Big Ideas #4

Here's one I've been thinking about for a while now and I haven't seen anything like it out there. Since I'm a musician, a lot of the things I think about are music related and specific to my needs. One of the most difficult things about putting a band together is getting (and keeping) a drummer. It's an instrument that requires a lot of dedication and not everyone wants a drumkit in their house so consequently there aren't a lot of drummers out there. What's worse is that for some reason, when you do find one, it's really difficult to keep them. They usually aren't involved in the songwriting process and therefore don't feel as attached to the music as the guitarist's or singers are. It's gotten so bad that some bands are giving drummers songwriting credits just to keep them. I got so tired of auditioning drummers, I learned how to play myself. Having said all that, my idea involves software that would sense the beat when you are performing music and play drums along with it in real-time. There is already software out there that sense the beat in a .wav file but it's not tied into anything that would play drums. What my idea would do is have a fast enough processor that could almost anticipate what was coming and play the appropriate part. As long as the computer could product a result in about 10 milliseconds or less, it should work.

Big Ideas #3

Before I tell you my next big idea, I want give you one that I thought of before it came into being. I'm a musician and my daughter plays in a orchestra. One day when I was watching them rehearse, I noticed that they were fumbling about with their sheet music and sometimes someone would drop a page in the middle of a performance. Sheet music is notorious for attracting any stray breezes and will jump off a music stand of its own accord. Anyway, what I thought of was some sort of touch-sensitive LCD screen connected to a computer of sorts that would store the music, allow the musician to make notes on the screen and then save the music, notes and all. The performer could take the screen home, practice, etc. You could even have it where it would play the other parts. Well, whadya know, about 2 years later someone's producing that very thing.
My next big idea is one for a movie. It is getting to the point here in the US, that everywhere you look, there are casinos. Indian casinos, video poker casinos, online casinos and betting, etc. Our society is moving towards some sort of gambling economy. In Britain, the bookies will take bets on anything. In the very near future, I can see people placing bets on how long someone will live and what they'll die of. You could get all kinds of information about this person as far as family history, medical history, lifestyle information, etc. If the person you bet on makes it, they get the money(less what the bookie takes of course).
Imagine a middle aged man who is a bit of a betting man. We'll call him Peter. His only daughter, Justine, is just out of college and seems intent on pursuing her career and not men. He decides to take a chance and places a pretty sizable bet on a young man, Tom, of about 22 because the younger someone is the better the odds and besides Tom is leading a life of debauchery and Peter figures he won't live to see 25. Fast Forward 2 years or so - The young has straightened himself out and is in love. Peter, who gets regular reports on Tom's condition doesn't know who Tom is in love with because of privacy issues. Peter needs the bet to pay off since his business is failing so he hires a couple of thugs to knock Tom off. It's got to look like an accident or the bet's off and Peter goes to jail. The thugs are rather inept and they make several unsuccessful but hilarious attempts to kill Tom. Justine has been dating someone but Peter hasn't met him yet and she only refers to him as her Huggy Bear or something stupid like that. She finally convinces her dad to meet them for dinner and guess who the guy is - TOM. And what's more, Justine drops the bomb - they're getting married - in one month. Even though Peter's business has been doing poorly as of late and he really needs the money, he can't stand the idea of his only daughter heartbroken or worse, caught in the crossfire. The rest of the movie revolves around Peter's attempt to thwart the next attempt of the thugs. I haven't decided if the the movie is going to be more romantic comedy with a dark twist or if it's just going to be a dark comedy. I'm leaning toward dark comedy.

Big Ideas #2

I can believe I forgot about this one. A while back, I saw report on television about this new sort of oven that cooks with light and is 2-3 times faster than a regular oven. I didn't think of that but I did think of something cool to do with it. Let's say you have a panel van rigged up with one of these ovens and stocked with everything you need to make pizzas. Someone calls in for a pizza and you pull up in front of their house and in less that 10 minutes - Fresh Pizza right out of the oven. No one could touch that if you patented the idea. There are a few things to work out but I think it's a pretty good idea. I would think you would want the pizza dough already formed and maybe even sauced and topped with cheese. That way all you would have to do is put your toppings on it and 5 minutes later - Pizza. You might even be able to prepare another pizza for your next customer while you were waiting for the first one to cook. Multiple pizzas would require multiple ovens. Also, if you had 2 people working, one could drive and the other prepare.

Big Ideas #1

I've always been one of those people that thinks of cool new things but either doesn't do anything about it or doesn't have the wherewithal to. I can't tell you how many times I've thought of some new product only to see it come out a few years later. For instance, about 10 years ago, shortly after I got my Directv satellite dish, I thought "Wow, just think if they could do the same thing for music - you could have an All Beatles, All the Time station, etc" You know how that turned out. My precognition may be limited to new products or ideas. Well, I've finally decided to do something about it. Everytime I have one of my Big Ideas, I'm going to post it on this blog. If it has any merit, maybe someone will pick up the ball and run with it. Perhaps there's someone out there that can improve upon it. Regardless, at least I can say that I did something about it. Starting this blog was a Big Idea. I only wish I had something like this 20 years ago when I thought of having one computer per household and several computing appliances connected to it distributed throughout the house. About two weeks ago, I saw just that on Linkswarm. It's about the size of a wall socket and it has 128mb of memory, 4 USB connectors and connections for a monitor, and speakers. Anyway, my most recent Big Idea came to me at my office. I was using some correction fluid and I have always been impatient when it comes to waiting for the stuff to dry. If it doesn't dry completely and you try to write on it, it will ruin your pen. I've always joked around about using a little hairdryer on it. Then the lightbulb went on and I thought - " A pen with a fan on the end of it!". After a moment, I trashed that idea and thought maybe the correction fluid bottle should be able to puff air out of it when you squeezed it. That would be fairly simple and wouldn't require any batteries. That's all I've got for now.