Coupon Texter

This idea only seems viable in a college town, but I believe it would excel there.  This service would allow users to sign up at no cost for coupons which would be sent via text to their cellphone.  Businesses would sign up for accounts which would allow them to send one message for free, but charge a flat rate per message after that.  These messages would include the type of deal and a coupon code for the deal.  This would allow businesses to deliver coupons to potential customers at times of unexpected low volume.  Since overhead costs are so low almost all coupon sales would be profit.

Grocery Delivery

Delivering groceries through the store itself wouldn't be possible because these stores make money when people come in to buy.  However, I believe I could operate a business that takes orders online and acts as a pickup service.  We'd charge a small % fee as well as a flat rate delivery fee.  The business would promise delivery by 5pm on any order placed by 1pm that day.  I believe the market for this business is there because people today have very little time but are becoming more and more conscious of the health problems with eating fast food.

Third World Wal-mart

Okay, maybe not a Wal-mart, but a super-store none the less.

I have a problem with the way we donate to other countries.  By giving people items we aren't helping them as much as we could be.  If you give someone a t-shirt they are the only ones who benefit from that shirt.  If however you sell them the shirt at the price of a job, then you've created value that can pass from person to person.

I believe that if rather than give articles to under privileged people we instead gave them tasks and paid them that we could vastly increase the scope of our donations.  We could build a store, paying workers in food collected as donations.  Next we'd hire day workers and pay them similarly.  Once the store makes money we could use that money to dig wells and build homes.  By bartering rather than giving we could make significant gains for the same cost. 

Tiny Houses

After seeing the small yellow house video in class I went on youtube and found something called a "tumble-weed" house which is even smaller.  It's designed on a trailer to get around building code and is typically about 100 sq ft.  Theses houses can be moved but aren't designed to be on the road for extended amounts of time.  The idea is to use space more efficiently and decide what you really need and what is just weighing you down.  I like the idea because owners say they have more freedom financially (because its significantly cheaper) and because its less work to maintain.  Additionally it seems like having such a small house would force people to go outside and do things rather than sitting around all day.

Foot Power

That's foot power not powder!

We underestimate the amount of energy that is expended walking around day after day.  I believe there are two ways we could harness some of the energy we lose from walking, in the shoe and in the floor.

If we put some mechanism in a person's shoe which outputted electricity when compressed this energy could be stored in a battery for emergency use.  This might be a problem however because the mechanism would need to be very small as would the battery.

Putting this same type of mechanism in the floor would eliminate the size restraint and allow for much larger amounts of power to be harnessed. This could be installed in businesses where there would be some upfront cost for installation but the return would be great enough to pay for the cost in some nominal amount of time.

Fingerprint Credit

I find plastic credit to be extremely out-dated.  It makes little sense to me that I need to carry a piece of plastic with me so that stores know what account to charge.  Instead I think we need to create a system that works in a similar way but with your fingerprint.  When you scan your fingerprint the system could read your print, and from the result recognize who you are.  At this point a screen would display payment options that have been linked to your print.  After you've selected your payment method you'd be prompted to enter a security pin and the transaction would be complete.  This would be far more secure than a credit card, and would eliminate the need for users to carry a card.

Interactive Advertising

I'd like to invent an advertising system which can identify the audience in the area and play appropriate ads for this group.  This would be ideal for airports or other large areas where the general audience is known but the specific groups within it are not.  Additionally this system could go a step further and communicate with the people watching the ad.  This would be particularly useful in airports when patrons are standing on moving sidewalks.  When the person gets on the moving sidewalk it will identify who the person is (age, gender, race, etc.) and play an ad of a person walking next to them (on a screen) which best advertises to that group.

RFInDer

RFID stands for radio frequency identification, and is a way that a receiver can identify an item wirelessly within a certain range.  What I'd like to do is sell a product which uses RFID to help the user find items.  When the buyer opens the package it would contain 1 scanner and 10 RFID tags.  These tags are very small and come in all shapes and sizes.  The user could attach each tag to a different item that they are worried about losing.  Each tag would be assigned a number by the base unit for identification later.  At a later point if the user loses an item which they've tagged then they would be able to use the base unit (similar in form to a remote) to locate the item.  They'd do this by walking around the area they last had it and wait for the base to beep.  RFID has some detection on how far away a tag is so the base could essentially tell them hot (many beeps) or cold (few beeps).

Tablet Computers

Tablet computers, in my opinion, will replace laptops in the very near future.  The tablet accomplishes the needs of nearly all computer users.  It provides a clean interface for internet browsing, has far superior gaming abilities, and allows for social networking in many different formats.  Tablets are also more portable and have greater battery life.

Tablets also create a much better market for software developers.  On a computer today users rarely pay for services, no matter how good they are.  Software purchases on a computer are somewhat annoying and don't leave the consumer with the sense of gains from the purchase.  For some reason however, tablet users purchasing from an established "app market" feel differently.  Perhaps it's the pricing structure, or maybe the preset payment system, whatever it is, users rarely "pirate" applications.  This means that software developers for tablets can be much more profitable than their pc counterparts (at the same skill level).

All this leads me to believe that businesses which offer services optimized on tablets will soon be more profitable than those who optimize for pc.

Employee Ranking Service

I'd like to build a website which allows employers to rank their employees and vise-versa.  The rankings would be hidden from the person who is being ranked to protect against biases.  In other words, employees are unable to see their own ranking or any other person's for that matter.  Employers are able to see any potential employee's ranking but must pay a monthly fee for that information.

One problem is that employers may not be motivated to give a review to an employee unless he has done a poor job.  However I believe that employees that leave on good terms would be able to convince their employer to rank them.

Mutli-store CSR

I've worked at Domino's for several summers and find there biggest problem to be having the correct number of people on shift.  Typically on our busiest nights we have 1 - 2 people answering phones, the same number making pizzas, and 4 - 5 drivers who also "catch," box, and cut the pies.  This system works great when we're busy, but once 7:30pm rolls around we have far too many people on the clock.  I hope to get a corporate job for Domino's pending my graduation, at which time I'd suggest that they move to regional CSRs (phone answers aka customer service representatives).  This would mean that one owner (who typically owns 3 - 5 stores) could have a certain number of people working for all his stores at the same time and could clock them out as necessary. 

Since Domino's functions mostly online already this would require few changes and expenses.  First they'd need to establish a regional call center, most likely a back office in one store.  Then they'd need to route all "1-800-DOMINOS" calls to that regional number rather than the store's phone number.  Lastly they'd need to stop advertising store phone numbers and instead advertise their 1-800 number.

When a CSR at a call center would receive a call they could check the system to see what store the number typically orders to, confirm this with the customer, then proceed with the order as normal.  Once the order is complete it is submitted electronically to the correct store.  The call center could then track on what days and times they received the highest number of calls and schedule the correct number of people to take those calls.  If for some reason a customer needed  to reach the store directly the CSR would be able to forward their call to that store.

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is really something I've found an interest in over the past few months, and while some are skeptical as to if it will catch on, I'm convinced it's the way of the future.  Before I begin discussing what I'd like to create in order to stay ahead of the internet market I'd like to convince you that cloud computing is indeed something you'll be using in the next 5 years (or less.)

It's no secret that the internet has brought amazing possibilities to the world.  It become our social life, our entertainment, our recipe book, matchmaker, job finder, the list goes on.  Though these are all well and good they are not without their draw backs.  The largest concern for a web user such as myself is identity theft.  What 20 years ago was an almost nonexistent problem is now likely to happen to you at least once in your lifetime.

Another problem is that information cannot easily be moved between computers.  Sure we have flash drives and can be witty and email an attachment to ourselves, but in all honesty, working on another computer just isn't the same as working on your own.

The last problem I'd like to address is piracy.  Huge amounts of internet bandwidth today are being used by those copying illegal material.  This alludes to both a legal dilemma and a logistical one, in terms of how to meet internet demand for legitimate users.

Cloud computing fixes the problems today's internet cannot.  First and foremost because data is stored remotely secure files will be handled by companies rather than individuals.  For many this idea is outrageous, as most would never give any website their credit information or the like.  But consider the current situation.  Internet users who have a very small understanding of how the internet works download potentially harmful content which they let loose on their computer that often times is poorly protected.  On the other hand you have companies like Google and Yahoo, who know almost everything their is to know about the internet, and have nearly endless funds to protect their systems.  These are the individuals you want in charge of sensitive information, not low end users.

Cloud computing also allows individuals to sync files across platforms so that every system has access to the same information.  On a small level this is similar to the server folder PSU students are issued for use in labs, but on a larger scale it would allow you to access all your music from your phone, xbox, laptop, or a friend's computer.

The last problem it solves is piracy.  As more files become stored online it will become easier to monitor them for illegal files.

This leads me to what I believe needs to be done to stay ahead of the movement.  First and foremost is that streaming sites of any media will become increasingly popular.  Pandora has gained a lot of fame recently and I believe similar sites will emerge within the next few years.  Additionally you've probably noticed that youtube  now has advertisements on some videos.  While this might annoy most users I believe it's something we'll be seeing a lot of because cable companies will begin to move online.  Currently the internet doesn't have the capacity to house cable tv, but as more users demand higher speeds so they can be connected to the cloud 24/7 the option will become more viable.  I also believe that VOIP (voice over IP) will become much more popular as speeds increase.

I have two ideas to profit off this dramatic change.  The first is to create an interface that allows not only files, but applications to be shared across platforms.  Mac, Windows, smart phones, would all share a common market place, and once an app was purchased it would be available on every machine it was compatible with.

The second idea is relatively simple.  Since everything is moving to the internet that means that most bills will move their as well.  I'd like to create a better PayPal.  This site will have all the same features as the current site, but be much more flexible.  It will allow you to add all payment options (credit, debit, eft,...) and will include a small line of credit.  When a purchase is made over the internet the user will be prompted to select which pre-setup payment method they'd like to use.  When they use their site issued card in person however the transaction will be saved in their line of credit until they login again and assign it to a payment method.  This will eliminate overdraft fees!  This site will also allow users to schedule payments and move money easily between accounts.