Some of the Most Overlooked Innovations
By Robert M. Barrows
Some of the most overlooked innovations are a video tombstone I invented called “The Video Enhanced Gravemarker (U.S. Patent #7,089,495)…and…a book I wrote (as yet, unpublished) called Cemetery of Lies.”
Video tombstones will have a tremendous impact on many aspects of society and they will also create a tremendous amount of controversy and some very interesting free speech issues, because who knows what somebody might say from their video tombstone…and will it be truth or lies?
Plus, video tombstones will also create a whole new genre of storytelling, perfect for movies, books and TV.
Along those lines, I have also written a book called “Cemetery of Lies.” Cemetery of Lies is a collection of intimate, secret confessions, as told from beyond the grave, through video tombstones.
NOW, REGARDING INNOVATIONS BEING OVERLOOKED:
1) I filed a patent application for the Video Enhanced Gravemaker on Halloween in 2002. I finally got the patent four years later, and I never actually built one just in case I couldn’t get the patent. It would have also been very expensive for me to build a prototype.
The patent application was turned down a few times because there were some similar inventions before it, and I finally got the patent on it in 2006. (The patent has since expired.)
After I got the patent, I began pitching it to a lot of businesses in the monument building business and the funeral industry, and I also began pitching the book to a lot of literary agents, book publishers and television and movie producers.
And, since the video tombstone is an ideal storytelling device for all kinds of books, movies and TV shows, the really big money to be made from video tombstones will be from books, movies and TV shows based on stories that would be told through video tombstones.
To date…No luck!
I am still pitching both the video tombstone and “Cemetery of Lies” to whomever will listen.
2) NOW…REGARDING SIMILAR TECHNOLOGY ON TOMBSTONES:
In the past several years, there have also been some technological advancements regarding “video” tombstones.
A) One company just slaps a video player on a tombstone.
B) Other companies put QR codes on tombstones that will take you to a website when you scan them.
C) A few years ago, a company in Slovenia invented what they call a “Digital Tombstone” which they are selling for about $4,000.
(The Video Tombstone I invented would cost a lot more than that, and you would also have to have a large “Perpetual Care Fund” to keep it running through Eternity.)
When my patent application "published," (in 2004), I got a lot of publicity on it, but again, I have not been able to sell the Video Tombstone nor my book, yet.
BUT….THERE’S ALWAYS HOPE…THERE’S ALWAYS HOPE.
(The “there’s always hope” line is also the next to last line in my book, “Cemetery of Lies.”)
You can see more about the video tombstone at www.barrows.com/invention.html and you can see more about “Cemetery of Lies” at www.barrows.com/novel.html.
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