Hooked Q-tips

Y'know how people stick their fingers up their nose after the abundantly sanitary step of placing a less-than-paper-thin kleenex over their digit? Yeah, that isn't doing shit to keep things clean. What we need is hook-shaped Q-tips to D&C that shit outta there.

Unilever, you hear me??

A Reverse Save Function

I regularly work on projects that require I save different versions throughout the overall process--often, we'll decide to go one direction, delete a bunch of slides, and then reverse the decision and need to put them back in. And on more than one occasion, I've automatically saved without remembering to change the document title, sending those precious slides to the document junkyard, broken pixel by pixel into meaningless & nothingness.

Usually, I realized I've done this almost immediately after I've saved. Now I know there are things like TimeMachine on Mac that save me from this fate, but it changes EVERYTHING on my computer back to how it had been. Why can't Ctrl+Z also reverse a save???

Laptops/cell phones with built-in headphones

Come on, you want me to carry around a laptop AND headphones? I need to throw headphones in my pocket along with my cell? You're supposed to be convenient and portable. Even simple, crappy retractable headphones would do the trick.

Secondary option: make it possible for me to listen to my music as if listening on a cell call, as an alternative option to the external speakers. Would make many a bus ride more enjoyable.

reasonably-priced e-ink business cards

Because how sweet would that be!?

Tabasco Chapstick

For the adventurous.

A Smarter Facebook

Wouldn't it make a lot more sense for facebook statuses, birthdays, etc. would reflect the time of the person they belong to? I never know if I should be saying "happy birthday" to my friends in Chile or Japan or New Zealand before or after the day actually occurs in the US. Similarly, a post at 5 in the morning my time about "being up early" from a friend in NYC is going to garner a lot of sympathy from me until I remember it was 8 am when they posted it. And then I will digitally kick them in the face.

Why am I obsessed with dusting products?

Whatever, doesn't matter.

I want some kind of spray that creates a kind of cobweb between dust particles, so that you let it magnetize itself to...itself...and then you can just grab one spot and the entire cobweb comes off the surface clean. You wouldn't just push the dust around and you wouldn't have to spend money buying disposable microfiber sheets and dusters or use all the water and energy to wash reusable ones.

For the truly lazy

Multiple copied pieces with shortcuts. I imagine there's some way to do this now that you can put multiple items on your clipboard, but I wanna be able to do apple+c, apple+c+2, etc.

Double-Sided Kindle

I think I'd like a Kindle, but I still like the conversations that get started when others see the book you're reading. I want the backside of my Kindle to display the book art (and preferably, I want to be able to choose which cover it shows--I almost bought Let the Right One In yesterday but it was the movie cover...lame.)

Yelling Rooms

I think there should be rooms in all cities where you can just go and yell, scream, sing, whatever. Make as much noise as you want. When you live in a city, screaming can give the neighborhood a bit of a fright, and its not like these apartment walls can keep out even the squeaking bedsprings above us that woke me up this morning (I mean, sure, go get yours, but on an early Sunday morning? That's hardly fair...) 

I want a place where I can go and just blow off needless energy and steam via my vocal chords. The rooms would be smaller than practice rooms and more sound-proof, just big enough for one person to do their thing and leave within a few minutes. I would pay for this service.

 

University Buy-Back

Ok, so they TRY to help us out by buying our books back (but honestly, we usually end up screwed over anyway because the publishers decided to add an extra 4 pages and thus its a new "edition" to sell...ugh) but I've got a better idea. At the end of the year, the university could buy back unneeded "college gear" from new grads and kids moving out of the dorms into bigger apartments/housing. They'd buy the plastic plates, the futons, shower caddies, etc. that students no longer wanted, giving grads a little extra cash to get going into the working world and other students a little bonus for making it through the year. Then, as each school year starts, the university would have a huge sale for all the incoming students. It'd be especially beneficial for students coming from out of town and that couldn't bring larger items like desks and TVs with them and keep them from having to do the ridiculous IKEA/Target mad run before classes start. I imagine the university could even pair up with companies like Target and Walmart who could essentially help buy back the goods before it sells to the new students. It'd bring in some great PR for both the companies and the university and bring a little extra financial aid to kids in some of their poorest days. 

Might pose a bit of a storage issue but could be really interesting.

Text Voicemail

I want an option to receive voicemails as text, and send voicemails as text. Sometimes I really want to know what someone wanted, but am not in a place where it's appropriate to listen to a message (I'm reminded of class, where it's still disrespectful but at least it's discreet). Similarly, sometimes I have something to tell someone who I know is at work but its too long to text (I don't have a full keyboard and cannot figure out T-9 for the life of me, so it takes a while...) I want to be able to have my voicemail translated into text for me.

Digital Wingman

An iphone app that you can subtly activate with one touch while the phone's still inside your purse that makes your phone ring, thusly giving you the excuse to take the call and walk away.

Deodorant 3-Day Samples

Because once you buy it, you're stuck with it for months, and sometimes I feel like switching 'cause I'm looking for a better product, not just a better scent.

Probably also would get me out of the cycle of buying men's deodorant for myself, as I have been for the past 6 years. I just don't trust anything else!

cookie cakes

like pillsbury cookie dough but instead of individual cookies it rolls out into one giant piece of dough for when you want to make a cookie cake. they would come in both chocolate chip and sugar. 

claire addition: and there could be shaped cakes. roll out a heart or christmas tree.

I'm a crazy liberal, but...

I want a program where if you want to learn, the government makes that possible. I want the gov't to recognize I want to keep growing intellectually and support me in that endeavor. So if I want to read Tribes so I can talk with other planners about these ideas and the implications it assumes, I want the gov't to buy it for me, or give me an online copy of the book, or lend the text to me. I want to be able to take classes in various disciplines and experience cultural events, without being put at a financial disadvantage. 

A life scholarship? Yeah.

Swiffer, figure it out!

I want some kind of swiffer product that works on the page edges of books. You can't spray anything on the edges of the pages, but the dusting clothes don't really get the dust out either.

I want it to be swiffer just 'cause I like 'em.

Mail-order Obama

$4.99/month! One Obama at a time.

Mail-order books

A netflix for books.

My ears. IT BURNS.

TVs that automatically fix the volume level so that from show to show, commercial to commercial, and channel to channel it stays at the same volume. I know there are regulations on volume and that it's used strategically, but I DON'T CARE. It's frustrating and annoying.