CreativeLogical

Avoid Rush-Hour, Scan for Rewards

2011-09-08T20:34:00.001-05:00

If a scannable QR code were displayed on a sign before and after rush-hour - but not during it - people would have an incentive to travel at off-peak times and reduce traffic congestion. The code could lead to coupons for local businesses, accumulate reward points, or enter participants into a drawing, etc.

One potential downside could be the danger of drivers trying to manipulate their mobile devices' cameras while in motion. The concept could be more passive, for example, by using a road-side camera to identify drivers by license plate. The rewards would then be given to drivers who had registered in the rewards program beforehand.

In addition to time-based paradigms, the deal could also be location-based to motivate people to choose alternative routes.

The same concept could also be used to influence the way people arrive or exit from events or concerts - again to reduce traffic and congestion.

CATEGORY: Transportation, Energy, Information Technology

IDEATION: June 1, 2010

Energy Efficient Intersection

2011-08-30T22:41:00.001-05:00

Construct intersections with small hills exactly where cars will have to stop for stop signs. The car will move up the hill while stopping, and roll down the hill while accelerating. This would ease the wear on brakes, and contribute to better fuel economy during the most fuel-intensive part of driving: acceleration from a standstill.

If a 3000 pound car where to stop from a speed of 25 miles per hour while climbing a 12-inch hill, the hill would absorb 5% of the required braking energy. Rolling down the other side would immediately contribute 5% of the energy required to accelerate back to 25 mph.

CATEGORY: Transportation, Energy, Construction

IDEATION: December 2010

Ground-Assisted Air-Source Heat Pump

2011-08-10T21:49:00.007-05:00

An air-source heat pump could run more efficiently and be sized smaller if part of the coolant loop ran through the ground around a building's foundation. Such a loop could be laid at virtually no additional cost while the foundation is newly dug.

Heat pumps are a very efficient way to heat and cool buildings. They use a pumped coolant to transfer heat back and forth between the building and an outside "sink." Ground-source heat pumps use the Earth as the sink, and have the best efficiency...but the highest cost (due to drilling and digging expenses).

Air-source heat pumps use the atmosphere as the sink. They do not perform quite as well, but they cost less.

This idea proposes a hybrid of the two. If an average home requires 3 geothermal wells to be dug (200ft deep each) to provide the sink for a ground-source heat pump, this will cost around $10,000. Laying a coil of pipe in the cavity around a newly dug foundation could approximate the performance of 1 of those geothermal wells... at only the cost of the pipe itself. The remainder of the coil would pass through the air-to-air heat exchanger that is standard in an air-source heat pump.

All that would then be required is to optimize the unit's control system for the various permutations of operating conditions imposed by the coolant's hybrid coil.

CATEGORY: Energy, Construction
IDEATION: July 2011

Smartphone as Complete Video Gaming System

2011-04-06T22:49:00.000-05:00

Create a smartphone App that acts as a complete video game emulator, transmitting an audio/video signal to a TV screen (USB, MDMI, or wireless bluetooth?). The touchscreen of the smartphone itself becomes the controller.

You now have a complete, portable, powerful video gaming system! Play new games, and all your old favorites: Nintendo, Atari, Sega…whatever.

CATEGORY: Entertainment, Electronics
IDEATION: February 2011

Match.com and Netflix Mashup

2011-02-27T13:40:00.001-06:00

If an internet dating site and a movie subscription service merged databases, they could offer some potentially interesting and valuable services. They both use sprawling neural-net, statistical databases to link survey-question answers to preferences to behaviors and the like.

The service could recommend specific movies to see with a particular date; ones that you both might enjoy and could prompt good conversations, laughter, etc.

The service could also operate in reverse, recommending a compatibility score with potential matches based on your respective movie preferences.

CATEGORY: Social, Internet, IT
IDEATION: February 2011

Movie Showtime Map

2011-02-27T13:29:00.001-06:00

Living in an urban area with multiple theaters, I'm always looking for a way to weigh the options of showtime vs location. It would seem relatively simple for the showtimes of your selected movies to be displayed on a map interface.

CATEGORY: Social, Internet, IT
IDEATION: February 2011

Location-Based Community App

2011-02-27T13:24:00.001-06:00

A social networking App that organizes your friends using a map interface. View your neighbors status updates, items for sale, hosted events, random requests, etc. Could aid in time of need... should your neighbor be shouting out for ice-melt, wanting to meet up for dinner, or needing a cup of sugar. This would be a great social connection to aid in neighborhood watches and general community building; encouraging users to reach out and get to know the real people that actually live around us.

The App would be secure with cautious privacy settings and limited profiles as the default, of course. It should integrate as sidebar or tool with Facebook, Twitter, smartphones, etc. One might call the App "Real Community."

CATEGORY: Social, Internet, IT
IDEATION: December 16, 2010 by Jennifer Newcomb

Stock Market “Hot or Not"

2011-02-26T15:54:00.001-06:00

A website where the investment attractiveness of two random stocks are pitted against, and people vote to determine the winner. The voting screen shows a profile of the company and some key metrics. A stacking algorithm keeps track of rankings, expected winners, relative strength, popularity, etc to give the stocks scores. You can then search through the stocks and scores by sector, by market cap size, etc and glean information, trends, and advice.

CATEGORY: Financial, Investing, Internet, IT
IDEATION: February 2011

“TrashBlaster” - Landfills Reduced by Video Gamers

2010-12-15T20:22:00.002-06:00

This idea stems from two basic premises:
- Filling landfills with garbage is bad, and
- About 50% of the material that enters landfills is actually still useful

Saving that useful material before it goes in is a no-brainer, but poses several problems: It's difficult, tedious, hazardous, people can't stand the smell, robots have a hard time automating it because garbage is so heterogeneous and mixed up, etc...

So let’s make a web-based video game out of it and do it remotely! That's TrashBlaster!

A reclamation facility would sit at the mouth of a landfill and process garbage from incoming trucks (collecting $15 to $75/ton in tipping fees), stir and agitate it, and put it on a conveyor belt. Once there, webcams and robot arms would be controlled through the internet to grab the goods: plastic, cardboard, glass, and paper.

Millions of gamers from all over the world would offer the system 1) intelligence, 2) creativity, and 3) adaptability from the comfort and safety of their own homes for the affordable compensation of mere points and rankings. Players from the US, India, Australia, etc, could log onto TrashBlaster.com, and enlist as officers in the online war against trash. Perhaps they join the "Cardboard Squadron" and start racking up points for collecting cardboard. Perhaps it's aluminum. Perhaps it's auditing and checking the sorting of other gamers. Engaging story lines, bonus rounds, features, and the unpredictable nature of the trash itself would keep gamers coming back for more.

In real life, the recyclables sorted by the gamers could be sold for $10 to $100/ton. Add this to the tipping fees, and the facility can be profitable within 3 years.
With TrashBlaster, everyone wins. Video gamers can feel good about their entertainment; Trash is redirected into the value chain at a profit; And landfills are Blasted.

(Note: I entered this into an entrepreneurship competition at Washington University in St Louis, but was only able to become a semifinalist due to the idea being too far in the theoretical stage.)

CATEGORY: Waste Management, Robotics, Internet, IT, Recycling, Business
IDEATION: October 1, 2010

Cool Roof & Hot Roof Combined

2010-12-05T20:43:00.003-06:00

Cool roofs are very much in vogue as an efficient design practice to reflect summer sun and conserve air conditioning energy. That same reflectivity, however, drives away valuable heat energy in the winter.

Since the Sun's rays change angles between seasons, one could construct a specially angled roof shingle or panel to both cool and heat. (See here to find the Sun's altitude on different dates.)

In the summer, you would face a light-colored, highly reflective surface perpendicular to the sun to ward off heat. In the winter, the same panel would show a dark-colored, highly absorptive surface to the sun to capture heat.

Installation on various roof angles would require different shingles. Each shingle would require an orienting label, such as "Face this edge South."

CATEGORY: Energy, Construction
IDEATION: November 2010

Board Member Qualification Index

2010-07-22T22:13:00.001-05:00

Corporate Boards of Directors are, in theory, elected by the shareholders. But how often do shareholders know anything meaningful about the candidates when they receive the proxy vote sheet, and how much time does a diversified investor spend perusing the bios and resumes?

It may contribute to good corporate governance to condense a relevant set of qualifications into a single score that would appear alongside a candidate's name on the proxy vote sheet.

Now... I have strong internal and moral cautions against the continual permeation of "fast food" and "sound bite" tendencies - like summing up a person's character with a single number - but it can be helpful in certain instances like this. After all, complex comparisons of NFL quarterbacks have benefited greatly from a similar development of the passer rating, a composite score based on: completion percentage, average yards per attempt, percentage of touchdown passes, and percentage of interceptions.

Perhaps such a Board Member Qualification Index (BMQI) could be derived for publicly held companies based on a formula like the following:
BMQI =
25%*(number of years work experience in same or related industry/50)
+ 15%*(number of years all work experience/50)
+ 20%*(number of years on other boards/20)
+ 20%*(number of college degrees/3)
+ 20%*(percent of personal net worth invested in company)
- 25%*(number of indictments of questionable or criminal activity)

It would be nice to include some sort of metric to capture "X factors" or "confidence of one's peers" ... maybe averaging a 1-to-10 vote of confidence by existing Board Members, or maybe number of peer reviewed articles published. Anyways, it's a work in progress. Any other ideas for a BMQI calculation?...

CATEGORY: Economics, Business
IDEATION: July 22, 2010

Roadway Power Plant

2010-07-17T15:23:00.003-05:00

This is a concept to capture some of the massive kinetic energy of trucks and cars trundling across our nation's roadways. There would be two spans of road that could swivel up and down perhaps a few inches; a small enough distance to be unobtrusive to drivers, but a large enough distance to drive underground pistons into a cylinder to compress air. The pressurized air would turn a Wells turbine that would spin an electric generator.

Springs would be attached to the pistons, calibrated to push the road back up to its equilibrium position with optimal time to complete the power stroke and catch the next passing vehicle. (Other variables in this optimization would be the speed limit of the highway, the length of the road-spans, and the operating pressure of the turbine.)

During the upward travel, the pistons would be pulling air in the opposite direction - thus the need for the Wells turbine, which is a little less efficient than other turbines, but spins in the same direction regardless of the path of its driving fluid. (This type of turbine is used in Wave generators, which have a similar oscillatory/periodic power source.)

Several such power plants could be installed in high-traffic areas like bridges (which may be readily adaptable to such a design), or in high kinetic-energy areas like the bottom of a long hill. To maximize traffic, it may be desirable to integrate with dedicated express lanes that are changed from inbound to outbound flow to coincide with a city's rush hour.

CATEGORY: Transportation, Energy
IDEATION: September 1, 2009

Life-Skills School for Celebrities

2010-06-19T12:26:00.006-05:00

With celebrities holding massive sway over the hearts, minds, and actions of the populace, and with each new celebrity wanting to espouse some lofty or trendy cause; it would seem worthwhile for an enterprising university to set up a certificate program or a series of seminars or panel discussions to educate and prepare these often-times young and inexperienced individuals for the twists and turns of their highly-public lives.

The curriculum could cover such topics as: philanthropy, business basics, world & social issues, leadership, personal finance; not to mention other practical subjects that would undoubtedly benefit this contingent of people under society's microscope - subjects like: dealing with the press, family management, etc… things to holistically improve the lives of celebrities and help them be better stewards of their influential positions.

It could also be a networking and mentoring opportunity for younger and older celebrities to meet. The courses would be in a safe and secure location inaccessible to the paparazzi and be taught by world-class expert faculty.

CATEGORY: Social / Society
IDEATION: September 3, 2006.

Ultimate Control = Split Keyboard + Mouse + Mouse

2010-05-30T11:41:00.003-05:00

The ultimate productivity boost for a computer user would come from splitting the keyboard into two ergonomic pieces that each functioned simultaneously as a mouse.

It would be difficult at first to slide around two mouse devices while also typing on them, but you could get it with some practice. Importantly, if kids were trained on it from the start, their amazing brain plasticity would adjust to it in a flash.

In addition to productivity increases, some cool new functions could be developed with two mice. For example, you could have a command to "throw" a piece of data or a window across the screen from one mouse pointer to the other. You could also do dynamic manipulations, as on the touch screen of an iphone where you "pinch" a map to zoom in or out.

You could also develop collaborative mousing software to enable two or more people to work on the same system at once. For instance, a student and teacher could interact on the same desktop for apprentice-style learning.

Some software challenges would have to be addressed - like which on-screen pointer would be the primary one, and would there be only one window or application active at once? But I leave that to the software engineers to figure out...

It seems that there are some products that already approach this idea, such as the CombiMouse, which incorporates one half of a keyboard with a mouse. So looks like we're half way there!

See: http://www.combimouse.com/
See also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coEhrNa34uE

CATEGORY: Technology

IDEATION: September 25, 2006.

Breakaway Pant Pocket

2010-04-11T22:19:00.001-05:00

How many times have you been driving when your cell phone starts ringing in your front pant pocket?! Wouldn't it be much easier (and less perilous to yourself and other drivers) if there were a quick way to get at the phone in this situation? Enter the breakaway pant pocket... By undoing a few well-placed snaps, the pocket is fully accessible.

Apparently, a similar design exists for quick access to firearms! See: http://www.ccwbreakaways.com/

CATEGORY: Everyday Life / Fashion / Safety /
IDEATION: April 6, 2010. Casey Nolen, Deech Siram, and Dave Costenaro.

Cash for Health

2010-03-23T22:32:00.009-05:00

Incentive awards can be very motivating. I remember the free personal pan pizza of the Pizza Hut "Book It" promotion as one of the most incentivizing forces in my elementary school world! Positive reinforcement has the potential to work equally well for kids and adults alike.

If you could verify a satisfactory "report card" from a yearly doctor checkup, with good scores in blood pressure, body-mass-index, and other important health predictors, perhaps you should receive a monetary incentive.

It may behoove federal or state governments to give such an incentive as a "healthy living" tax credit or deduction. Healthier living could save the healthcare system untold billions of dollars every year.

If implementation would be too controversial for government, perhaps a non-profit organization could carry the torch. They could be funded by advertising dollars from companies with a health and fitness emphasis (e.g., Whole Foods Market, REI, or Nike) and perhaps give out their gift cards, rebates, and coupons as the reward incentives.

CATEGORY: Health / Social / Economic
IDEATION: Mar 22, 2010. Kyle Shoff and Dave Costenaro.

Slot for Leftover Soap

2010-03-07T15:21:00.003-06:00

What do you do with that last bit of a bar of soap? If there were a shaped indentation or a pocket in the new bar of soap, you could simply secure the old, remaining piece to the new bar. This would eliminate waste as well as consumer frustration.

Soap companies could do studies to see what would be the most likely end shape, just before it would break down structurally or reach an undesirable size that consumers would throw away. They could then make the indentation that size, so you just slip the old soap right into the new bar.

CATEGORY: Household items / Everyday Life / Environment

IDEATION: Nov 28, 2009.

Thermal Camera for Smart Phones

2010-03-01T21:47:00.002-06:00

I recently read an article where some doctors made an attachment for a smart phone that could take ultrasound images. This could revolutionize medical diagnostics and make them cheaper, easier, and more accessible (See: http://www.gizmag.com/ultrasound-images-a-snap-with-a-smartphone/11556/).

I'd like to see this applied to an industry near and dear to my heart: energy. It would seem a simple matter to create a thermal imaging lens or attachment for a mobile device like an iphone. This way, the high costs of thermal cameras could be cut by relying on the phone's existing computing power and graphical user interface. An energy auditor could then easily identify hot & cold spots and energy efficiency opportunities in buildings. (See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermographic_camera).

CATEGORY: Energy / Electronics
IDEATION: Feb 15, 2010

Built-In Keychain Locator

2010-02-14T20:00:00.003-06:00

Many people use their keychain to flash their lights and locate their car in a parking lot. If the signal went 2-ways, you could also use your car to locate your keys. (Some people lose their keys all the time!) The signal could originate from a keypad on the car door, and broadcast, for example, from the garage into the house and under the bedroom dresser where the keys had fallen. The chirping keychain could then be recovered by the relieved individual.

CATEGORY: Transportation
IDEATION: April 8, 2006

Snow-melter for LED Traffic Lights

2010-02-01T17:45:00.005-06:00

LED traffic lights save vast amounts of energy over traditional installations and last far longer. However, the lower energy use of these Light Emitting Diodes translates into decreased heat output. In northerly climates, when snow storms dust the lights, there is sometimes not enough heat to melt it off, and the traffic lights are rendered useless. (See story here.)

There is ample heat given off by the circuitry behind the light, but very little by the light itself. One solution could be to connect a metal conduit that leads from the circuitry in the back to a wire/mesh grid embedded in the front lens or simply layered on top of it. This would be similar to the rear-defrost technology that most cars have.

CATEGORY: Transportation
IDEATION: November 1, 2009.

Pumped Storage Generation in Underground Caves

2010-01-30T15:50:00.003-06:00

Pumped storage is an emission-free and relatively cheap method of generating power at peak times. The idea is to pump water up to a reservoir at the top of a mountain at night (off-peak) when electricity is cheap. Then at peak times, when everybody needs electricity, you can use the pressure head of the elevated water to drive a turbine and generate power.

The problem is that good sites are rare, difficult to find, develop, permit, and operate. One solution that may work for some areas could be to take the whole setup and move it down into the Earth. Dig a tunnel or use existing cave systems that are deep in the ground. You would have the powerplant chamber and turbine deep underground, but the reservoir and all the other facilities could be easily accessible at ground level.

Image adapted from: http://www.tva.gov/power/images/pumpstor.jpg

CATEGORY: Energy
IDEATION: November 3, 2008.

Patent Philanthropy

2010-01-18T22:11:00.005-06:00

If some entity were to purchase patents from private companies, they could perform a powerful global philanthropy by distributing the intellectual property so the productivity and benefits of the inventions could be exponentially scaled up by companies and governments around the world. Potential examples would be drug formulas, manufacturing processes, green energy technologies, etc.

This would leave the economic reward for innovation intact, but remove the constraints on the benefits that come when a single company wields that innovation. The purchase of the patent would have to involve a thorough valuation, where the likely economic benefit to the company would be compensated with a lump sum payment. Maybe the company could still have first dibs on contracts arising from the patent.

Another option would be to somehow facilitate or subsidize licensing agreements between the patent-holder and other companies that could potentially utilize the patent. Such an entity would need to have large purchasing power and broad reach, maybe a US or UN organization.

There are movements of similar spirit already afoot, where companies in non-competing industries are pooling patents and licenses in "Creative Commons." (see: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/business/01proto.html?_r=1&scp=10&sq=green+companies&st=nyt)

CATEGORY: Economic / Political / Social
IDEATION: November 2, 2009.

Deaf Could Hear Through Eyes, Blind Could See With Ears

2009-12-29T22:12:00.008-06:00

If there were a universal mapping between visual data and audio data, cheap and simple devices could conceivably be made to translate from one to the other. If sight and hearing are two pathways to get stimuli into the brain; where one is limited, why not use the remaining functional pathway to deliver both streams of data?

You could give such a device to young blind or deaf children so their brain can adapt to interpret the stimuli. After all, the theory behind a cochlear implant, for instance, is that you use a mechanical microphone to grab audio signals, change them into electronic signals, and plug those new, strange signals back into the nervous system, skipping over the spot where the natural process broke down. The brain then learns to understand the new signals.

Feeding such signals into the functional senses without surgery would be much less invasive and much less expensive. For the deaf, you could have a pair of glasses with 2 microphones and a heads-up display that would visually “show” the sounds that each microphone is picking up. For the blind, you could have tiny cameras that produce a soundtrack of subtle noises corresponding to visual cues that they are picking up.

The interface would of course be clumsy at first, but with the amazing adaptability and plasticity of the young mind, the patterns could quickly become second nature.

One logical mapping of audio to visual would be to represent the spectrum of detectable frequencies (20 Hz - 20,000 Hz) as corresponding to the range of visible light (380-750 nm). You could make signal amplitudes correspond to each other, mapping a sound’s volume (dB) to a visual light’s intensity or amplitude. Both signals would be in stereo, giving a locational/spatial element, due to the presence of 2 separated inputs.

The result of mapping audio to visual stimuli would be a visualization in some obscure part of the child's eyeglasses like a picture-in-picture TV window; using clever spatial graphics, colors, and motion. The result of mapping visual to audio stimuli would be more difficult – it would have to be a series of noises that would range in various pitches and patterns, be distinct, but not be so obtrusive as to clutter one’s actual sense of hearing. They would likely carry only a limited portion of visual data for important things like large movements or changes in overall light level.

It might be good to have an easily accessible on/off switch so you could deactivate the devices if needed. To keep the devices small and less noticeable, you could have them wirelessly communicate to a mobile device and run off the computing power of an iPhone app, for instance.

CATEGORY: Health / Medicine / Technology
IDEATION: Aug 17, 2009

Interchangeable Holiday Lights

2009-12-25T17:08:00.005-06:00

If you're the decorating type, why bother with a new set of lights for every season? (Please reduce the clutter!) There could be light strings with replaceable plastic shells that pop on and off for the appropriate season. You could have snowmen or trees for Christmas, Pumpkins for Halloween, Shamrocks for St. Patty's Day, little footballs for Superbowl Sunday...or just plain ole' lights during the boring times of the year.

For better results - make the lights LED for long-lasting, low-energy awesomeness, and make the plastic shells stackable/fit inside each other so they use less storage space.

CATEGORY: Entertainment / Everyday Life

IDEATION: 2001

Exploding Net --- Missile Defense System

2009-11-14T16:14:00.004-06:00

Current designs for nuclear missile defense systems call for an interceptor missile that locks onto the incoming threat via radar and simply tries to collide headlong into it. With both missiles at supersonic speeds, the closure velocity can be thousands of miles per hour...and each missile is only a few feet in diameter up in that big ole' sky. This leaves precious little room for mistakes, and precious little time to adjust for them.

To give more margin for error, I propose that a missile defense system be designed with a robust, elastic net that is sewn with nodes of explosives. The intercepting missile could discharge the net just before reaching the threat, spreading it wide enough so the threat will try to pass through it. The high strength net (nanofiber? carbon fiber? steel mesh? polymer?) would collapse around the threat as it tries to puncture through, swinging the explosive charges into the sides of the threat, where they would explode and neutralize it. And of course, these conventional explosives would not detonate the nuclear mechanism.

CATEGORY: Defense / Transportation

IDEATION: 2002

Cellphone Cleaning Kiosk

2009-11-12T19:40:00.006-06:00

For an enterprising individual who wants to make a buck on the streets of the city, a possible new niche in this overtly service-oriented economy may be the following: Create a kiosk where you have special tools to clean mobile phones, watches, keychains, etc. Charge maybe $1, take off the battery plates, blow out the pocket lint with a canister of compressed air, detail it with a series of specialty brushes, and then wipe it clean with a non-smudge, non-static cloth -- all in under a minute.

You could cozy up next to a shoe shine booth and offer a one-two combo. Could be the next big thing. Boom.

CATEGORY: Business Idea / Everyday Life

IDEATION: Nov 11, 2009

Recycling Center with Homeless Job Program

2009-10-24T11:39:00.005-05:00

For people who are homeless or out of work in the city, one of the largest problems is the scarcity of suitable jobs. Making this problem more acute is the automation and off-shoring of low-skilled jobs by the thousands. There has to be some way to match useful work with people who need income.

Recycling might just be the answer.

Recycling is a unique industry that cannot be easily automated (input streams are highly variable, the process requires human judgment, manual sorting, etc); nor can it be easily off-shored (all the raw materials for the process - i.e. our throw-aways - are "locally produced").

Most importantly, the industry can utilize unskilled labor for many of its tasks. If a recycling facility were to have a social worker on staff, they could work with job-training and rehabilitation programs; perhaps bussing people from strategic locations, like shelters or food pantries. Creating a productive and stable work environment is the best therapy that society can prescribe for many individuals, and the recycling facility could offset the cost of the social program with government grants, as well as bolstered PR and public goodwill.

The sorting, binning, and loading-type work would easily lend itself to a merit-tracking system, where workers would start with limited pay and privileges and prove themselves over time by their performance in order to advance in the job program and in the organization.

And on top of it all, the result of the work is recycled materials, contributing to a more sustainable Earth!

CATEGORY: Social / Environmental / Business Idea

IDEATION: Sep 15, 2009

Network-Linked Laundry Machine Status

2009-10-14T00:04:00.004-05:00

When I was in college, I rued the day that my laundry basket filled up and I had to lug it down 4 flights of stairs and through 4 sets of heavy, awkward doors to the laundry room...only to find that all the machines were taken. I thought - "Man! If they could only put the status on the web, I could check it and know when and where to go."

So that was the idea; but it may be a moot point, as it appears that some of these facilities are already popping up according to some of my web research (http://www.weblaundry.com/, http://thedp.com/node/52708)

CATEGORY: Everyday Life / Internet
IDEATION: 1999.

Statues Sequestering CO2

2009-09-25T17:56:00.004-05:00

The average American has a carbon footprint around 20-tons of CO2. Numerous strategies are being pursued to mitigate these climate-changing emissions, including carbon capture and sequestration.

One way to accelerate such efforts is to create markets for sequestered CO2 byproducts. Of course if the CO2 can be turned into a useful substance of some sort, it could be put into insulation or building materials, laid in roads, etc... However, if the byproducts do not have useful physical properties, they could just be formed into "green sculptures" or simply packed into them as filler. Creations could be statues, fountains, birdbaths, landscapes, mobiles, etc.

People would simultaneously improve the aesthetics of their property and enforce their commitment to the environment, beauty, and the arts. This could offset a significant portion of a person's carbon footprint while motivating the carbon storage industry and creating jobs for artists.

CATEGORY: Energy / Environment / Business Idea
IDEATION: Oct 24, 2008

Status Update Bumper Sticker

2009-09-22T20:39:00.006-05:00

The concept here is an electronic bumper sticker that changes with your Facebook status. There could be a wireless communicator that syncs up the display with an internet feed. It could be expanded to backpack stickers, refrigerator magnets, etc.

CATEGORY: Everyday Life / Gadgets
IDEATION: August 26, 2009, submitted by Jennifer Newcomb

Shared Shopping List Online

2009-09-15T22:54:00.003-05:00

Keeping a paper grocery list is a tried-and-true method for making shopping more organized and efficient. The list is useless, however, when you leave it at home or don't keep it up to date. I propose a simple smartphone application that will allow multiple people in the same household or office to keep a running shopping list on the Cloud that can be updated in real time and accessed from your phone. The user could add items to the list by typing them, or the application could use the smartphone's camera as a barcode reader. This would make updating the list similar to registering for wedding gifts: Finished off the milk? Shoot the barcode with your phone before you throw the carton away, and milk is added to the grocery list for everyone to see. By keeping one list that's accessible anywhere and easy to update, users can avoid extra trips to the store and redundant purchases.

The list itself could be as simple as plain text in a column, or it could be organized into a table identifying target prices, preferred brands, etc. Users could also keep multiple lists to organize all their shopping. The app could even integrate with existing online shopping wishlists.

CATEGORY: Everyday Life / Gadgets

IDEATION: August 17, 2009, submitted by Jake Salter.

Rent Clothes at the Airport

2009-08-27T22:05:00.007-05:00

Airlines are beginning to charge more for passengers' luggage, reflecting the rising fuel costs of transporting the extra weight. If you could rent appropriate outfits in your destination city when you arrive, you would save on the baggage expense, avoid the hassle of packing, and have the latest fashions accessible on demand.

Such a clothier could be located in or near the airport, perhaps alongside the rental car plaza, with changing rooms, tailors, and laundry equipment onsite. A customer might pay a deposit per outfit - business suits, athletic wear, international/culturally appropriate dress, etc - and get some of the deposit back upon returning them. The store could also have a website where you could browse options and pre-order them in your size to be waiting for your arrival.

Since every ounce counts during flight, airlines would likely partner with the venture, as it would have tremendous potential to conserve fuel and costs. Flying less weight around the country and world would also reduce the airline industry's enormous carbon footprint and help the environment.

CATEGORY: Travel / Business Idea
IDEATION: July 13, 2009

Buffet Pants

2009-08-22T13:05:00.005-05:00

“Buffet pants” have plastic lined cargo pockets to enable storage of liquidy stuff. There are multitudes of possible uses...

CATEGORY: Entertainment / Every Day Stuff
IDEATION: Sep 18, 2003.

Rooftop Advertising

2009-08-13T22:42:00.009-05:00

With the proliferation of GPS systems and satellite mapping on the Internet, there is suddenly a whole new face that a business can offer to potential customers: the aerial view. When getting directions from any map software, people would more easily recognize your business if it had a sign on the roof.

There is room in this market for franchises of rooftop advertisers - those who can perfect the design, printing, & installation of billboards and rooftop signs. The signs would have to be large, durable, and weather proof. They could even be functional - being light colored to reflect the sun and save energy! (Which would be for a warm climate... If you're in a cold climate, they could be dark to absorb energy.)

One could even hook this idea up with the folks that produce map software, such that there is a hyperlink on the latitude and longitude coordinates of your business which leads to your website.

CATEGORY: Internet / Marketing / Business Idea
IDEATION: July 17, 2008.

Record Collisions with Car Camera

2009-08-08T10:32:00.005-05:00

More and more car makers are offering a reverse camera to improve visibility while backing up. It would be easy to add a small flash memory drive that continually records in a 10 or 20 minute loop. This would enable the recording of a car accident for insurance purposes or police documentation.

A camera shut-off could be triggered by the same sensors that deploy the airbags, or started manually with a button. This way, the memory drive would hold only the footage immediately before and after the collision or incident. The video could then be uploaded to a USB drive for the police or your insurance company.

With reverse cameras already in place, one can imagine the hardware and firmware would cost car manufacturers less than $30 to mass produce. This would be limited to viewing events behind the car, but the system could possibly be bolstered with a cheap forward facing camera, and perhaps a data stream from the dashboard with the current speedometer reading, compass direction, etc. This would perform a similar function to the ‘black box’ in airliners.

CATEGORY: Transportation
IDEATION: August 7, 2009, submitted by Jake Salter.

Phosphorescent Concrete

2009-08-03T21:50:00.004-05:00

Embedding a phosphorescent additive or coating into the surface layer of concrete would increase visibility at night. This would be optimal for airplane runways, especially in remote areas with limited electricity.

CATEGORY: Transportation / Construction
IDEATION: 2001.

Central Vac in Minivan

2009-07-26T22:19:00.005-05:00

Put a small, retractable vacuum system in an easily accessible spot in a minivan, and you would make it easy to clean up the enormous masses of crackers and crumbs that kids get all over the floors. Nothing fancy; something like a dust buster wand hooked to a small vac motor with an easily cleanable reservoir.

CATEGORY: Transportation / Everyday Life
IDEATION: July 20, 2009, submitted by Jeff Moore.

Flat tax vs. Progressive tax: an analytical perspective

2009-07-19T09:55:00.007-05:00

Debate seems to continually rage along the capitalist-to-socialist spectrum regarding how flat or progressive our income tax should be. A flat tax takes the same percentage from everyone, but unfairly burdens the poor because it takes a bigger chunk away from fixed expenses that don't scale proportionally (Housing, food, transportation costs, etc. all start at some fixed dollar amount that constitutes a higher percentage of income as wages decrease).

On the other hand, a progressive tax collects a higher percentage from those with higher household income (HHI); reasoning that they can afford it because of their wealth. The primary criticism of this, however, is that it stifles innovation and the success motive, penalizing those who would strive to earn more.

The United States currently has a middle ground - a mildly-tiered progressive income tax, and the big debate is "how progressive" should it be. To this point, I have only heard philosophical and political arguments favoring one way or the other. What I propose here is an analytical framework to determine the appropriate "progressiveness."

If you divide the population into income brackets, and then create a basket of goods that represents essential, fixed costs; you can divide those costs into corresponding brackets too. Thus, you marry each percentile of wage earners with their corresponding percentile of essential living expenses - taking into account the lifestyle of each bracket. When you subtract these fixed costs from the total HHI, you get discretionary income leftover. Everyone could then be taxed at a flat or equal rate on the discretionary income of their tax bracket.

This would result in an overall effective tax rate on total HHI that has an equitable "progressiveness." This would allow the poorer brackets to have enough income to support their living expenses. Simultaneously, this would give an analytical treatment of the lifestyle of the rich, trying to quantify and measure how much they require to support a lifestyle in which they feel incentivized to succeed.

An example calculation is outlined below:

CATEGORY: Political / Economic
IDEATION: July 12, 2009

Hi-Five Javelin!

2009-07-14T23:14:00.006-05:00

Ever wanted to high-five someone, but they were across the room . . . or an impassable gorge? Enter the Hi-Five Javelin. This nerf-like missile has a safe, high-five-able “hand” on the front end, and is engineered for optimal celebratory flight. (Product preferably to be marketed with ridiculously over-the-top ad campaign.)

CATEGORY: Entertainment / Every Day Stuff
IDEATION: 2002.

Interchangeable Stuffed-Animal Pillows

2009-07-06T23:45:00.005-05:00

I think this would have been awesome to have as a kid! Sets of gigantic, fluffy pillows that you can assemble like Voltron into giant stuffed animals, approximately kid-sized. Each animal would come with detachable pillows for the head, body, arms, and legs.

They would hook together with universal connections, maybe made of Velcro or buttons. Then you could collect different characters and mix and match them for even more fun: bears, elephants, dinosaurs, cowboys, monkeys… The combinations and hilarity are endless!

CATEGORY: Entertainment / Every Day Stuff
IDEATION: Mar 1, 2008.

Buy "Shares" of Films on Hollywood Stock Exchange

2009-06-28T22:47:00.011-05:00

Hollywood movies cost a lot of money to make, so most are funded by big studios. Obedience to the bottom line has often caused these studios to corrupt the original vision of film-makers in order to conform to profitable "formulas." Indie (independent) movies, by definition, are not funded by these large studios' dollars, so they can remain loyal to the original vision; often enabling beautiful, cinematic works that push the envelope of thought and art. Limited budgets, however, apply their own constraints and pressures.

To empower a new generation of inspired film-makers and artists, I propose a Wallstreet-type market where ownership shares of movies can be bought and sold like shares of stock. The IPO (initial public offering) would raise money for the production of a film. In return, investors would be paid dividends: their share of box office revenues, DVD royalties, etc. Share prices would be guided by supply and demand, projected revenues and costs, analyst opinions, statistical analysis of other works by the writers, directors, actors, etc.

The marketplace could be based in Hollywood with an online trading component, making it possible for diverse investors and film enthusiasts from all over the world to fund new works.

CATEGORY: Entertainment / Financial
IDEATION: July 2, 2006.

Progressive Brake Lights

2009-06-11T21:52:00.006-05:00

Brake lights could be arranged in a series of 3 bulbs that turn on sequentially, depending on the degree of braking applied. This would warn the person following them how fast they are decelerating, preventing rear-end accidents and increasing the amount of information available to drivers around you on the road.

CATEGORY: Transportation
IDEATION: 2000

Arctic Data Center

2009-05-23T10:45:00.004-05:00

As the internet age consolidates more and more computing power in "the Cloud," away from end-users in data centers, the energy intensity associated with those data centers is skyrocketing. In a 2007 Congressional Report, they were pegged at 61 billion gigawatt-hours, or 1.5% of all electricity use in the United States. By 2011, this is expected to double.

Data centers need 1) an immense amount of energy to run all the processors, and 2) an immense amount of cooling/air conditioning to keep the equpiment from overheating.

Since the essence of data centers and cloud computing is to be off-site or remote, it may make good sense to locate them near remote energy resources in cold areas. There are many energy resources like oil and coal reserves, mountain streams, or geothermal reservoirs, that are not economical to transport back to population centers. Additionally, the efficiencies of thermodynamic cycles are highest when you have plenty of cool air or water as a "cold sink," so power generation and air conditioning would work much better.

High bandwidth data could be fed in and out of the facilities using runs of fiber optic cable or satellites.

CATEGORY: Energy / Technology
IDEATION: Oct 22, 2008

RE-BEER, a green brew

2009-05-16T13:27:00.005-05:00

Imagine a tasty microbrew that is made using natural ingredients, green strategies, and energy-efficient equipment. Now imagine the marketing and branding that could distinguish this frothy beverage...

The call-sign of the brewery is to clean out and reuse a motley mix of old beer bottles, regardless of their shape, size, or color. If you're a large brewery that can buy back their old bottles from cleaners/recyclers/sorters, there is some incremental cost there. But if you took any ole' bottle you could get, cleaned it up, and dropped your beer into it...you could save a lot of money, do a lot of good for the environment, and create a catchy niche in the consumer's mind.

You could print one simple, recognizable label (from recycled materials) and slap it on the endearing assortment of decanters.

CATEGORY: Entertainment / Business Idea
IDEATION: May 13, 2009

Reduce other taxes to soften impact of Carbon taxes

2009-05-09T09:56:00.004-05:00

Legislators and the scientific community are in agreement that some economic incentive is needed to discourage carbon emissions. There is considerable debate, however, that adding costs to fossil fuels, via a carbon tax or a carbon cap-and-trade system, will crush industry as it wobbles to its feet in these precarious economic times.

The question is: Does the government need more money?...or do we simply want to incentivize cleaner energy use? If the government were to hold its revenues constant - gradually phasing in a carbon tax while proportionally reducing income tax and corporate tax, the net effect would be a win-win.

The government would collect the same amount of revenue, the carbon tax would discourage fossil fuels and raise the cost of business, but a corresponding decrease in income & corporate taxes would compensate by raising spendable income.

A large obtacle may be the accounting and paper work behind the scenes to balance the budget, but come on - we're smart people. Let's figure this out. Any thoughts? Please discuss in the comments.

CATEGORY: Political / Economic / Energy

IDEATION: April 28, 2009

Pimp Blimp

2009-05-06T19:07:00.003-05:00

Victor Hugo once said "There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come." Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come for an airborne dance club. This blimp would have a super-exclusive nightclub on deck with all the accoutrements: stellar design, see-through glass floor, laser lights... It would take off from the penthouse of a skyscraper and cruise a loop around the city and back several times a night. (Las Vegas, Paris, New York, Hong Kong?)

Safety features would be of utmost importance. Cruises would not change altitude much in order to keep flight smooth and to conserve fuel & energy. The cover charge would be pricey to support the associated high costs. It could also have LED screens to advertise on the dirigible itself. Some suggested names are: "Pimp Blimp" and perhaps the slightly classier "Club Nimbus." An exceptional and eccentric individual would have to champion the implementation of such a project... Snoop Dogg, are you out there?

CATEGORY: Entertainment / Business Idea
IDEATION: January 17, 2007 -- by Brent Robbins & Dave Costenaro.

Credit Card with Digital Display

2009-05-03T17:36:00.005-05:00

People often start out budgeting by using the “envelope” method – a tangible object lesson: one envelope of cash for groceries, one for entertainment, etc. – for a week or month. However, with more and more people using credit cards and/or debit cards for their expenses, our purchases no longer make a visible, immediate dent in our wallets. When you spend cash, you have less of it. Spend on a credit card, however, and nothing in your wallet changes to let you know that you have less money.

What if you could make a “credit card” that had a digital display on it, telling you how much you had in each category? So, if you only have $7 left to spend on lunches for the week, you know that you’d better go to Subway rather than Quizno’s. This could be linked either to the credit card account itself, or a standalone device that allowed you to keep track of everything right in your wallet or purse.

CATEGORY: Finance / Technology
IDEATION: April 15, 2009, submitted by Jonathan Mesh.

Crystal growth to manipulate Nano materials

2009-04-24T23:15:00.003-05:00

If one could understand and control the way in which a crystal forms, one could take advantage of perfect angles, precise edges, and chemically-dictated geometry to manipulate molecules with nano-scale construction techniques. The forming crystals could be microscopic bulldozers or crystalline spears.

For instance, you could create a "nano drill punch" tool by making a circular rim at a relatively large and workable scale. Then, you seed the crystal and start it forming into a cone that tapers down to a very exact point with an exact angle and shape. The apex of the cone pierces a hole in a surface coating that can now fit a single layer of molecules that give the surface some desired property.

Such nano-construction techniques could possibly be performed with precision lasers, but some applications might benefit here by not having the laser's heat.

CATEGORY: Nanotechnology / Manufacturing / Technology
IDEATION: 2002

Biological Nanobot Power System

2009-04-13T22:09:00.003-05:00

For a nanobot that might stay inside a living being for medicinal/maintenance purposes, a renewable power system could be designed to align with natural biological cycles. Below, I've illustrated a piezoelectric material that could be pressed like a bellows to charge a battery, running the tiny, low-power flagella, sensor systems, and cpu. The bellows could be pumped multiple ways, for instance:

1) Thermodynamic drive - For every circuit through the blood stream, the nanobot would be exposed to inner and outer temperatures - maybe 98.6 degF in the lungs and 95 degF in the capillaries at the skin. The "bio-activated bellows" could be a material designed to change phases from crystalline to liquid between those temperatures, thus expanding and contracting as it travels through the body.

2) Pressure drive - When the nanobot gets pumped out of the heart, it would be squeezed in the flow at a higher pressure. The "bio-activated bellows" could be a gas-filled membrane that contracts onto the piezoelectric when it cycles through the heart chambers.

CATEGORY: Nanotechnology / Medicine / Biological

IDEATION: 2007

Mergers & Acquisitions 401k Fund

2009-04-04T18:36:00.007-05:00

At an acquisitive firm, why not take advantage of the cash buying power of your employees’ 401k funds? There could be a mutual fund managed in the company’s 401k options that is earmarked for “strategic purchases.” Employees’ investments would go to purchase ownership of companies that their own company is looking to acquire or influence. This would increase the leverage and ability of their company to influence shareholder votes, strategic decision-making, or mergers & acquisitions.

CATEGORY: Economic / Financial
IDEATION: January 5, 2009

Double Parking...On Purpose

2009-03-28T14:31:00.004-05:00

Parking lots and garages could significantly increase their capacity for vehicles at low cost if they adopted a simple system of signs to facilitate the "self-stacking" of double-parking.

In the first layer could be parking spaces specifically for people that will be staying all day. They would park with the understanding that they would be blocked in until a certain time in the afternoon or evening. This time could vary from 4:00pm to 5:00pm to 6:00pm depending on the section or level. The vehicles in the second layer would park with the understanding that they must be gone an hour before the first layer's deadline, or else get a ticket or be towed.

This method would not require additional attendants or technology costs, just the repainting of some stripes and signs, and the adoption of the supporting social customs and schedules.

CATEGORY: Transportation / Business Idea

IDEATION: March 26, 2009

The Center of the Earth: an Electricity Superhighway?

2009-03-19T16:37:00.008-05:00

If the Earth's mantle or core is sufficiently conductive (composed of molten metal compounds: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_core), we might use it as a global electric transmission system. Use advanced materials and drilling equipment to plunge an electrode deep into the natural electricity superhighway.

Then you could pump electricity from a network of power plants at off-peak times across vast distances and use it where it's most needed. Downsides: Deep drilling technology would have to advance significantly, and it would be expensive. You would have to hope the energy flowed preferentially toward the target electrodes. There may be too much loss and dissipation. Additionally, what environmental impacts might there be? Effects on the Earth's magnetic field, for instance? Plus, if you can dig that deep already, you may as well just use geothermal heat to boil water and make your own energy onsite.

Another thought...what is electricity anyway? Movement of charged particles. What if the sloshing, rotating molten core is constantly generating electricity just by virtue of its motion? Ions and electrons rubbing off like static electricity in clouds? We may be able to drill a set of conductive taps, harvest the charge with one to do work on the surface, and complete the circuit by reinjecting it with the other tap.

CATEGORY: Energy / Technology
IDEATION: May 20, 2008

Salad Dressing Fountain

2009-03-09T21:36:00.003-05:00

If salad dressing were dispensed in the manner of cola at a soda fountain...that would be awesome! Some key benefits to consider:

Consolidates the dressing in one refrigerated place. No waste from it sitting out and "going bad."
No cleanup or storage for workers at the end of the day. Just leave the refillable bags in the fountain.
Quicker dispensing onto salads.
No stupid spoons dripping dressing all over everything.

It may require structuring the mechanism a little differently, with an arm that can swing out over a plate, for instance.

CATEGORY: Everyday Life / Entertainment / Business Idea

IDEATION: February 15, 2008.

Weather control with remote-stimulated algae

2009-03-01T14:57:00.008-06:00

Genetically modify an algae or plankton to change color in response to an electromagnetic signal. Then beam the signal (microwave, radio, other?) from a geostationary satellite onto large areas of the ocean seeded with the algae.

The billions of color-changing organisms would effectively make the surface of the ocean darker or lighter such that it absorbs more or less heat from the sun. With this, you could create thermal updrafts, moving huge air masses when and where you want them. You could potentially create rain for irrigation of crops or wind for wind turbine farms. Hey, this might make a good plot for a James Bond movie...

CATEGORY: Energy / Technology
IDEATION: 2006.

No Vampire Cellphone Charger

2009-02-22T14:45:00.005-06:00

Ok, this one's too easy, so I suspect it's already being done; or else there is some market impediment that I'm overlooking. Please discuss in the comments if you are more savvy than me.

Cell phones chargers, like most chargers that draw from a 120-Volt wall plug, require a boxy-looking transformer to step the voltage down to a digestible level before feeding it to the device. Unfortunately, these transformers induce current and use power even if the device is not attached to the charger! So when you leave your phone charger or laptop charger in the wall, it draws a steady 1 or 2 Watts ALL THE TIME! Popular names for this are vampire power, standby power, or phantom power.

The idea here is to put a simple, mechanical switch where the phone plugs onto the charger. When the phone is attached, it closes the switch. Power from the wall can reach the transformer, be stepped down, and then charge the phone. When the phone is removed, the "secondary" coil is of course opened, but now the switch opens the "primary" coil as well; meaning that the wall can no longer feed the transformer and waste power.

A single cellphone charger could save around 10 kWh per year this way. With millions of users, this is a high potential for energy efficiency. Added manufacturing costs would be the added switch and length of wire. The same function could also be accomplished with a smart charging chip to sense active vs. vampire power levels. One would have to analyze which is more cost effective: a mechanical or electronic shutoff.

CATEGORY: Energy / Technology
IDEATION: February 16, 2009.

PublicTransit.com

2009-02-14T16:04:00.003-06:00

This would be like Google Maps or MapQuest, but it would find directions using Public Transportation routes instead of automobile routes. It would have electronic links to the routes and schedules of buses, trains, and cabs all over the country.

The merits of using public transportation are many: less congestion on roadways, lower carbon emissions and fuel consumption, energy independence, etc; but navigating the various systems can be very challenging - especially for newbies and out-of-towners. A universal, nationwide interface to tie it together would certainly be a boon. Such a web service could be programmed into a mobile/iphone application for greater convenience. The web service could generate revenue by linking to advertisements and listings for local restaurants and establishments along the routes on which people are finding directions.

This is an idea that Brent Robbins and I created a mini business case for and presented in the St. Louis University "Idea 2 Product" competition in 2007.

There are now similar services, like the Trip Planner on the Portland public transit website, or HopStop for select cities.

CATEGORY: Transportation / Socioeconomic / Business Idea
IDEATION: November 28, 2006.

Pinpoint Radiation Treatment with Constructive Interference

2009-02-07T13:15:00.007-06:00

Radiation can be used to attack cancerous tumors non-invasively from outside the body. One large problem with this method, however, is that the radiation destroys healthy tissue in the process.

If one were to synchronize and focus multiple radiation beams that are relatively weak and innocuous, they could intersect inside the body at the tumor, and their waveforms could constructively interfere to deliver a powerful dose of radiation with pinpoint accuracy.

See Wave Interference.

This may already be practiced in oncology...not sure. Let me know in the comments if you know!

CATEGORY: Medicine / Technology

IDEATION: 2001.

Prismatic Solar Cells

2009-02-04T21:09:00.005-06:00

Different photovoltaic materials have varying efficiencies when converting certain colors/wavelengths of light into electricity. If you split the sunlight apart with a prism, you could direct the optimal color of light to a series of different photovoltaic surfaces. Simultaneously, these surfaces could be arranged in a stairstep fashion to collect the light perpendicularly, fitting more photovoltaic surface area into troughs than would be available on a flat surface.

CATEGORY: Energy
IDEATION: 2007.

Duo-Nation World Games

2009-01-31T13:40:00.005-06:00

Psychological research indicates that groups overcome differences and understand each other best when collaborating on a "superordinate goal," which requires them to work together. (See contact hypothesis).

In an evolution of the Olympic Games, rosters for team sports might be comprised of members from two separate countries. They could be paired by lottery or a vote/selection in the United Nations. Collaborating teams/countries would be compelled to build international relationships, foster goodwill, and cooperative spirit by rooting for and assembling the same team.

CATEGORY: Geopolitical/Entertainment

IDEATION: Mar 3, 2004.

Soundtrack Jacket

2009-01-24T18:11:00.005-06:00

The “Soundtrack Jacket” plays music that corresponds with your mood and biological signals. It can either play it outloud over built-in speakers or pump tunes into a headset.

It has a neural net training mode that senses your bio-metrics in response to musical inputs. This maps certain musical tempos, genres, timbres, instruments, etc. to heart rate, skin voltage, body temperature, chemical concentrations, etc. Then you can use the neural net to detect bio-metric patterns and play music that fits your mood. The songs could be selected from a playlist (perhaps from the music genome project - see www.pandora.com) or maybe even generated real-time from tracks and samples.

CATEGORY: Entertainment
IDEATION: 2005.

Urban Solar Thermal Power

2009-01-16T16:30:00.005-06:00

Place a solar thermal collector on the highest building in a city. Then assemble a distributed array of mirrors on surrounding rooftops. With dual-axis tracking, the mirrors can direct sunlight to the central collector based on two signals: 1) a photosensor that follows the sun and 2) a periodic wireless signal from the collector.

Each distributed mirror is independently managed by a small photovoltaic-powered control system, so there are no wires to run, no infrastructure, no hassle. You simply lease a plot of roof space from your neighbors and grab the economies of scale offered by concentrated solar power. Apply solar-thermal technology at the collector to boil a working fluid and turn a turbine/generator.

CATEGORY: Energy/Business Idea
IDEATION: January 13, 2009.

Political Candidate Matching Quiz

2009-01-13T22:26:00.010-06:00

Political Candidates and Voters could all take the same web-based, psychological test to compare their values and decision-making tendencies. This would greatly simplify research for the Voter by listing the degree to which they share points-of-view with the Candidates. Listings would run from the presidential candidates right on down to the obscure judges and officials that most people are never sure how to vote on! (Candidates reported could be customized by entering zip code).

With a well-designed test, the questions would be nuanced and subtle enough to draw out meaningful character tendencies without being simplistic and divisive. In my opinion, this would clarify the muddied brouhaha of our elections and better approach our national ideal of democracy.

CATEGORY: Political/Sociological
IDEATION: August 9, 2008.

Lunar Real Estate Auction

2009-01-10T16:46:00.002-06:00

Apportion property on the moon to the nations depending on their size and population, and set up a market exchange so that countries and organizations can buy and sell the property. This availability of property and speculation would spur the expansion and settlement of the moon and outer space! Countries could choose to offer incentives in their territories like the Homestead Act in the early United States' westward expansion.

Simultaneously, the market would allow undeveloped countries to sell their stakes to gain much-needed funds in the short term.

CATEGORY: Geopolitical/Socioeconomic/Business Idea
IDEATION: June 1, 2007.

Saleboat Race...For The Cure

2009-01-10T12:41:00.004-06:00

Coordinate a massive sailboat race with a philanthropic twist, in the style of "Race for the Cure" on land. Competitors would use their sailboat to deliver a payload of goods and supplies to impoverished people at the end of the race.

A fleet of thousands of boats would bring medical supplies, food, and more. The event could take place perhaps from Miami to Haiti, or from San Diego to Mexico.

CATEGORY: Philanthropy/Business Idea

IDEATION: Nov 18, 2008.

Automobile Bubble Canopy

2009-01-06T20:27:00.006-06:00

Bubble-canopies on cars would let people see each other while driving, increasing the psychological accountability, the human interaction, and percieved responsibility of driving. This would likely decrease road rage. It would also eliminate blind spots.

CATEGORY: Transportation
IDEATION: 2001.

CO2 devouring algae - sink after eating

2009-01-06T20:19:00.009-06:00

Genetically engineer an algae so that it grows quickly, gobbles up CO2, then dies and/or sinks under its own weight. Then it will fall to the bottom of the ocean and sequester the CO2 to prevent it from contributing to global warming.

CATEGORY: Science & Technology
IDEATION: Oct 24, 2008.