Startups build apps, seeking to capture fragile ideas



Startups build apps, seeking to capture fragile ideas

A new wave of entrepreneurs are trying to solve an ancient problem: ever since we began to write on papyrus (3000 BC) and whiteboards (mid-1900s), we’ve encountered the problem of lost ideas. Scraps of paper go astray, brilliant diagrams get erased. If only there were way to capture ideas in digital form before they were lost — perhaps using that powerful computing device we hold in our hands for most of our waking hours.

jiffy-icon  Source: BostonGlobe.com

In January, Joe Lemay and Jake Epstein had a eureka moment involving erasable pens, notebooks, and a microwave. When you rub an eraser against the heat-sensitive ink from certain erasable pens, friction causes the writing to vanish. So what would happen if you put a notebook full of writing into a microwave?

Scott Kirsner writes the Innovation Economy column and blog, which track entrepreneurship, investment, and big company activities around New England.


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