An idea-a-day

Here's the latest one that worked out:

One of the hottest TV shows in Britain is a live digital satellite broadcast called "Flipside'' in which experts and call-in participants discuss what people should be watching at that moment on other channels.

The concept, though, came courtesy of the Web. It first appeared at idea-a-day.com, a British site that has posted a new idea daily (or thereabouts) since it was started in August 2000. So far it has archived more than 1,280 ideas, ranging from a "variety loaf" of sliced bread to a governmental system for Mars. More than 5,000 people receive the site's free e-mail newsletter.

Most people might not think "there are too many channels available on TV -- what would help is one more." But this idea took hold and is now growing.