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	<title>(Not So) Used Ideas - Extra Brainstorms by Matte Elsbernd</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.usedideas.com/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.usedideas.com</link>
	<description>New, Just Like New, Slightly Used, Well-Worn &#38; As-Is Ideas</description>
	<pubDate>Sun, 30 Dec 2007 22:36:55 +0000</pubDate>
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	<language>en</language>
			<item>
		<title>Rock Concerts, The Next Generation</title>
		<link>http://www.usedideas.com/2007/11/12/rock-concerts-the-next-generation/</link>
		<comments>http://www.usedideas.com/2007/11/12/rock-concerts-the-next-generation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Nov 2007 01:45:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matte</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[music]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.usedideas.com/2007/11/12/rock-concerts-the-next-generation/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[You&#8217;ve had the reunion tours, the all-star line-ups, but what will concert promoters do next to bring in the audience attention? How about concert mashups?
 How about Metallica &#38; Neil Diamond in concert together? They can take turns.  That way the fan who secretely likes both can see both acts without losing any of their credibility from [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You&#8217;ve had the reunion tours, the all-star line-ups, but what will concert promoters do next to bring in the audience attention? How about concert mashups?</p>
<p> How about Metallica &amp; Neil Diamond in concert together? They can take turns.  That way the fan who secretely likes both can see both acts without losing any of their credibility from their friends.</p>
<p> Or better still. Doesn&#8217;t it keep Mick Jagger up at night trying to figure out some flimsy excuse to tour again and make a ton of cash? Why try and write a new album that no one will care about - just sing any old songs.  How about The Rolling Stones do Neil Sedaka? Or Britney Spears does The Beach Boys? (Wait, that last one might deserve a whole new category of idea.)</p>
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		<item>
		<title>No Disclaimers</title>
		<link>http://www.usedideas.com/2007/11/11/no-disclaimers/</link>
		<comments>http://www.usedideas.com/2007/11/11/no-disclaimers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:33:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matte</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[business]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[deep thought]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[quickies]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.usedideas.com/2007/11/11/no-disclaimers/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I work for a certain Financial Services firm and I see various legal and disclaimer text every day. It&#8217;s often (sadly) hilarious what requires disclaimers and how unlikely it is to release anything without it.
And it makes me wonder whether disclaimer text has any unconscious effects on consumers.  I am not sure that the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I work for a certain Financial Services firm and I see various legal and disclaimer text every day. It&#8217;s often (sadly) hilarious what requires disclaimers and how unlikely it is to release anything without it.</p>
<p>And it makes me wonder whether disclaimer text has any unconscious effects on consumers.  I am not sure that the mere presence of tiny text at the bottom of a page makes me instantly wary or turns me off of the advertisement, but I do know that many times I&#8217;ll read some claim in an advertisement and instantly look for an asterix.</p>
<p>So - whether it&#8217;s actually legally possible - could a financial institution capture some of those unconsciously disillusioned prospects by discarding the small print?</p>
<p>I could almost imagine faux disclaimers then popping up that say &#8220;No disclaimers needed, honest.&#8221;</p>
<p>Well, I can dream, can&#8217;t I?</p>
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		<title>Taste Inorganic</title>
		<link>http://www.usedideas.com/2007/11/11/taste-inorganic/</link>
		<comments>http://www.usedideas.com/2007/11/11/taste-inorganic/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:28:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matte</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[business]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[quickies]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.usedideas.com/2007/11/11/taste-inorganic/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So, first there were brands sold as brands and store labels hidden where no one could see them. Then store labels became brands themselves. Now is there anything considered &#8220;Generic?&#8221;
So in a world that&#8217;s branding everything, where your brand can reinforce or even reimagine what your product is, why not brand the products no one [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So, first there were brands sold as brands and store labels hidden where no one could see them. Then store labels became brands themselves. Now is there anything considered &#8220;Generic?&#8221;</p>
<p>So in a world that&#8217;s branding everything, where your brand can reinforce or even reimagine what your product is, why not brand the products no one thought anyone would ever brand?</p>
<p>What do I mean? Well, consumers are starting to buy anything labeled organic. Brands that promote an earth-friendly, organic element adds &#038; legitmates a premium pricing on anything.</p>
<p>But what about the products that aren&#8217;t so environmentally sound? What about the same old, preservative heavy foods our parents grew up on?  Why not take a stand and brand them? Make them cool through the power of the brand.</p>
<p>We could have anti-biotic, feed-lot fed milk branded as <strong>MELK</strong> with the tag line of <em>Discover the Sweetness of Inorganic</em> and reinforced by adding extra sweetness to the mix. Could &#8220;organic&#8221; get away with that, I think not.</p>
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		<title>WeatherSMS</title>
		<link>http://www.usedideas.com/2007/11/10/weathersms/</link>
		<comments>http://www.usedideas.com/2007/11/10/weathersms/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 10 Nov 2007 23:47:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matte</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[phone]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[quickies]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[web]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.usedideas.com/2007/11/10/weathersms/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So today, was out, and it rained.
Happens every day in some place in the world, right?
But we&#8217;ve got the internet!
So, just as my Google Calendar will send me a text message before my dentist appointment, why can&#8217;t I get the weather messaged to me?
Well, that&#8217;s not too revolutionary.  But what about I only get [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So today, was out, and it rained.</p>
<p>Happens every day in some place in the world, right?</p>
<p>But we&#8217;ve got the internet!</p>
<p>So, just as my Google Calendar will send me a text message before my dentist appointment, why can&#8217;t I get the weather messaged to me?</p>
<p>Well, that&#8217;s not too revolutionary.  But what about I only get bothered by the weather when it&#8217;s going to bother me?  Give me a chance to decide when I want to be notified - let me choose to get an email when there&#8217;s a 50% chance of rain, or if it&#8217;s going to be a high below 40 F?  That way, I can forget about looking, worrying, etc.  Just let me know and I&#8217;ll plan accordingly.</p>
<p>Okay, I just received an SMS that my toast is done.</p>
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		<title>Retro Office Supply Store</title>
		<link>http://www.usedideas.com/2007/10/23/retro-office-supply-store/</link>
		<comments>http://www.usedideas.com/2007/10/23/retro-office-supply-store/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Oct 2007 05:34:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matte</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[business]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.usedideas.com/2007/10/23/retro-office-supply-store/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How about an office supply store which just carries leftovers from the past? Actual leftovers&#8230; old trapper keepers, Pee-Chees, etc. Would hit the nostalgia of all the Gen-Xers looking for some of their youth.
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>How about an office supply store which just carries leftovers from the past? Actual leftovers&#8230; old trapper keepers, Pee-Chees, etc. Would hit the nostalgia of all the Gen-Xers looking for some of their youth.</p>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Age of Things</title>
		<link>http://www.usedideas.com/2007/10/23/the-age-of-things/</link>
		<comments>http://www.usedideas.com/2007/10/23/the-age-of-things/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Oct 2007 05:30:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matte</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[behind the scenes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.usedideas.com/2007/10/23/the-age-of-things/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[You may or may not have noticed that the dates on these posts seem a little off. At least in the sense that a blog started in 2007 has posts from years before that.  Well, I sometimes like to think I&#8217;ve been blogging in my head for decades now, but short of that grand [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You may or may not have noticed that the dates on these posts seem a little off. At least in the sense that a blog started in 2007 has posts from years before that.  Well, I sometimes like to think I&#8217;ve been blogging in my head for decades now, but short of that grand delusion of mine - I&#8217;m just trying to make posts relevant to when I scribbled down the idea. A sort of ideagraphical journey through time &#038; space.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>What is this thing?</title>
		<link>http://www.usedideas.com/2007/10/22/what-is-this-thing/</link>
		<comments>http://www.usedideas.com/2007/10/22/what-is-this-thing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Oct 2007 04:43:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matte</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[behind the scenes]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.usedideas.com/?p=3</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Okay, it&#8217;s only taken me 4 years to get to this first entry, but I guess that&#8217;s better than nothing.  
Yes, I came up with the idea 4 years ago to have a site to showcase all of the extra ideas I came up with that I had little enthusiasm, or little energy to [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Okay, it&#8217;s only taken me 4 years to get to this first entry, but I guess that&#8217;s better than nothing.  </p>
<p>Yes, I came up with the idea 4 years ago to have a site to showcase all of the extra ideas I came up with that I had little enthusiasm, or little energy to do anything with.</p>
<p>That doesn&#8217;t mean these are bad ideas. Doesn&#8217;t even mean they&#8217;ve been &#8220;used.&#8221; But rather it just means they are of a type or a direction, a size or of a nature that I don&#8217;t feel like I wanted to persue.</p>
<p>I have followed so many different ideas in so many different directions since I started this web thing back in 1994 (<a href="http://www.electricalsocket.com">The Electrical Socket</a>). I often wonder how I had so much time back then and how I managed to dabble in so many things.  Much of that is due to growing older, getting a life (and a job) as well as some of my sites growing in size where they really do need a lot of time and energy to maintain.</p>
<p>Some I have parted with (<a href="http://new.babynameindex.com">The New Baby Name Index</A>) which I gave to a friend to maintain, others I have shut down.  But most still exist. Some in fragile forms (<a href="http://www.woolgatherers.org">The Tribe of Woolgatherers</a>), others at increasingly humungous sizes (<a href="http://www.firmlist.com">The Firm List</a>). </p>
<p>But what to do with all of the other ideas? Well, I&#8217;ll attempt to capture them here.</p>
<p>Why? Well, perhaps you&#8217;ll find some inspiration? Maybe you&#8217;ll take one of these ideas I didn&#8217;t have time for and make it come to life? I sure hope so.</p>
<p>And how about you write me when you do, so I can come and check it out?</p>
<p>Thanks,<br />
Matte</p>
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		<title>Been Prepared</title>
		<link>http://www.usedideas.com/2006/11/22/been-prepared/</link>
		<comments>http://www.usedideas.com/2006/11/22/been-prepared/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 23 Nov 2006 05:06:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matte</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[books]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[humor]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.usedideas.com/2006/11/22/been-prepared/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How about a book filled with acceptance speeches for all occasions?  It could be entitled &#8220;Be Prepared&#8221; (or something similar) and could give you either the beginning spark for a speech of your own or the whole thing verbatim.
It could include speeches for when you win:

President of the United States of America
President of some [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>How about a book filled with acceptance speeches for all occasions?  It could be entitled &#8220;Be Prepared&#8221; (or something similar) and could give you either the beginning spark for a speech of your own or the whole thing verbatim.</p>
<p>It could include speeches for when you win:</p>
<ul>
<li>President of the United States of America</li>
<li>President of some lesser country (of your choice)</li>
<li>Nobel Prize (Peace or other one)</li>
<li>Smaller Prizes (Elk&#8217;s Club, PTA, &#8220;Best Dad&#8221;)</li>
</ul>
<p>I did some preliminary research, here&#8217;s a text file with some awards I found:<br />
<a href='http://www.usedideas.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/beenprepared.txt' title='award list'>award list</a></p>
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		<title>GraviTees</title>
		<link>http://www.usedideas.com/2006/11/11/gravitees/</link>
		<comments>http://www.usedideas.com/2006/11/11/gravitees/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 12 Nov 2006 00:13:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matte</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[apparel]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[business]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[humor]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[quickies]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.usedideas.com/2006/11/11/gravitees/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Perhaps a little bit morbid, but why not a line of T-Shirts that point out that life isn&#8217;t always perfect and happy?  Won&#8217;t some people want &#8220;heavy&#8221; t-shirts just to point out the irony of it all?
Here&#8217;s a list of slogan ideas:

My doctor just told me I have 3 days to live
What does &#8216;inoperable&#8217; [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Perhaps a little bit morbid, but why not a line of T-Shirts that point out that life isn&#8217;t always perfect and happy?  Won&#8217;t some people want &#8220;heavy&#8221; t-shirts just to point out the irony of it all?</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s a list of slogan ideas:
<ul>
<li>My doctor just told me I have 3 days to live</li>
<li>What does &#8216;inoperable&#8217; mean?</li>
<li>My son placed me in this home and all I got was this tshirt</li>
<li>My wife had me committed and all I got was this tshirt</li>
<li>Is hair supposed to fall out?</li>
<li>Bald is sexy, right?</li>
<li>Ssh! No one knows I am contagious!</li>
<li>Ebola is a state of mind</li>
<li>I am terrorized</li>
<li>Someone bombed my car</li>
<li>My other car is a bomb</li>
<li>It&#8217;s not &#8217;suicide&#8217; if you set off my explosives</li>
<li>Autopilot Terrorism</li>
<li>I only get one chance, so let me get this right</li>
<li>It&#8217;s only Ebola</li>
<li>Did you get your flu shot? Too bad.</li>
<li>I forget, how do you spell Alzheimers?</li>
<li>I can&#8217;t feel my legs</li>
<li>Have you seen my Mommy?</li>
<li>Have you seen my baby?</li>
</ul>
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		<item>
		<title>Governmints</title>
		<link>http://www.usedideas.com/2006/11/11/governmints/</link>
		<comments>http://www.usedideas.com/2006/11/11/governmints/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 12 Nov 2006 00:12:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matte</dc:creator>
		
		<category><![CDATA[humor]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[photography]]></category>

		<category><![CDATA[quickies]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.usedideas.com/2007/11/11/governmints/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How about a line of breath mints called Governmints?

&#8220;mmm bureaucralicious!&#8221;
&#8220;even bigger flavor&#8221;
&#8220;in incumbent or new challenger flavors!&#8221;
&#8220;made &#038; approved by the FDA&#8221;
&#8220;take a bite out of big Governmint&#8221;
&#8220;only $1,000 for the trial size&#8221;

]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>How about a line of breath mints called <strong>Governmints</strong>?<br />
<em><br />
&#8220;mmm bureaucralicious!&#8221;<br />
&#8220;even bigger flavor&#8221;<br />
&#8220;in incumbent or new challenger flavors!&#8221;<br />
&#8220;made &#038; approved by the FDA&#8221;<br />
&#8220;take a bite out of big Governmint&#8221;<br />
&#8220;only $1,000 for the trial size&#8221;<br />
</em></p>
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