Thursday, July 05, 2012

Innovation of the Day


I read about a company in Wisconsin that invented a urinal cake with a sensor for alcohol.  If the “user” is over the legal limit to drive (I am guessing with just an approximate accuracy) it plays an audio message not to drink and drive. 

This seems like a good idea for several user experience reasons. 
  • It is incredibly simple for the user to understand. 
  • The message is delivered at just the time when you need it (people often use the restroom just before leaving the bar). 
  • Since the police can use a urine test, it is hard for our motivated reasoning instinct to dispute. Even if the urinal cake is wrong, the police would be wrong too. 
The business model also has a lot going for it.  Car crashes are incredibly expensive.   The driver and his/her insurance, the person/car/property that gets hit, the city or town because of the traffic jam and police investigation costs – and I am sure lots of others I am missing.  So the town buys them and offers them to the popular bars as a public service. The bars get free deoderizers.

Thoughts??

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