When I was in Kindergarten in the mid 60’s, I nailed two pieces of wood together (yep, they let us use a hammer and nails back then!) and when the teacher asked what it was, I twisted the top piece and said “It’s a plane with a swiveling wing!” 
In the late 70’s I saw a cover story in a magazine (I think Popular Mechanics) about the AD-1, an experimental plane that had a wing pivots on a central axis. Yep, well ahead of my time I was!
I have a plan for a prison system that isn’t a dungeon.
An upgrade to scanners/printers for filling out forms, name TBD.
You put a form, with underscore lines where you are to write, in the scanner/printer.
The scanner scans, the software copies the form and puts it on your computer screen.
The software detects where the first line is and you type in the info. Ideally, the software detects the best font size to use.
Repeat as needed for all lines on the form, except a signature line.
You print on the form; the printing goes where the lines are.
You want me to TYPE all that info? I want your software to use my Autofill info as well as GoogleGuess™ to take a stab at what my answers probably are and fill in as many spaces as possible.
Moths ago I was thinking how cool it would be if grocery store baskets came equipped with scanners. So you could just scan them and throw it in your basket. Then at check out, you just pay whatever the bill is and leave.
Well, just a couple of weeks ago Kroger came out with “Scan and Go”, which lets you do exactly that (The scanners aren’t attached to the carts though).
I have to say, I’m rather enjoying “my” invention. Even if it is sans royalties.
A red box type kiosk at movie theaters that sold movie soundtracks of the films you just saw. Like a sing in a movie, instead of waiting to download, get the CD or download the song immediately. Imagine watching Greatest Showman and walk out of the movie, buy the soundtrack for the drive home.
In my mind, I read your post with a signature at the end:* Even if it is sans royalties. Grrr!*
There was also a segment (of…Nightline?) where they went to a company of creative thinkers (IDEO), and asked them to reinvent the shopping cart. I’m pretty sure at least one prototype had a scanner on it.
I’ve got a couple designs for heat exchangers for distillery equipment one is a more compact tube and shell and the outs allows for vacuume operation during distillation. I doubt either of them are patentable but I’ve never seen anything like them and keep kicking around getting a patent.
A car that runs on lawn clippings.
Cheap CFL’s that take up to a minute for full brightness. I put them in the overhead for that exact reason. For instant bright, there are the 4 75W equivalent LEDs in the mirror lighting. I also have a 1W LED nightlight which is much brighter than the incandescent it replaced. Bright enough at 3am to not need to turn the overhead on.
Easily done:
Grocery stores, gas stations, etc that have “reward” and “point” type programs. How about giving the option of instead of having to have a card for every single place using ones driver license or state issued ID bar code in the system to swipe? That way a customer doesn’t have to have a bunch of different cards clogging up his wallet for all the places he patrons. Or at least do what Walgreens does and allow one to simply punch in their phone number. This would be an option and those who still wanted an individual card from each business could have one.
I have like 17 of those stupid cards in my wallet. I don’t have that many pictures of my grand kids in it. Jeez!
The “loyalty” card is to remind you every time you open your wallet or purse that this is where you should shop. It is an advertisement that you carry with you at all times.
Congratulations. You’ve just invented biodiesel.
As someone who cycles a lot, I fret about seatbelts. It’s oft debated (I won’t here) whether, through risk homeostasis, they encourage risky behaviour in drivers, making roads much less safe for everyone else.
So my invention, to be implemented in conjunction with the banning of seatbelts, was to install a large spike in the centre of every steering wheel. That should make drivers a bit more cautious.
Years later… not only is it not my invention, it actually has a name - Tullock’s Spike. Damn.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Tullock#Tullock’s_spike
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Egad, “loyalty” cards are bad enough, this is even scarier. Talk about the data tracking possibilities.
I say dump the cards and just lower the prices. Amazing concept.
My company sent me to an IOT convention a few years ago. Most of the ideas were solutions in search of a problem, but there was one that caught my eye.
The inventor had come up with a refrigerator with a screen (that displayed useless web stuff). I suggested a display with the following app:
- Track grocery purchases somehow (as above, or with a scanning phone app).
- Track usability via “sell by” dates (probably from a database matching average shelf-life to each item).
- A touch-screen on the fridge that, knowing all the above, can produce a list of all possible meals you can cook with what’s currently in your kitchen (and their recipes) at the touch of a simple icon.
I don’t know if he’s working on it or not. I hope so.
I put dimmers in both of our bathrooms. Hate the bright light in the middle of the night.
I know the duel flush toilets have existed for quite a while. I came up with the idea before I ever saw one though. Research showed they already existed.
When I was a kid, I very, very much wanted a small remote control airplane that had a ‘TV’ camera in it that would ‘broadcast’ to my own TV. Heh. Tech wasn’t there then, but it sure is today. Or I can jump on my computer and fly anything from a
P-51 to a 747 (should amend that to ‘fly poorly’).
I like my free sodas and discounted gas. So how about both?
There are ways around the data tracking thing and still getting the rewards.
They’re grocery stores not government agencies.
Remember the small photo booths, in the middle of parking lot? You dropped off rolls of film.
I’ve observed there’s no, quick drive up option for slices of fresh made cake.
You can get doughnuts that way. No one offers sliced cake. The only option is at the grocery in the bakery section.
Bake the cakes, slice, and package at a central location. Deliver each morning to the drive up booths. Brew fresh coffee.
This should be a fast turn around for customers. Drive up, hand them the cake and coffee. They are gone in under 2 mins.
Limit the hours from 5AM to 1PM.
Same business model as a doughnut shop.
The key to making this work is quality cake. You have to use real vanilla, fresh eggs and other ingredients. Offer a better product than Hostess or other mass produced items.
When you put a bag of microwave popcorn in the microwave oven, and press the “popcorn” button, the oven simply sets a countdown timer. I think a better idea is to use a microphone and microprocessor to determine when to turn off the oven. The microphone would “listen” to the pops of the popcorn, and then the microprocessor would use an algorithm to determine when to turn off the magnetron.
I was pretty excited about this idea. And then I learned someone invented it in the late 1980s. 