I read about this eco-friendly way of collecting rubbish from a river in Baltimore USA, and wondered whether there may be an opportunity to copy the idea here.

The Inner Harbour Water Wheel, or “Mr. Trash Wheel” to locals, combines old and new technology to harness the power of water and sunlight to collect litter and debris flowing down the Jones Falls River.

The river’s current provides power to turn the water wheel, which lifts rubbish and debris from the water and deposits it into a dumpster barge. When there isn’t enough water current, a solar panel array provides additional power to keep the machine running. When the dumpster is full, it’s towed away by boat, and a new dumpster is put in place.

Shouldn’t there be something like this on every flowing river in the UK? It looks like it ticks all the right boxes to me.

http://baltimorewaterfront.com/healthy-harbor/water-wheel/

If you’ve ever tried to buy any road cycling gear, you’ll be aware that it is only made to fit people who are either under-nourished or dead. So I was interested to see a brand I hadn’t seen before at the weekend, which not only caters for the more normal cyclist, but does it in a humorous and memorable way.

The brand is called ‘Fat Lad At The Back’ (the name comes from a popular term of ‘endearment’ amongst cyclists) and the logo is prominent on everything they do. In a world where a lot of participants take themselves far too seriously, it makes a refreshing change.

I looked the company up and they seem to be doing very well, with contracts with a number of major retailers including Evans Cycles. Not bad for a company that was laughed out of Dragons Den in 2014.

I think this is evidence of the fact that doing something completely different to the norm can pay dividends in any market. Maybe this will provide a mental springboard for you to come up with an innovative idea in yours.

https://www.evanscycles.com/fat-lad-at-the-back_b

I think we’re only just scratching the surface of how the billions of pieces of information collected via smartphone interactions might be used in the future.

For example, Uber has just analysed a year’s worth of pick up and drop off points from 12 US cities to compile a list of top destinations, including brunch venues, local favourites and date night possibilities. Uber’s new restaurant guide depends solely on volume of traffic to each destination.  I’m sure that similar guides will be created for the UK soon.

Data is going to continue to be a huge growth area over the next decade. For many companies with successful apps, their primary product or service will be incidental to their overall profitability. The data will be where the real money is made. It’s not something that might be of immediate significance to you, but worth bearing in mind.

We’ve covered the opportunity to rent your home out as a location to  film companies  before.  Well now a new start-up is helping people do just that. GETset encourages anyone and everyone to upload their office, home or studio onto the platform, which offers a wide variety of locations to film companies at attractive prices.

Film companies need a wide variety of properties in many different locations, so don’t be put off if you think your property isn’t ‘special’ enough. It could be just what they’re looking for.

https://get-set-film.sharetribe.com/

A couple of years ago, we wrote about a company in the United States who were providing cleaners with a difference – they did the job naked. I suggested that the same business might work here and it looks like someone took up the idea.

There was a feature on local radio this morning looking for – you guessed it – naked cleaners.   Apparently the business is already operating successfully in London and the company is looking to expand out to the provinces. The rate of pay is interesting – £45 an hour. The company claim there’s nothing seedy about the service and it’s aimed at committed naturists. I’m not so sure about that!

Clearly, this isn’t for everyone, but it’s an interesting idea isn’t it, particularly for someone of an ‘outgoing’ disposition. And if you can clean naked for four times the going rate, what else could you get paid more for if you did it naked? Look on it as danger money!