New ideas, I can't help but think of them. Whatever it is I am doing, I always seem to think of a way it could be done better or more efficient. Build a better mouse trap. My brother @roundoar03 texted me the other day and told me to watch one of the newer Shark Tank episodes. So I did.
The specific product on this episode he wanted me to see was called Bottle Keeper, and in the 3 years they have been in business, they've done over 20 Million dollars in sales. I wasn't surprised. I had thought of this idea (albeit a slightly different version) on a Spring Break trip to Cancun my freshman year of college in 2006.
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My buddy and I would go to the pool area at our resort and order a bucket of Coronas. Then we would head over to the hot tub and pool area. The problem we kept running into was the damn security guard who would make his rounds kept kicking us out of the tub and pool where we had our beers perched on the ledge. I get it, they don't want broken glass getting in their pool and hot tub potentially ruining the liner or worse, someone getting cut from the broken glass.
My idea was to mold a two piece plastic cover that would twist together over the bottle. It would serve two purposes, insulate the beer bottle to keep it colder longer. Secondly, and most importantly, to keep the bottle from breaking in case of being tipped over. I even pitched this idea to a wealthy investor at one point, only to be turned away saying that he didn't see the need. Oh well, his loss and mine I suppose. But the validation of their success makes me feel good regardless.
On a different note, my mom has run a successful cleaning business for a long time. I occasionally help her out when she is super busy, usually around the holiday season when people want their homes to be in tip top shape for guests. My main contribution is vacuuming. I find a certain Zen in doing it. I also get go help my mom and make a little extra cash. But again, my mind wanders to how to improve my vacuuming experience. I honestly don't think the people who make vacuums have actually vacuumed a day in their life. The main issues I see with todays vacuums have nothing to do with how much suction or if it has wheels or a ball to roll on, those issues I feel are fairly well taken care of. However, getting crumbs off the side of trim in the kitchen is only doable by using the wand attachment. Using the main head just doesn't get close enough to get the things butted right up against the trim. If you have ever vacuumed before, hopefully you know what I'm talking about. Another thing is the cord placement and set up. They always seem to put the cord in an awkward spot and it always gets in the way. I have some new ideas to fix these issues, but I'm keeping them private for now.
Lastly, my most ambitious idea isn't so much of a new idea, but a twist on a failed concept called Arcade City. Since I started driving for Uber and Lyft, I can't help but notice the shortcomings. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of money being left on the table for myself. These companies are making a killing simply by matching drivers and riders together. Even then, they do a pretty shitty job at it. They own no cars and have very little liability, yet take on average about 40% of the fare. That is insane to me.
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Arcade City was supposed to be the decentralized crypto version of Uber. Peer to peer ride sharing. Sounds like my kind of thing. But for how ever many reasons, they seemed to fail at every one of their goals and as of my most recent check this morning, it seems to be dead. Swarm City appears to be a spin-off, but as of now, as far as I know, isn't close to being up and running.
I was driving home from work last night and was thinking how great STEEM would be at facilitating a ride sharing app. Near instant transactions which are irreversible, free to do so, and would be just another notch in the STEEM tool belt.
I find myself bitching about the Uber GPS almost every ride. It literally told me to get on the highway the other day and do a 180 on two cloverleafs to get to my destination. When all I had to do was cross the bridge over the highway directly in front of me. WTF?
Why not hook up with Waze (I know, owned by Google so highly unlikely), or another big, well established GPS company to run all the high end technical stuff and use STEEM as the mode of payment? This is definitely out of my wheel house, but I definitely see the potential of peer to peer ride sharing and believe it won't be long before it is the future of getting around. The benefits are endless...check out this article from FEE about Arcade City and see for yourself the benefits of a decentralized ride sharing app.
People keep saying we need actual products or services behind crypto for them to catapult into the mainstream and I couldn't agree more. This recent quote from Vitalik Buterin sums it up nicely:
"The amount of sustainable usage of blockchain is very low. Although it exists, there are a lot of people giving value to cryptocurrencies, yet the amount of useful stuff happening is still much lower than the $200 billion market cap makes it seem. The main challenge for the industry as I see it is basically understanding how to bridge that gap and get to point where there is $200 billion in some sense of actual final value being generated, Buterin explained."
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What are your thoughts? Would STEEM be a great way to not only help decentralize ride sharing? But also help bring crypto to the masses in an actual meaningful way? Let me know what you think in the comments. Thanks for reading and Steem on!