maid (like Rosie on the Jetsons). This could obviously be an iphone app, but a stylish watch version should be available for the less technologically inclined.

#7682 Couple trains

2010-04-18T11:55:00.000-07:00

I know this must have been dreamed up before. How can you ride a train and not think of ways of doing it better?. But why doesn't it exist yet? Specifically, why doesn't it exist on my commute? I could sleep in an extra 10 minutes!

Basically these are stopless trains. They are made up of several short cars with automatic doors on each end that couple together automatically. There is one of these coupled units at each stop. You come to the stop hop on the short car in front of you and when the train nears the stop, the car takes off on it's own in front of the train. The train catches up to it and couples on and the doors in the back open up. You then walk back through the train to the car of the stop you're getting off on (as seen by the digital notice boards) and sit down. The train drives full speed until your stop when the doors in front close and your segment detaches and slows down to the stop. You hop off enjoying the fastest land commute known to man. Not to mention the fuel savings for not stopping the entire train each time!

#7483 Broadcast Café

2010-01-27T01:10:00.000-08:00

This café is wired. There are cameras and microphones everywhere. What goes on inside is constantly broadcast in real-time on the café's website. There is a bold disclaimer on the front door telling everyone who enters that their conversation and image will be viewable by anyone accessing the site. It is open from 6am to 2am the next morning to maximize global viewing time, without becoming too seedy. It is located in New York or LA or maybe both.

Another option: At the same time, monitors in the cafe show analytics in real time of how many people are on the website and where they are located. Maybe it even shows how many people are watching each camera and listening to each microphone. Perhaps people on-line could post chats and be active participants as well.

Would no one want to go to a café where their privacy is completely nil? Would no one want to sit at their computer and watch people living instead of doing it themselves? Or do people have an inner desire to be seen, especially on the screen (especially if it were in LA)? Or are people intrigued with the details of other people's lives (imagine a similar café in Paris)? Would people gradually forget they were on camera (the cameras and mics would be inconspicuous) and start talking like they would in any café? Would the on-line and off-line worlds become so intertwined that people would enter the café and actually be absorbed into the internet and vice versa?

#7384 Digital Polaroid Camera

2009-12-06T12:58:00.000-08:00

This camera you load with polaroid film, It takes a picture straight to print in the classic polaroid style and it also captures a digital version of it.

I'm sure with a little imagination there could be a lot of uses for this, but one (where I got the idea) is traveling in poorer places, you could take people's photos and then give them the print and you get to keep the digital. That way you feel like you're sort of providing a service rather than just poaching culture (did I just say that?)

#8799 Shot-gun microphone for Q&A sessions

2009-12-05T14:19:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been in a speech or something where the speaker fields questions from the audience? If you weren't in a UN-style microphone-at-every-seat equipped room, then you probably saw one or two saps running the microphone around to those asking questions. I was this sap recently in a press conference, and although I consider myself quite agile, it still delayed things and was noisy for the cameras (not to mention my beautimous profile when I had to run in front of them).

I've also heard people bragging about shot-gun mics that can pick up someone's voice leagues away. Couldn't these work in this situation, where the sap can just stand at the front with headphones on and point the mic at whoever is talking? Maybe it wouldn't work so well in a football stadium, but surely a 20-person press conference could manage. Right?

#3489 Moving-average bill payment

2009-12-05T14:00:00.003-08:00

Take the volatility out of monthly bills. This service pays all your bills for you and just sends you one total bill. After the first few months of using the one-bill service, the one-bill comes as an average of previous months with a bit of cushion. Thus instead of your expenses changing by 20% from month to month, they only change by say 5%.

Possibility 1 - The service could be free, and just makes money on the interest of the "cushion of money". It could also just be a service banks could offer.

Possibility 2 - The service could allow for automatically loaning money during an especially high-expense month. This could make it sort of a mix between a credit agency and insurance agency. I'm sure someone smart could figure out the details here.

#7896 Variable Water Faucet

2009-12-05T14:00:00.002-08:00

I'll admit I haven't taken apart my shower faucet to see the mechanics of how the hot and cold are mixed together, but I'm pretty sure it's quite simple. I imagine however many degrees it is from frigid to scalding are divided up evenly over the range of travel of the tap. I live now in 3 areas of this tap, full cold (when filling water balloons or something), full hot (when the hot water is nearly gone and I'm trying to maximize what's left), and ideal warm which I obviously use the most. Full cold and full hot are easy to find, but warm is a trick. Let's say the range of the tap goes from 1 (full cold) to 100 (full hot). I live in 1, 100, and 63 to 63.5.

So. I see no reason why the clever engineers at Kohler or wherever can't expand the middle range so the warm temperature has a wider range. Like from 15 to 85. That way it's a whole lot easier to find that ideal temperature which allows me to take way too long in the shower leaving no hot water for anyone else.

#0934 Cream-cheese singles for bagels

2009-12-05T13:55:00.000-08:00

Mimicking the ease and simplicity aspect of Kraft singles (not the nasty taste part), these are bagel shaped single servings of cream cheese, wrapped the same way. If you've ever tried to spread colder-than-room-temperature cream cheese on a should-have-been-toasted bagel, then I think you know the need for this.

#8452 Captcha for telephones

2009-12-05T13:43:00.000-08:00

Since the telemarketing industry has economized and largely replaced human telemarketers with machines, we can cash in on this and create the phone captcha. A captcha is that thing on web pages with scrambly looking letters and numbers that you have to type in to prove you're a human and not some computer program. Similarly the phone message would start like this: "This number does not accept calls from telemarketers. If you are a telemarketer, please hang up now and remove this number from your call list. If not, please dial the following numbers: three, nine, fifty-one." The person then dials the numbers to get through. The machine keeps a white list of phone numbers that have been cleared so a caller only has to pass the test once (unless their number is anonymous).

The dial challenge could of course be made more advanced if it seemed like there was a threat of a counter-system with voice recognition: "please enter the quarter circumference value of a train leaving boston at fifty miles an hour..."

Yes I realize there is a do-not-call list. I also realize that it doesn't work (at least for my mom).

#4535 Co-op flight club

2009-10-17T14:30:00.000-07:00

You join the club. Fill out your profile with places you travel most and places you'd most like to go to along with general dates. When enough people have a similar destination and dates, we charter a plane and split the costs. The communal team spirit results in everyone helping everyone. Pot luck on the plane, loading each other's bags, etc.

jetcharterpool.com but bigger.

#8573 Ruled café napkins

2008-09-18T04:10:00.001-07:00

For cheeky cafés who know people come there to discuss their great ideas, these napkins come with notebook paper print on the back.

#7483 USB copying coil

2008-07-31T07:34:00.001-07:00

We are quickly nearing the time when the once-cool CD is going to tip its hat and fade out the door into the fog of obsolescence. The CD was a great way to get people data that would be difficult to obtain over the internet - either due to the size of data to be shared or due to poor connections or both. Now we're seeing cheap USB keys fulfilling this function. You attend a conference, and receive the background materials on a USB key rather than a CD-rom. Why? Probably a few reasons, not the least of which is CD drives are heavy and more and more people are leaving them off their laptops.

But getting a bunch of the same info on a bunch of USB keys one by one could be a bit time consuming. What is the new mass CD burner for USBs? Why the USB copy coil of coise!

Imagine a little USB with a plug part on one side and a receiver part on the other. Then imagine a hundred of these keys hooked to each other in a long train. Then imagine this train coiled up into a snail-like shape. Then imagine a cool dispenser that you can put the coil in.

Using the powers of the computers you simply plug one end of the coil into your USB drive, copy your files to it and it copies the copies to all 1 hundred USB keys at onec. Voila you're done!

#1783 Chef's Soap

2008-07-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

For the hands-on cook who needs clean hands, but not necessarily scented hands. This soap is specially unscented (or MSG scented) so you don't worry about your tossed salad tasting like musk (or your goulash tasting like grapefruit).

#4293 plug-in lights and ornaments

2008-07-29T01:16:00.000-07:00

Everyone's a collector of Christmas ornaments, but now you can be a collector of Christmas lights too. You buy a strand of lights originally and then you collect different ornaments and lights that plug into the strand. Each ornament moves or lights up or both.

#7874 thatsme.com photography

2008-07-22T03:15:00.001-07:00

This is a very basic business model that's success probably relies on its simplicity and firstness to succeed.

Simply this: A hired amateur photographer with a cool camera (or at least a cool lens) attends a school event, let's say a high school football game wearing a T-shirt that reads "check out these photos at That'sMe.com". The photographer shoots oodles of cool photos, making sure to get at least one good shot of everyone in the game. She then goes home, uploads all the good ones, labels them by jersey number, writes up a little blurb about the event and that's all. Meanwhile savvy parents log on, look at the impressive shots of their little one and either buy the .jpg file or order prints. Stratified pricing structure makes it possible for everyone to get something - from the rich mom wanting a walnut framed print, to a fellow student who wants some locker decor, to a low-res file for facebook.

Easily franchiseable. Relatively untouchable by "the big guys". Creates some community with comments posting on the website.

How does this relate to the guys who take your picture at theme parks? I don't know. Certainly similar.

#2378 Latching dead-bolt

2008-06-16T07:56:00.000-07:00

When it comes to door locks you basically have two options-the latch or the deadbolt.

Latch pro: you can shut the door and it's locked-no need for a key.
Latch con: it can be more easily picked with a credit card (not that anyone actually uses credit cards for this. Let's say library card.)
Latch-key children: Irrelevant to this discussion.

Dead-bolt pro: a lot harder to pick
Dead-bolt con: you have to use a key to lock it.

The answer? Why the latching dead-bolt of course! Using that one technology on the glass doors of the entertainment center where you push it in and it pushes out farther, you know-the latching dead-bolt is short until the door shuts, pushing it in and making it come out longer the way a dead-bolt should. The lock is reset to short latch-position when unlocked again.

#8376 The Slayboard

2008-02-17T10:42:00.000-08:00

The sled, sledge, sleigh or whatever you call it is due for a revamping. Introducing the Slayboard (misspelled for coolness sakes). It better resembles a knee board then a sled, but the idea is to cruise down ski and snowboard style runs on your knees - pro style. Noting the past trends of this kind of sport equipment (bikes, scooters, etc.), it seems clear the time has come for the sled to see the spotlight and become the new extreme sport.

#7887 kid-friendly decor

2008-01-03T01:17:00.001-08:00

I want little porcelain figurines, or music boxes or what have you that you use to decorate your house. But instead of being made of porcelain they are made of some indestructible plastic or rubber. They still look nice (and grown-up), but they don't break with curiosity.

#9236 The 3 second TV commercial

2007-11-29T02:09:00.000-08:00

TV is overloaded with commercials all fighting for our attention. We're focused on restructuring the format, and possibly starting an entirely new direction in the way we view TV. The short commercials will grab the attention of the average viewer by simply the shock of something new. Pro: this would make air time 10 times cheaper. Con: If it caught on, the idea would most likely contribute to an increase of ADHD for the general public.

#9650 Tub Warmer

2007-11-28T08:26:00.002-08:00

This is a bathtub that has the hot water circulate around a ceramic channel that's built into the tub (on the outside, but hidden) before spewing the water into the tub. That way your tub warms up as soon as you turn on the water.

#0416 Gift Registry Enhancement

2007-11-28T08:24:00.007-08:00

Gift registering and buying should be fun right?  After all you are
spending oodles.  So to make it a little more fun, the bride and groom
fill out a couple of survey questions and when you come in to print
off their list then you answer a few questions such as "what is your
relationship to the bride/groom? or What do you like to give most
clothes, kitchen, bedroom or bath?" then based on those questions the
computer prints you a list of gifts you would likely choose.  So
instead of 12 pages of everything that wanton couple happened to zap on their registering escapade, you have a half page of good suggestions that you might actually consider.

#8743 International Hostel Charity Network

2007-11-28T08:21:00.005-08:00

There is a culture surrounding the globe (my data pool consists of Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, and Moab, Utah) of young able-bodied, unmarried youth with ideas of changing the world in a hippie-like fashion. Basically these guys and girls got time on their hands which
is why they are traveling the world, living in cheap hostels. IHCN takes this wealth of untapped man-hours and connects it with the many under-staffed charitable organizations that could use them. Basically, IHCN has a recognizable logo that these gruffians (my word, make sure I get credit when it hits dictionaries) recognize in the many different countries they visit. There is some sort of expectation, like donate a morning as you're passing through, and essentially everyone gets in on this way to change the world. Guys talk about it, girls talk about it, hostel owners talk about it and possibly offer discounts for people who participate in it. And as folks talk around the crappy table eating ramen they say things like "did you help out at that orphanage in Peru?" or "I made some amazing friends at the Beer Can Clean-Up in Milwaukee". It makes them feel good, because they want to change the world and any visit feels more substantial when you've offered service there. It's a relatively short time that you could wedge in between sky-diving and spelunking and it would give you something to remember and talk about for years to come.

#1289 Thin Thick Blanket

2007-11-28T08:20:00.005-08:00

A comforter or blanket for couples with different core temperatures. Half the blanket is thick and cozy for the one who enjoys being toasty, and half is thin for the one who hates being boiled.

#7898 Post-it Kid's Stickers

2007-11-28T08:20:00.003-08:00

These are like regular stickers kids already enjoy, but they use post-it glue instead of super glue or whatever they currently use so kids can stick them wherever and they don't stay forever.

#1921 Top-loading Dishwasher

2007-11-28T08:20:00.001-08:00

This appliance sits in your counter with a counter top on top. When you want to load it you hit a switch and the dish racks push up out of the counter with the counter top piece up in the air. You can then load dishes without bending over. As well, the bottom part will always be full (or half full) of water and constantly soak dishes, thus reducing the spray time needed, saving water and time, as well as more effectively cleaning dishes.

#9786 TV-heckling radio show

2007-11-28T08:19:00.008-08:00

At risk of overloading your mind with rich media, this radio show comes on when a popular, but bad TV show is also on. The radio personalities then heckle the show in real time as it airs.

#7894 Video Editing for Parents

2007-11-28T08:19:00.007-08:00

Attention scrapbooking world: Take your hobby to the next dimension by editing your home videos in our internet cafe style editing house. You come in, let your kids play with some toys in our toy area and jump on the computer making your home videos into beautiful stories with the boring parts and vomitous video removed. You can make video montages set to music
or photo montages set to rap. Or just about anything! A helpful staff person will assist you with any programs and will make sure your stuff doesn't get erased.
Come give it a try.

#4573 Bally Ball

2007-11-28T08:19:00.005-08:00

This is a new sport. Actually it's just dividing the sport of volleyball into hard-core bump-set-spike volleyball and fun-loving, see-how-many-times-you-can-actually-hit-it-over-the-net Bally Ball. Basically the net's so high you can't spike it. We could brainstorm some additions like hoops to hit it through quidditch-style or a point value that increases with the number of volleys.

#9898 Messiah Sing-in Anew

2007-11-28T08:19:00.003-08:00

Just a slight, but important adjustment to an old idea. There's a
tradition during Christmas, where people can come and sing Handel's Messiah with a famous and great Choir. Up until now, you just sit in the congregation and sing with people that sing as bad as you while the choir sings on stage. Well, with my idea, you actually sit with the choir, inbetween people on key which makes you on key as well. You get to feel like your with
the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the songs actually sound good.

#8822 Nuttin' for Christmas

2007-11-28T08:19:00.001-08:00

A simple marketing ploy. People give away nuts at Christmas, just
make a nut gift box that says Nuttin' on it in big letters.

#5481 "It's a Snap" snaps

2007-11-28T08:04:00.001-08:00

These will be the most brilliant snaps ever. When you're trying to snap your kid's onesie underneath when they're squirming around and it seems absolutely impossible to find the other half of the snap, you think surely there's an easier way than this. And you are thinking correctly. "It's a snap" snaps are not only bigger, but they have a funnel shaped receiver that guides the bumpy side into place, forever revolutionizing the world of baby snaps.

#0922 Heels Simulator for Dressing Rooms

2007-11-28T08:03:00.003-08:00

This is a plastic or rubber form that simulates the heights of common
heels. It is placed in dressing rooms where women can see how the pants they are trying on would look with different shoes.

#7895 Hair cutting classes for parents

2007-11-28T08:03:00.001-08:00

You don't want state certification, but you do want to learn how to
give your kids a spiffy haircut. Come to our classes and learn. A
haircutting kit is included with each class.

#4322 Wednesdate.com

2007-11-28T08:02:00.006-08:00

This is a coupon website where you can get great deals at restaurants and entertainment venues for mid-week dates, since most places can't fill up on a Wednesday. Of course Mondate.com through Thursdate.com are possibilities.

#6860 Everything Insurance

2007-11-28T08:02:00.005-08:00

Someone with math and statistics skills should figure this out, but basically this is insurance where you can claim anything, from losing a remote to a loved one. Everytime you claim something your premiums go up or something so statistically it's still profitable, maybe there's a contract or something where you have to pay for a certain period of time.

#7678 Sanitary BBQ

2007-11-28T08:02:00.003-08:00

Okay you throw on some ebola-riddled meat on the grill with your tongs, let it cook, killing the ebola, but then you take it off the grill with the same tongs getting ebola back on the meat, not very sani-tary. (That could be a jingle.) With the new "sani-grill" you place tongs in a special spot between uses where the tong ends are in the flame, thus killing the ebola everywhere.

#1982 finance institution for youth

2007-11-28T08:02:00.001-08:00

Okay, I still don't understand investing, and I just barely sort of
got down credit cards. This possible branch of another reputable
financial institution or possibly its own institution, creates a mini
local wall street where High school students and junior high school
just regular students can come and invest with 'small potatos'.

Investing- A local company (preferrably with a product geared toward
youth) will sell them mini stocks in their company. There's a cap on
how much one kid can spend so they can't lose royally, but they can
also gain a little and promote the product themselves. After they get
this down, a jump to real wall street later on would be easier.

Credit- Kids could get little in-store credit cards like I've now got
from Mervyn's. Probably from more local businesses. Work out the
stakes small enough so it gives experience, but doesn't risk killing
the person. Then later on if their credit is good, they can use the
company as a reference to real credit card companies, and if it's bad
something else happens, but perhaps it doesn't destroy their credit
for life.

#2954 the cord diaper

2007-11-28T08:01:00.001-08:00

This is a diaper-like device that you would fasten to a connection of extention cords. It's slender design (currently existing only in my mind) allows users to yank on the cord when they need more slack, without the troubles of coming apart, and without the bulkiness of an extention cord knot that gets caught on everything. You just fasten it around the connection and snap it into place.

#5452 Stay-Moist Gingerbread

2007-11-28T07:59:00.007-08:00

Gingerbread houses suck to eat because the gingerbread gets really
nasty. These gingerbread pieces will come shrink-wrapped with a dull
finish wrap that can be taken off after the whole thing is finished
with. If decorations are also similarly wrapped then all you have to
ditch at the end is the frosting which is a good idea anyway.

#8579 Greeting Cards from Children of the World

2007-11-28T07:59:00.003-08:00

The home for street kids in Manila where Alma and I volunteered at had this cool idea where they'd collect paper, shred it, make new paper and then draw a design on it for a greeting card and then sell them for a small profit. Expounding on that idea, have a website where you can set up an account, buy a card, write what you want it to say and where and when you want it sent and a child will write your message and mail it from Manila (or another country). The kids can come up with new designs and fun stuff. The money will go to the children's scholarship fund or something and we'd make whatever precautions necessary that it doesn't become a sweat shop.

#5729 Better looking cement

2007-11-28T07:59:00.001-08:00

Cement by itself is ugly. Let's just admit it. (Sorry 1970s.) What we do is we sell textured forms. A wall that looks like it had cement spaded on the formed cement looks better than just regular concrete. Then in addition, we have a spray on paint that you can spray on the forms right before you pour in the cement that soaks into the top layer of the wet cement giving it a 'fresco' look. The cost isn't much more, but you get a textured colored wall from the beginning.

#9823 Thought dictionary

2007-11-28T07:57:00.001-08:00

Like a phrase dictionary, but expanded, with thoughts and expressions. For example, if I wanted to say "will he make it?" I could look it up under W and it would tell me how to express this thought in the language. This may have to be electronic to accomodate the size which may make it like an on-line translator, but with clarification and explanation inbetween.

#7847 Dictionary by word importance

2007-11-28T07:54:00.001-08:00

This dictionary reads more like a novel than a dictionary. It's for people learning a new language and want to beef up on vocab. The text is fun and memorable to aid the learning process and starts with the most important words and goes to the less important words. (Important meaning generally useful.) This way you don't waste your time on words you won't need for a while and you don't accidentally use a word that's far too deep or dated like 'loam' which means fertile soil (that one's at the back of the book.)

#73472 Tooth brush munch

2007-11-28T07:53:00.001-08:00

Its an alternative to brushing your teeth. It would be something like a minty, rough textured soft candy thing. The same idea as mouthwash, only you can use your tongue to push it around and eventually just spit it out. It would need to be engineered with similar cavity and plaque fighting technology to toothpaste. Maybe even make it swallow-able for kids. Then they would hopefully be more prone to brush on their own.

#8494 Orange Juicable Toothpaste

2007-11-28T07:52:00.001-08:00

I'm sure a little taste engineering could come up with a flavor of toothpaste that tastes refreshing without having such nasty effects when combined with orange juice.

#7647 Tantoos

2007-11-28T07:51:00.001-08:00

Simple stickers you put on yourself at the tanning salon or beach that gives you a cool something to show off when you're showing off your new tan.

#4520 Mobia Roller Coaster

2007-11-18T11:42:00.003-08:00

This roller coaster is a huge Mobia strip where the train car cruises on both sides (or all 1 sides) of the track. In it's simplest (ish) form, the experience resembles a skate board half-pipe where the train car shoots off form the bottom, up around a 180 degree bend, spin upside down, up around the outside of a 180 degree bend, then cruises upside down under the loading bay, then up around the outside of the first bend, then spins right side up, goes up and over the 2nd bend inside, like the first bend and then back to the loading bay.

The track consists of a regular track with C shaped rails around the sides. The wheels of the train go in the slot in between the track and the C (not around the track). The wheels are flat and concave (every other one), and are slightly offset so as to contact the appropriate surface (ie the rail or C). The supports fasten to the outside of the C.

Depending on the danger factor, the seats either are stationary and just cruise upside down or have some kind of flip around thing that changes it from a sit-on-track model to a hang-from-track model.

Mobia
The One Sided Ride

#4323 baby leggings

2007-11-18T11:42:00.001-08:00

Easy on, easy off (but not by the kid). These revisited 80s items keep your kid warm where he is often exposed due to the wedgies that come with being held.

#9094 toy box ramp lid

2007-11-18T11:41:00.001-08:00

You open the lid and it makes a nice little ramp. Then using a foot or broom you simply sweep the toys up the lid into the box.