Swiss Army Keys

I have to have my keys, my wallet and my cell phone in my pocket pretty much all day, every day.  I try not to look too geeky with huge metallic pocket bulges so I only keep the bare essentials in my wallet and I only have four keys on my ring.  The less the better.  Well today's idea is the Swiss Army Key system.  Instead of a key ring you have a little pocket knife thingy that has all your keys that fold out like the blades of a Swiss Army Knife.  Until they come up with the universal key (that opens you house, starts your car and unlocks your file cabinet at work) this is the next best thing.
 I guess I could get my office door and my front door keyed to the same key.

4 in a row for three days off and today

Good Idea #1:

Valet parking at ski resorts.  I took my 5 year old daughter skiing and had to haul my gear, her gear and, at times, her through two miles of snowy parking lot just to get lift tickets.  I would gladly pay extra to have my vehicle picked up and delivered only a few feet from the lift lines.

Good Idea #2:

Heated Toilet Seat.  Need I say more?

Good Idea #3:

Socks with little pockets built into them so you can tuck one of those hand warmer packets inside to keep your feet toasty.  (You seeing a theme here?)
Note:  A company called the Heat Factory makes just such a sock.

Good Idea #4:

A lot of new cars now have the option of little refridgerators in the glove compartment.  If you can have a fridge then why not a microwave?  Then you could warm up a Hot Pocket on the way down from the slopes.

Question of the day:
Do you have any good sugestions for keeping small children warm during winter activities?

Clean Up Time!

Today's good idea: Robot cleaning machines

So a company called iRobot has a number of robot cleaning machines.  I figured with Christmas just over there is probably a lot of wrapping paper scraps, twisty ties, candy cane fragments, pine needles, etc. on your floor.  Well iRobot has the answer.  They have a vacuum robot, mopping robot, one that cleans pools and one that automatically cleans out gutters.

It looks like some of them have scheduling so you can set them up to vacuum while at work or away from home.

Christmas

Marry Christmas everybody!  Marry Christmas old building and loan!  Marry Christmas Mr. Potter!

To Christmas light or not to Christmas light.  That is the question.  Every year I kind of think that just maybe I'll climb out on the roof and slap some of our lights up.  Every year I get busy and by the time I have time it's too late.  So to make Christmas lights easier I propose built-in LED white lights on your gutters.  Then every year you just plug them in around Dec 1st and un-plug them around Memorial Day.  The LED's are small enough that you can't see them unless they are lit and the fact that they are part of the gutter would make for real straight lines.

Pre-Wrapped Online Presents

In the spirit of the Holiday season today's good idea comes from the world of online shopping.

Amazon should pre-wrap your online purchase.  So you get a box that has that book you ordered for your wife and it is already to go under the tree with ribbons and bows.

This idea would especially work well for men who, in general, possess poor wrapping skills and a distaste for scotch tape.

The Opposite of Hand Warmers: Foot Coolers

The chemistry behind hand warmers is simple: mix two chemicals together than when combined create an exothermic (heat producing) reaction. Today’s great idea would be for a foot insert that is like a gel pack. It would be a slow reaction activated by the heat of the foot that would slowly cool the foot. For a guy like me that sweats through socks like crazy this would make a perfect stocking stuffer. Ha Ha stocking stuffer, get it ... stocking stuffer?

Product Spotlight: Black and Decker Ready Wrench

It fits 8 standard sizes (that also fit the metric sizes) and works like socket wrench. Most helpful when pulling apart a car.

Color Change Paint for Cars

This could be for both coolness factor and for the health of the car. The paint would change color depending on the temperature outside. So on hot days the paint would be a lighter color thus reflecting more heat and keeping the inside cooler and vice versa on cold days. You could do just the hood and as you engine heats up the hood could reveal a color change image that only shows up when it’s warm.

Nissan seems to have played with a color change option that they abandonded. The idea was to use polarity to change the orientation of color pigments in the paint. From what I can tell they abandonded the idea.

Drive Thru at the Grocery Store

I know some stores deliver to your home this is kind of like that. You would call into the store and give them your list, then on your way home for work you roll up to the drive in window and boom it’s all there. You pay a small fee for having them gather it all up as compensation. The store would also need to keep a stock of most requested/most forgotten items close to the window.

Movie Theater in the Air Port

All you need is a busy air port and shows that started every half hour. If you had a long layover or if your flight was delayed you could just stop over at the theater. It would need to have a place to check or lock up your bags and I would suggest having a small monitor on every row that scrolled out announcements on flight updates. What better way to forget that you are traveling then to escape into the latest blockbuster while you wait for boarding.

A Really Cool Fridge (No Pun Intended)

Today’s great idea: A fridge that looks like the sarcophagus of King Tut. It would need to be a little wider than the original and I would make from the knees down a pull out freezer drawer. Awesome! (said in high pitch sing-songy voice)

Suggested retail: $1,000,000

Lawn Mower, Weed Whacker and Blower all in one

Today's great idea is in the realm of lawn and garden.

I thought I saw a lawn mower with a small one handed weed whacker attached to it once but haven't been able to find anything like it since.

So you would be able to mow and as you mow along you fence you grab the little weed whacker and trim up close to the wood. Same thing with the blower. You could blow leaves and mow at the same time.

Book Spotlight: The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris

So the book wasn't great but the way it made me stop and think about the way I work and the way I live my life are what give this book the spot on today's great idea blog.

I don't totally agree with everything he says but loved the sections he had on mini-retirements and outsourcing. Both totally worth the book price.

I think most people continue to work away at life without ever changing the way they think about things. This is a book that, in my opinion, will change the way you think.

Product Spotlight: Light up keys teach you to play piano

Both Casio and Yamaha make a light up key keyboard. These boards teach you to play all kinds of music by simpling lighting up the keys you need to push next. I saw one of these in Costco the other day. Great for a physical learner.

Two Colored Socks

Todays great idea. Socks that are different colors on the inside than the outside. These would work great for business trips, you could just flip them inside out to use them the next day. That way people who pay attention to that kind of thing would be totally thrown off and you could just sit back and chuckle.

Disclaimer: If I ever post an idea that is already out there please point me in the right direction I'd probably like to purchase that item.

Tiki Fire Features for the Back Yard

So you've seen fountains and ponds in peoples back yard. Why limit yourself to water? Impress your friends, scare your neighbors dog and roast marshmallows all at the same time with a Tiki Fire Feature. See drawing below.

It would 4 to 6 feet tall and made out the same stuff they use to make the fake wood in gas fire places. You could have a switch to adjust the flow for a weenie roast or you could set the switch to go off at random intervals (talk about an exciting back yard luau).

Disclaimer: All ideas posted on this blog are up for grabs. Some ideas will have inherent risk in trying or making or using. I assume no responsibility for the people you will maim or property you damage if you try this idea.

The Donught Man

Why limit the harvesting of childrens money to the summer?

Today's great idea is the Donught Man! He would have a truck just like the ice cream man, play music just like the ice cream man, but when the heat of the middle months is over the Donught Man sells on.

So you would set the truck up with a fryer and make fresh donughts right there for everyone to enjoy. You could drive it year round since donughts are good to eat year round. High schools, down town, large comericial office parks and past the house they are shooting "Biggest Looser" in would all be great places to make cash even during the cold dark winter.

Disclaimer: If I post it, it's up for grabs. I would love to see some of these ideas become reality. If you do decide to follow through on any of these ideas, please feel free to send us pictures, stories, etc.

The First Post

The whole idea of this blog is to provide a good idea a day. It can be either an existing product or book that is totally awesome or just an idea that I think would make a good product, business model, political platform, education reform, snack food, TV show, etc.

Today's good idea comes from a book I read called "How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinici" by Michael Gelb. He suggests you keep an idea/observation book.

Here's a picture of my idea book.

I have all kinds of sketches and notes on different things. I've kept track of the quickest way home from work and drawn what I want my dream garage to look like. I also keep track of my goals in my think like Da Vinci note book. I've even write down hunches and intuitions with a date to track how well my gut does at telling me things my mind doesn't know yet.

It is today's great idea.