Hit By Bricks

A lot has been said about the best iPhone apps out there.   There are a handful of sites out there that indicate the top 10 iPhone apps.  I thought we would do something similar but instead of me just metioning the apps that I like, I want to hear from the community some of your best apps.  One thing that I enjoy the most about the app store is learning about new apps from others…  that’s where all of my best apps come from.

So here are my top 5.  All of these happen to be free apps although there are plenty of  paid apps that are well worth the price.  These are in no particular order:

Mint.com is the best online money management sites out there.(and it’s free ;)  The mint.com  iphone app is spectacular.   I love to stay up to date on my finances no matter where i’m at.

Pandora whether you like Pandora or Slacker both apps provide you mobile access to streaming music.  Pick a song or an artist and start to build a channel where you can listen to your favorite music.

Bloomberg is a great app to stay on top of what is going on in the market.   You can get interactive quotes, charts, and news on all things financial.

Lux Touch brings back everything we like about playing risk.  The strategy of moving your armies into world domination all from your iPhone.  And it takes only a fraction of the time to play…  highly addicting and you can buy Lux DLX to take it to the next level.

Facebook, although I’m not a huge fan of Facebook, I do like this app.  This is the only way I can stay up to date on Facebook without spending my whole life logged in online.  This app allows me to easily see what’s up with my peeps.

There are so many cool apps.  Even games that I would have never thought would make it on to the iPhone are starting to show up, i.e.  Need for Speed, The Sims, Tiger Woods Golf…

So now here is your chance to share your favorites with us.

I was talking to a friend over the weekend and he had mentioned this new company Frogzog.  It’s basically a free service that allows you to find and redeem coupons from your phone.  You text a keyword and your state/zip to 40123 and it will retrieve coupons.

This is a unique service, different than what you would do if you were to text Google.  Google would give you back Google search results according to your keyword.  Frogzog focuses on returning results as they relate to the latest and greatest coupon.  You can start to see how useful this service might be.  Say you are heading out to lunch and want to see lunch discounts in the area.  With a quick text you can find a usable coupon to get a break on your lunch.

This friend of mind mentioned to me that this idea started from the founders trying to figure out  a better way to distribute a printed coupon magazine they published.  They were trying to find better ways of creating a win win for both businesses and consumers.  Someone thought of, well what about text messages… and the idea was born.  A real hit by bricks moment.  This also was a good reminder to me that not always does  an idea end up where we think it will.  They we’re trying to find a better way to distribute their magazine.  What they got was a new creative approach that tapped into the world of texting and web 2.0.

Check them out…  frogzog.com.

Back when we first started hit by bricks we had a great idea about a creating a new community for homebuilders…  take a look

i have recently built a home, and while we love our new home, it seems like each day, now that we are living in the home, we come up with something we would have done different.

for example, we would have put a light switch for the garage lights in both the garage, and inside the home in the laundry home.

or would have added a walk through door from the laundry room to the outside so that we don’t have to open the garage door every time the garbage needs to be taken out….

i think a cool web community would be a place for all individuals who have built a home to post all the ideas they now have thought of since they now live in the home, share them with others, and allow individuals who are thinking about building to leverage our experience and not to make the same mistakes we made, or to incorporate the ideas we now have…after the fact…

any body know if this already exists?

This is still one of the highest rated ideas that we discussed on the first hitbybricks website.  Let us know your thoughts.

I can’t imagine life in my office without my ear-buds although i wish they had a cord that was at least 10 feet long and pandora.com…or my solid state one-terabyte flash drive. 

What gadgetry do you use to make your work space a bit more enjoyable or more efficient?

Although buying into a successful franchise can make good business sense, make sure you read and understand your agreement with the corporate office…click on the picture to read the full article about Burger King and its attempt to force the removal of this statement from one of its largest franchisees in the South…

ran across this article on lifehacker and thought that it applies to our interests…the article and posts are focused on the challenges of choosing a good name for your business…click here

Most of us work full time.  Some of us like what we do, others don’t.   There is a large number of us that aspire to do our own thing .  So in an effort to accomplish this goal, we end up moonlighting.   We do this sometimes to see if we can sustain ourselves enough to make the leap or just to make an extra buck.

The disussion for this month is what are some good ideas around moonlighting.  What have you done, what has worked well, and how have you done it.  It can be things you’ve thought of, something your actually doing or something that you’ve done in the past.

Be ready! An idea can hit you at any time and anywhere, even in military combat …

The United States has appx. 1.5 million troops actively serving our country. The nation’s military is an organization where the demand for innovation and improvement is always calling. Terry Naughton, director of licensed products with Black Hawk, a producer of gear for military, law enforcement, knows that first hand. He and his peers at Blackhawk were recently “Hit By Bricks” – and have come up with the Integrated Tourniquet System (ITS)–which will potentially save the lives of those serving our country who are injured in combat.

ITS is the is the brain child of Dr. Keith Rose. And here is his “hit by bricks” moment

After retiring from the military, Dr. Rose was performing humanitarian work in the Middle East. He witnessed a situation where a truck was struck by an IED and an individual was trapped in an armored vehicle. Dr. Rose could not get to the victim to apply a tourniquet and as a result of blood loss, the individual expired. This event alarmed Dr. Rose, and he began thinking of ways that a war fighter could control hemorrhaging on their own.

The idea that emerged was putting tourniquets directly into the clothing worn by war operators. Dr. Rose had concept and patents of technology, but partnered with Blackhawk to refine the concept–taking it from paper to product. After about 10 revisions and 18 months of work perfecting it, it is being presented for use.

Naughton says; “I’ve had the opportunity to present this idea across the country and the reaction is always the same, every person that hears it gets that hitbybricks feeling!” He adds that “…the common reaction for the members of the audience is to smack themselves on the forehead and say ahha, why did I not think of this? Why did we not do this years ago?”

As one in the business of seeing new ideas on a daily basis, Naughton has tremendous experience and advice to give those who are anxious to move their ideas into reality. First, he believes a collaborative effort is essential to success. He feels that involving those with different skills and perspectives on the ITS enhanced the design and end product. He says, “if you think you have all the essential skills to do everything on your own, you are incorrect. If you’re going to live with the mentality of fear of collaboration then you are going to fall behind.”

Second, Naughton says, “You can’t create a good idea or product in a vacuum without feedback from others, especially from end users.” He acknowledges that Blackhawk has a product portfolio of 3000 items that are continually being refined in the field due to feedback.

And finally, be open to changing your idea if necessary. He encourages idea makers to “look at problems with a fresh perspective–to look through other people’s ideas to appreciate potential solutions.”

The Integrated Tourniquet System (ITS) continues to evolve in how it is used and the products that it will be used with. For more information on the ITS, you can visit www.blackhawk.com.

with the proliferation of cell phone cameras, i came up with the idea for a service i could send a picture of what i was planning on wearing on a certain day via text and have them respond with their opinion and or suggestions on how to improve the outfit….another variation of social networking,

Post 9/11 means no toothpaste or toothbrush in the carry-on, which directly translates to the gross mouth feeling after long flights - Airport Breath.  Not to worry, because inside the restrooms of future airports will be Airport Breath - a toothbrush vending machine.  Airport Breath vending machines will dispense small disposable toothbrushes with single packaged toothpaste.  Perfect for major airports receiving long-range flights.