--- description: What the global currency war is costing America, Cuba's bright technology future, becoming a mobile weather station and more. title: These Are Today's Best ideas image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Innovation](/tag/innovation/) ## Innovation Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Five Best Ideas of the Day: March 16 by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 16, 2015 4:01 PM CUT by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 16, 2015 4:01 PM CUT **1\.** [**There are no winners in a currency war, either. Here’s why the U.S. is carrying the burden of the global recovery.**](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-02-24/why-there-are-no-winners-in-the-global-currency-war "undefined") By Mark Gilbert in Bloomberg News **2\.** [**Despite slow and censored Internet and the weakest mobile phone penetration in Latin America, Cuba is the land of opportunity for daring tech investors.**](http://recode.net/2015/03/13/seeding-a-silicon-valley-in-cuba/ "undefined") By Ramphis Castro in Re/code **3\.** [**Anyone with a smartphone can become a mobile environmental monitoring station.**](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/with-wearable-devices-that-monitor-air-quality-scientists-can-crowdsource-pollution-maps-180954556/?no-ist "undefined") By Brian Handwerk in Smithsonian Magazine **4\.** [**Permanent, easily accessible criminal records are holding back too many Americans. It’s time to “ban the box.”**](http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2015/03/08/how-criminal-records-hold-americans-back/bFnOmPhZKeimlafcPU5mmI/story.html "undefined") By Ruth Graham in the Boston Globe **5\.** [**Autism Village is an app that helps families find autism-friendly businesses.**](http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/03/like-yelp-but-for-autism-friendly-businesses/387685/ "undefined") By Olga Khazan in The Atlantic  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/ "undefined") _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3745885/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-march-16/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3745885/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-march-16/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: March 16","datePublished":"2015-03-16T16:01:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:05:03.154Z","description":"What the global currency war is costing America, Cuba's bright technology future, becoming a mobile weather station and more.","url":"https://time.com/3745885/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-march-16/","keywords":["Innovation","weather","Autism","Technology","apps","U.S.","Currency","Cuba topic","investment","prices","Venture Capital","commodities","smartphone"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3745885/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-march-16/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: March 16"}}]}] ```