--- description: 1. The truth is, California doesn’t have a water problem. We all do. By Steven Johnson in Matter 2. Uber isn’t selling rides. It’s selling... 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: April 9 by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 9, 2015 5:19 PM CUT by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 9, 2015 5:19 PM CUT **1\.** [**The truth is, California doesn’t have a water problem. We all do.**](https://medium.com/matter/let-it-rain-ac793178d51c "undefined") By Steven Johnson in Matter **2\.** [**Uber isn’t selling rides. It’s selling data.**](http://www.forbes.com/sites/ronhirson/2015/03/23/uber-the-big-data-company/ "undefined") By Ron Hirson in Forbes **3\.** [**A blind scientist wants to reinvent how the vision-impaired ‘watch’ movies.**](https://stories.californiasunday.com/2014-11-02/rethinking-movies-for-the-blind/ "undefined") By Chris Colin in California Sunday **4\.** [**Cute little details may make an app “delightful,” but they’re crowding out thoughtful design.**](http://www.fastcodesign.com/3042849/delightful-interaction-design-needs-to-die "undefined") By John Pavlus in Co.Design **5\.** [**These giant robot traffic signals/red-light cameras are actually making the streets of Kinshasa safer.**](http://magazine.good.is/articles/congo-traffic-robots-womens-technology "undefined") By Mark Hay in Good  [_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/3815188/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-april-9/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3815188/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-april-9/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: April 9","datePublished":"2015-04-09T17:19:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:04:37.798Z","description":"1. The truth is, California doesn’t have a water problem. We all do. By Steven Johnson in Matter 2. Uber isn’t selling rides. It’s selling...","url":"https://time.com/3815188/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-april-9/","keywords":["Innovation","California","movies","apps","Water","robots","Data topic","Traffic","Uber","Design","blindness"],"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/3815188/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-april-9/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: April 9"}}]}] ```