10,000 Brilliant Ideas

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 ...

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.

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.

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.

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 ...

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.

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 lightin...