Product Development

Another totally unrelated to visual effects post. A couple years ago, I came up with a novelty product idea. I spent a small amount of money creating a prototype, and asking coworkers at Tippett what they thought of it. My ring would be able to pop the top off of a cold brewski. You'd never leave home without it. A couple of months later, I see my idea on Thinkgeek for $7.99. Amazing. Unfortunately, my product was a little more convoluted, so their product would totally own mine. I couldn't get my ring to actually apply enough torque to pop the top off, a design defect, if you will.

Just last week, on Uncrate, I noticed yet another one! Here's the Cheers ring. A $135 bottle opener that does the same thing the $7.99 one does. Here are three pictures of the rings. The leftmost is my prototype from late 2004, followed by The Ring Thing, and the rightmost is the Cheers Ring.

Needless to say, I was a little peeved that these products are out there, and their creators are getting profits (hopefully!). However, I'm not totally despondent. I've got a bunch of other products in my brain, some of which are in the development process, while others are just marinating, waiting for the right time, and the right amount of funds.