I was recently reading this story about a smart power meter that is taking place in some places in the US with the intent to change people’s habits in regards to how much electricity they use and when.

In a nutshell, it sounds like by trying to get people to use the majority of their electricity during a certain time period it will enable a better supply and demand scenario to create better pricing. With that, the cost of electricity would be cheaper during peak times and more expensive during times outside of that period it seems.

Kind of an interesting idea when you think about it on paper as it could definitely save you a lot of money by doing so. On the other hand, it is kind of hard to make people adjust their lifestyles to all be the same. In that case it could make one’s bill incredibly higher and unpredictable.

I always thought the best way to save money in this sense is to invent something extremely user friendly so that people can generate their own power to save money.

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There was this kiosk that I saw in a mall today that was raising awareness of poverty issues in places such as Africa. As usual, they were seeking for donations to help feed children. What really surprised me though was that they had this dedicated booth that was seeking for people to donate their old MP3 players.

At the booth they had literatures as well mentioning how the item could help kids so much there as an extra push to get people to give their MP3 players. While money and food donations are one thing, I just can’t wrap my head around how a person who is fighting for survival would want or need an MP3 player.

Seems like it would create more hassle to me as now you need to worry about things like the electricity to power it up too considering the person’s situation.

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I was having an interesting conversation yesterday about business in general with another gentleman. It was an interesting contrast as I’m personally not the type of person who say hangs out at bars to mingle with people whereas he mentioned that he had actually met a lot of good contacts this way and it is in many ways his lifestyle.

We then started to talk about our personal experiences on whether we found that more people tend to do business with you because of your personality where they can relate to you like a friend or if demonstrating your knowledge and track record is more effective. While like anything it is always to have a good balance, it was kind of a fun conversation as we kept throwing “what if” type of thoughts to each other.

For example, for a person that is too outgoing does it prevent say more formal high figured people from wanting to speak to you? Likewise, does being too professional prevent you from getting your name out there faster as there are more casual people in existent than can spread the word about you faster?

In general, it seemed like we were both in an agreement that by being more socially involved in more pubic gathering activities you tend to acquire more personal leads/contacts whereas if you are one who focuses more on say an identity and its reputation it tends to bring more people directly to you. Realistically though, you do need both in the big picture I’d say.

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Today I was talking to a person who mentioned that he wanted to buy some kind of weed puller for this one day that he was holding an event in his backyard. He mentioned that it cost about $30 or so which wasn’t too bad.

This got me thinking on how many times we tend to buy items where we only use it once and then throw it in say the closet to never be used again. For myself when it comes to these types of items, if I don’t intend to use it at least say once every two months I tend to explore other options such as borrowing a similar item from a friend or family member if available.

It’s just like when we were younger I suppose. What’s the point of say everyone buying the same toy/game when you could easily just lend your copy to the other if they plan to play it through once only? As long as you don’t abuse the trust/generosity, I’m sure most people are more than happy to help you save money in these ways. More than likely you would do the same too.

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I was at a seminar yesterday and one of the topics that came up was about making patents and how even if you don’t want to be the person who actually executes the idea, just thinking them up can generate people a lot of wealth.

I was then reading up about an individual named Ronald Katz who owns over 50 different patents with most of them consisting of technology patents that businesses use everyday. As a result, he generates billions of dollars licensing out his patents.

While this is not exactly the same, just by reading this it almost sounds like a person who just sits down while trying to think of the best domain names to register and then hoping that someone will pay top dollars for it. I can only assume that trying to patent an idea requires more financial investment, but it sure puts it in perspective when people say you just have to be the first to think of it.

It definitely made me more curious to learn more about the industry and process though.

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