What fantastic invention or group or thing have you seen and gone - I wish I had thought of that?
Ya know those blindingly obvious things that just smack you in the face when some other jammy sod gets all the money for?

Moon Maiden

tetra packs!!!!

I have to claim I thought luminous condoms were a great idea at least 10years before they were ever seen in the shops.
I didn't patent the idea because I thought dipping them in Radium-based paint could be a health risk.

I always though Friends Reunited was a corking simple idea. I could have cleaned up there!

One that springs to mind http://www.betbrain.com/ - thought about that years and years ago, oh well.

I wish id have thought about an Icon Based Operating system in a past life :lol:

What so Bill Gates could have nicked it ;)

Nah, id approach him with the idea and ask for royalties on it :P

I'd take the hormone/chemical that sends a man to sleep immediately after s*x and make it into a sleeping pill. Should make millions....

:)

'Webcams in dog kennels' Could still do this as there is only one kennel in Britian that offers this. For folk like my girlfriend who want to make sure their dog is okay when on holiday - then you could expand to sheltered housing and the like as a cheap security feature.


'Fixmycar.co.uk' A forum for people to ask questions about their cars, to be answered by machanics (professional and amatur) also using the forum, a section to recommend and warn of good / bad garages. A section to sell your car which would charge a small comission. Might still do that too - Idea Copyrighted! :D But I might let someone use it for a small cut:thumbsup:

The one i wish I had thought of is Ebay. The person who started that must be worth squillions!

I would love to have invented eBay!

I thought of www.letsbuyit.com long before they did as well - doh!

Originally posted by floyd77

'Fixmycar.co.uk' A forum for people to ask questions about their cars, to be answered by machanics (professional and amatur) also using the forum, a section to recommend and warn of good / bad garages. A section to sell your car which would charge a small comission. Might still do that too - Idea Copyrighted! :D But I might let someone use it for a small cut:thumbsup:

I hope it goes better than http://www.clickmotors.co.uk - I used to frequent that place a lot when it opened, but it's died a death over the past 12 months

Originally posted by floyd77
'Webcams in dog kennels' Could still do this as there is only one kennel in Britian that offers this. For folk like my girlfriend who want to make sure their dog is okay when on holiday - then you could expand to sheltered housing and the like as a cheap security feature.


Remember reading about a New York stock broker who had this idea - he quit his VERY well paid job to set it up... and now makes MORE money than before!

(shameless plug) Loads of people have said to me they wish they had thought of Txtbux (www.txtbux.co.uk) - lets you check the price of books from Amazon via SMS, so you can check online prices while you are in a bookshop.

Wished I'd thought of call minder. Before that approx 2/3 rds of land line phone calls went unanswered, either engaged or no-one home. Now, every call to a call minder enabled phone gets answered so increasing BT's revenue by a potential 200%.

I have thought of quite a few niche's in the market but never known how to progress it.

Also everyone complains about large cans of beer getting warm too quickly in summer, so a self cooling can has been invented to stay cool for up to 45 minutes and will be available soon!

Originally posted by RPG
Nah, id approach him with the idea and ask for royalties on it :P
I don't think the person who thought of it did get royalties did they? I thought Microsoft based most of their operating systems around similar systems available at the time.

The person who thought up microsoft is a very rich man - not Bill Gates rich, but rich in the billions nevertheless! :o

Theres a very good book available about the whole microsoft 'debacle'. I shall post the name of it when I remember! Not just for computer geeks, but a great read - very interesting!

Originally posted by Sidla
I don't think the person who thought of it did get royalties did they? I thought Microsoft based most of their operating systems around similar systems available at the time.

The basics to the story are that Apple got the basic ideas from Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) after Jobs arranged a day visit for Apple programmers by giving Xerox stock in Apple.

Apple then developed these ideas for the Mac but they were very different from the systems Xerox developed, they just used the basic ideas of a GUI (graphical user interface) from them.

Microsoft then came along and agreed with Jobs to develop applications for the Mac, Gates saw the GUI and was impressed - at the last minute before release they held Apple to ransom and made them license parts of the Mac user interface to MS so they could use it for PC applications - otherwise MS would have pulled it's Mac applications. MS then started taking the **** with it and eventually Windows 1.0 came out of it. Apple lost the lawsuit as the stuff they had licensed to MS was too vague to actually work out what was and wasn't included. The guy who was the lead programmer for Windows was a Mac programmer before - he got told by Gates to make a PC look 'just like a Mac', lol.

That's how I understand it anyway although there are a few variations on what happened depending on where the story comes from.

i thought of trainer socks when i was a nipper but everyone laughed at me!

Ringtones - that would have been a good earner if you got in first and was now a major player

Originally posted by Ned Ludd
I have to claim I thought luminous condoms were a great idea at least 10years before they were ever seen in the shops.
I didn't patent the idea because I thought dipping them in Radium-based paint could be a health risk.

Luminous Condons??? They must have seen you coming!

When the internet was little more than an academics playground I wish I'd spent £140 and registered "businesss.com" and "sex.com". If I had done, I would be worth £10 million now. Anyone got a time machine I can borrow?

Originally posted by garrence
Anyone got a time machine I can borrow?
You can hire one from www.tardis-hire.com
Wish I'd thought of that hire business

I wish I had been the US college kids who clubbed together their equivalent to a student loan in the 1990's and registered "21st Century Fox".....as 20th Century Fox amazingly hadn't thought ahead.

They made $millions!

http://www.clickmotors.co.uk

i like the poll at the bottom of that page on the left!!

Originally posted by Ned Ludd
You can hire one from www.tardis-hire.com
Wish I'd thought of that hire business

Ah Ned, you've given the game away - that site doesn't exist yet