Steal My Ideas, Please

The mother of all Magic 8 Balls. Has a much bigger window. And when you shake it and turn it over, three of the 20 message triangles float into view within that window. For example: “Edible.” “Music.” “Money.” Let it percolate. What bubbles into your brain? Edible Music? Song lyrics printed on flat candy? Chocolates […]

Somehow build a mini-chair or sitting cushion into a pair of shoes. Foam blocks that dangle off the heels for squat support? Attachments on the sides swing back and Velcro together? Shoes totally unfold and refold, like wearable Transformers? 

Instead of making flat scenes like movies seem three-dimensional, these 2-D glasses would make real things look flat. Would help artists, perhaps, put things into better perspective. Whoa, what if you then looked at a painting or photograph … would it look 1-D? Wouldn’t that be like a dot or invisible? (Hey, isn’t that quip better than making the obligatory […]

What if stores had PhoneZones where customers could tap into all kinds of customer service options through their cellphones? Rohit Bhargava starts a discussion on his Influential Interactive Marketing blog, saying a photograph of a barcode could give  shoppers immediate access to all sorts of price and product information. I’d like to see it do even more, like fetch a salesperson, tell what’s in […]

Wish I could buy one. But I can’t see it working with just one wheel/blade. Veggies could go flying everywhere. So give it three, four or five wheels, and maybe add some kind of outer rim to catch outer veggie bits trying to blast all over the kitchen floor. It would be like a power tool […]

Ever want to interact with your TV? Like hit it with a shoe when your football team chokes? What if you could hit it with a virtual shoe? Or toss a virtual pie or water balloon at a crook or despicable politician? Maybe you could project a cartoon balloon, to put words in the mouths of show characters […]

Imagine if students put as many hours into inventing as they do into sports. Make it a team effort, and glories would spring forth. Or do the same with collaborative writing teams.

At home centers, lifting and unloading heavy purchases, like sacks of concrete mix or big tubs of paint, can be a chore. If the end of shopping carts could unlock and swing outward, either all the way down or partway like a ramp, you could back the cart right up to your trunk or sidedoor […]

Ever make Jell-O Jigglers? They stay semi-solid at room temperature, and they’re firm enough to cut into shapes. Why not make intense mini-shapes to use as fruit-flavored sweetener for tea? Put them on the end of flavored toothpicks if the “can’t touch any actual ingredient” issue is a problem. Make them so they dissolve in cold liquids, […]

Little promotional gimmick. Inside every package of Lifesavers is a tunnel made of holes. Write some life-saving tip (excerpts from The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook series?) on slip of paper, roll it into the slimmest scroll, and slide it down the row of Lifesaver holes. Just be a cool way to get new buzz […]

Put on a shirt from my suitcase and it was wrinkled. Why not an iron that would work while you’re wearing clothes? Shape it like giant tweezers. The space-age insulated heatproof shield size goes under the shirt. The steamy / ultrasound size goes on the outside. Move it around and wrinkles disappear. OK, no way […]

Add a little fun to frozen pizzas by making pictures out of toppings. Arrange the cheese to melt into a smiley face. (Yes, I’m losing my mind.) Have pepperoni pieces in the shape of trains. Spell words with sausage bits. Of course, like anything, this can be taken too far. We draw the line at […]

You’ve seen the puzzles. Two pictures that look almost identical. But if you look really closely the dog has ear spots in one but not the other, there are three fireflies not two, and one of the eyes in one of the paintings is closed. Do a print ad based on the same idea. Side […]

Seems so obvious this either already exists (Doh!) or will soon. In casual use, you could record a call to share later with a spouse or friend. There are all sorts of business and legal reasons to record a call, too. Worried about violating laws? Maybe, when you push “record,” the phone automatically asks, “Is it […]

Big hubbub in astrononomy about how to define planets. Say Pluto’s just an iceball, and we know of only 8. Say a planet’s any solar-orbiting object big enough for its gravity to crunch it into a ball, and now Ceres, which would fit between Boston and Washington, D.C., would count, along with dozens of other farout […]