About a year ago, Amazon.com’s vice president of electronics, Paul Ryder, told me that some of the most successful consumer electronics newcomers solved problems people didn’t know they had.

The Flip video camera, with its USB plug-and-play feature gets video onto the computer simply and immediately, without cables or additional software.

The Eye-Fi wireless memory card sends your digital pictures and videos over the air, via Wi-Fi, from your camera to your computer as soon as you walk into the house.

The Powermat charges your devices wirelessly, without having to plug each one into an outlet.

The Easybloom Plant Sensor analyzes your soil conditions and, after you plug it into your USB port, tells you which plants will thrive in that soil, and why a plant may be sick.

It’s not about creating problems. That’s unethical. It’s about making products that help people in ways they haven’t even imagined. It’s about solving problems people didn’t know they had.