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 Read More …
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 Read More …
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 Read More …
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, Read More …
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 Read More …
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 Read More …
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 Read More …
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 Read More …
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 Read More …
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 Read More …
Few newspapers ever do the kind of nitty-gritty detail surveys that really reveal what readers actually read. Oh sure, there are phone surveys and focus groups, but who’s going to admit, “Well, I always read the comics and horoscopes, never the national news”? And with so much content to cover, what survey gets into this columnist vs. columnist, this Read More …
Think of it like a mini-scoreboard on the back of a car. You can use it to (a) display messages to tailgaters to back off, (b) speed in front of a hot babe and ask her out, (c) politely ask if someone would let you into line, (d) share jokes and political comments, (e) share Read More …
One worry I have is that many of the ideas here are tricky to turn into a business. But here’s a way to make money right away, have income to write off expenses, get feedback, find possible collaborators, and collect information that could become a book: Teach an evening class at a local high school. Want to write a Read More …
My wife, Anne, like Jujyfruits, but only the reds, oranges and yellows. No green or black ones, thank you. So one Christmas, for fun, I took two boxes, pulled out the greens and blacks, and filled one box with her favorites. Also cut and pasted pictures from the second box so only the kinds she liked were Read More …