Inventions you could have thought of

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Red Box. Everytime I rent a movie at Red Box I kick myself for not thinking of the idea.

Red Box has demolished Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. Both of the Hollywood Videos in my area have shut down. If there's something not offered by Red Box, get it from Netflix.

It was really no competition. Pay $1 for a new release at the local grocery store or gas station or drive out of the way to the video store and pay $4.50 for the same movie? If the Red Box was out of the movie, you could just get it Pay Per View (and in HD) for just about the same price.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Red Box has demolished Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. Both of the Hollywood Videos in my area have shut down. If there's something not offered by Red Box, get it from Netflix.

It was really no competition. Pay $1 for a new release at the local grocery store or gas station or drive out of the way to the video store and pay $4.50 for the same movie? If the Red Box was out of the movie, you could just get it Pay Per View (and in HD) for just about the same price.

http://www.theonion.com/video/histor...f-how-m,14233/

[Lost Student]

I have a few ideas.

Is it worth patenting things you think have potential? Or is the legal cost to high to get it right?

You could always do a "poor man's" copyright and mail the idea, specs, whatever to yourself via certified mail.

The "poor man's patent" has practically no value. Some people say that it is a good way to prove your invention date. The correct way (okay, my preferred way) to do this is easier--just take detailed notes as you develop the invention in a bound lab book and date and sign/initial each page.

Patents are expensive to individuals, but not to large businesses. The 10-15K cost is relatively little compared to the anticipated return.

Provisional patent applications were devised to reduce the cost to individual inventors--the filing fee is cheaper, and (more importantly) the formatting requirements are much less stringent, so you don't need to hire a patent attorney to draft it. Many times, the provisional application is a dissertation, article, etc. that is filed as-is. Provisional applications are a great way to keep costs down while getting the all-important filing date.

BTW I agree that most of the "inventions" in the Huffpo link sucked.

[Mormon Red Death]

Alright here is one more.

We've all seen those Ellen Page Cisco commericials. How about having a clinic in underserved areas where you have a worker (lpn,tech etc>>) show the patients on the screen to a doctor then get treatment. Seems like a family practicioner could see 10 patients (3 areas at a time) an hour from his home office and make a killing while fulfilling a need.

[YOUTUBE]3CAmqSVwXC8[/YOUTUBE]

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Red Box has demolished Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. Both of the Hollywood Videos in my area have shut down. If there's something not offered by Red Box, get it from Netflix.

I believe all Hollywood Videos have shut down, the corporate offices off I-5 south of Portland is now just an empty building.

The next step is combining Red Box and Netflix, where you can stream live or go pick up a hard copy at a local location. I have always thought Red Box wants to be bought by Netflix, their logo and color scheme are so similar I almost wonder if the first business model was just to sell to Netflix.

Also I think I could have thought up car, bike, airplane if they weren't around.

[beefytee]

I believe all Hollywood Videos have shut down, the corporate offices off I-5 south of Portland is now just an empty building.

Holloywood video is still around, but is under chapter 11 currently.

http://www.hollywoodvideo.com/pages-...structure.aspx

It looks like there are still some stores in Utah.

[All-American]

Which begs the question why don't they have vending machines for dry cleaning? Drop it off at the machine and its delivered to your house in a couple of days. Something like that.

I just learned this not so long ago. Apparently, I've been using the term "beg the question" wrong for years.

"Beg the question" does not mean "brings up an interesting question." It means you are proving something true by treating the initial question as true-- for example, "I think you're unattractive because you are so ugly."

Well, now we know!

[LiveCoug]

Vending machines at the gas station. Are there some kind of health codes the prohibit this? As I understand it, gas stations generate most of their profit from their convenience stores and not from the gas so I've wondered about everyone now paying at the pump. I know that occasionally I want to get a soda when I stop for gas, but it's a bother to go into the store and make a separate purchase.

Why not add a menu screen to the gas pump display that offers you a soda or other items before you complete your transaction? Then there could be a vending machine there at the pump island where you could retrieve your purchase.

This is a great idea. Do you mind if I steal and patent this?

[Lost Student]

I just learned this not so long ago. Apparently, I've been using the term "beg the question" wrong for years.

"Beg the question" does not mean "brings up an interesting question." It means you are proving something true by treating the initial question as true-- for example, "I think you're unattractive because you are so ugly."

Well, now we know!

That's interesting. How did you happen to recently learn this interesting thing?

[falafel]

I believe all Hollywood Videos have shut down, the corporate offices off I-5 south of Portland is now just an empty building.

The next step is combining Red Box and Netflix, where you can stream live or go pick up a hard copy at a local location. I have always thought Red Box wants to be bought by Netflix, their logo and color scheme are so similar I almost wonder if the first business model was just to sell to Netflix.

Also I think I could have thought up car, bike, airplane if they weren't around.

Holloywood video is still around, but is under chapter 11 currently.

http://www.hollywoodvideo.com/pages-...structure.aspx

It looks like there are still some stores in Utah.

They filed for Chap 11, but then later they filed Chap 7 and liquidated all their assets.

I used to know the brother of Hollywood Video's creator/former CEO Mark Wattles. The brother was in my ward in Las Vegas. Wattles has/had a house here as well, although they may have moved back to Portland. The brother definitely moved back. He was very evasive about what he did for a living (the brother). When I asked him why he moved here from Portland, he just said "business." I later learned that he was basically his brother's gofer. He had to move when his brother moved.

Here's Mark Wattles' house in Vegas: http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/...iew/?service=1

Here's a link to the 50,000 sq. ft mansion Wattles never completed. It had a 10,000 sqft. master suite and a 19 car garage! http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/...ever-finished/

[CJF]

14 inventions you could have thought of.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0...8.html#s113134

btw... My idea (Don't steal it) is to have a pillow case that is always chill so you don't have to turn your pillow over for the cool side.

About 12 years ago my brother and I had the idea of being able to download any movie anytime. We discussed it withour brother-in-law who is an IT whiz. He mocked us for not understanding bandwidth issues and saying it would be impossible without fiberoptics becoming the norm for every house hold. He also told us we would never get the movie rights to do it. We said we would be partners with Blockbuster. He told us it couldn't be done. Every family party we mock him.

[beefytee]

They filed for Chap 11, but then later they filed Chap 7 and liquidated all their assets.

I can't imagine why they didn't update their website with that info?


My bad. I should have considered that their website might not be up to date because they were packing boxes instead.

[falafel]

About 12 years ago my brother and I had the idea of being able to download any movie anytime. We discussed it withour brother-in-law who is an IT whiz. He mocked us for not understanding bandwidth issues and saying it would be impossible without fiberoptics becoming the norm for every house hold. He also told us we would never get the movie rights to do it. We said we would be partners with Blockbuster. He told us it couldn't be done. Every family party we mock him.

In college my friend and I thought seriously about opening a video store where our catalog could be viewed and reserved online. Basically, you could look up our site, see if the movie you wanted was there, reserve it, pay for it, then come and pick it up.

I'm actually glad we didn't try it, as you can now see that it was more of an intermediate step between netflix and blockbuster and we would have been out of business in a few years anyway.

[falafel]

I can't imagine why they didn't update their website with that info?


My bad. I should have considered that their website might not be up to date because they were packing boxes instead.

It is weird that someone is still paying to host the site, though. Probably the person that bought the rites to the brand I guess.