10,000 Brilliant Ideas

Sure we have video chat and on-line meetings, but how about a full-on on-line conference? I'm imagining a second life sort of experience (do meetings exist in second life?) where everyone has an avatar and buzzes about a virtual conference hall, checking out booths, talking with people, going into rooms and watching presentations, etc. I'm imagining a proper conference fee (to weed out the weirdos), and a full real-time audio-visual experience. Following the trend of all things virtual, first it tries to replicate real life, making it as easy to talk with someone or ask about a product as it is in a real conference. Then if that works bring in the flying cars,  pegasuses, etc. Alternatively, my brain imagines a real-conference that is only attended by remotely controlled robots. So the only humans at the conference are organizers in charge of keeping the robots up-right. But likely this is just an art experiment (which doesn't mean I don't want to do it). UPDATE R...

How hard might it be to make a disposable air filter that fits in your two nostrils? Would it look weird no matter what and thus be a deal breaker or could you make it look socially acceptable?

Basically you have a virtual car. With a driver. Here's how BlacKab works: You think, I should be getting to some place . You look at your smart phone and touch the BlacKab appKab. It tells you a Kab is 5 minutes away. You touch the "Come get me" button. You then finish the rest of your mango shake until a few minutes later your smart phone beeps. You walk outside to see a sleek black taxi with the words "BlacKab client priority" waiting for you. You climb inside and the driver says "Good afternoon Ms Yorname, where would you like to go?" You then go to said destination, climb out, pay nothing and go inside. Then comes the weekend. You check your phone again and select "I drive". It tells you that cars for this weekend are this much per day and the top few cars you prefer. You select one and confirm what time you'd like it. You wake up Saturday morning with the car in front of your house with the keys in the mailbox. You take it for t...

If you're wondering why this post was sent to you on a banana leaf, it's because I'm now in the Philippines! So expect a tropical/dev country slant for the next while. This is obvious, but it's weird to me why this isn't implemented. I'm sure it's quite ubiquitous as well. So I ride the Manila light rail system to work. I'm letting you in on this secret, because it isn't a secret. Everyone and their dog rides it as well. It's a great way to avoid Manila traffic - well automotive traffic, not human traffic, I'm not talking about the nasties that sell human beings, ok, you're right I'm not even talking...CROWDS ok? I'm just talking about crowds. Big crowds. Thank heaven I'm a head above most because I wouldn't be able to breath kind of crowds. And so we play this game. Tons (literally) of people wait on the platform. The train approaches and everyone guesstimates where a door will end up and muscles in front of one. The ...

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.

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 the...

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 ...