Idea Creche

Graph analyzer

2005-08-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

In our group meeting today, a collegue gave a practice "dry-run" for a talk he will be giving at an upcoming conference. As part of the feedback we gave him, there were some suggestions for a few improvements to the data slides that included some graphs. But unfortunately, he had lost the original data, so he couldn't really modify the pictures very easily.

It seems to me that it would be extremely useful in this case to have a graph analyzer that takes a picture and tries to generate the original data from it as accurately as possible. It probably wouldn't exactly match the original data, but it should be good enough to re-work the graph.

Incompatible Weaponry

2005-02-18T09:24:00.000-08:00

Here's an idea for a science fiction novel:

Some strange but aggressive aliens come to Earth. They whip out their guns and shoot us, but the shot (a kind of energy thing) just harmlessly dissipates about 1-2 feet from our bodies. It is being stopped by our natural energy field (aura)!

Furthermore, when we try to shoot back, all of our weaponry also does no damage at all to their bodies, which are covered with an impervious shell.

The aliens do not have auras, so their guns work just fine on each other, just as ours work just fine on us.

So now what? Do we trade weapons and have at it? Try to steal each other's weaponry? Or sit down and talk it out?

Warmth

2005-01-31T08:45:00.000-08:00

Two Thursdays ago I went biking when it was 22 degrees F outside and almost ended up with frostbite on my feet. My hands were pretty cold too. Last week, I went for a walk outside while holding a cup of hot coffee and noticed that my hand was nice and warm from holding the coffee.

It would be nice to have some kind of hand warming electronics in things we use outside in the winter, like ski poles, bike handlebars, etc. Putting these things in canes and walkers for elderly people would be great too. Even inside, their hands often get cold. I vaguely remember that you can get something similar for the steering wheel in your car, but I'm not sure.

I've heard that there are already battery-powered boots, socks, and gloves that provide warmth. There are also warming packs which use a chemical reaction to create heat that can be slipped into gloves and boots. However, it would be great if we could somehow use the kinetic energy generated when someone wiggles their fingers or toes to generate warmth, eliminating the need for batteries. This would also put it more under the control of the user - wiggle only when you need the heat!

Luggage Art

2005-01-27T08:41:00.000-08:00

Luggage makers should make luggage out of more interesting fabrics to help people pick theirs out of a crowd. I see some unique luggage, but it's not very creative.

Some suggested themes:

symbols or icons repeated all over the bag (e.g. skulls, peace symbols, flags, musical notes and symbols, books, etc.)
a single large symbol or icon on each side of the bag
art prints (eischer, van gogh, etc.)
holiday themes (christmas, halloween, etc.)
religious themes
sports themes
abstract patterns
custom designs

Lets make boring, solid-color luggage a thing of the past and turn our bags into individualized works of art!

What's an Idea Creche?

2005-01-26T09:59:00.000-08:00

Well, you know what an idea is, right? A creche is a nursery - a place where young children are kept and nurtured. So an idea creche is a place where ideas are kept and nurtured.

I frequently come up with ideas about interesting products and other various things. My first instinct is to hoard my ideas and keep them secret so that one day they might make me rich. But I find I have not the skills nor the interest to do anything with most of these ideas. For me, the joy is in coming up with the idea itself rather than in its implementation. So rather than see my ideas slip away into useless oblivion, I post them here in the hopes that someone, somewhere, can benefit from them.

I don't claim that these ideas are unique or new or feasible. Someone may have already thought of these things and even implemented them! If so, I'd love to hear about it! Or, you might have 100 reasons why one of these ideas can't be done. You can keep those to yourself - I'm not interested. Take these ideas and do something with them if you'd like. I offer them freely.