I really ought to patent my ideas

Years ago, I was exchanging emails with a former co-worker when I brought up the idea of enhancing Mapquest with street level pictures. That idea is now known as Google Street View. A decade ago when I was still working at CompuServe, I proposed an offering that I called MLS Online. This is available today as www.realtor.com. When digital cameras starting coming out, I thought it would be cool to have a service where you could upload your shots to have them printed and mailed back to you. There are a ton of those now, so that one was probably pretty obvious.

So, about four or five years ago I bought a thermostat for my oil preheater since it was a pain to have to go down to the hangar and turn it on or off as the weather changed. I thought it would be cool to build a little box with a cellphone in it that I could just call up and have it turn the heater on or off.

Well, I saw this on the innernets this morning:



Ain't that something? I missed out on another one. It's enough to make me wish I was entrepreneurial. Or at least not inherently lazy.

On the plus side, this bodes well for another one of my ideas that most people (well, to be perfectly honest, 100% of people) seem to think is really stupid: chinese food burritos. No, seriously! You simply CANNOT eat chinese food while driving, but you CAN eat a burrito. Think about it. Trust me, the idea will grow on you. And in a few more years when you see a national chain selling them, remember that you heard it here first.