jac
09-11-2012, 09:54 AM
Have you ever thought of something inventive and thought how cool it might be to have a prototype of it designed? Or maybe you entered a contest to invent something or an idea and either won or were a runner-up or just a participant? How about something you designed and created yourself but never wuite any further than that?
Not asking for anyone to reveal something they may eventually potentially make it rich off of. It's more just a curiosity kind of thing here. Share if you want. I'd be interested to see how folks' minds work...
I'll go first. This is straight off of my FB notes from 2 years back. I have others I will share later. This is just a starter....
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About five years or so ago I entered a contest with an "office supply company" whom shall remain nameless, but their name is an object that sits on most desks. Entries were to design something that could be sold in their stores for office, home, etc. This was a Nationwide contest and the Grand Prize was, of course your entry made into a product and something to the affect of being able to share rights... blah blah blah. However, if your entry did not win you agreed to sign over any and all rights to your entry to the store and it's owners!
I figured "What the hell?" So, I designed a mat that lies on a desk, has a scratch-proof surface, a zipper for the clear cover so that pictures and important papers and notes could be protected from coffee spills, etc. It would be about the size of one of those desktop calendars you see on business desks. So I drew up a sketch and went into full detail of materials, etc.
Today I was killing some time so I ventured into this store to have a look around for supplies for my upcoming semester... Well, wasn't I just surprised to see MY idea on the shelves and for sale at $21.99 a pop?? I was!! I was surprised but also felt it coming... I check every year to see if it's out there... and now it is. Guess this is how they make their money when their own people can't come up with their own ideas...
The stink of it all is not that they are using my idea now and making a descent profit from it... It's not that I didn't win the contest years ago... The stink of it is who I actually lost to!! The winning entry was some sort of vacuum that gathers and bags packaging peanuts!! Uh huh... you read that right... a freakin' PACKAGING PEANUT VACUUM!! Grrrrrrrrr!!!
_________________________________________
Not asking for anyone to reveal something they may eventually potentially make it rich off of. It's more just a curiosity kind of thing here. Share if you want. I'd be interested to see how folks' minds work...
I'll go first. This is straight off of my FB notes from 2 years back. I have others I will share later. This is just a starter....
___________________________________________
About five years or so ago I entered a contest with an "office supply company" whom shall remain nameless, but their name is an object that sits on most desks. Entries were to design something that could be sold in their stores for office, home, etc. This was a Nationwide contest and the Grand Prize was, of course your entry made into a product and something to the affect of being able to share rights... blah blah blah. However, if your entry did not win you agreed to sign over any and all rights to your entry to the store and it's owners!
I figured "What the hell?" So, I designed a mat that lies on a desk, has a scratch-proof surface, a zipper for the clear cover so that pictures and important papers and notes could be protected from coffee spills, etc. It would be about the size of one of those desktop calendars you see on business desks. So I drew up a sketch and went into full detail of materials, etc.
Today I was killing some time so I ventured into this store to have a look around for supplies for my upcoming semester... Well, wasn't I just surprised to see MY idea on the shelves and for sale at $21.99 a pop?? I was!! I was surprised but also felt it coming... I check every year to see if it's out there... and now it is. Guess this is how they make their money when their own people can't come up with their own ideas...
The stink of it all is not that they are using my idea now and making a descent profit from it... It's not that I didn't win the contest years ago... The stink of it is who I actually lost to!! The winning entry was some sort of vacuum that gathers and bags packaging peanuts!! Uh huh... you read that right... a freakin' PACKAGING PEANUT VACUUM!! Grrrrrrrrr!!!
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