Problem. Putting clothespins on clothes takes a lot of time. This is a common way to dry clothes in Europe and many other parts of the world. Americans tend to use dryers.
Solution. Use a three-string system to secure clothes in place. Clothes are suspended from the first string and the second and third strings are lowered and criss-cross the top of the clohes sothat they stay in place. Solves an annoying problem.

Problem. No schedules for city T (trains) or buses in Boston.
Solution. Ad-supported (the MBTA (T) is strapped for cash) video screens and call-in mobile numbers that provide this information. GPS on all trains and buses that locates them on maps (MASCO has this for the LMA buses).

Problem. A lot of printer paper is printed, used a few times and then thrown away.
Solution. More resilient paper that won't jam, a special ink that will completely fade away in a few weeks, and a collator bin that will take the used paper deposited into it (FIFO stack) and make it into a nice bundle of "new paper" that can be reused.

Problem. Most printer paper used in the office is for internal consumption (verify) and most of that thrown away soon after printing (verify).
Solution.  PaprSavr provides ad-supported printer paper. (1) Pre-printed ads in the margins or the back of the paper to help offset the cost of the paper? (2) Use regular printer paper, but print ads in the margins and original content (slightly scaled down) in the middle. All that's required is an intermediary printer driver that does this and re-prints it to the printer of the user's choice.

Ads are based on user's IP address/geographic location and possibly google search terms (too invasive?)

Why did Star Market pull out ads on the backs of receipts? Does this idea not work well?

Print command --> Choose printer --> PaprSavr --> press OK --> PaprSavr dialog box --> Which printer do you want you output on? (select an option here) --> PaprSavr goes online, gets ads, and then recomposes and prints the pages.

Problem. Glare from the headlights of cars in opposing traffic causes glare (high-contrast situtations) from which it takes the eye several seconds to recover. This is uncomfortable, leads to temporary "blindness" and is dangerous.
Solution. Wear monochrome LCD "sunglasses" (transparent) with a small mounted camera. They are completely transparent during regular lighting conditions. The camera constantly sees the scene in front of it and auto-tints just the right areas of the sunglasses with an array of LCD elements, effectively reducing the contrast range of the field in view. LCD elements can be rapidly cycled, with the difference between the on and off cycles being perceived as more or less shading (e.g. if 3 out of 4 cycles are "on", then the glasses are darker than if 1 out of 4 cycles are on; cycles have to quite rapid to provide this approximation).
Issues. LCDs have polarized filters that cause a decrease in the total amount of light transmitted through them. This might be a problem at night when the amount of visible light is low. Patents have been filed on such a device over 10 years ago, but the inventor seems to have done nothing else with the idea. LCDs can break in case of an accident and cause injury to the eye (use plastic-based LCDs or ePaper instead?).

Problem. Golf caddies are either the push-around kind or the remote-control kind. With the latter, one has to direct the cart. A simple add-on will make the cart follow the user automatically.
Solution. An add-on to major remote-control golf caddies. The user has a transmitter in his pocket (with on/off and  emergency stop buttons). The receiver, mounted on the caddy, senses the bearing and distance from the user and sends remote control messages to the caddy such as

• left. signal is stronger to the left than to the right.
• right. signal is stronger to the right than to the left.
• faster. signal is weaker than a set strength.
• slower. signal is stronger than a set strength.
• stop. signal is much stronger than a set strength.

Advantage. The advantage of this solution is that it builds on top of an existing electro-mechanical device, making it easier to focus on just this one problem. Different versions may be needed for the various remote control golf-caddies in existence. Or perhaps a "universal" control.

Advantage. The caddies work in relatively easy terrain; they don't have to climb up and down sidewalks (usually), nor cross streets. Thus, this allows for a safe environment in which to sell and develop this product while working on a chassis and software that will work in more difficult territory.


Issues. Such a caddy already exists, but is about 4 times as expensive as regular remote control caddies and much more ungainly and ugly to look at. The advantage of our solution is that it leverages existing hardware and has a low cost (about $100-150 at the retailer). A good birthday or Valentine's day gift!

Problem. Boats require power for their engines and their appliances (e.g. fridge). How can we reduce the power neded from the boat's engines?
Solution. Use a thermocline heat exchanger, i.e. a loooong loop of a conductive pipe that goes about 50-100ft down into the water. The temperature differential between the atmosphere and the sea water is used to derive power to offset the cost of the power needed from engines. For sailboats, this might be the only source of power used when under sail and not under outboard power.
Issues.

Problem. Need more speed, less drag.
Ideas. See the Hydroptère, a sailboat with a hydrofoil.

Problem. Txt spk is hard to decipher and with the advent of Twitter, unlikely to go away soon.
Solution. Use an automatic translator, built into your email or phone.

Here are two attempts to do this:  www.transl8it.com and www.lingo2word.com.  A description (not great) of the problem is at http://mindprod.com/project/textspeak.html. 

Text speak can be incomprehensible or at least quickly tiring for those who are not used to it. Software to convert txt spk to full words would make it easier to bridge the gap. Any takers?

As an example, the following,

"mns sm mdst xpnss" ?

Myb f y r wrtr, cld s hw mdst my b n djctv t dscrb yr xpnss, bt mst rt tks mny t mk r t th vry mnmm lrg ddctn f tm whn y r crtng nd NT gttng pd.

S...dn't qt yr dy jb!