My Idea Repository

Microwave Improvements

2009-07-31T09:56:00.000-07:00

Looking at how current microwaves rotate the food so that it cooks more evenly, I thought of another way one can improve how microwaves cook. Taking a page from the trends of innovation, how about adding a 3-D mottled surface to the inside of the microwave? I certainly understand that the smooth surface on the inside of the microwave is practical for cleaning purposes, but why not have a 3-D mottled reflective surface covered by a smooth glass easily cleanable surface? The microwaves inside would bounce around in a more erratic, random fashion, and my theory is that it would cook foods more evenly. Sure, it's an incremental improvement, but it seems like something easy to attain.

Flexible bathroom scale

2007-04-19T11:16:00.000-07:00

Here's another old idea that just came to mind. I was once thinking about TRIZ and the innovation trend where things go from rigid to flexible, and I applied it to bathroom scales. Current bathroom scales are firm and rigid so that the weight of an individual is fully transmitted to the measuring element (commonly some sort of spring mechanism). Unfortunately this also makes them bulky and difficult to stow away when not it use.

My idea for a flexible bathroom scale would basically turn a silicone mat into a bathroom scale. Within the mat, metal capacitor plates are embedded such that the plates are stacked vertically, and connected to a small capacitance meter. The idea is that as a user squishes the elastomer mat down, the distance between capacitor plates changes and thus the capacitance changes. This wouldn't be ueful if the measurement was taken at just one point, so of course, a matrix of these capacitors will populate the mat, and luckily we have convenient electrical engineering equations which tell us how capacitors in parallel should behave. Sum all the capacitance changes up, and the weight should then be easy to calculate.

In-Store Product Reviews

2007-04-08T21:08:00.000-07:00

Bryan Kennedy and I had this idea we half-pursued a few years ago (summer 2005), but we were ahead of our time, and we really had no protectable IP.

We called our idea reviewo, and it was basically a mobile application that would allow users to take online comparison shopping into the real world. The original idea was to allow users to use camera phones (that were becoming ever so ubiquitous) to receive online reviews of products they encounter in brick and mortar stores. If for example, I was at Barnes and Noble, and I see an interesting book on the shelves, I could simply snap a photo of the book's ISBN or barcode, send it to reviewo, and then receive a text message with a star rating and excerpts from the most helpful Amazon reviews. Cool right?

I think currently apps are being touted that allow people to buy things using their cell phone cameras, but I have still yet to see online comparison shopping done in this way.

Long-Distance Vibrator

2007-04-02T01:50:00.000-07:00

This idea is for an industry not typically covered by my blog, the sex industry. Remember though, that this blog is really just for spouting ideas I have that I will not personally pursue, so it's entirely appropriate (even if the idea is not).

I was inspired when I saw a link to the OhMiBod, a vibrator accessory for the ipod, that vibrates to the sound of your music. While I'm not a woman and can't really say how I'd feel about such a product if I were, it made me think aout what might happen if I plugged an OhMiBod to a telephone. Could the sound of my voice activate and control the accessory for a would-be long-distance lover? Better yet, could I use the touch tones on my telephone to control the intensity of stimulation?

It seems like an easy hack, since dial tones are very commonly detectable. Perhaps this could be the start of Phone Sex 2.0.

Traffic Smoothing

2006-12-25T22:05:00.000-08:00

So I read this post on digg a while back about how this one Seattle dude decided he would try to rid himself of the trouble of stopping and starting in stop and go traffic by traveling at a constant speed no matter how fast the cars around him were going. He was essentially trying to go at an "average" speed, letting a good length of space develop ahead of him as cars would speed ahead, only to meet those same cars a few moments later as they are inevitably stopped while he chugs along.

He noticed that while the traffic around him was stop and go, the cars behind him were traveling smoothly (since he was making the effort to travel smoothly). What an awesome idea!

I got to thinking how this would be great if everyone tried to do this in stop and go traffic. Smooth it out, travel a bit slower, and we'd be so much more efficient traveling in smooth, but slower traffic, with less hassle and frustration. How could we do this? The effort that this guy put in was his estimation of "average speed." He may be off and have to brake, and he'd have to adjust his estimation, and all this would take enormous concentration. How could we make this easier?

My idea is to post a sign on the freeway that simply indicates the average speed of traffic in the upcoming segment of freeway. While this would most often simply show the speed limit during times of free-flowing traffic, this would be critical information in stop-and-go. It would let me know what speed to aspire to, so that I wouldn't have to brake that often. It would smooth the traffic behind me, and with a number of people on the road doing as I am, hopefully we would smooth out the stop-and-go waves. Where would I source the information? Form FastTrak, of course, the same source as used by Yahoo Traffic maps, that show the speed of freeway traffic. FastTrak has sensors that don't take money from your account that just simply track the presence of your sensor. At regular distance intervals they record your sensor, and can calculate the average speed through the previous segment. Yahoo Traffic maps just take this data and splash it onto their maps feature. This makes an easy method for supplying information for the traffic smoothing speed signs!

Teddy Bear Name-Creator

2006-08-13T18:25:00.000-07:00

Having read articles about artificial intelligence and computer face-recognition programs, when I was buying blaurb a stuffed koala at the San Diego Zoo today, an idea occurred to me. After looking at the construction and "cuteness" of a bunch of stuffed koala bears, we purchased on that we endearingly named "Snuggles." Trust me, it was fitting. My idea is for teddy-bear stores or Build-a-Bear Workshops have a teddy-bear naming service, where a computer analyzes the face of the bear and suggests appropriate names for it. I think it would give teddy bears a personal touch that adds to the whole experience, especially for Build-a-Bear.

Energy-Generating Gym Memberships

2006-03-06T11:35:00.000-08:00

People toil in gyms every single day, expending energy that is essentially converted into heat that is not put to any good use. In fact, most gyms are air-conditioned in order to wick away all this heat to maintain a nice confortable temperature! This idea is to create gym equipment that functions to also generate electricity that can feed a power grid. Treadmills, bicycles, rowing machines, etc. seem to be pretty efficient machines to convert for energy generation.

Add this: membership fees would go down as energy-generation increases. Every member might have an energy card that tracks the amount of electricity that's generated by each individual member. The more the member visits and works out at a gym, the lower the membership fees. This makes sense because the member is essentially lowering the overhead costs of the gym, and perhaps the most loyal and hard-working individuals would benefit from free gym memberships!

Dynamic Speed Limits

2006-03-06T11:29:00.000-08:00

Speed limit signs are so 1900s. Why are we all limited to the same speed? Traffic conditions, weather conditions, etc. all affect how fast we should drive in order to get to our destination fastest. Couple that with some concerns over fuel efficiency and the rise of intelligent vehicles (we hope), and we have a growing need for dynamic speed limits. What if the speed limit signs knew how the stop-lights ahead of you are synchronized so that it directs you to a speed to travel in order to "hit all the greens?" How about speed limits that know about traffic troubles ahead, and slow you down in order to smooth out the annoying and gas-guzzling nature of stop-and-go traffic? Perhaps when traffic is light, the speed limit will go up.

In any case, once we have intelligent cars, they'll be taking in this information anyways. Why don't we start building the infrastructure to allow intelligent humans to take advantage of this information?

Weather Toast

2006-03-06T11:27:00.000-08:00

This is something I remember from way back in a BI brainstorm. How about a toaster that can toast the daily weather or news headlines onto your toast? Imagine some kind of laser engraving element in the toaster that could toast an image of a sun, cloud, or rain, or snow onto your toast to let you know how you should start your day. Naturally, this toaster would have to be networked in order to get it's data, but it would definitely integrate into the futuristic home nicely, I would think.

Wipods

2006-01-25T20:26:00.000-08:00

c/o Joe Wargo. How about iPods with Wi-Fi? iPods probably won't be able to share music, but what if you could play music for other iPods to hear? Allow iPods to use a Wi-Fi connection to link up, so that I can play a song on my iPod and you can hear my song on yours. It would just be one way for iPod users to connect and share and be happy and all that. Does music really have to be exclusively individual? Of course, I would only be able to hear a song on another iPod if I was in range of the wireless signal. It wouldn't be illegal music-sharing, because once I leave the signal, I can no longer listen to the music.

This idea of an iPod that shares/receives can be even more interesting. If iPods can be programmed as both music servers and music clients, think of all the places where you might be able to pick up snippets of a song? Imagine you are in a coffee shop and you want to listen to the coffee shop podcast, you tune in, and you like the song. Perhaps Wipods would also give you the option of buying the song right there for download. Wouldn't that be awesome?

In addition, adding wi-fi would allow photo-sharing, podcast-sharing, and it would make uploading songs onto your iPod less of a hassle.

Update: So a quick search online will show that Apple has already thought about putting wireless capabilities into iPods. I think the revolutionary idea here is the guerilla radio network. Having coffee shops and the like peddle iTunes would expand its reach to the point where people actually think, "I want to buy that song." Apple could even put up it's own radio stations so participating shops won't need to provide the programming. It would put Apple in competition with satellite radio stations for sure, without the huge overhead cost of satellites.

BlogCasting c/o Alan Van Pelt

2005-09-09T02:37:00.000-07:00

This idea is from Alan Van Pelt, who has yet to put up his own blog. The idea stems from the desire to know more about someone you just meet or even a familiar stranger you see every day but know nothing about. A small device worn or attached to a cell phone, for example, would constantly broadcast a link to the person's blog or even some of the recent posts of a blog. The person would essentially be broadcasting their blog for consumption by the public, but linked to the physical world. For example, if AVP sees a hot girl on the street, and wants to learn more about her, he could check out the link she's broadcasting and check it out a bit before deciding that he's interested.

I think this could add a whole new dimension to the favorite pasttime activity of mine, "people-watching." It would allow me to browse blogs in the real, physical world too, giving me a digital link to the people I may see every day.Thanks AVP!

Wi-Fi Digital Camera Spotted!

2005-09-01T03:46:00.000-07:00

The Nikon P1 doesn't have the capabilities mentioned in my earlier blog post, but it a Wi-Fi enabled digital camera. At least it's a step in the right direction...

NYTimes article

Wireless Digital Cameras Part I

Wireless Digital Cameras Part II

Naked Airlines

2005-08-31T05:59:00.000-07:00

Security checkpoints suck. We all know this. Why not start Naked Airlines, where all the passengers must board completely nude (ok, maybe they can have on sparing amounts of underwear).

I was thinking about it, and the reason security checkpoints take so long is because we're worried that someone might be hiding something. We check the bags with x-ray machines, and we empty our pockets, and for more suspicious-looking characters, we even inspect them with "magic wands." Well, in an effort to speed up that security checkpoint line, why don't we all just get naked? If I'm naked, I can't hide anything (comfortably). You would just have to scan my bag and off I go. No more problems with metal plates in my head or that titanium alloy implant of mine. No shoe-bombs, or concealed weapons. I think this solution is a rather elegant one.

Dryer Sheets

2005-08-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

Consumer product companies are coming out with smaller and smaller forms of concentrated detergents these days. I cite Method's 3x laundry detergent as an example, and I think Procter and Gamble is developing one as I type. As I understand them though, they are all just concentrated, and don't really go beyond the liquid, powder, or tablet forms that we all know and adore.

I have an idea that would get rid of the adding-laundry-detergent step altogether. What if we utilized the fact that you would only need a small amount of detergent to wash your clothes? What if you could embed detergent particles into your clothes during the drying cycle? Let's say a dryer sheet has all the detergent you need for an entire load of wash.

Take your wet clothes after a wash cycle, and throw them into the dryer, and then throw in one of these special dryer sheets with detergent. Out will come fresh, dry clothes, with detergent particles inside the clothes. You wear the clothes as normal, and then when it's ready to wash, you throw your clothes into the washing machine and start the washing cycle. It gets rid of the whole adding detergent step. Jono used to tell me, "The best ____ is no ____." And this is no exception.

I can think of a couple of synergies with this one. First, I'm utilizing the fact that my clothes are tumbling around in the dryer. Second, if I get a stain on my clothes, I can easily find water to add in order to wash it out. Third, since I dry my delicates separately from my regulars, I'd be able to use a gentle detergent sheet on my delicates and a regular detergent on my regulars, and throw them all into the same wash.

Drawbacks: Of course, I'm assuming that the detergent won't irritate my skin, which many detergents do. I'm also aware that if it rains, you'll have washed clothes.

PayPal for Banks

2005-08-26T00:56:00.000-07:00

I know Berkeley Innovation has had this idea or some similar incarnation of it before, but young people these days need a good method for sharing/transferring money. If we're splitting a bill at a restaurant, or if we're sharing an apartment and need to pay bills, traditional methods of handling these transactions are cumbersome. At a restaurant, the waiter might have to handle multiple credit cards. At home, the sometimes awkward, "Can you write me a check now?" And how about those times when someone just doesn't pay you back? I personally hate playing the money collector.

A better way to do this: Since lots of us young folk utilize online banking, and since many of us are familiar with social netowrking on the web, why don't we connect the two? Say Blaurb and I both bank at Bank of America, and we both have our online handles for online banking.

1) The first feature is that there should be an easy way for me to send Blaurb money for paying for dinner last night or lending me that $20.

2) The second feature uses the fact that most online banking programs have the option to pay bills. How about allowing us to link certain bills to certain accounts so that I can pay a bill while automatically deducting half the bill from the other party?

3) In addition to letting me send money to Blaurb for the $20 she lent me, the system should also allow Blaurb to remind me that I owe her money. She initiates a request to my handle the night that she lends me money. I accept that the debt is real, and then, depending on my settings for how to handle debt, I can either have a reminder hang on my account until I pay off the debt, or I can have it automatically deducted from my account once I accept the debt. The option is there so that young folks who are struggling to pay rent have the flexibility to make sure they don't break the bank. No more awkward, "You owe me money." No more forgetting about that $50 you lent someone last year.

The best part about this is that it would be a win-win for the bank that implements this the best. If I bank with Bank of America, I'd become an advocate and tell all my friends to bank with them too. Because young people are so mobile and have such few assets, the barriers for switching are relatively low. I'm personally changing banks right now because I am moving to San Diego from Berkeley. On a large scale, this could be like MCI's Friends and Family phone plan back in the 80s-90s, where MCI turned customers into spokespeople and sales reps.

Ideas

2005-08-10T03:01:00.000-07:00

"Ideas are like assholes...everybody's got one."

Better Test Tube Holders

2005-08-09T00:49:00.000-07:00

I'm dissatisfied with the state of current test tube holders. TTHs are currently designed as plastic blocks with holes in them corresponding to the size of different test tube sizes. In the designs I have seen/used, each side of the block is a matrix of holes accommodating only one size test tube. This generally means you'll need two different holders if you are using two differently-sized tubes. In addition to this, I find it slightly inconvenient in having to line up small test tubes into each hole, especially after repeating the step countless times.

I propose that a new test tube holder be constructed that accomodates a multitude of test tube sizes and be generally easier to use. My first thought was to shape a test tube holder like grass, because many flexible grass stalks seem to provide adequate support for keeping a test tube upright, while accommodating various sizes.

Mattress-Retailing Hotels

2005-07-13T13:03:00.000-07:00

So Blaurb and I were shopping for a new bed for her apartment last year, and we found it pretty difficult to really decide without having the experience of just one night's rest. How can we really know if we like it or not? What if we were able to sleep on it for a night at a hotel?

Hotel chains could partner with mattress retailers, and have subtle ads that display the mattress model and price if the customer wants to know. If this became really popular, then I could even imagine a couple saying to each other, "We need a new mattress, let's go get a hotel room and try some different brands out." Especially since mattresses are a pretty hefty investment (most last for at least 10 years), spending a couple of nights at a hotel is comparatively inexpensive if you think about the alternative of having bought a mattress that doesn't suit you.

Accident Alerts

2005-06-29T21:48:00.000-07:00

So Blaurb and I are driving from Wellington to Napier, New Zealand, and we drive this curvy road behind this lumber truck, and I visualize this scenario, where the straps on the lumber give, and logs start falling onto the road, and I'm forced to swerve and dodge these huge logs coming at me. Then I thought about accidents, and how it could lead to a pile-up of cars since I had cars following closely behind me.

It would increase safety if cars came with accident alerts that created some huge display to indicate an accident has occurred. The system would activate upon a serious collision (such as one that triggers the airbag). Cars following behind would be able to see that an accident has occurred, and slow down well before they reach the site of the accident (and the ensuing pile-up of cars). This could be pop-up emergency signs, flares (thanks Blaurb), or anything else that could be universally recognized as an accident sign. I think such a system, made standard on cars, would lead to increased road safety.

Wireless Digital Cameras Part II

2005-06-29T21:35:00.000-07:00

While in New Zealand, I thought of another use for wireless on a digital camera. Blaurb and I were at Huka Falls, and I saw a couple that looked really cute, and I was in a position to take a great picture of them. What a great opportunity to do something nice! Had I had the ability to give him the photograph (without the awkward email-swapping followed by "I'll email you!") I would have gladly taken the picture.

I then thought, with wireless connectivity, this would be a wonderful opportunity to interact with other people and play photographer one moment at a time. I could snap the picture, introduce myself, and say, "Hey, I got a great picture of you, would you like it?"

I guess it could also allow individuals or amateur photographers to make a business out of taking nice pictures of other people. I'd still advocate free picture taking, but you can't stop the free markets...

Preventing Splashback

2005-06-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

I don't know how often this happens to other people, but occasionally, when I poo, the toilet water splashes back and wets my ass a little. This bothers me, especially since I'm a mild germophobe.

So I was watching Olympic diving last year, and noticed that there was water being sprayed onto the diving surface, presumably to disrupt the surface tension of the water to minimize a diver's splash. Why can't this surface tension disrupter be added to my toilet? I don't think it adds much cost, and I think people would appreciate keeping their bums a bit drier.

Sliding Scale Bridge Tolls

2005-05-22T01:21:00.000-07:00

On a trip across the bay to San Francisco, I hit huge traffic at the toll plaza before getting onto the bay bridge. It also happens that my parents are trying to catch a flight. It occurs to me that there should be lanes with different toll prices for individuals with different time constraints who want to get across the bridge. And I think it should be a sliding scale.

What I mean is, there should be a lane on the bridge (let's say there are five lanes) that costs $10, one that costs $5, two that cost $2 and one lane that's free. Those who have an urgent need to get across the bridge in record time can choose to pay a higher toll for the luxury, or if you have time to spare (which I indeed have on some trips), I can choose to pay little or nothing for my toll. It would better distribute the traffic flow based on urgency, while still raising income to pay for the bridge in proportion to how much it's actually used/needed.

Of course, there are management issues, like keeping people in their prescribed lanes, distributing traffic into those low-cost lanes, etc. But hey, it's just an idea.

Which Bottle Is Mine?

2005-05-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

As my family resides in my apartment this week, we have managed to drink lots of bottled water. Having bought a case from Costco, this inevitably leads to plenty of identical-looking bottles strewn about the apartment. With a sister who is germy and sick, this poses a problem unless we go through the trouble of labeling each bottle as we drink.

I thought to myself about how, at McDonald's, they have those little bubbles on the lids that let you mark Diet Coke vs. Coke vs. Root Beer vs. Other. I thought that this would make a perfect addition to today's water bottles. Add a row of fifteen or so bubbles with different letters on them, and each person can then mark their bottle with a unique identifying combination to make identifying bottles easier.

Wireless on Digital Cameras

2005-05-11T14:49:00.000-07:00

Why don't digital cameras have 802.11 or more extensive wireless connectivity? It would be cool if digital cameras could easily beam pictures over to other digital cameras, especially when taking group photos. How many times have I witnessed some poor sap having to take the same photograph on 10 bajillion different cameras? With wireless, the group could just pick the best camera, take one picture, and beam the picture to the rest.

Moving Advertisements

2005-05-08T18:58:00.000-07:00

This is one I've had for a while...

I thought of this when I was sitting on the BART, going through the transbay tunnel. It's a pretty uneventful ride, and when you look out the window, you just see the dark wall of the tube flying by at high-speed. With advertisers' desiring to inundate the public with ads during their spare moments, I thought, "Everyone looks bored. Can we use this time where most just sit or read or listen to music?"

So here's the idea. Put up ads along the walls of the transbay tunnel so that when the train flies by, the ads come together to form a moving ad. Each individual ad serves as a frame in a commercial spot, and since the speed is pretty stable going through the tunnel, the ad should appear to move smoothly.

Printers that cut paper too

2005-04-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

I was printing out cover art for my DVD collection yesterday and thought, "Wouldn't it be great if my printer could cut the paper as it printed?" That would have saved me a bunch of trouble.

What if there was simply another ink cartridge embedded in the printer that could spit out a chemical that would dissolve any paper it comes in contact with? Or how about pairing a small low-power laser that could cut through the paper as the printer-head went back and forth along the paper?

You could conveivably make custom shapes in paper, meaning that you could easily print CD/DVD labels as well (without having to awkwardly stick printable DVDs/CDs into your printer), even complex cutouts.

Silent Party

2005-04-29T00:49:00.000-07:00

This is one I've been thinking about for a while, and it's application has been used in a project my friend Bryan started called the Mobile Movie, allowing a guerilla-style drive-in movie without all the speakers and noise.

The idea is to use FM transmitters to hold a party that won't disturb neighbors. A DJ can hook up his/her mix into an FM transmitters, while each partygoer dons a cheap FM radio, which they would probably bring themselves. While I realize it could be weird watching other people silently dance to music on a radio, I see it as a way to bring parties where parties could never be before. It also lets people stop the music to talk to each other when they're not dancing.

A DJ can even mix multiple streams on different FM frequencies. If half your crowd is into Hip-Hop and the other half likes trance, you can set two playlists and give your partygoers options for what they listen to.

Another thought is for dance groups to use this setup to practice ANYWHERE. In Berkeley, I know the RSF (gym) is always packed with dance groups trying to get some practice time. The thing is, only one group can practice at a time because they need to play the music lout of a boombox in order for everyone to hear it. With a silent party setup, multiple dance groups can practice at once in the same room without disturbing each other. There would need to be a way for the choreographer to insert his/her voice into the FM stream though, which I haven't really thought through yet.

Ideas

2005-04-29T00:43:00.000-07:00

This blog is to record my ideas. I want it to be a sort of public forum for the random ideas I sometimes generate. I realized that there is no way I could pursue them all, so why hoard them (as many inventors tend to do)? So, without fanfare, here are my ideas.