photo credit: ToastyKen

Is it just me, or does it seem like a trip to the movies these days might as well be a visit to a daycare center?  I now expect that my movie-going experiences will be punctuated by screaming kids and babies (even in R-rated films), cell-phone chatting teens, and other general annoyances.  And no matter how late in the evening or what weeknight I go, it’s an issue.  Don’t get me wrong - kids are great.  They can scream and play and run all they want on the playground, but, criminy, if I’m paying $10 for a movie ticket and one of my limbs for a bucket of popcorn I feel like I should be able to watch a movie in relative peace and quiet.

The obvious solution would be for someone to open a chain of theaters that are open only to those 21 years old and up.  Sure, you’re still going to have the occasional 25 year-old who is a total jerk and talks or texts during the whole movie, but I have to think this would dramatically cut down on the typical distractions that currently plague theaters.  A bonus to this would be that you could serve beer, wine, and mixed drinks to customers in addition to the usual fare.  I’m confident that a lot of people would go for this type of thing, even if the reduction in absolute ticket sales meant a slightly higher ticket price.

Another twist to this idea that might be worth exploring would be to have separate theaters for different age groups, instead of cutting off a whole segment of the population.  You could have a few theaters for adults only, a few for teens, and one or two for little children and their parents.  I imagine that the theaters for little kids might have some shorter, more size-appropriate seats and a few open areas for those parents wanting to wheel in a stroller.  Of course trying to house all these under one roof would make the alcohol distribution more challenging, but it would also allow for all types and ages of movie-goers.  Heck, you could even set aside one theater for seniors, complete with built-in armrest audio jacks for customized sound amplification.

The bottom line is there is a need for this type of theater and I really think it’s just a matter of time before somebody steps in to meet the need and go national with it.  Or perhaps Showcase or Regal will get smart and begin to make these options available.  Hey, a movie-goer can always hope.

photo credit: Deco Fernandes

This idea was submitted by Teemu, who runs a cool blog with lots of good website ideas.

Why isn’t there a site that collects stories of people whose sickness was cured? The idea is that these people could post their stories to this large web resource, to include facts about the type of disorder, what kind of remedies and drugs were tried, which of them actually worked, if recovery was complete or partial and so on. I expect people to write their stories just out of a joy of their recovery.

This sort of site would certainly be of interest to anyone who has some kind of disease or physical affliction. And not just patients but also their relatives and perhaps even some doctors/researchers. For many disorders and sicknesses there are numerous options as far as drugs, remedies and therapies. As patients often have some control over which they choose, this site could provide them with valuable insight, as well as a sense that there is hope for their situation.

You could also link out to appropriate Wikipedia articles and informational sources to lend some authority to submitted stories. There should also be a comment system so that readers could ask questions and have a dialogue with the writers. Of course the site would be searchable by keyword or category.

You could get some initial content on the site by posting on suitable discussion boards and asking for personal stories from those willing to talk freely about their situation.

Type of site (format):
Custom-made dynamic website (wordpress could work).

Technical difficulty:
Medium. You need to create a site that can receive and save user submitted stories as well as handle reader comments.

Worth of keywords:
High. Your site would probably show ads about drugs, treatments, therapies and so on, topics which tend to deliver high rates of ad revenue for online publishers.

Amount of mainteinance needed:
Medium. You will have to moderate stories to some extent. You might also have to handle ongoing category and organizational issues.

Level of competition:
Low. There doesn’t seem to be a similar site, at least in English.

Revenue is created by:
Advertising.

photo credit: worak

This idea’s been stirring around in my mind for years and it’s time to set it free into the wild.  I believe it came to me one day as I was watching the Indy 500.  During one of the “on-board” camera shots I noticed a driver reach up to peel a layer of transparent film from his visor, immediately removing the bug splatter, grime, and oil from his (and my) vision.  Thinking it a pretty cool invention, I thought about other potential applications.  Turns out, you can already get the stuff for your motorcycle or car windshield.  Check it out.  For some reason, though, nobody’s yet developed (as far as I know) this product for structural windows. This despite the fact that most people would rather have a tooth pulled than clean the windows around their house, and those who want to hire it out can expect to pay in the hundreds of dollars per cleaning.  That leaves ample room for this rockin’ good business idea.

Most house windows these days come in pretty standard sizes, so you could work with a manufacturer to develop a range of pre-cut tear offs to fit most situations.  From what I’ve read they seem fairly easy to install. Peel off the back, stick it on, heat-shrink it if necessary, and you’ve got a window that’s coated with ten layers of clear-as-day plastic (though you could also offer a tinted version for those in the southwest).  Assuming the customer removes one layer every six months (and it’d be as quick and easy as peeling saran wrap), they could expect five years of clean windows without once having to pull out the Windex or call the window cleaner, after which they would call you back out to install all-new wraps.

Call it “Window Wraps”, set up a 1-800 number, start franchising in large markets across the country, and you’ve got a certified monster on your hands.