What should you do with a car that you only use once a week? You could let it sit there losing its value or, hope the founders of RideEco, you will use their collaborative consumption model.
RideEco was founded last year by Melbourne entrepreneurs Ian Yong, Samantha Quah and Edwin Koh. It charges car owners to be part of a scheme where other people can borrow their car for short periods of time, in return for a fee set by the owner.
Yong feels that there is a significant gap in the market between hire cars, taxis and car sharing services. Users get a car for an hour, while car owners get paid for their asset.
“This is very much aimed at the owners of underutilised cars,” he told StartupSmart last year.
“You have around a $7,000 a year depreciation on a car and that is a waste of money unless you are making some sort of return on it.”
“For the borrowers, yes there’s Flexicar and so on, but the rates are a bit pricey. We have no booking fees and people pay based on the number of hours they use the car.”
Ever got a new phone only to find that your old charger doesn’t fit it, causing you to shell out for a new charger?
If so, the endeavours of US start-up uBeam will interest you. It has created a device that charges multiple devices at once, wirelessly.
Your devices don’t need to be plugged into anything or even touch the charger. The charge will be ‘beamed’ across the room. Electricity via the cloud, if you like.
uBeam’s canny invention is still at prototype stage, but we’re hoping it gets to market soon.
It’s the ultimate first world problem. You’re having so much fun at an event or party that you simply don’t have the time to document it with a picture and tell the world about it via social media.
Thankfully, a hotel in Washington presented an elaborate solution when it marked the 2013 presidential inauguration by offering guests a $47,000 luxury package, which includes a “social media butler”.
The Madison Hotel, located in the heart of downtown DC, offered the Inaugural Town and Country package, described as a “one of a kind experience”.
The package includes a social media butler to “chronicle your Inaugural experience so your friends and family can follow your adventures on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest”.
“The social media butler will post on all of your accounts so you don’t have to fumble for your phone to catch that perfect Facebook profile picture,” the hotel said in a press release.
