Travel Toothbrush Teepee
On NPR the other day, some doctor was talking about how many strange and scary diseases enter our blood system through our gums. I guess since we’re always cramming bacteria into our mouth, and since our gums tend to bleed, it’s a really convenient conduit to the blood system.
Anyhow, today I was thinking about how many bacteria-baths my travel toothbrush had taken on trips around this great continent of ours, when it came to me:
The Travel Toothbrush Teepee.
A portable toothbrush stand shaped like a teepee. It collapses to fit into your shaving bag, and can be easily un-collapsed to keep your toothbrush up and away from the bacteria bath that may be brewing on your that hotel sink.
Available in his-and-her models too!
Tuesday, October 01, 2002
BananaShield
Why is it that the lowly banana can travel thousands of miles, from the tropics to my door, without so much as a case of jetlag, and then -- inexplicably -- get beaten to a blackened mushy pulp on a short BART trip to work? Does it have to do with the vibrations of the rails? Brown paper bags? Or perhaps being banged around like Pachinko ball in my backpack is somehow bad for it?
My solution: the BananaShield -- a yellow, banana-shaped piece of hard plastic with a seam in the middle. You pop it open, put the banana inside, and never see black again. If this hasn't already been invented, I'd be amazed.
Tuesday, September 24, 2002
Sun-Dell Merger
Three is a holy number in our society. Perhaps the biologists will one day explain the reason, but somehow three makes us comfortable. One is lonely, two is OK, but three.... three is holy to us. There is the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; coffee, tea or me; the three branches of government; there's that song, Da Da Da. Perhaps the Olympic Committee once considered giving out a nickel medal for fourth place finishers, but they ended up with just gold silver and bronze.
I think it all has something to do with brain space. In any one category of things, we really don't want to know about more than three contenders. Looking for a place to eat with a bunch of people, I'll check out three restaurant menus before getting frustrated and advocating that we just settle down anywhere.
The market is like this too. It's not uncommon for a market to consolidate down into three major players (although if the market gets big enough, others will bud in, as with GM, Ford & Chrysler; NBC, ABC & CBS; Columbia, Fox, and Universal), and that's just what we at Craque POT think will happen with the computer hardware systems companies. Though there were dozens of computer companies 20 years ago, the market has basically shrunk down to four major players: IBM, HP, Sun, and Dell. Our prediction: a Sun-Dell merger within the next three years.
It makes a lot of sense. Sun is now trying to sell PCs for the first time in its history and Dell seems to be realizing the limitations of its direct sales approach. Sun needs to figure out a way to make money from commotidy PCs, and Dell needs to find new ways of making money (proprietary systems, enterprise software and support, storage, printers, whatever). In other words, Sun is trying to learn what Dell has mastered, and vice versa. With Sun's stock at $3/share, buying Sun may be the only way that Dell can keep growing.
You heard it here first.
Wednesday, September 18, 2002
Public Shame in the Olympics
Anna and I have watched the new Dr. Phil show two nights in a row now. I'm not sure if I can take much more, but it's interesting to compare it to Jerry Springer (which comes on later in the evening) because I think both shows satisfy different basic voyeristic needs: our need for conflict (WWF, Springer, Top Cops, Survivor), and our need for judgement (CourtTV, Dr. Phil, People's Court, American Idol). It's just a hunch, but I feel that the pendulum is swaying toward judgement these days. That it's no longer enough for us to watch and see who wins, we want a god-like third party to mediate between competitors and really thrash them publicly.
Which brings me to Craque POT's latest idea. We think the Olympics could learn a lot from this, and are therefore recommending that judging -- when it occurs -- be a more public part of the Olympics. Figure skating, for example, could probably attract a lot more viewers if they had some judges (like Simon from American Idol) who would publicly berate skaters after a sub-par performance. We only want to see the best. As for the rest: let's at least watch them squirm. It might be a bit tough watching some twelve year old gymnast be reduced to tears for the way she spun her ribbons, but we feel that this is outweighed by the need for more transparency in Olympic judging. After the recent mob-controlled figure skating scandals, we feel the public would benefit from a more intimate relationship with the judges.
And we think it would be damned entertaining if they were mean like Simon, too.
Thursday, July 18, 2002
WirelessAudible (TM)
So I get this call from Prawdash (a name invented by Mike), who I haven't seen in like 3 years or so, and he wants to get together for a beer. Tonight. "Give me a call on my cell at pfft 2-0-3-pfft-1-7-5-0-4-8," he says.
Fucking cell phones. When will we admit that they don't work? I mean, don't even get me started on how annoying it is to have people violate the social contract by talking on them in public places where you think they're talking to you and you respond, but no they just blankly stare past you at the corn flakes or corn removers or whatever they're shopping for. You know, I got a good tip about that from a guy on NPR. He just pulls out a tape recorder when people do that and records them talking. It creates a similar kind of awkwardness, I find.
Anyhow, don't even get me started on that.
What I think we need is a series of shortcut commands for cell phone users. Like, say you're on a mountain drive. Naturally, it's a good time to pick up your cell phone and start leaving people important messages. How about a simple command you can hit while you're on the phone (#11 for example) that automatically makes an easy to understand statement over the telephone network. You know, when you call a cell phone that's not in service you get a clear message ("the number you have dialed is..."), so how about when you hit #11, a clear voice just says the number of the phone you're calling from?
You could have other messages too:
"I realize I'm a jerk for calling you on this shitty cell phone. I'll try and reach you later when I get to a real phone. Please forgive me for wasting your time." That would be a great one!
Monday, July 01, 2002
Inflatable cars
Street parking is so hard to come by in San Francisco that sometimes when I get the perfect street parking, I toy with the idea of abandoning my car there, it hurts that much to give it up. Well, no need to feel that spot postpartum ever again, thanks to the lastest from Craque's Product Outreach Testbed. The inflatable car would fold up and fit into your trunk, and be powered by the exhaust from your existing vehicle. When fully inflated it would resemble a vehicle shrouded in one of those vanity car-protecting dust covers.
You take off, enjoy your day driving around the city, and return to the inflated car whenever you need the parking spot.
Best of all, you can't get a ticket.
