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Ideas by Category: The Montblanc 100 (in collaboration with Nokia) Date: 2005-12-18 Category: Durable / Electronic Price: 50 Target Audience: Montblanc, S. T. Dupont, and other fancy pen manufacturers, along with any/all cellphone manufacturers. Description: From the royal seals of antiquity to signet rings and fountain pens, portable communication tools have followed a design tradition of timeless elegance. Today's mobile phones are no less instruments of personal power than pens and watches have been for generations, but handset design has been sadly ignorant of this history, stuck instead in the garish worlds of disposable teen fashion and technology-worship. For 2006, Montblanc, makers of fine writing instruments, commemorates their 100th anniversary with the Montblanc 100 handset. Manufactured in collaboration with Nokia (whose gracious 8800 series has served as a happy exception to common design practices), the Montblanc 100 is the first mobile handset to explicitly honor the distinguished heritage of the fountain pen, with its black resin case and fine gold trim. Engraved with the proud Montblanc name, this elegant communication instrument even includes an integrated fountain pen (or optional ballpoint), handcrafted by Montblanc, which slides comfortably into the side opposite the antenna. Is that classy, or what? The Slingtrack Date: 2005-05-29 Category: Durable / Outdoor Price: 50 Target Audience: Hunting equipment manufacturers. Description: Jai-alai players use a wicker cesta to hurl rubber pelota balls at speeds of over 160 mph, making them the fastest thrown objects in the world. The cesta works by increasing the length of the throwing arm and the amount of time it has contact with the ball, which lets the thrower convert more muscle energy into forward projectile velocity. The Slingtrack follows the same principle, but it's designed to propel metal bearings, not rubber balls, and it's designed for throwing only, not catching. The size, shape, and balance of the light, ultra-smooth track derive from all appropriate heavy-math equations, optimizing projectile speed through physics, human-factors engineering, and modern fabrication techniques, rather than traditional basket-weaving. With no moving parts and no explosives, this durable, proto-World War IV weapon hurls spherical steel or brass projectiles, more massive than bullets, at bone-shattering velocities. And, while it takes quite a bit of practice to achieve high accuracy, no training is required for using the Slingtrack to fling a ball-bearing with lethal force in some generally-intended direction. Smartwarm Towel Rack Date: 2005-03-06 Category: Durable / Electronic Price: 100 Target Audience: Heated towel rack manufacturers Description: Heated towel racks are a good idea / bad implementation. Timer-based ones sometimes shut off before the towels are dry, and the always-on ones simply waste electricity. The Smartwarm rack knows better. Equipped with an internal scale, timer, and microprocessor, the device periodically measures the weight of the load it's carrying. If there's a sudden big change, it means that there's new towels on board, and the heat immediately switches on. The heat will then stay on for as long as the load slowly inches down, as the towels dry out and lose their water weight. But once the weight levels off, the towels are dry-- so the heating element shuts off. Dry towels every time, with no energy wasted! Mirror-Time Date: 2004-10-06 Category: Durable / Electronic Price: Free Target Audience: Bathroom fixture and electronic display / LCD manufacturers Description: You're ready to head out to the evening's event, but your spouse is stuck preening in front of the mirror again, making you late, as usual. Establish control with Mirror-Time, the mirror that shuts off when it's time for you to leave. You set the installable dressing-room mirror just like you set an alarm. Then, five minutes before the appointed moment, the inner LCD layer starts flashing opaque black, disabling the mirror intermittently as a warning sign. When the time's up, the mirror goes completely black, rendering it unusable-- and you can only restore its reflectivity by entering a secret code. Al Qaeda Sneakers Date: 2004-05-05 Category: Durable / Apparel Price: Free Target Audience: Athletic/casual shoe manufacturers Description: What's the baddest brand in the world? It isn't Nike. Al Qaeda sneakers strike fear and young-rebel admiration wherever they tread, as they stomp into the cultural battleground of leisure footwear on the heels of such leftie, do-gooder labels as No Sweat and Adbusters' Blackspot. But absolutely none of the profits from the aggressively-styled basketball shoes actually goes to the Al Qaeda organization itself-- and anyone claiming to represent Al Qaeda who objects to the "trademark violation" and seeks damages will just have prove it through the court system. Gotcha! It's a trap that uses the terrorist organization's most valuable asset, its reputation, against itself-- while defusing, trivializing, and profiting off of it in the process. Actually, Al Qaeda brand sneakers are assembled in non-exploitative, unionized facilities, with 1% of gross income donated to UNICEF. But with status-symbol pricing, there's ample money left over for the manufacturer. Copycats and knock-offs? Bring 'em on! They'll just dilute, commercialize, and confuse the brand further. Mosquito Deathmonitor MD-1 Date: 2004-03-16 Category: Durable / Electronic Price: 50 Target Audience: BioSensory Inc., other leading bug-zapper manufacturers Description: A bug zapper is great when you're outside drinking beers out on a buggy evening, but wouldn't it be more satisfying if you could actually see as well as hear each little mosquito get fried? The Mosquito Deathmonitor MD-1 biting-insect trap answers this desire by combining proven backyard pest-control tech with a macro-lens deathcam that shows each insect execution as it happens, in graphic, near-microscopic detail, on a built-in LCD screen. Watch the bugs explode, then take a chug to honor their memory! And in case you just missed a good one, a keychain remote lets you replay the last zap-- at regular speed, in slow motion, or even infrared. Die, suckers! Astrological Wall Orrery (and Wrist Orrery) Date: 2004-02-13 Category: Durable / Electronic Price: 50 Target Audience: Decorative electric clock and watch manufacturers Description: AstroWin, Delphi, and other astrology apps are great for drawing up and analyzing charts for past and future events, but what if you just want to check where the planets are now, without having to consult a computer or handheld? The Astrological Wall Orrery is an attractive and affordable quartz-movement wall clock that doesn't just show the time-- it also displays the current zodiac positions of all the planets, giving you a complete, anytime read on your current astro status. Unlike traditional mechanical orreries, it isn't this ridiculously huge and expensive thing you'd only expect to find in a museum. But it does make a strong decorative statement that's in tune with the universe. For planetary guidance anywhere, strap on the Wrist Orrery, which captures all that great solar-system action in a snazzy-looking wristwatch. Hey babe, would you like to know what's rising right now? Bensfi Designs (Blog-Enabled No-Sweat Fashions from India) Date: 2004-01-11 Category: Durable / Apparel Price: 50 Target Audience: Non-exploitative apparel manufacturers/importers who sell high-end ethnic clothing to well-heeled leftie types. Description: Enlightened consumers will gladly pay more to have a personal connection to the products they buy, which is gravy for local artisans and farmers' markets, but what about importers? Bensfi Designs (Blog-Enabled No-Sweat Fashions from India) has the answer: Publish the company's org chart online, and give every employee their own blog, which they can update on company time, uncensored, every week. Next time you're out wearing one of the Mumbai-based company's stunning vegetable-dyed Kalamkari or Ikat full-sleeve tops, you can share the lives the seamstresses who made it -- their workdays, their hopes for their families and communities, and any messages they have for the people who wear their clothing in other parts of the world. These online accounts provide more than just a feeling of connection; they also guarantee that the manufacturer's employees are not being exploited, more convincingly than any "No Sweat" logo or other institutional certification. And if you ever travel to Mumbai/Bombay, you can schedule a tour of the Bensfi factory and say hello to some of the team members in person. Wear your Bensfi design, and you'll get in free of charge-- just like all the leftie journalists visiting to cover the company's inspiring success. Matching Pipe and Cat-Toy Set Date: 2003-12-29 Category: Durable / Toy and Novelty Price: 50 Target Audience: Smokers' paraphernalia and cat-toy manufacturers, and glass artists who work the high-end crafts fair circuit. Description: Much of the younger generation's best glassblowing and glass-sculpture talent has gone into medicinal herb paraphernalia -- witness the beautiful work coming from Seattle's influential Glassworks Park. Meanwhile, companies like MetPet.com have been raising cat-toy aesthetic standards with handsome interactive rod toys such as SpidersFluff and Comet-on-a-String. The handcrafted Matching Pipe and Cat-Toy Set combines these synergistic tools into one piece of functional art, a colorful tabletop set that holds a variety of rod toys alongside either a conventional pipe, a water-pipe, or an herbal vaporizer. On a cold winter's night, there's no more elegant way to present the evening's entertainment! Liver Lab Date: 2003-12-03 Category: Durable / Toy and Novelty Price: negotiable Target Audience: Toy manufacturers Description: Toys that prepare foods are popular now, like chocolate makers, cotton-candy spinners, and McFlurry machines (whatever a McFlurry might be). Too bad for the boys that it's all girly stuff-- not to mention tooth-rotting junk. Liver Lab offers a proud alternative for kids who are more partial to monsters, blood, and guts. Using the Lab's kid-friendly implements on inexpensive and readily-available chicken livers, young-Frankenstein chefs can dissect, mince, and blend the organs, then roast or grill them on the safe, light bulb-powered range. You can make Bruschetta ai Fegattini, Lebanese Liver Kebabs, Kosher-style Chopped Liver, and other grown-up treats-- and if culinary procedures get sloppy, the Lab also teaches important and unforgettable lessons in safe food-handling and gastrointestinal function. Who says cooking is for wusses? Vegan Wishbones Date: 2003-11-26 Category: Durable / Appliance / Kitchen Price: negotiable Target Audience: Description: Vegan Wishbones are a vegetarian's wish come true. Made of cornstarch-derived biodegradable plastic and shaped like a turkey's furculum, the "v-bones" each have an undetectable fracture point at a random offset, giving everyone a fair break. Packaged in sets of six, Vegan Wishbones are aimed at vegans and vegetarians who still have a fondness for the wishbone tradition. But they'll also appeal to romantic couples who aren't cooking a complete bird, and large groups who would like enough bones to go around. And, unlike the edible "Wishstix" that come with Tofurky, these bones can be painted or printed with fresh, custom colors and patterns-- and you don't have to buy a Tofurky to get them. "SI Code" Electronics Date: 2003-09-27 Category: Durable / Electronic Price: 200 Target Audience: Home electronics and media companies Description: Let's face it: human eyes and ears only understand unencrypted, analog inputs, which is why screens and speakers take unencrypted, analog signal -- and as long as someone can reach the wires that feed these basic devices, they can pirate any content. That's why a vast consortium of manufacturers and media companies have hammered out the SI (Secure and Integrated) Code, the new binding standard for home electronics design. Pre-Code electronics were held together with simple screws and carried unsecure copyrighted content via easily accessible wires, inviting hackers and tinkerers to break the law. The Code, in contrast, requires all devices to be encased in solid, sealed cases designed to destroy their delicate contents if broached. At each end of any external connections, unique-pair codec chips scramble and reconstitute the audio and video signal, to prevent splicing in and stealing. For watt-hungry terminal components such as speakers, power is boosted by single-channel amplifiers encased in the same thick plastic as the decoders. Bootleg-proof "Code" electronics are completely incompatible with traditional components, of course, but heavy marketing and artificially low prices should speed adoption. Also, "Code" electronics have eye-catching shapes and colors, unlike dull, rectangular pre-Code equipment. Meanwhile, the consortium plans to launch a major, ongoing ad campaign designed to portray pre-Code "tinkerers" as dorky and lame. The canonical 30-second spot shows a young man inviting an attractive woman back to his place after a date; things look promising until she notices his old, geeky-looking pre-Code equipment, at which point she leaves, saying "I just changed my mind about you." The Incog Collection Date: 2003-07-30 Category: Durable / Apparel Price: Free Target Audience: Fashion and accessory labels, young designers looking for a niche Description: With camera phones, pervasive surveillance, and face recognition, it's tough to stay private when you're out in public. But with the Incog Collection you can maintain your privacy and do it in style. The exclusively-priced line of clothing and accessories includes hoods, veils, masks, and sunshields that obscure your identity but not your taste or your wealth -- so you'll be treated like the boldface name you may very well be, rather than a criminal or weirdo. Each stunning design is meticulously rendered with materials that range from calfskin and silk to carbon fiber and polymer film. You can find the designs online or at the Incog boutique in Beverly Hills (or NYC or maybe Miami). Blankey-Kool Blanket Date: 2003-07-21 Category: Durable / Textile Price: 200 Target Audience: WestPoint Stevens, other innovation-friendly bedding manufacturers Description: We all know how nice it feels under a big pile of blankets, but for hot summer nights Blankey-Kool provides all of the snuggle without all the heat. Advanced machine weaving laces a grid of flat copper beads into a loose mesh of cool cotton with 3% Kevlar added for strength, creating a stylish covering that has all of the mass of a ski-cabin wool-fest yet less heat retention than a single sheet of 120-count percale. The easy-care Blankey-Kool is machine washable and can even tumble dry (although it dries almost as quickly and makes significantly less noise if you just hang it on a line). Beamer Date: 2003-06-11 Category: Durable / Toy and Novelty Price: 50.00 Target Audience: Symbol Technologies, laser pointer companies Description: Laser pointers are getting fancier, tracing patterns as well as just dots, but Beamer brings it to the next level by projecting short messages. Compose your text on the BlackBerry-like panel, turn on the juice, and shine your new sentiment on surfaces up to 300 yards away. A micromirror traces the laser through your script, while the image is steadied a la camcorder. A small dial adjusts its spread so it can appear the proper size. Below the bright red, helium-neon script runs an underscore line that connects up to each letter, letting the laser trace from one letter to the next while also indicating at distances which side goes downward. (The next model will switch the laser so characters can appear detached from one another.) The message "Tags" themselves run on one line, up to 32 characters in length, allowing communiqués to range from a short, sweet, "HEY BABE" to a more detailed, "USE TURN SIGNALS, YOU ASSHOLE!!!" Hydration Pack Level Gauge Date: 2003-06-09 Category: Durable / Outdoor Price: 3% gross sales + two free units Target Audience: Camelbak, Platypus, other hydration pack companies, military, sports outfitters. Description: Hydration backpacks are great, but they don't show how much water's left, so it's easy to run out-- especially when they're toting more weight than just water. The Hydration Pack Level Gauge avoids this parching nightmare. A small totalizing flow meter, a micro version of ones used in agriculture, logs how much aqua you've sucked down so far, and displays the amount left. A button resets the level to capacity when you refill your pack. To install the device, just cut the hose near the mouthpiece and insert one of the two tubes in each end. Or wait until the new packs come out where this feature is already built in. Smart Alarm Date: 2003-03-14 Category: Durable / Electronic Price: Free Target Audience: Sony or other electronics/media company or partnership. Description: Smart Alarm is a beautifully built, Internet radio alarm clock at an irresistable price: Free. Just register online, and it's yours. The secret, naturally, is advertising: studies show that the first two minutes of audio programming people hear upon waking have more impact than anything they experience for the rest of the day. For a few precious moments, the brain's quasi-dream state inhibits its filtering of sensory impressions - giving Smart Alarm sponsors the opportunity to inject words and jingles directly into the targeted user's mind, where they echo and re-play for hours. Advertising via Smart Alarm is expensive, but it's the most powerful way to push your message through the clutter. Meta Mirror Date: 2003-03-14 Category: Durable / Electronic Price: 100.00 Target Audience: Description: Mirrors are fine for your face, but lacking if you want to closely examine, say, the back of your head or your nether regions. Meta Mirror solves this frustrating problem by bringing Remote Presence (RP) technology into your own home. Mount the compact apparatus on your bathroom wall and move the flexible armature around your person, pointing the zoom-lens assembly anywhere, at any angle. The CMOS-based digital imaging system captures high-res video from wherever you visit - whether the sun shines there or not - and feeds it to the 13-inch color LCD screen. With the Meta Mirror Plus model, your hands also fit into two force-feedback data gloves underneath the screen, which correspond to robotic hands that operate on the armature, below the lens. This intuitive arrangement lets you perform hitherto-difficult grooming maneuvers such as shaving the back of your own neck, extracting comedones from your own back, or getting a good, close look at your own bald spot. The Buy Light Date: 2003-03-14 Category: Durable / Electronic Price: 200.00 Target Audience: Symbol, Sony Description: These days, prices are increasingly fluid and complicated, but with the Buy Light, you need never tax your brain with another number again. Scan the barcode or say the name of any product from soda pop to speedboats, and the voice- and wireless-enabled handheld device figures out how easily you can afford it. A green light means go ahead and buy, yellow means use caution, red advises against, and flashing red means you literally cannot cover the cost. A sophisticated algorithm assesses the type of product, how much you need it, your income, target budget, available assets, and other personal factors. Meanwhile, buying- agent software surveys the net to find the lowest possible price, sometimes bidding at auction or collaborating with others for a discount group purchase. If waiting until later would fetch a better price, the Buy Light asks you whether it should go ahead immediately, or take more time. Clicking the "Why?" button displays the full-detail explanation of the reasoning behind each determination, but in beta tests, most users stop questioning and start automatically accepting the Buy Light's judgement within two to three weeks. The device comes in an array of colors and styles. The Tiki God, for example, is an open-mouthed Polynesian-style fetish that speaks its answers in addition to shining its low-power, color LED lights. Eco-Stir Date: 2003-03-14 Category: Durable / Appliance Price: 50.00 Target Audience: Starbucks, Tully's, Peet's, other coffee chains Description: You're in the "condiment island" at Starbucks, adding your milk and sugar. You want to stir your coffee, but an already-used spoon is disgusting, and it seems a waste to discard a stirrer after one use, since you view gourmet coffee places as little islands of eco- friendliness (although you're not quite sure why). Thankfully, there's an Eco-Stir, a handy little device that stirs your cup with a jet of filtered, compressed air. Hold your hot drink underneath the small nozzle, and it turns on automatically, using a motion detector. Watch your coffee agitate and mix under a thin, powerful jet of air that gets down almost to the bottom of the cup. You used to frequent the competing coffee place one block away, but little things like Eco-Stir are worth the extra walk. Lockable Bicycle Panniers Date: 2003-03-14 Category: Durable / Outdoor Price: 50.00 Target Audience: Jandd, TK, other bikepacking and backpacking outfitters Description: You're on a bike trip, your panniers are full of valuables, and you just want to stop in a store for a snack. Do you really have to disengage the panniers from your rack and lug them into the store so that you don't get ripped off? Not with Lockables, the cyclist's answer to hard-shell panniers on motorcycles. The lightweight bags secure to your rack in back with zippers locked closed, all with one key, and without having to string little locks and cables everywhere. Why didn't they think of this before? The Kraftschläger Date: 2003-03-14 Category: Durable / Appliance Price: 200.00 Target Audience: Description: Advertised as "The most advanced tobacco smoking apparatus in the world," the Kraftschläger uses the same basic principle as a homemade "hydraulic bong" fashioned out of a pipe bowl, a turkey baster, a bottomless 2-liter bottle, and a topless 3-liter bottle filled with water. But the Kraftschläger's sleek design, machined metal body and gold-plated fittings ensure that the tabletop device is durable and elegant as well as functional. Gradually raise the Kraftschläger's bowl assembly while applying flame, and tobacco smoke will draw through the water inside, then bubble into the chamber. Let the bowl go, and the piston-like assembly glides back down, blowing cool, flavorful smoke past an internal valve and out through the flexible, tubular mouthpiece. Not available in stores, the eye-catching Kraftschläger is distributed only via a network of entrepreneurially-minded individuals, who run "Demonstration Parties" for the product in private homes -- just like how Tupperware was originally sold. This is because people are most impressed with the Kraftschläger after they've actually had a chance to try one themselves; indeed, many hosts find that under friendly conditions, the apparatus seems to almost literally sell itself. Included with the Kraftschläger is the Owner's Manual, which congratulates you on your purchase and explains with crisp technical illustrations how to keep your Kraftschläger in top working order, that it may provide you with many years of tobacco smoking enjoyment. Poppin' Fun Date: 2003-03-14 Category: Durable / Toy and Novelty Price: 100.00 Target Audience: Toy manufacturers, either children's or adult Description: Few activities are more quietly engrossing than squeezing pimples - with each satisfying extraction, the world's troubles melt away. Chimpanzees at the zoo might find time to groom, but for busy humans today, willing and acne-filled backs and faces are hard to find. Poppin' Fun! is the answer. It's an attractive, lap-sized frame that holds a generous stretch of synthetic skin that's filled with ripe blackheads and whiteheads. And unlike with real skin, the synthetic pus "cores" are delicious as well. Skin refills come in a variety of difficulty levels, as well as rewarding, grown-up flavors like soy, saffron, and Stilton. For commuting, taking a work break, or relaxing at home, Poppin' Fun! provides hours of nonverbal, meditative enjoyment. Brain Tangler Date: 2003-03-14 Category: Durable / Toy and Novelty Price: Free Target Audience: Description: On the plane, in the park, or even at home, Brain Tangler gives you the quiet satisfaction of untangling string, wherever you might need a break. Available at four difficulty levels, each Brain Tangler gives you a different problem to solve - and no two are alike! And once you've solved a Brain Tangler, you can carefully coil the toy's string around a standard-width pencil and read a secret message - or see the amount of money you've just won! The pocket- and purse-sized puzzles are made of all-natural and biodegradable material, and are available at check-out displays and ticket windows nationwide for one to five dollars, depending on difficulty. Or you can subscribe to Tanglers' Brain magazine and get a free Double Black Diamond (Advanced Level) Brain Tangler with each issue. Good Luck! Brass Balls of Chicago Date: 2003-03-14 Category: Durable / Toy and Novelty Price: 50.00 Target Audience: Description: In the opening scene of the movie Glengarry Glen Ross, the Alec Baldwin character tells a sales office that all but two of the commissioned staff will be fired, and that they will compete against each other to find out who. He ends his talk by removing a pair of polished brass balls from his briefcase, and reverently draping the silk cord connecting them over the back of his hand as he intones, "You need balls of solid brass to survive in this business, gentlemen." Now Brass Balls of Chicago brings you polished, solid brass balls just like the ones in David Mamet's movie. Furnished in an elegant black velvet sack, with optional tropical hardwood display case, the original Brass Balls make a strong statement on any desk. They're a great gift idea for outstanding team members, and they make great "honorary balls" for women employees who successfully adhere to strongly male-oriented workplace cultures. But beware of imitations! Only Brass Balls of Chicago have the unique "Brass Balls of Chicago" microstamp.
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