Idea of the Day: Extreme bowling...

Kids these days. It’s ‘extreme sport’ this and ‘extreme sport’ that. I swear, if it doesn’t fly higher and go “boom” louder than ever before, it’s no fun at all. And you know what? They might be right! Check out this extreme pogostick, for example. It looks like fun! This gets me thinking about other things that could use a little brushing off. Like golf, for example....

Idea of the Day: Subway bread at home...

If you frequent Subway (it’s my favorite fast food place) you’ll almost certainly recall the first thing you notice when walking in the door; the smell of fresh-baked bread. This Idea of the Day almost seems too obvious then, but I think that Subway should sell their bread separately. Maybe they’ve already test marketed the idea – it’s hard to image they haven’t. I know that if I were...

Idea of the Day: Waterproof pockets...

My friend Joan recently told me about her experience at Six Flags with her boys, and her inconvenience of not being able to access money easily while going through the water park. I related my own similar experience from Canobie Lake park, which also has water rides. In both of these cases you wouldn’t want to carry your wallet, cash or credit cards around because they would end up getting soaked. Instead, you...

Idea of the Day: A single seller e-commerce soluti...

Today’s guest post is contributed by Linda Sardone, a frequent readers with a really good idea. She writes: Say you are in the market for several used books, CDs, DVDs, etc, from third party sellers who list their items on sites like amazon.com or half.com. You would like to combine these multiple media items and purchase from one seller if possible – less shipping cost, fewer transactions, etc. Wouldn’t it...

Idea of the Day: Bungy bat...

The other day my oldest son was explaining to me that jellyfish stingers unroll from inside of the creature and shoot out into the victim. Since then I’ve been thinking of things that are retractable. My vacuum cleaner cord is retractable. That’s cool. So is my tape measure. Quite useful. After a while I struck on the idea of a Bungy Bat. This would be a baseball bat tethered to a ball via a cord, which would...

Idea of the Day: Offer a gentle reminder...

I have no idea when my last oil change was, or when the next one is due. The problem, you see, is that the little peel-off sticker that’s supposed to live in the upper left-hand corner of my windshield fell off. Without it, I’m lost…and probably 5,000 miles or more overdue. Which leads me to wonder, with all of the contact methods available to reach me (phone, facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, three email...

Idea of the Day: Smart tires...

Ah yes, family dinner. That’s when we get together, talk about what’s happening in each others lives and…come up with new ideas of the day. Tonight the topic came around to Smart Tires. There’s a ton of high-tech activity in this field, ranging from pressure and temperature monitoring to shape-changing tires that vary depending on weather and road surface conditions. But I’ve been trying...

Idea of the Day: A new twist on the local book exc...

Earlier this week I read nearly all of The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris. (I heartily recommend it, by the way). But it was a borrowed copy, and I didn’t quite finish it before I had to return it. No problem…I just headed over to Barnes and Noble to pick up a new copy today. It’s worth having. But I would rather have found a used one nearby. Used book exchanges have been around for ages in different...

Idea of the Day: “Still-in-Season” sto...

At 4pm, it’s still 95 degrees outside, I’m pretty much done working for the day and I’d like to take the kids to the beach. But we’re not going, because my daughter left all of her bathing suits at her mom’s house and I’m too lazy to drive over there (it would be an hour back and forth). It would be easier to go to Target and pick up a new suit. But I know they don’t have any...

Idea of the Day: EarlyStagePitch.com...

I’m jazzed about this idea. As you might know, I’m a mentor to early-stage and first-time entrepreneurs. Many of them are trying to refine or redefine their pitch. They need a test market, somewhere to get critical feedback before they try their message out on potential customers or venture capitalists. I’m picturing a website where entrepreneurs can schedule a ‘virtual pitch’; a webinar...

Idea of the Day: Customized backjack covers...

Since I started a wellness company at one point, I’m still pretty connected to the goings-on in that field. And I do a lot of personal growth workshops, which typically means I sit on the floor (or on my backjack) for long periods of time. My marketing brain kicked in around this idea at one point, and I realized that I’ve never seen a customized backjack cover. And when I google searched, I didn’t find...

Idea of the Day: Custom cars...

Monika Desai has me sold.  She’s the Founder of Sole Envie, a company creating custom footwear for women. For those of you following me on Facebook, you know that my favorite date with my wife is an evening at DSW. So I get where Monika is coming from here. Women have relationships with their shoes, I think. So having compatible personalities between the shoe and the wearer make perfect sense to me. And this gets...

Idea of the Day: Edible pop-culture...

What flavor iPhone would you choose? That’s right, I didn’t ask which color, I asked about your flavor preference. I mean, since iPhone soap is now available, why not produce iPhone candy too? For big eaters, how about a munchable Xbox? And since we’re heading in that direction, why not extend the idea to pop culture as a whole? Got a hankering to eat Paris Hilton? We can arrange that. (eewww…that...

Idea of the Day: light-up switch plates...

Why do night lights exist? The answer seems kind of obvious…to help us see in the dark…but I think there’s a better way. Light-up switch plates would solve two problems simultaneously: With on/off and dimmer switches built in, you could adjust the backlight coming from the wall plate (think of it as an adjustable nightlight). Plus, since the light-up switch plate is part of the actual light switch,...

Idea of the Day: International employee exchange...

Last year Boston Consulting Group released a book titled Globality: Competing With Everyone From Everywhere For Everything. The concept is straightforward: ‘globalization’ was a trend marked by the expansion of large national companies into international markets. Globality, on the other hand, means that we are now in an age where the playing field is more level then ever before (largely because of the internet). But...

Idea of the Day: Open up product ideas to online s...

Reading about doggie windows for cars today on my new favorite website (Quixoting), I realized that it might be a win-win-win from Companies like Petsmart and PetCo to link in with manufacturers and open up product ideas to actual online shoppers. But here’s how things usually work in the retail world: A manufacturer builds a product (hopefully with lots of early stage testing and market feedback from potential...

Idea of the Day: How to get elected (and stay in o...

Oh-oh. This is going to sound political. But I promise that I’ll vote however you want me to… Try to imagine a world in which elected representatives vote according to the will of their constituents. Seems kind of absurd, right? (Since political self-interest and lobbying play such key roles in our government, which is supposed to be “of the people, by the people and for the people”). A New England...

Idea of the Day: multi-channel radios...

My family has one television. I think this is plenty, but my daughter Noah, when helping me out with the Idea of the Day, said she thinks it would be cool if somehow the tv could project multiple images simultaneously. That way everyone could watch what they wanted and no one would have to (gasp!), you know, agree. I’m not sure that’s anywhere in the near future, but I started thinking about the concept a...

Idea of the Day: Built-in bookmarks...

I love it that you get “built in bookmarks” with hardcover books, by simply using the cover flaps as placeholders. But you don’t get that same convenience with softcover books. So how about making perforated, tear-off book marks for paperbacks? The publisher could built them in, maybe on the first page (which would be cover stock instead of regular paper). And of course the bookmark graphics would be...

Idea of the Day: PowerPoint Karaoke...

My colleagues at Boston World Partnerships came up with this idea last night: PowerPoint Karaoke. If you’ve been around the corporate world long enough to know the old etiquette, this will crack you up. Here’s the deal: You and several team members each build your own presentations (they can be about anything from yak herding in Guatemala to cat herding in New Brunswick). Swap presentations, so you have...

Idea of the Day: Crowdsourced video for airlines...

I just listened to a Harvard Business Idea Cast comparing the success of Singapore Airlines with the austerity measures put in place by their domestic counterparts. Singapore Air is investing in “human software” (aka, customer service) for their first class and business class customers. The perks include in-flight standing areas, cappuccino and a database that knows just what brand of scotch you want (and...