Monday, January 31, 2011

Taking the Dancing Lady Liberty to the Extreme!

Everyone has seen a dancing Statue of Liberty/Abe Lincoln/Little Cesar/teenage employee with pimples/homeless dude holding some kind of sign these days.  I've seen dancing rain drops in front of a day spa, a really dirty looking guy holding a sign for a tax preparation place and really excited fat guy holding a sign for a gym (don't know who make that executive decision).  They are all over the place and now it time, America, to take it to the next level.

Cirque-du-Soleil business front marketing.  Not just some drunk with a sign but trained acrobats throwing each other in the air with your message.  Bouncing costumed clowns with your logo.  Wonderfully colorful contortionist causing auto accidents right in front of your place of business.  Don't hire some kid to hold your sign, really get noticed.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Voice Command Internet in the Car

Sometimes I really wish I could surf the net while driving.  I know, it sounds crazy but hear me out.  Voice command Internet in your car would work something like this.  You get in the car and your smart phone connects to it via bluetooth.  You push a button on the steering wheel and say "Go to URL www.wikipedia.com".  A mic in the car picks up the command tells you phone where to go and then starts reading you the page from top to bottom.  A couple of big draws would be reading the news as you commute to work in the morning via their web site or I would love to be able to do wiki searches in the car and learn about one particular subject or person on the way home.  You could program a few key voice commands in like "back", "scroll down" or "pause" to help navigate each page verbally.

Question:
With the don't text and drive initiative going on right now, how dangerous do you think it would be to surf the net if you could do it totally verbally?

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Never Shovel the Snow Again

I love the snow, I love to ski, I love snowballs, I love sledding, I love the blanket of clean white purity it looks like, I love it.  However, I hate, hate, hate to shovel.  And so I've spent a lot of time thinking about how I could engineer my driveway so I would never have to shovel again.  The answer: a geothermal heat exchange system.

Currently heat exchange systems are in use in a couple of ways.  For our purposes it's a network of pipes that are buried roughly six feet under ground.  At a six foot depth the temperature underground stays between 45-75 F no matter the season or location.  You put that to work by running air through the pipes.  As the air passes through it would reach a temperature around 55 and then travel up to a similar set of pipes buried just under your driveway.  This way the hot air helps heat the driveway keeping snowflakes melted as they hit the ground.  In a heavy snow you would still have the advantage of it working 24/7.  So when a storm hits at night even with buildup your driveway would be clear in the morning because the exchange system had all night to do its work.

Or a robotic snow blower, that would work too.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Automatic Flower Beds

Protect you precious flowers from frost bite with robo-pot.  If you are like me (live in a place where it frosts, like your yard to look nice, hate it when all the plants you bought at Home Depot over the weekend froze) then robo-pot is the way to go.  It would be a pot on wheels with a temperature gauge, it it started getting too cold at night the robo-pot would send a signal to your garage door to open up and then roll to protection.  Once all the robo-pots had arrived in the garage a signal would go out to the garage door to close and all those pots you spent so much time on would be safe.

Great in the spring when you plants are new and expensive to replace and great in the fall when you want to get a little more life out of your flowers.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Product Review: EL Wire




EL is Electroluminescent.  Look the stuff up on Google.  I'm pretty sure it's how they made the costumes for the new Tron movie.  Basically it is a copper wire surrounded by a material that glows when you run current past it.  Think about the Halloween costume potential.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Organic Chemistry in Sales

Everyone has been in a public restroom with one of those scent sprayers on the wall, right?  So lets tailor that idea right out of the bathroom and into a less disgusting roll.  You could create a spray that smelled like freshly baked bread and then place the auto sprayer in the kitchen appliance department of a store.  Or you could have a scent that would smell like warm cookies.  The idea is you would use smell to try and entice you customers or you could use it to calm them in stressful situations.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Spot Light on TV

So this is pretty niche but here goes anyway.

Have you ever got done watching a movie with your friends or family in the dark and turned the TV off and then stumbled through the room to get to the light switch?  What if you TV had LED brights that lit up the ceiling for a bit, kind of like the accent lights in a movie theater?  I think a lot of TVs could be sold when the sales guy in RC Willey says, "and check this out"...

Monday, January 24, 2011

Awesome Cover for Your iPad

There are so many ways you can dress your smart phone/mp3/e-reader these days, I thought I'd throw in my two cents.

How about a pizza box?  You could hide your expensive iPad in what looks like a pizza box.  On the inside it would be nice, perhaps some fake velvet or something.  This would be for people who carry their iPads in crime ridden areas.

I also thought a cool case for an iPad would look something like the mythical creatures book in the Harry Potter movie.  It's the one that tries to eat Harry when he opens it up.  You could have monster eyes and fur.  Then open up his mouth and inside you find your iPad.

And making it a cool three for the day a case that looks like a large manila envelope.  Again this would be great for people who have to carry expensive electronics through dangerous neighborhoods.  You could pad the inside really well and put your address on the outside like you were sending the package to your home.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Mobile Movie Theater

This idea would be great for a company party, a really cool birthday or one of the most memorable dates you ever go on.  Again we focus on the truck and when I say truck I mean a 9 foot wide 30 foot long box truck.  You would mount a projector to the ceiling, have a screen against the back wall and then as many tiered movie seats as possible.  You could decorate the inside with the carpeted walls and accent lighting and you would of course need a fantastic surround sound system.

One of this blogs dedicated readers did mention how all these mobile businesses would be affected by the fluctuating price of gas.  Some more than others.  This idea would be less affected because you mostly just drive it to the party and then leave it there for a couple hours.

Question:
Would you rent a mobile movie truck, seating 15 people, and only showing movies out on DVD, for $100 an hour plus a $100 delivery fee?  And if so in what setting? (your birthday, company party, etc.)

Saturday, January 22, 2011

15 Sec Comericial Radio

This is an idea that is kind of already in place if you listen to Pandora.  This would be a radio station that instead of running stints of music followed by long stints of commercial after commercial you would simply have a 15-30 sec commercial between each song.  That way your listeners would never be far enough away from the next song (time wise that is) that they don't change the channel when your advertising comes on.  It would be way more effective for customers that purchase advertising on the radio and the station would be a hit because, I think, people would appreciate the continuous flow of music.
"You're never more than 15 seconds away from more music."

Friday, January 21, 2011

Lap Tops in Air Plane Tray Table

When you open your tray table you would have a lap top built into the seat in front of you.  You could surf the net, play games or write email.  They already have the TV's in the seats so you would have a monitor, now just add the guts of a computer.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Air Port Library

A library in the air port whats not to love?  Travelers who are always on the go could sign up for a library card and borrow books, movies or CD's in Denver and then return materials in Chicago when they land.  You could have a airline specific libraries so it would make it easy to shuffle books back and forth.  It might also require a small fee to run efficiently.

Question:
How frequently would you have to travel before you think a library like the one above would be convenient?

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The Belly Key Board

I was thinking about the most comfortable position to sit in the other day.  After a few minutes contemplation I started to wonder why their weren't more styles of ergonomic key boards, that took me to a very cool article from PCWorld magazine that covered 15 of the weirdest keyboard layouts invented.  Here's the link.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/161402/the_worlds_weirdest_keyboards.html

I think there is still one gap in the world of ergonomic keyboards however.  The belly board.  The belly board would be used with a reclining office chair.  The belly board would sit comfortably on your belly with the keys angled so your hands would grip the board like Santa grabbing his belly for a laugh.  Suggested retail price $999.99.  I can't wait for the requests to come in from HR.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Mobile This, Mobile That

If you can't tell the whole mobile idea seems so undeveloped to me, here's another one.  Mobile beauty salon/ barber shop.  You outfit a box truck to look like the inside of a barber shop and drive around cutting people's hair.  It's as easy as that.  For the salon idea, you would need a little more equipment but same thing.

Question:
With all these mobile ideas bouncing around what would you like to see mobile that isn't now?

Monday, January 17, 2011

Mobile Photo Van

You set up a truck (yeah, a lot of these start that way) with the lighting and backdrops you need to take good kid pics.  Then you drive around to your clients houses taking the photos right then and there.  The benefit is the parents only have to keep the kid happy for a few minutes rather than hauling them through the mall, waiting 20 min for the last group to finish and then trying to coax a smile out of a fussy child.  You wouldn't have to worry about keeping clothing clean or hair falling out of place if you had just walked out of the house with your perfect child only 15 sec before the picture was taken.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Heated Seats, Oh My Heated Seats

Just a couple of days ago I posted the Heated Office Chair.  Today, even better.  Heated ski lift seats.  Talk about a cold place a lot of people spend a lot of time at.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Taco Machine

I've wondered why this feat of engineering hasn't taken off yet but here goes.  You walk into Taco Bell, use a touch screen to order exactly what you want and then a machine builds your taco for you.  The machine would have guns that would squirt sour cream or refried beans into a flour tortilla on a conveyor and the meat could all be cooked and seasoned that very second.  A few seconds after you swipe you credit card the machine would spit out a piping hot exactly what you ordered taco/burrito/chalupa.   It would reduce labor costs because you would only need someone to clean up the place and keep track of the machine.  You would probably enjoy higher customer satisfaction due to the fresh nature of the food as well.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Heated Office Seat

If you've ever driven in a car with heated seats, you know how comfortable they can be on an achy back.  Why not have the option to sooth your muscles with a heated office seat.  It would be battery operated and plug into the wall for a recharg at night when you go home.  I've seen heated massage chairs and heated cushions you put over your bucket seat but still haven't seen an official rolling office chair that warms your tush.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Door to Door Bathroom Janitor

In college my brother-in-law and I had a door to door service for peoples lawns (aerating).  We were successful enough at it to quit our day jobs and just work Saturday, thus leaving the whole rest of the week for study.  It kind of opened my mind to the urgency that door to door sales naturally carries with it.  People are required to make quick decisions and most of the time, if you have a good pitch and a decent price, they say yes.

So here's an idea for some struggling college student out there with too much homework and not enough money.  Door to door bathroom cleaner.  I personally think people would be all over this.  You just find a nicer suburban neighborhood and carry your cleaning supplies with you.  I don't think you could come up with a more disgusting home chore to help people out with.

Question:
Given the current state of your bathroom how much would you pay someone else to do a one time clean, if you were the one who had to clean it?

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Instant wiring in a house

Baseboards and trim with electrical wires built right into them.  Then if you needed to add some surround sound to a room or add an extra outlet or whatever it's all right there in the baseboard and you don't have to rip your walls up to get to the electric.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Huntin' ranch for people who don't like the taste of Elk

This product is geared towards a very unique type of red-neck.  Basically it would be a ranch that provided all the excitement and adventure of a hunt coupled with the palatability of America's favorite meats.  Instead of hunting for elk or deer you would hunt cattle or pork.  Instead of a duck or pheasant hunt you could go out with your dogs and shoot chicken.  You would have the chance to get out and enjoy the wilderness and in the end the ranch would process your game so you could take home a bag of frozen chicken wings and a box of steak.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Couch with Hidden Treadmill

The area under the cushion your sitting on, what's there?  If you are like the majority of Americans you have nothing between the springs of your couch and the floor just empty space.  Why not use this space by filling it with a treadmill.  The treadmill would be super compactable (leave it to Japanese engineers) and would swing out from under the couch and then the control console could be raised from it's folded position.  The beauty behind this is two fold.  First the beauty of efficient space, you take large household item and hide it in another.  And second is the TV.  Most people wouldn't dare put such an ugly thing as a treadmill in their living room where everyone can see it, but they do usually put the biggest TV in the house there.  This way you could have the huge TV while you run and then tuck the mill away when guest come.  No more crappy extra room TVs.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Computer that looks right at home on your desk

Take a regular computer, put all the pieces inside a lamp, add a paper weight for a mouse and a keyboard that's hidden in a big cigar box.  You would then need a nice flat screen monitor and presto, your desk looks less cluttered and your computer serves two purposes at the same time.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Vacation in Jail

What do you seek on vacation?  Quite time? Distance from home? A place where calls don't go through? A unique experience?  Well I've got the vacation for you...Jail!

A entrepreneurial minded individual would set up a jail like setting with cells, work out facility, cafeteria, etc. and you would pay to get a quiet 4 days of reading, working out, eating well balanced meals and getting plenty of sleep.  For the really stressed individual a week in solitary confinement.

The marketing would be great.  They could have slogans like "Wish you could send a loved one to jail?" or "Jail, not just for criminals anymore."

What's really crazy about this idea is that it could actually work, I really think there are enough people out there that would dig this kind of vacation that you could make money off it.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Indestructable Dental Implants

Question:
Would you have all your teeth pulled and replaced if you knew you could never have a cavity again?

Indestructible dental implants would go well beyond the standard denture.  This would be a tooth formed super material that would be screwed into your jaw.  The surgery would be painful but in the end you would have teeth you never got a cavity in no matter how bad your dental hygiene.  They would be perfectly straight and perfectly white.  What do you think?  Would you do it?

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Mobile Personal Trainer

So not only does the personal trainer come to your house, which really anyone could do, but they bring the gym with them.  You would outfit a truck with all the gym equipment and then the personal trainer would drive the equipment to your house or work at a set time every week.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Adult Happy Meals

Why do you have to be 6 in order to get a toy with your lunch?  Adult Happy Meals would include a sandwich, a drink, fries and a PRIZE!  Prizes could include pedometers, chap-stick, magazines or puzzle games (a book of sudoku and a pen).

Question:

What would you want as a prize in your Happy Meal?

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Anti-Hot-Spot Spots

I'm pretty sure the military has equipment that does this and I know you can buy cell phone jammers that block cell reception.  The idea is you create a spot in a city some place where you create a blackhole of Wi-Fi, cell and radio transmission.  You could set the spot up as the anti-tech cafe, where you could meet without the stress of cell phones going off.  It would be a silent spot in a world of noise.

Even better than that you could create a blackhole of reception in a movie theater.  Then you wouldn't have to play those "turn off your cell phone" previews.   You would just know that even that dummy that forgot to turn off his cell isn't going to be getting any calls during the movie anyway.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Awesome Vending Machine Ideas

In the last couple of years I've seen some pretty cool vending machines.  In the hospital on the maternity floor they sell binky's and disposable camera's.  I've seen standard business supply stuff (pens, pencils, 3x5's) in a vending machine on campus.  I know Kingston memory has a flash memory vending machine.  Italy has a fresh pizza vending machine.  The one I'm thinking of would be strictly for home use.

It would vend toys to your child.  You take all your kids toys and put them in the vending machine compatible tupperware container.  Then your child can only take out one toy at a time.  In order to get another group of toys out your child has to "pay" the machine in the form of the last toy s/he took out.  The machine would only vend another tupperware of toys if the one the child was "paying" with was the same weight as before.  This way your kid only has one toy out at a time.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Tag-Along Advertising for Books

This is a simple good idea that comes to you from the world of marketing.  Tag-along advertising that go with new books.  If you bought a new Twilight novel for example you would get a number of advertising inserts in the book for things like Teen Magazine, early order forms for the next Twilight book on Amazon or a great deal on Team Mobile's diamond encrusted cell phones.  They would fall out when you open the book up (just like the ones in magazines).  It would be an extra revenue source for the publisher and an super easy way to target a niche.

Question of the day:
What has been the worst form of advertising you've ever seen?

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year! Goal Setting Software

Since it's the first day of a new year lets talk about goals.  If you are a goal setter at all one of the most important thing to do in order to achieve that goal is to not forget about until Dec 31st of the year when you pull out the goals you set 364 days ago.  Well today's good idea is a program that would email you reminders about your goals with specific benchmarks or objectives that need to be met periodically.  You could even sync it with a smart phone app that would set your reminders with alarms on your calendar.  So you want to floss every day this year?  Set it up in "Goal Setter 3.0" and every night at 10:30 you phone goes off reminding you to brush your teeth.  It could even insult or encourage you depending on how well you were doing.