Improved Realities
The idea for this particular business is a company which creates headsets that people could wear that would perform a range of different functions. The devices could be released as both commercial products that people could use in the leisure, and devices useful for the public and government sectors because they could improve security and make management easier and more efficient. From letting people surf the web more easily, to potentially helping spread democracy in third world countries, the devices would be useful for almost everything. At the end of the essay, examples of similar technology will be linked to, to show that the technology is already being experimented with.
Perhaps the first and most obvious benefit to headsets would be the fact that they would be literally worn on the face. That means that anyone could use them at all times, like when walking or whenever you need to use both hands for something else. This means that you could surf the internet at any time while doing almost anything, if both the real world and the display are shown together. Customers could also potentially be able to use the headsets to watch TV, play games, make calls and all the other things related to computers.
A less obvious advantage to the devices is their ability to capitalize on augmented reality. Augmented reality is when digital images are portrayed onto images of the real world. There would be innumerable uses for this: from highlighting the roads on your route while you are driving, to creating 3-dimension digital art and imagery, to examining the inner workings of a mechanical device without actually having one to work on, to showing you the path the bullet you shoot would take, without having to line-up the sights. As of now, the augmented reality market is still a relatively new and unpopular, so getting a head start could be a great business decision.
The headsets could also allow the company to provide and develop another special service in the form of augmented reality gaming. To understand the potential here, imagine the ability to play a networked laser-tag game using only your phone while it actually looked and played like a Call of Duty or Halo. Setting it up wouldn't be so exceptionally hard either, all that would be needed is the exact knowledge of where people are and the ability to determine the trajectories of the bullets they shoot. Designers could actually create 3-dimensional, augmented reality maps for empty soccer/football fields and program AI enemies to fight in them. The concept may require other devices that would be used to pinpoint a persons location to a low enough radius of error so as to make the hit-detection actually manageable, but that shouldn't be that much of a problem. While there may be difficulties in implementing the service where there are actual walls (since the software wouldn't know they were there), work-arounds may eventually be found. In the end, the company could potentially get a head-start in tapping into a relatively unserviced sector of the multi-billion dollar gaming market.
Speaking of unserviced sectors, if the ability to determine somethings near exact location becomes easy to implement, there could be a new flood of new and useful apps for the device, especially if you could attach devices that signal their position. It could include the ability to tag objects so people could see the remote highlighted even from under the couch-cushion. Or create the ability to determine the exact time someone arrived in a specific location, so no one can cut in line. Even an alarm-app that would alert people if they left their wallet behind. There is great potentially that could be tapped here.
Of course, it wouldn't be that great of a device if it wasn't easy to actually operate. Without a keyboard, it would be especially difficult to to operate compared to normal computers. But not having a keyboard is actually an easy problem to solve because the device could simply create a virtual keyboard. All that would be needed would be objects to attach to your fingertips that could be detected in 3-dimensional space in relation to the keys. The things used for tracking fingers could simply be rubber bands coated with a substance that shows up distinctly. The objects could be detected by simply attaching sensors or cameras to the front of the device. For the mouse, eye-tracker technology would probably be the most accurate solution since you wouldn't have to coordinate your hand with where you are looking. But a virtual touchpad could also be created alongside the keyboard.
The cameras that are used to track the objects that attach to people's fingers could also be used to record videos. This would be interesting because it could provide a perfect point of view for events if someone wanted to record something for whatever reason. There is also a possibility that people could leave it on all the time to have perfect evidence of their innocence if they ever need it, or to always have evidence if someone tries to commit crimes against them. While it is not exactly an obvious selling point, it could be useful.
For the more stripped down or cheaper versions the company could make, the devices could actually function with only the ability to send user inputs because all the computing could be done by the company servers running the actual software. This method is called cloud-computing and not only would make the devices cheaper by reducing the hardware needed, it could even make them more reliable and secure because the operating system wouldn't need to run multiple programs at once if specific servers were assigned specific programs themselves. That would mean customers could run as many programs as they want and their experience would never slow. This also creates the unique advantage of the user never being able to touch the coding for the actual program. The only disadvantage would be always needing a reliable internet connection. For security it creates the unique ability to be able to completely stop the possibility of pirating the software since they wouldn't ever actually acquire the coding for the software. Even the user inputs and video transmissions could be kept secure by encrypting them and changing the encryption often. This would also make the system much more secure from potential hacking. Since specific servers would be used for specific software applications, they would be easier to code and less bug filled.
Another interesting advantage unique to this setup would be the fact that it would be impossible to pirate actual movies watched through the headset since the people would have no way to actually record the movie digitally. This could happen because other software would be totally unable to actually affect the movie player and because they couldn't physically record the movie because it would be right in front of their face. Even if someone did somehow manage to record it, the movie could be quasi water-marked so the offender could easily be found.
But perhaps the most interesting possibility for the devices would be the ability to easily run a system that could democratically manage large numbers of people. This could be especially useful for the American military because it could help keep order and reduce the costs of new or current US occupations. People could be required to have their eyes scanned, and create a account for the democracy software to prevent voter fraud. The devices could be made to only work for and present the votes for it's specific owner. Cameras on the devices themselves could record everything people see or at least store the last few minutes in case it was needed. The devices could also do stuff like keeping track of peoples locations. While this may seem like a huge invasion of privacy, any increase in security from insurgency plagued areas like Iraq would likely be a good trade-off. The devices could even be especially useful for keeping politicians in line when their actions could be recorded all the time and made public. This particular application could even be useful for countries like India that actually have democracy, but democracy that is rife with corruption. Recording everything their politicians do while on duty would likely reduce almost all corruption. Maybe some of these methods could even be implemented in developed countries if they prove useful enough.
The headsets could even have military applications since they would be able do many things that would be beneficial for soldiers in actual combat. Things like showing the path of a bullet while instantly accounting for wind directions, speed and the Coriolis affect. Or displaying the area that they are in from a birds-eye-view, while showing exactly where they are on that spot of land. Even the ability to show a virtual 3D model of an area while hiding in a smokescreen.
Perhaps the greatest use of the technology, would be using it in parallel with the Economic Cooperative business idea I also submitted. By handing out the cheapest models to developing countries, it could not just give them a potentially efficient way to organize information and people democratically, but even allow the profit-sharing method to enrich them since they would be cooperative members. This would allow them to collectively buy the capital to start developing their countries more easily.
Examples of mentioned technologies:
Eye-tracking= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo_a2cfBUGc
Glasses that use augmented reality= http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40796950/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/t/high-tech-glasses-conduct-internet-searches-sight/#.TsXcrD0k6so
The Economic Cooperative
The basis of the idea behind the cooperative is that a merit-based system could be set up for people to collectively fund ideas, goods, services, etc, that they believe deserve the investment. Individuals could also pitch ideas to people and potentially get them funded. It would be accomplished by copying, combining and tweaking the relatively proven systems of assigning importance from “reddit.com” (currently ranked 113 globally on Alexa) and the information sorting capabilities of Wikipedia.
With reddit, users submit content which can then be up-voted or down-voted based on the quality of the content. The system works by letting users submit links/posts to a specific topic and then people vote up or down based on whether the content is good or not. The things that the most people like get the most up-votes and huge amounts of attention. When anything reaches the front-page it can actually be seen by millions of people. Ideas submitted to the cooperative would work the same way and hopefully draw in enough money and a large enough audience that it could be used to create good one off projects, research funds, companies, etc.
Of course since we will be dealing with money, it's important for the cooperative web interface to be more secure, that's why all the code should be stored and executed within the cooperatives physical servers, while actual users only interact with a video player. That way, only employees will be able to affect the code directly which will nearly eliminate the possibility of hacking. Gaikai and Onlive are good examples of companies that already run entire games through video players, so there's no reason to believe you can't run a website through one. Of course actual voter fraud will be hard to prove without reducing voter anonymity (though not necessarily the ability to comment and submit anonymously).
The management and accounting system for the cooperative would also be rather unique. The easiest way to think of it would probably be by imagining a cooperative that is totally made up of mutual companies. The actual service will probably be run through the credit union network where all the money transfers will cost next to nothing. It is, of course, a perfect fit since credit unions are a form of cooperative and cooperatives are supposed to cooperate. The actual methods and processes by which specific organizations are created and managed within the cooperative for a specif purpose will probably be subject to change. For example, it could easily be argued that the down-vote option is abused on reddit to discredit comments because people disagree with them, regardless of whether they are correct or not. It's possible, but will likely be completely up to members whether to remove it.
But for now, it first starts when someone pitches an idea for judging. Right after it's presented, each person will be able to vote and bid the max amount of money that they would pay to actually see the idea realized. This will also allow the equilibrium price to be found immediately, without any trial and error. Right after that, the group could even pay professional editors, experts on the subject and business/legal advisers to help with the project. Members will be able to comment on the idea in the specific sub-forum created for it. The forums will probably be scaled with groups of something like 100. The most voted comments/commentators will then go on to the next comment level which will again be limited to 100 people. Most people won't be able to comment but they could still vote. Of course similar commentary could be merged to reduce redundancy. This will continue until pretty much everything has been stated and debated. After all this, a Wikipedia-esque article would be created, combining all the information into an easily readable and understandable document. Of course, anytime before this, it could be realized that the idea is essentially impossible or too expensive, but if everything seems to check out, then the document could then be used to create a business plan. After the business plan is finished, they can start hiring people. Whether they could decide to democratically manage the project themselves or hire managers will be entirely up to them. Forums for employees could be required too.
After everyone finishes sorting out all the production details and receives their product, they could actually start selling the product to non-original cooperative members. For the non-original members, they should still be able to buy the products at the lowest possible cost. While that wouldn't lead to profits for the original members, it could lower the end price for them since that new money could help offset the costs of fixed assets when the new money is returned to them because the equilibrium price dropped.
The next step is selling the product to members outside the cooperative. The price will probably be raised for those outside the cooperative. The profits made here should probably be used to reduce the cost to member buyers of the product to zero. After that, all the profits would be distributed to everyone in the cooperative evenly based on a formula.
The formula for profit distribution will likely be shared based on how much they work for and buy from the cooperative. This would, of course, offer even more incentive to participate. The formula may even need to include something on how you have to participate in voting and commenting in the forums because often these things would end up being too long and/or boring to take part in without some other incentive. Lastly, for employees, they will likely be paid salaries based on the supply/demand value of their jobs but those baselines will be increased/decreased by the economic profits (efficiency) they produce with. There could also be increases for good reviews and decreases for bad reviews. If the people do actually do end up funding an awesome new idea, it would probably be easy to pay the person who pitched their idea a good sum of money, probably around a million. While this may not seem like a lot compared to if they actually went out and started their own business around the idea, it's likely a rare combination for people to be both innovative and business savvy and this method would be undeniable easier. If the cooperative ends up actually owning and selling scarce raw material to members, then they will end up bidding up the price which will lead to excess profits made from actual members. Those profits will, of course, just be redistributed back to everyone in the cooperative based on the formula.
A more interesting benefit of the system is that it’s more likely that only things people actually want will be funded. This contrasts heavily with the current consumer market. For instance, many people will go see a big-budget romantic comedy, but almost no one would choose to provide funding if they were pitched the idea for one. You could contrast that with how easy it would be to provide new innovative indie film-makers money with this system. There are of course other examples, like how many people want there to be investment in solar energy R&D, but can't because they can't buy “solar energy R&D” at the store. This method of allocating funds could be a possible solution to the old complaint that America spends more on potato chips than green energy research.
Another probable plus to the system could also be the control given to actual customers. Take the gaming market, most people that buy games detest first-day downloadable content because it means that the developer just left out content so they could charge more for doing less. If control was put in the hands of the gamers themselves, things like that would likely never happen. What's more, there would be more opportunity and incentive for every customer to pitch ideas and innovations. Also, giving control to the customers democratically could cause more transparency, less fraud, and increase the likelihood that external costs would be reduced. There would also be opportunity to reduce external benefits too. If the service and specific democratic method proves to work well enough, perhaps people may even choose to use it to manage government.
