Want to know when someone’s entering your house? Could be a loved one, friend or foe. Now you can with Noisy Doors and Squeaky Rugs. What’s great about Squeaky Rugs, they’d be also laugh for kids who’d diabolically dance up a sonic storm. (Maybe not so much for stressed-out parents.) I’m imagining they sound like squeaky toys, but Read More …
Label reveals: “Energy used to make this product.” If A and B cost the same, would you buy the one that wasted less energy? Side benefit for jingoists: It’s probably the product made abroad that consumed the most energy, because of shipping. So home-made, local products would probably score the best. Of course, cynics might say: Read More …
Take out the fat. Take out the sugar. Add back a couple of artificial sweeteners (as in Coke Zero and Sprite Zero) and you have a drink with calcium, protein and Vitamin D, but almost no calories. OK, OK, seems so inevitable, you’re probably right if you say, except for the name, and the sweetener combo, Read More …
I’m not sure what these mean. They must have meant something when I emailed to myself for later posting. Now they’re puzzles to ponder: Out sick on account of epiphany. My arrogance is the only thing that saves me from you! What if playgrounds had mood swings that changed color with your mood?
Say you’re selling copies of your CD (like this one for my nephew Robert’s San Fran band, The Chop) but a potential fan asks, “Yeah, but what do you sound like?” Wouldn’t it be cool if your CD had a flap that played a song when opened? If this doesn’t exist, count on it, since we Read More …
Why is gum only a snack or candy substitute? Why can’t it replace an entire meal? You have your chips-and-dip gum for an appetizer. Or, if you prefer, your soup or salad gum. Want bread and butter gum with that? Next it’s steak and potatoes gum, broccoli with cheese sauce gum, and favorite beverage gum. Cap it all Read More …
That name’s a bit grandiose, I know. But that’s my dream, my hope, my goal. Newspapers are supposed to be dying, heading for obsolescence instigated by the Web. Doesn’t have to be that way. And to make my case, I’ve been working for months on a parallel blog. Finally, it’s time for an unveiling. Take a look. The address is Read More …
Why should a watch only tell the time? We’d probably have watch-phones by now, if Dick Tracy’s wrist radio hadn’t overdone the idea to the point of hokey jokiness. How a digital screen, however? Movies seem obvious. But how about the picture-album watch? You push a button, see an image of your wife …your kids … your dog … your Read More …
Why did paper lunch bags get smaller? These days, you’re more likely to have some kind of container to stick in the microwave. And even if its fits, good luck getting more than an apple and yogurt cup in there, too. Product idea: Bigger lunch bags.
When you write Part 1, you’re supposed to write Part 2. So here goes: A golf club you can’t destroy — it’s rubber-coated wire like those posable toys. Whack, smack, hurl, throw in the lake. It doesn’t break. (Plus, it’s got a string for reeling it in?) … Or how about the enviro-friendly disposable club? Stomp it, Read More …
Take the i-Pod Shuffle idea and offer a stream of brain teasers and trivia. The pitch: Entertaining way to sharper your brain. Might be a Jeopardy! version. Or stuff from almanacs and encyclopedias. Games Magazine. Samples from various popular games, such as Scrabble. Tests with word problems from math books. Tricky lateral thinking problems from Read More …
When it snows, on the news you’ll hear all sorts of warnings: Dress warmly! Look out for icy roads! Bend those knees when shoveling, and don’t do it with a heart problem! Never, though, have I ever heard: Beware of pushing your shovel like a plow because if the blade catches, the handle could suddenly jam, Read More …
Suppose you’re in a hurry to make your icy sidewalks less dangerous. The stuff is way too hard to chop and shovel. What if you had an “ice rougher”? It wouldn’t remove the ice, it would just rough it up so it wasn’t so slippery. Wouldn’t have to be a separate tool. Option 1: Could be Read More …
Let’s hope that ads eventually make all Internet sites free. But now you’ll find publications like magazines that charge dollars for reading current articles, or for accessing archives. How about some ecoonomy of scale? Charge way less, so you get more customers, producing as much revenue if not more. Here’s a way for Paypal, or someone other online paying Read More …
We’re so bombarded with ads, news, messages, airplane and traffic noise, rudeness, and tempting sights and smells, here’s a prediction: Someday we’ll have personal high-tech force fields that selectively screen out undesired sensory experiences. No, not some combo earplug-blindfold-noseplug deal. But a kind of programmable Sensory Sentry or Filter Field — a Globe of Obliviosity? — that lets you have peace and Read More …