Idea-Mill.net

Coffee Tripod

I don't live in the Pottery Barn catalog, so not every comfortable chair in my home has an accompanying end table. Lately I've found myself carting around a small footstool that my young sons stand on to brush their teeth, and place it next to a rocking chair near the fireplace that I like to read in, for the sole purpose of having a place to set my coffee. This keeps it off the floor (and keeps me from kicking it over), but is still too low to reach comfortably. As a makeshift solution it's passable, but not ideal.

Idea: The Coffee Tripod
Picture a square platform about 4" x 4", maybe the same size as a coaster. But instead of a flat bottom it has three telescoping legs that fold down so that they're invisible under the platform when not in use (if you're looking down on it - the idea is for the stowed unit footprint to remain the same size), but that extend on an angle and lock for stability to create a platform about 24" high.

It might even be a coaster when it's not a tripod, so you keep it out in the open and don't have to hunt around for it when you're moving to a chair without an end table - maybe in your living room, but maybe also on your deck, in your yard, on the beach (OK, probably not for coffee there). And if it's small and light enough, it might be a suitable accessory for road warriors. Most seats at airport gates don't have end tables nearby, and how many times have you seen coffee perched precariously on a rolling carry-on, or an armrest a little too narrow?

This product is no blockbuster, I know. But I think there's an increasing probability of niche products turning profits because the rules of marketing and distribution have changed. Remarkable products get talked about (we see evidence online, but most of the talking takes place offline), and what makes a product remarkable is how perfectly suitable it is for a person, and other like-minded people. A product no longer needs to sell 500,000 units in its first year, at a net profit of $20/unit, just to break even on the $10 million TV ad spend to support the launch. Remarkable products find other ways of reaching customers, and can turn profits at much lower quantities as a result.

So if someone wants to take a flyer on this one let me know, and fast. I have to suck down the rest of this java because my son has to brush his teeth.

The Dust Drain

A few years ago when my sister's house was being built, she had the builders install a central vacuum unit, with a motor in the basement and hose attachments all over the house. Nothing special about those nowadays - they've been going into new construction for over 20 years now. But she also had them install a little pan on an inlet in the vac system in the kitchen that she could kick open and sweep dirt into. Nifty add-on to an existing system, and it caught my attention. I likened it to the filter in a pool, that catches all the debris as it circulates.

Only that's not what it does. But wouldn't it be a good idea if it did?

Here's the idea:
The Dust Drain is an inlet installed at the baseboard of a room. When the vac is turned on, this inlet works like all the others where the hose attaches, and draws air in. But like a swimming pool or whirlpool, the room also has air jets located along the baseboard which circulate the air in the same direction around the room. The jets push the air around in a circular motion; the inlet sucks all the circulating dust down into the vacuum bag. Flip a switch in the room and let it run for a few minutes and just like that you've purged the room of dust bunnies lurking under and behind furniture, and a lot of that other gross stuff in the air that we commonly call dust so we don't have to face the reality of what we're really breathing in all the time.

My idea is perfect for pet owners and would work best on hardwood floors. But I don't see why it couldn't be modified to more directly attack airborne dust. Instead of an inlet and jet system just along the kickplate, why not install another inlet and some fans near the ceiling (in discreet locations), and so circulate all the air in the room so all the toxins get sucked down the Dust Drain?

There's real first-mover advantage on this one - even the domain DustDrain.com is available. From me, anyway - I just bought it. Make me an offer on the domain and keep the business idea as a free gift with purchase.

Hydrating Smart Cup

I used to have a watch with a built-in altimeter (measuring altitude). Instead of a leather or rubber or nylon band with a clasp, it had an elastic band about an inch and a half wide, allowing me to slide it on over a winter coat and wear it on the outside. (Here's one on eBay without the elastic band.) I used to use it snowboarding, so I could see what the vertical drop was for various runs, and then optimize my day on the mountain through the highest possible vertical travel. The watch also had a nifty 'ski' function that, when activated, would monitor significant vertical gains and decreases, and automatically record the number of runs I made. This too would figure into my optimization calculations in my pursuit of statistically perfect recreation.

I hadn't thought of this watch in years, but remembered it a couple of weeks ago when I caught myself (again) nagging my fiancee to drink enough water. I'm of the camp that inadequate hydration is the largest health problem easily addressed. I think it contributes to everything from diminished fitness, to headaches, to elevated heartrate under moderate stress, to general malaise. I have only anecdotal evidence to back up my beliefs, but I don't bother with deep research in this case because what I'm advocating is not a step change in lifestyle, belief systems or even routine. I just think people should drink more water.

It's not unlike the Philosophy professor I had in college who addressed the issue of why he refused to disavow belief in God through simple logic. "You can't offer unequivocal proof that God exists, so it seems logical to dismiss his existence. But what if you're wrong?"

Indeed, hydration may have nothing to do with any of the symptoms I attribute to it. And downing another 4-5 glasses per day might have no affect on the quality of your life, or the lives of the people around you. But what if it does? I for one am not willing to take that risk, and maintain my solid faith that water = good; dehydration = ungood. And this faith is unslakable.

So here's the idea:
A Hydrating Smart Cup that automatically records how many glasses per day someone has drunk, through some sort of sensor/trigger that is tripped when the cup is full, and again when it is empty.  Place the cup on your desk or table and something on it will tell you how many glasses you've consumed that day. The trigger mechanism could either be electronic or (my preference) mechanical, and would have to allow for the fluctuations in water level that occur when people lift the cup to drink. True, the cup can't know if you spilled one or dumped it in the begonias. But you will, and you'll feel dirty and guilty for the rest of the day unless you down another cup off-the-clock to compensate.

There are a couple of solutions just now on the market that play in the same sandbox. One is this HydraCoach Intelligent Water Bottle. While it tracks water consumption throughout the day, it's designed primarily for use during exercise. The HydraCoach folks don't say as much, but it's a water bottle, not a cup. Bottles promote sipping, while most people drink. If I consumed all my daily water by sucking through a plastic nipple, my mouth would end up resembling a fish's. Commendable initiative, but too gadget-y and techy for me, even if I were a sipper and not a chugger. Plus the thing beeps at you to remind you to take a sip, as if your entire day were nothing but a series of wrong answers. That'd be enough to make me a water teetotaler.

The other solution I've found is altogether different, yet - to me - infinitely more elegant. It's the Google Water Tracker gadget, that you can install in your desktop or personal webpage. It's a small widget that simply asks if you're thirsty and allows you to check a box on the screen if you've consumed a cup of water. It's disadvantages are obvious - it only functions while you're in front of a computer. But it's heart is in the right place, and it promotes personal hydrating responsibility without reducing you to an automaton.

My idea, naturally, is superior. Or would be, if someone would take the initiative to implement it.

It might not even be a cup, incidentally. It might be an attachment that hangs inside of your favorite glass, with the trip sensor on the inside and the display on the outside. And it might be used not just to make sure you drink enough water, but also to help remind you when you've drunk too much of your vice beverage of choice, whether that's coffee or diet coke or lager.