The easy way to fertilize your yard because I don't like gardening

I don't like gardening that much. However, I enjoy having a green grass and nice looking front and back yards. That is why I have a gardener but I still fertilize the yard though even though I don't like it. Somehow, I don't think the price was worth having the gardener do it and I like his work for everything else. So what can I do?

Imagine this - you pour the fertilizer into a container next to the sprinkler valve. When the sprinkler starts, it mixes the fertilizer with water that flows to the sprinkler heads. All I have to do is fill these containers only when I want to fertilize. I think a different form on the idea exists from Miracle Gro (click here). However, you have to connect to a hose and spray the areas you want. Not exactly what I was looking for.

I can imagine many people would love to install something like this in their backyards.

That is for now....

P.S. I don't think I am lazy. I just don't like gardening

A sensor keeps kids a good distance from TV

How many times do you tell your kids to stay further back from the TV? "Sit on the coach and watch" or "don't sit too close to the TV ... you will ruin your eyes." Well, I know I do that on various occasions. When their favorite movie or TV show is playing, it grabs their attention and it draws them closer to the TV like flies. How can control that?

Imagine, the TV is equipped with a motion IR sensor - like the ones on motion detectors for security alarms. When a person is too close to the TV (set any distance you prefer), the sensor will turn the TV off. Of course, you can make it more elaborate by giving early warning or some indication so people have a chance to go back.

This is just a simple way to keep kids back without parents being on their case all the time...

That is it for now...

Home away from home with digital frames...

Imagine you walk into your room in a hotel after an exhausting trip to find the room is ready for you: the temperature is set to what you exact settings, a personalized post card on the edge of the bed welcoming you and wishing you a wonderful stay, or a delightful snack like an apple or a home style chocolate chip cookies.

Different hotels attempt to differentiate themselves from others by adding these nicer touches and personalizing the guests stay. They build a relationship in hopes that you enjoy your stay and plan to come back in the future.

Imagine when you walk in, you have digital frames in the room that display your favorite pictures: family picture, family dog, your new born or your favorite scenes. These images are displayed around your room or suite. Now, it is getting closer to having a touch of home - "home away from home".

Setting up an environment where digital frames are placed in every room in the hotel. Through a wireless setup, every room is uploaded with personal images that are provided by the guests when they first book their stay at the hotel. These frames can be uploaded with personal messages or other soothing images to the liking of the guests.

That is it for now....

Count those calaries the RFID way?

How many of you count calories? I am sure many. At least you have done it once and gave up soon after. It is time consuming with lots of details to keep track of. What a hassle? Some times, you really need to do it for medical reasons especially.

Here is an idea - imagine if every food product packaging out there comes with an embedded microchip (example: RFID - Radio Frequency ID) with the data embedded describing all you need to track regarding your diet. You will keep a reader with you that can be as small as a credit card. All you have to do, is scan your card over the package every time you eat. Don't have to worry about counting any thing. At any time, the reader can tell you your total calories consumed amongst other details for sodium, cholesterol..etc.

If you take this further since you will be carrying it around with you and now it keeps track of the calories you have burned as well. What if that were your cell phone, it will even be better so you don't have to carry yet another device. Next thing you know, your doctor is calling you telling you to stop eating because you exceeded your calories limit for the day... STOP right here... may be that is taking it too far but possible. The different technologies do exist but need to be glued together.

Any venture capitalists out there interested....

That is for now...

Who needs a stationary hard drive any way?

Labtops are taking over desktops. More and more people are buying laptops these days. I can see why, they are more convinient. As a business traveler, it is not easy sometimes to bring along the laptop and the power stuff that it needs. Plus going through airport security is a hassle.

The external hard drives are getting large in memory size while their physical size is getting smaller. So small that some fit into your pocket. Also, external thumb drive are getting large in memory size so can fit a lot of apps and even an operating system.

It will be great to have a solution where the hard drive is not only mobile with an exact/synched image of the one you have at home or office but small enough to fit in your pocket. Now, you can take it with you where you need to go. You can plugin into any PC or laptop to run directly from this USB connected hard drive or thumb drive. It includes all your data, your operating system and all your favorite apps.

Imagine kiosks are also available for people to plugin - Starbucks, airport kiosks, mall kiosks or Internet cafes and any hot spot location. The idea is that you can plugin at any location and have the same environment as you would at home because you brought your hard drive along.

Also, for companies, employees can travel or go to meeting rooms with just their thumb drives. The meeting rooms are already set with the standard laptop hardware. This would solve many IT problems. It might create new ones, though. However, I would imagine solving more problems than creating new ones.

I do see some implementation issues that need to be resolved. For one, it is not personal as in "this is my machine". However, it might solve many problems others have. It is simple and quick when you are in need. Also, it will most likely run slower than an integrated hard drive but the USB is getting faster. One could also argue, this issue is already resolved by mobile PDAs, iPhone and other connectivity devices. However, the operating environment is not the same.

By the way, I did do some research and I could not find any company that offer any thing similar at least for the hard drive solution. The main limitation is having a laptop that would run from an external hard drive or thumb drive over USB.

If anyone has any suggestions or comments - please reply. I am interested in what people have seen out there.

That is it for now...

Why am I starting this?

I am starting this for few reasons. First, I wanted to blog. It is becoming the new entertainment venue. I like to watch TV and movies but I see myself spending more time on the internet between news and so many other things.

Second, my wife and I keep generating so many ideas for new businesses, improvements for existing products, what companies can do better, how to improve customer service, ...etc I thought it might be worth sharing some of these ideas with others. At a minimum, start documenting them in some fashion but not sure if it will take us any where. We are trying to make the time to take at least one of these ideas to life but it is not that easy between money, time and life responsibilities. But somehow, we will find a way.

Finally, like many people, I hope one of these ideas can generate some income to support the passion our family has to helping others in some tangible way.

That is for now - until next time.

This is my first post - a test

Testing 1 2 3...Testing..