I have been reading a very interesting book recently called Creative Thinkering. It suggests that innovation, inspiration and invention come from blending concepts together and not from logical linear thought. Emotionally I love the idea but have not seen evidence that it is enriching my life other than by me coming up with new ideas or new ways to distract me.
Tonight I was reading a back issue of Wired on my iPad and read an article that spoke about spray-on wi-fi. Chamtech has created a spray of nano-capacitators that can receive signals better than a metal rod. It has been used in densely populated areas to increase the amount and strength of wi-fi. As you can imagine, this has limited reach as it is not possible to create a radius as strong as a tower, but if you have millions of them, who needs a tower.
As I was reading the article I thought back to an idea I had to prevent theft in liquor stores. Very quickly, the idea was to imbed a transmitter into the closure of the bottle that is activated at store level. Theoretically this also leads to instant inventory management and control. The problem has always been the metal used in the caps and how it messes with the integrity of the signal.
Blend the two concepts and perhaps we have a winner.
Are you listening Google or Virgin? If you are give me a call.
