Some Ideas I've Had

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midgard

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Some Ideas I've Had
« on: December 22, 2006, 03:20:28 AM »
Here's a few ideas I've had from time to time. I just wanted to know if anybody else has independantly thought of these ideas.

1. Winking Sunglasses. My brother wears sunglasses and he's also one to wink alot. A problem arises when he tries to do both at once, he either ends up looking like he's got a nervous twitch in his neck or has to raise his sunglasses (ruining the effect). My solution was winking sunglasses. That's about as far as I got, I'd have no idea how one would go about making them or who (besides my brother) would want a pair.

2. Postage Stamp vending machines. It annoys me no end when you have to post something and you've run out of stamps. There's phone credit vending machines and the like around the place why don't they have postage stamp vending machines? They could put them next to post boxes to make it really convenient.

3. Piss Guards for parents of little boys. Like a sneeze guard at a buffet but works in the opposite direction. Used when changing diapers.

4. Electronic mail forwarding for backpackers. Unfortunately this one has been done and the way it has been done is better than the idea I had and is set up extremely efficiently and would be a hell of a lot cheaper than I could provide the service for (I was actually going to set this up as a minor business for out of work hours until I researched "possible" competition). Basically the idea was to get clients to forward mail to your address, you scan in the mail to your computer and email them the scans.

They're fairly obvious and basic ideas (and the only one I was almost proud of was the last one) so I'm curious as to how many people have thought of similar things by themselves already.

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Nomad

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Re: Some Ideas I've Had
« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2006, 08:17:59 AM »
Quote from: "midgard"
2. Postage Stamp vending machines. It annoys me no end when you have to post something and you've run out of stamps. There's phone credit vending machines and the like around the place why don't they have postage stamp vending machines? They could put them next to post boxes to make it really convenient.


I'm pretty sure I've seen them before.

Quote from: "midgard"
4. Electronic mail forwarding for backpackers. Unfortunately this one has been done and the way it has been done is better than the idea I had and is set up extremely efficiently and would be a hell of a lot cheaper than I could provide the service for (I was actually going to set this up as a minor business for out of work hours until I researched "possible" competition). Basically the idea was to get clients to forward mail to your address, you scan in the mail to your computer and email them the scans.


Wouldn't that be illegal?  People would have to open your mail.  I'm pretty sure that would be illegal for them, even as a service.
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TheEngineer

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Re: Some Ideas I've Had
« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2006, 09:11:47 AM »
Quote from: "thedigitalnomad"
Quote from: "midgard"
2. Postage Stamp vending machines. It annoys me no end when you have to post something and you've run out of stamps. There's phone credit vending machines and the like around the place why don't they have postage stamp vending machines? They could put them next to post boxes to make it really convenient.


I'm pretty sure I've seen them before.

There are two in just about every post office.


"I haven't been wrong since 1961, when I thought I made a mistake."
        -- Bob Hudson

Some Ideas I've Had
« Reply #3 on: December 23, 2006, 07:21:46 AM »
i've had a similar thing happen in the way of having an idea of a really good invention only to discover that it had already been done.  one time when i was like 10years old i was messing about with magnets and was totally amazed by the whole negative repels negative and positive repels positive thing, and being a kid i was into 'back to the future' quite alot.  well i was trying to think up a way to create a car that could fly, or hover, and i thought of a way to do this by having magnets along the road and magnets under the cars.

i knew this wouldn't work because the cars would fly off the road, there'd have to be sumthing like a track, to keep the cars over the magnets.  i couldn't think of an efficient way of doing this so i thought about doing the same thing but with trains.  magnetise a train tunnel and have the outside of the train give off an opposite magnetic charge.  since the train would be contained within the tunnel it'd hover and it'd move as quite a fast speed too.

later i found out it already existed in japan as the magnet train.  damn them!
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midgard

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Re: Some Ideas I've Had
« Reply #4 on: January 04, 2007, 07:05:04 AM »
Quote from: "TheEngineer"
Quote from: "thedigitalnomad"
Quote from: "midgard"
2. Postage Stamp vending machines. It annoys me no end when you have to post something and you've run out of stamps. There's phone credit vending machines and the like around the place why don't they have postage stamp vending machines? They could put them next to post boxes to make it really convenient.


I'm pretty sure I've seen them before.

There are two in just about every post office.


That must be a USA thing. But putting them in post offices wouldn't be as good as putting them places that are open all hours (like petrol stations etc.)

Captain Bubblegum, that's a brilliant idea! I think it's kinda cool when they've actually been done and succeeded - it just confirms it was a good idea.

I just though of another idea I had ages ago that was really obvious and has become fairly standard in marketing: have a commercial for mobile phones set at a concert and have everybody raising their mobile phones to take pictures instead of raising lighters. None of the ads I've seen have done it in the same way I envisioned it but they get the same idea across.

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TheEngineer

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Re: Some Ideas I've Had
« Reply #5 on: January 04, 2007, 07:23:06 AM »
Quote from: "midgard"

That must be a USA thing. But putting them in post offices wouldn't be as good as putting them places that are open all hours (like petrol stations etc.)

You were talking about inventing, not becoming a distributor.


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midgard

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Re: Some Ideas I've Had
« Reply #6 on: January 04, 2007, 07:32:45 AM »
Quote from: "TheEngineer"
You were talking about inventing, not becoming a distributor.


 :lol: You do love to tell me what I was doing and what I was talking about.

 :lol: When was I talking about inventing?

 :lol: I was talking about ideas I've had and asking if other people have had any ideas of their own they wanted to share.

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midgard

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Re: Some Ideas I've Had
« Reply #7 on: January 04, 2007, 07:35:42 AM »
Quote from: "thedigitalnomad"
Wouldn't that be illegal?  People would have to open your mail.  I'm pretty sure that would be illegal for them, even as a service.


My idea was basically having customers sign something that allowed you to open mail on their behalf.

It's been done in Denver (I think). I could look for it again on the internet but I can't be bothered. They had a better idea than me. Basically they get the mail and scan the envelopes then their customers log onto the website and decide what they want opened, what they want chucked and what they want stored.

What ideas have you had? You strike me as somebody who'd have some pretty fun ideas.

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TheEngineer

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Re: Some Ideas I've Had
« Reply #8 on: January 04, 2007, 07:42:55 AM »
Quote from: "midgard"
Here's a few ideas I've had from time to time.
2. Postage Stamp vending machines.

Quote
There's phone credit vending machines and the like around the place why don't they have postage stamp vending machines?


"I haven't been wrong since 1961, when I thought I made a mistake."
        -- Bob Hudson

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midgard

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Re: Some Ideas I've Had
« Reply #9 on: January 04, 2007, 07:53:06 AM »
Quote from: "TheEngineer"
Quote from: "midgard"
Here's a few ideas I've had from time to time.
2. Postage Stamp vending machines.

Quote
There's phone credit vending machines and the like around the place why don't they have postage stamp vending machines?


Yes, three out of four of my original ideas were inventions. Amazingly, an invention is an idea. This thread is about ideas - is that too hard for you to comprehend? I didn't ask about inventions, I asked about ideas. You were the one that tried to limit this thread to inventions, not me.

The fact that there are postage stamp vending machines actually makes me happy - it just goes to show it was a good idea I had.

I definitely think it would be even better if they put the vending machines as part of a post box or in petrol stations. This would make them more accessible.

EDIT: I almost forgot  :lol:

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Nomad

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Re: Some Ideas I've Had
« Reply #10 on: January 04, 2007, 08:34:07 AM »
Quote from: "midgard"
What ideas have you had? You strike me as somebody who'd have some pretty fun ideas.


Actually, one of my favorite ideas that has been completely lifted from my brain and stolen, is a literal "reinvention of the wheel".

Basically a system of electromagnets that suspend the car chassis over several tread covered spheres.  Would allow the vehicle to move in any which direction, and I always thought would revolutionize travel.

Then I saw the design in the recent I, Robot movie, and my heart sunk.  I wonder if they patented the system in the movie.  I should have drawn my idea years ago and mailed it to myself for a poor man's patent, and sued the pants off of those guys.
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