I need an idea person.

[DRU]

I've always been a software guy. Hardware kind of scared me. I stumbled upon this open-source microprocessor platform, though, called Arduino, and now my mind is running a million miles a minute.

It's basically a motherboard that comes with a very basic programming language to program it. You can go to Radio Shack and buy things like WiFi adapters, GPS signals, motion detectors, thermometers, cameras, light detectors, etc.

So then you can solder those onto the board and program them accordingly. We could trigger events based on things in the atmosphere. These events can be anything available as web services online.

For example, we could send out real-time Tweets or Facebook updates when the temperature in a room falls out of a given range, or when an object starts to move. Imagine packages automatically tweeting or texting the truck driver when they fall off the truck and are left behind.

Some people have made things like cat toys that automatically take pictures and post Tweets in real-time when the toy starts to move (assuming the cat is playing with it).

I've always been big into payments because there's a residual model there...you could give away the product and make a killing on commissions with transactions running through the solution.

I'm having trouble thinking of a practical use-case, though. I mean, I could trigger a payment based on the motion of your tooth brush, or based on pushing your garage door opener, or again, based on temperature in a room, how bright or dark the room is, how fast the thing is moving, where exactly the thing is located in the world, etc.

So, give me an idea, I'll build the hardware, program the software, develop a website for it, etc. and we can make a bunch of money together! If we could come up with a practical use and get a patent on it...we'd kill it.

[DRU]

Originally Posted by FAX

Very cool, Mr. DRU. There are, no doubt, thousands of applications for some kind of computer device that can automatically detect movement or temperature change.

Restaurants come to mind.

Very exciting, actually.

FAX

Yes, it is. I enjoy playing guitar, too, so I've been thinking of building a little amp or pedal you can enable/disable to automatically trigger events based on specific chords you play or something like that.

It could be combined with offer of some sort at music festivals to get people to come to your stage instead of hanging out a the main stage waiting for their favorite band.

For example, when the band comes on and plays a well known song, it could automatically tweet out people at the event telling them about the offer. Something like discounts on future tickets or merchandise if they are within 500 feet of Stage 6, or some shit like that.

Hopefully that would pull people over there, and then they could make purchases from their mobile device once they're within range and eligible, and that's where we'd make commissions on everything purchased.

So again, that's just another idea that's been floating around in my head, but if I'm going to spend some serious time on something I'd like to really make it worth it.

[Rain Man]

Can it be linked to location? How would it be different than a GPS? As a market researcher, I think it would be cool to put these on the bottoms of grocery carts or shopping baskets, or bribe shoppers to carry them around, to see what parts of a store produce the most visits and most time.

[BossChief]

Make something that prohibits cell phones from sending or receiving texts while the phone is traveling more than 5 miles per hour and sell the idea to lawmakers.

[Rain Man]

Every time Cassel moves from the bench, it could send a tweet to the Save Our Chiefs followers to start booing.

[DRU]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Can it be linked to location? How would it be different than a GPS? As a market researcher, I think it would be cool to put these on the bottoms of grocery carts or shopping baskets, or bribe shoppers to carry them around, to see what parts of a store produce the most visits and most time.

Absolutely it can be linked to location. It it would use GPS...not try to differ from it. We would just get a little GPS device to solder on to the Arduino board and then program it to output it's location. Then we'd build software (web-based or mobile apps, for example) that would listen for the signals of all the devices and show you where their current location is.

That is a pretty good idea, too. I've actually seen people doing what you said based on things like who all ahs "checked in" via Facebook or some other service. At large events, quite a few people do check in, and then they can be tracked via Facebook apps (or whatever service they're hooked up to) to see the highest traffic places at the show.

Building something to attach to shopping carts that does the same thing probably wouldn't be very difficult at all. We could track the entire shopping path of shoppers and provide data on all sorts of shopping habits.

[BossChief]

Could you make an application that could send an email to every chiefs fan the moment Pioli is fired and then another whenwe draft a first round qb.

It would be a "you can give a **** again" message.

[DRU]

Originally Posted by BossChief

Make something that prohibits cell phones from sending or receiving texts while the phone is traveling more than 5 miles per hour and sell the idea to lawmakers.

That's definitely an interesting concept, but that wouldn't require any extra hardware like Arduino. Something like that could be done with the device itself.

That said, I may have spoke too soon when I gave the example of the device knowing how fast it was moving. That would require some kind of wind or rotational reference. If the device is in a car, moving relative with that car, it wouldn't know it was moving. I'll have to re-think that particular example.

[Rain Man]

I'm trying to think of the advantages of this over just a thermostat switch or a motion detector. Is it smaller? More reliable? Can those devices not be hooked up to the logic to send a selective tweet or post? It seems like the selling point is converting that environmental change into words, right?

[DRU]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Every time Cassel moves from the bench, it could send a tweet to the Save Our Chiefs followers to start booing.

I don't think they need notifications to do that, do they? Sort of a natural reaction at this point.

[FAX]

Originally Posted by DRU

Yes, it is. I enjoy playing guitar, too, so I've been thinking of building a little amp or pedal you can enable/disable to automatically trigger events based on specific chords you play or something like that.

It could be combined with offer of some sort at music festivals to get people to come to your stage instead of hanging out a the main stage waiting for their favorite band.

For example, when the band comes on and plays a well known song, it could automatically tweet out people at the event telling them about the offer. Something like discounts on future tickets or merchandise if they are within 500 feet of Stage 6, or some shit like that.

Hopefully that would pull people over there, and then they could make purchases from their mobile device once they're within range and eligible, and that's where we'd make commissions on everything purchased.

So again, that's just another idea that's been floating around in my head, but if I'm going to spend some serious time on something I'd like to really make it worth it.

The trick to something like this is to identify an easy-entry, quickly scalable vertical market, Mr. DRU.

Many good concepts can fail in the early going because resources are spread too thinly over too broad an area.

If I were you, I'd research a particular industry group, identify an existing need/problem/complaint and start there. Once you've gained market share, then you can expand into other opportunities. That strategy also gives you time to work out any bugs and perfect the solution.

It's an excellent idea.

FAX

[FAX]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I'm trying to think of the advantages of this over just a thermostat switch or a motion detector. Is it smaller? More reliable? Can those devices not be hooked up to the logic to send a selective tweet or post? It seems like the selling point is converting that environmental change into words, right?

Easily converting the motion/thermo event into instant, web-centric information seems like an inexpensive solution to a wide range of problems ... at least, to my mind it does.

FAX

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by DRU

Absolutely it can be linked to location. It it would use GPS...not try to differ from it. We would just get a little GPS device to solder on to the Arduino board and then program it to output it's location. Then we'd build software (web-based or mobile apps, for example) that would listen for the signals of all the devices and show you where their current location is.

That is a pretty good idea, too. I've actually seen people doing what you said based on things like who all ahs "checked in" via Facebook or some other service. At large events, quite a few people do check in, and then they can be tracked via Facebook apps (or whatever service they're hooked up to) to see the highest traffic places at the show.

Building something to attach to shopping carts that does the same thing probably wouldn't be very difficult at all. We could track the entire shopping path of shoppers and provide data on all sorts of shopping habits.

The thing I like about this is that it converts to money. Do people go to a particular corner of the store? What percent of people go straight to the clearance rack and then walk out? What parts of the store are destinations that people seek out specifically (that you then place on the other end of the impulse purchases)? If you understand what your customers are doing, you can optimize your store layout to improve time in store and sales.

[DRU]

Originally Posted by BossChief

Could you make an application that could send an email to every chiefs fan the moment Pioli is fired and then another whenwe draft a first round qb.

It would be a "you can give a **** again" message.

I'm sure the following itself will do it's job of notifying everything if/when that happens. Not sure that would require any automation.

Not really something that would be based on the atmosphere around the device either. Think temperature, motion, light/dark, etc.

One thing that could be interesting, maybe, is some sort of a device that fits inside the football and provides real-time data on the ducks that Cassel throws.

[FAX]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

The thing I like about this is that it converts to money. Do people go to a particular corner of the store? What percent of people go straight to the clearance rack and then walk out? What parts of the store are destinations that people seek out specifically (that you then place on the other end of the impulse purchases)? If you understand what your customers are doing, you can optimize your store layout to improve time in store and sales.

Time and motion studies take place all the time. And they cost a freaking fortune, too.

FAX

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by FAX

Time and motion studies take place all the time. And they cost a freaking fortune, too.

FAX

I kind of figured that, and it seems like it would be manual. I'm not sure if anyone has devised an automated solution yet. It sounds like a no.

I talked to a guy once about using RFID chips to do this, and someone else about using GPS. At the time, the GPS wasn't precise enough, though maybe it is now. The RFID guy turned out to be a poseur of epic proportions, so I just fled from him.