a.million.ideas

Everyone who has ever used the internet knows that you can almost always find a copy of the song you want to listen to on YouTube (legally sanctioned or otherwise). This app would provide an interface similar to iTunes (for example) but rather than loading up a device with actual music, it would allow a person to create playlists that simply contain links to the relevant song.

If you’re driving home and you’re on a tight schedule but you can’t tell how long the lineup at the car wash is, having the estimated wait time automatically and constantly updated on the same billboard that the price is on would make the lives of those with little free time to spare better. The concept could be implemented by installing a number of induction loops underneath the driveway up to it to count the number of cars in line, multiplied by the average length of a car wash.

The USB stick would look like a normal USB stick but would actually connect to a remote cloud-based service using some form of secure encryption (AES-256?) which also stores your data securely, and then creates a disk instance which actually links you to your files. The stick could be protected by some sort of biometric (e.g. fingerprint) to remove the requirement of entering a password as most systems now have autorun turned off and would never be able to auto-launch the authentication mechanism.

This one is a bit more specialized, but having a way to extract the names of the tracks played in order during an Ableton Live set would be insanely beneficial for those of us who DJ with it and who want to record and offer those sets for download.

Letting the dishwasher only heat the water as necessary would prevent a lack of hot water for simultaneous showering while dishes are being done. A smaller version of a tankless hot water heater would likely take up minimal space but prevent other household issues like scheduling shower times around when dishes are being cleaned.

A person could post two (or more) pictures for options on which clothes or hairstyles they may like to wear out that night. People could vote on them (or suggest sub-combinations if more than one item is changed between the pictures) and the person would receive instant feedback on what they would look the best in.

It would allow someone to have their head scanned by a laser or series of lasers to get the exact shape of the scalp. They could import the scan on to a computer, which would allow them to perfectly model the hair cut they want in 3 dimensions, which would then be set back to something akin to a hair C&C machine that would suction all the hair outwards and then cut it according to the model designed on the computer.

If I’ve been through your drive-thru more than 50 times and the same person still asks me the same question every single time, I should be legally allowed to zap him or her with one of those dog collars that train puppies where the yard ends. BAD ORDER TAKER, BAD.

Using some kind of not-yet-invented living-esque material, it could be “set” to keep your body at a certain temperature, and as the color changes from blue to red, the color change could be the adjusting of the thickness of the actual fibers (for example; not necessarily how the final mechanics would actually work) and so the blue fibers could be smaller letting more air through, where the red ones could be thicker keeping more heat inside it.

Living in the Great White North, taking photos outside during the 9 month dead period means that the auto-focus mechanism can slow down or (temporarily) seize altogether. A device that could wrap around the lens and keep it moderately warm could be of great benefit to those of us without corporate funding for our gear.