08/07/2008

IBM Granted "Paper-or-Plastic?" Patent
(from Slashdot )
"On Tuesday, IBM was granted US Patent No. 7,407,089 for storing a preference for paper or plastic grocery bags on customer cards and displaying a picture of said preference after a card is scanned. The invention, Big Blue explains, eliminates the 'unnecessary inconvenience for both the customer and the cashier' that results when 'Paper or Plastic?' must be asked. The patent claims also cover affixing a cute sticker of a paper or plastic bag to a customer card to indicate packaging preferences."


Besides the obvious "how lazy have we gotten" response, my guess is this patent is a refinement for a point of sale system that IBM sells.

But it got me thinking of other "critical" life choices that I could patent myself ???

Debit or Credit?
[

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]Tall, Grande or Venti?
[

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]Window or Aisle Seat?
[

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]Regular or Supersize me?
[

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]Smoking or Non-smoking?
[

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]Do you want Ice?
[

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]Boxers or Briefs?
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]

Now we just need to affix a card to our forehead to save time when we are asked these important life questions.


What questions would you patent?