pointing out the obvious

Listening to TWIP on my ttc commute into work today, I had photography on my mind.  Apart from still thinking about selling my Canon XTi (400D) and purchasing a Canon T1i (500D) to play with video, which is something that fascinates me, I saw a great picture appear right infront of me.

Of course I didn’t take the shot, but if I had, it would have been important to give a copy of the picture to the subject.  Which made me think about polaroid cameras, and how they were great for that kind of thing.  But they’re gone, and digital has become mainstream and we no longer have anything like that.

I suppose (if I had taken the shot), I could have written down my website address, so they can find it later, but that seems impersonal.  Without being able to print out the shot right then and there, it’s hard to get that instant gratification.  Or is it?

Almost everyone has a ‘gadget’.  Most of those gadgets can display photos, or receive photos via sms (mms?).  Maybe the polaroid of the future is a DSLR shooting pictures that you can MMS to someone’s handheld device.

Instant gratification, no?

(i’m still chewing on peter’s comment from the last post… )

Ever get frustrated trying to clear a level on the wii, ps3, xbox 360, whatever?  Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could pay $1 to clear a level, so you’re no longer stuck?  I would.  I’m guessing others would.  The game makers already have most of the infrastructure setup, they just need to build a game that way.
Facebook charges $1 per icon.  They have no value other than ‘fun’.  People buy them (by the millions).

How about paying $1 to unlock an awesome car in GT4?  $1!!  For a dollar each, I’d unlock the coolest cars and pay off the licensing board to make sure I finally passed my international drivers test.  That thing is nuts.

I solved this problem by using a reusable travel mug, but for those who insist in using disposable cups, the little green plug will deal with those annoying coffee spill problems.  Great idea - a simple solution for an extremely common problem.
See it in action on youtube.

With all the lame game-ish shows on tv these days, like american idol, amazing race, eat something gross fear factor, dancing with the stars, survivor 43, and the like, why hasn’t hollywood come up with a more interactive idea? Why not host a show that pays the viewers? To use a lame example - remake “Murder She Wrote” but axe Jessica Fletcher. Make the audience solve it. $1million for the person who solves the fake mystery. $150k per week in prizes for finding necessary clues, which are broadcast prior to the following weeks episode, along with the name of the person who found it and the money they won.

If we pump up the interactivity… Have the audience participate in the show. Maybe they actually have to go somewhere to find the clue (though, I’m sure people would dig up a rainforest trying to find a lame clue). Maybe the winner of last weeks ‘clue’ gets to appear on the next show. Maybe the camera crew shoots the next episode AT THEIR HOUSE. It could be Matlock meets a home makeover.

It’s just as lame as the rest of the concepts, but is something new.

While poking around on linkedin’s “who looked at your profile” feature today, I stumbled upon a colleague who now works at PlanetEye.  Interesting name, so I tried the domain and it’s locked down.  I googled it and figure out the company is working towards capitalizing on digital cameras equipped with GPS - which no doubt will become standard hardware at some point.  I think there is great opportunity in this space, I posted something about the idea a little while ago on the old blog and would love to see someone take full advantage of it.

Aside from the obvious privacy concerns, imagine all digital photos geo-tagged.  Pretty neat.  But imagine it one step further, where digital images are not only geo-tagged, but tagged with directional information - i.e. inclination and right ascension (never thought I would use those terms again!).  So you know where the photo was taken AND the angle the camera was at the time it was shot.  Imagine a database of images coupled with this information and little luck…  You might be able to render 3D images of almost anything, bring mapping to a whole new level, maybe apply the maps to games, who knows…

I’m glad someone is taking advantage.  I can’t wait to see what they come up with.

With technology companies creating all kinds of useless gadgets, I think it’s about time they create a smart phone. When I say smart, I mean smart enough to not require diapers anymore. Here’s the idea..

Most cellular and mobile phones have bluetooth. Most offices are migrating towards IP phones. IP phones should be bluetooth enabled so that my cellular phone will detect it’s presence, and automatically forward all my calls to it. When I walk away from my desk, my cell figures out that I’m no longer sitting next to my landline and will turn call forwarding off.

You can extend this idea to allow everyone’s cell to forward to the nearest phone. If someone is sitting at my desk, maybe all of their cell calls are directed to that phone? Wouldn’t it be great if your cell calls were directed to the nearest phone in the airport lounge while you wait for your flight?

I guess the idea here is to have a single number for everyone. Whether you are at work, at home or on the move, people only have to call a single number to reach you. This also avoids insane cellular bills by forwarding calls to landlines, as well as increasing the quality of the call (I get terrible cell coverage at the Maple Leaf lounge in Pearson’s Terminal 1).

You might think cellular carriers would hate this idea - it reduces the number of minutes consumed, but if you think about it, it would INCREASE the number of calls throughout their networks. Your mobile number is now your main number - which is almost the case now, but in this case there are no other numbers. This is a cellular carriers dream.

Of course you can extend this idea and apply it to a range of other concepts, but I think the cellular application is the most relevant.

It looks like someone patented a similar idea, but it’s convoluted and impossible to understand.

I’ll have to agree with Stephen Landau when he suggests using the lending information libraries have to get a better feeling for the book, and get further book recommendations. Bookmooch and LibraryThing aim to accomplish this in some way or another, as do most online book retailers such as Indigo. I guess the difference is credibility? What exactly makes a recommendation credible?

Is it having a name behind the recommendation? Knowing that you can (but won’t) reach out and contact the recommender? Maybe it’s the illusion of seeing a regular person’s impressions of a book, as opposed to the Amazon style semi-professional book reviewer. hmm…

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I’m going to sleep on this.

Headphones should know when they are in use, meaning, when they are on someones head (full headphones) or in someones ear (earbuds). I don’t know of any headphones with this ability now, but it seems like a fairly straightforward concept.

If headphones knew when they were ‘in use’… my ipod would be smart enough to stop playing when my headphones were ‘not in use’, thus not burn through my playlist while I am not listening, or burn through my pathetic 4hrs of battery life (2nd generation ipod - yikes).

There are obviously edge cases - when the ipod is hooked into a stereo, computer or other connection, but that can be dealt with.

Wouldn’t smart headphones be great? Apple could produce and package them with the ipod, others would follow.

While not everyone reads blogs through a tool like bloglines, I think a lot of us do. While reading the other day, I realized that I spent less time on the blog posts that were just text than I did with the posts that incorporated a picture.

Sites like blogto.com have great feeds, pictures and all. They are really hitting their demographic by ensuring they have a rich feed. I’ve noticed others have started incorporating pictures as well.

It probably just slows the reader down enough to actually get into the meat of the post.

I’ve seen other feeds take those images to the next level, by incorporating advertising within the images. Although annoying, it’s a great idea.. if you’re reading feeds through a rss/atom reader like bloglines, you miss the opportunity to pay for your site through advertisements, so why not include the ad in the feed?

Someone created phase 1 - awesome.

We just need someone to add the “get directions” functionality to the same map.  It would be the ultimate tool.  I heard long ago that the TTC and Google were working together to create the ultimate ‘rider guide’, but I haven’t heard anything from it… and it was like 6 months ago.  Boo..