Idea 29: From 3-D Movies to “3-D” Movie Theaters

Problem:

James Cameron once said: “I think there will be movie theaters in 1,000 years. People want the group experience, the sense of going out and participating in a film together.” If that is true, how might the future of movie theaters look like… in times of ever bigger and affordable TV screens, of 3-d turning into a standard function, and HD being surpassed by super HD or whatever the next step in terms of resolutions will be? To survive, movie theaters might need to adapt from the base, so that the group experience remains attractive, assuming for the sake of argument that this is the main reason for why people watch movies in a theater.

Solution: 

At one point, the question might not be any longer about how real, or human, virtual animations look…the line between the real and the virtual will be almost invisible, due to technological advances; and this point might come sooner than later, looking at examples such as Avatar. However, the experience of how we actually “see” and experience a movie might still leave some room for innovation. Nowadays, we are already able to create panoramic as well as 360 degree pictures . Lets imagine, that this technology could be used to create movie theaters that allow their viewers to look left and right, back and up and still see parts of the movie that they otherwise would not be able to see with only one screen. Movies would have to be shot in a different way based on a complete different system to make for example the following possible: The main character in the movie looks to the right, and what he looks at appears on the screen, not in front of the audience, but on the screen to the right of it. Although this will make film shooting much more complicated, it might lead to an advance of the industry itself…in 1000 years, turning moving pictures into moving pictures together with a moving audience.

Idea 28: Fragrance Comp Tool 1.0

Problem:

Going into a fragrance store can be a daunting experience, due to the sheer varieties of different perfumes and colognes that are basically divided into mass-marketable and luxury products. So, as the game of finding the right fragrance turns into a balance act between what “smells” exist, what one likes, and what one can afford, the brain keeps firing messages of total frustration and pain into one´s nervous system, until one has to figure out how many different fragrances one can try before getting a headache. However, this is only step one! Step two takes place, when one actually has to buy a fragrance for someone else.

Solution:

Inventing a comparison tool that recommends a fragrance based on the fragrances one has already at home or that one knows another person has, might be a solution. The tool could be based on algorithms that “use” the actual smell (the words marketing uses to describe it) or the different ingredients of a fragrance (assuming that possibly fragrances with the same ingredients will smell more, or less, the same when using a certain scale to compare them). Later a price category could be added that would allow the user only to choose the fragrances that one can afford. On the other hand, if one would like to change one´s style, one could ask the tool to only recommend perfumes/colognes that are completely different to what one has at home. Recommendations by the tool could later be adjusted and improved by implementing users´feedback through maybe an open platform. Once the tool hits critical mass, fragrance producers might push to be actually part of it as in case their fragrance is not in the list, it will not be recommended.

Idea 27: Learning Guitar made less “painful”

Problem:

People that have tried to pick up the art of playing guitar might know the following debacle – the pain involved in picking the strings correctly, due to the lack of the right amount of cornea on the fingertips; a reason for why people might never pull through and stop playing before they actually reach the point of joy in playing one of their favorite songs from beginning to the end.

Solution:

To get people through the first few weeks of learning the chords, “artificial cornea” might offer the right push to take this first and possibly most difficult obstacle. The artificial cornea could come in form of small and skintight, singular “fingertip gloves” with an embedded, hardened silicon cushion that acts as closely as possible as the future body own cornea. Although “gloves” always imply some sort of loss of “touch”, with the right material and placements of the cushions a usable alternative might be able to be created.

Idea 26: Global Treasure Hunt App

Problem:

Treasure hunts, hidden path ways, discovering secrets, solving clues and following Indiana Jones trying to find the Holy Grail; not everybody got excited about that when they were children, but many did – and probably still do today. It might be human nature to “discover.” However, there are not many ways to actually satisfy this lingering need, once one gets older, is there?

Solution:

As technology allows people to be more connected than ever, the idea would be to take advantage of this global contentedness and create an idea around an international treasure hunt by means of a cell phone app and and an online community. Secrets would have to be invented, a real treasure would have to be hidden and teams would have to be formed that together would solve the mystery of the hidden treasure. The treasure could come in form of money or other luxury goods that people will find worth to be called a treasure. Apps could be sold for a certain fee, advertising sold, hotels and travel agencies involved…. However, in the end the goal of the idea would be to create an international community of treasure hunters that gets a chance to become modern Indiana Jones´on the hunt for a treasure of gold -> who knows, maybe they would even do a reality TV series out of this.