The New York Times Magazine Year in Ideas is out.
Here are the ideas I find most interesting:
- Carbon Penance - A rather masochistic way to track your energy consumption.
- Guaranteed Retirement Accounts - A solution to the 401k?
- Imaginary Kidnappings - An innovative approach to kidnapping.
- Locavestors - People that invest in local businesses to earn a return and support their community, rather than in big conglomerates to whom they are detached.
- Moonvertising - Companies try to use lasers to project a brand logo 238,000 miles into space to be visible on the moon’s surface?!
- The Quinn Solution - A pool of securities in the form of a GSE. Hmm..
- The Rising Tide Tax System - Rewriting the tax code each year to reflect changes in each bracket’s share of national income.
- Smartgrids - Xcel Energy introduced the first city-scale smart grid, using digital technology to distribute electricity and allow consumers to control their energy consumption.
- Spray on Condoms - Spray on liquid latex to create a custom-sized condom.
- Upside Down Demolition - A Tokyo-based construction company demolished a building from the bottom up. You can watch a timelapse of it here.
