Slashdot Mirror
Inventions of 2001
oo7tushar writes: "Time has a list of the Inventions of 2001. They've got a list of some very impressive inventions. They've got the inventions, a short description, prices/costs, and a link to the websites. On the list is the Abiocor Artificial Heart, Millennium Bridge, EZ-Rocket, a very sweet light weight fuel-cell bike with good mileage and a whole bunch of other very high tech toys, gadgets, vehicles, robots, and medical technology. A good read and very interesting."
I AM A FISH!
Remember that "killer invention" that dude who runs Amazon.com was investing in? Was it called IT or something? Gonna change the world. What happened to that, dude?
I want my flying cars, jet packs, all those neat toys.
But I can do with the 1950s predictions of what year 2001 fashions would be like. and I certainly wouldn't want to do space navigation by slide rule and "dead reckoning"
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
It was reported here on slashdot, but I can't find the story to link.
I remember a lot of talk about hovering scooters and such. Your question reminded me. A quick search on google provided this link to the Project Ginger homepage.
Seems it's not a flying scooter, but a robot chair that can climb stairs, although the website's still not exactly clear what it's for, I'd guess it's for the disabled.
Jeff
stty erase ^H
The story did not have a price on one of those, and does it come with professional installation or will i have to install it myself?
I vote for "slugbot".
That's just what the world needs - meat-eating robots....
>
Don't these people watch Sci-Fi movies? What were they thinking?
Pour hot, down your pants!
Surely, somewhere, some moron has tried this by now...
I don't see why that should be so impressive. It's been around for a long time now in the form of the e-bike (www.ebike.com) The one in the article seems to have basically the same specs as the older model e-bike, which I happen to have regretfully bought. It's way too heavy for practical use and the battery and motor can't handle marginally steep inclines. The battery dies very quickly if you aren't simply on flat or downward sloping hills and given its weight, should you run out of power, pedalling is very very tiring.
Wow, it turns out you don't even have to have an actual invention to win "Invention of the Year". There are ZERO details about Ginger...just a name and a reputation, yet somehow this still qualifies. Next year I am entering "Doofus" into the mix. It is a revolutionary invention. Really. Trust me. Going to change the world forever.
What about Ginger?!?
Come to think of it.. what about ginger?
"as plurdled gabbleblotchits on a lurgid bee" - Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz. (One man's humorous is another mans flamebait)
I bet the artificial liver doesn't taste as nice with some fava beans and a nice chianti...
I know its only a few hundred miles, but you'd think anyone who acutally bothered to read the article would realize a bridge over the Thames in London that swayed a bit and one over the Tyne in Newcastle are in two completely different places?
I think this guy's a few chips short of a full butty myself...
Lord Pixel - The cat who walks through walls
A little bigger on the inside than out
Aww man! They didn't list my fuel cell powered penis enlarger... :(
oops. must try to attach comments to the right parent.
No chip butties for me either...
Now that Slashdot is starting to run the "Best/Worst of 2001" type stories, I want to call for a Slashdot Holiday Guide dang it.
Come on Cmdr Taco, come Thursday it's legal and moral to start talking about the greatest part of the December Holidays...Presents! So don't let us down...it's time for a Holiday Guide to Geek Gifts.
I don't remeber one last year, and there havn't been many Quickies of late...so I'm getting nervous here.
(Feel free to mod me down, but for the love of moderation, I'm not Trollin'. That's got to be the most over used use of a mod category...)
The current issue of Popular Science has a similar article. It's "the hundred best products and technologies" of the past year.
daed si luap
Frivilous and predatory patent filings for all of these inventions by J. Random Mega Corp in 2002. And probably for the crystal ball as well.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
The new Airgo replaces the metal springs of classic pogo sticks with an air pump for a smoother, quieter ride. Of course, kids-and grownups too-may have to land on their fanny a few times before they get the hang of it.
ouch! those poor girls..
all the hydrogen products being developed. I'm glad they are comming up with better ways of preserving the environment, but the one thing that i want to know is, when you run out of hydrogen, where do you get more? I'm guessing its going to be a special order item, but how much for it, how long does it take to get, and is it going to be a restricted item in some states/countries?
I know its only a few hundred miles, but you'd think anyone who acutally bothered to read the article would realize a bridge over the Thames in London that swayed a bit and one over the Tyne in Newcastle are in two completely different places?
I think this guy's a few chips short of a full butty myself...
Lord Pixel - The cat who walks through walls
A little bigger on the inside than out
Oh wait, didn't Hitler's people invent that last century?
It going to revolutionise the way we work, I know its true. Bill said so. I don't need a command line, I need a telly tubby skin. I must have a voice controlled jukebox. And I don't want to interoperate with anyone. Bill is my friend, Bill invents
XP is the greatest invention of this or any time.
Its true I tell you. The wheel is nothing in comparison with XP. Fire is just a footnote to the chapters historians will dedicate to the wonder that is XP and how it changed the face of digital communication.
Oh yes all the voices agree, XP is the best because Bill says so.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
Get those nerf-aero footballs and attach one of those small affordable rockets to them.
Instant quake3 rocket arena!
Hey, maybe that "excercise" while you play could work out after all...now how do we turn off falling damage in "live action" Q3?
If it is not on fire, it is a software problem.
Hello, you have reach Bank of America ATM. Please enter your account number and PIN to continue reading this story. While you're waiting to withdraw your money, how about the tasty taste of hot Fritos? They're available on Aisle 4, right next to the Slick 50. Here's your money. Your new account balance is: $210.43. Please take your card. Thank you for using Bank of America.
I am a sentient ATM.
Can someone explain to me why Slashcode:
1/ limits us to 55 character subjects (55 ?!?)
2/ allows me to type 4 chars more than it actually accepts in the field, thus helpfully truncating whatever I can fit in the subject?
Lord Pixel - The cat who walks through walls
A little bigger on the inside than out
remote desktop: work remotely with graphical apps
multimedia: play dvd's, burn cdr's
nice GUI: lots of aqua-colored blue-ish gui stuff
and many many more innovative stuff which make you forget how computers worked... etc, etc, etc...
Wow, after the amazing biotech advances we have a motor-powered scooter, a motor-powered surfboard, a motor-powered IT. These are certainly insignificant.
A motor-powered scooter is called a scooter. A motor-powered surfboard is called a jet ski or a boat. These aren't new nor noteworthy. They are, in fact, furthering America's ambition to remove all exercise from their life and let the machine do the work (I am, BTW, an overweight, underexercised American, too).
I think they should have trimmed their list a bit.
The Hypersonic Vibromatic DILDOtron 5000 DX! With AutoLube and ActiveSex technology! Support for savage-reaming and D2D dildonic extensions! Popular among "alternative lifestyle" enthusiasts and Slashdot "editors!" w00t!
Troll Tuesday 2001.
--The Mess
Of course, Americans (If you're one) are famous for getting bridges mixed up.
The Dockers... what a plug! Putting an extra pocket on pants is nothing new, hidden or not hidden, zipper or no zipper. This is like calling Kangaroo shoes a great new technology, even though nobody wears them anymore...
~ now you know
Motorized Surfboard?
Hydrogen powered Scooter?
Flying Boat?
StreetCarver?
Since when does strapping an engine on something make it a great invention?
I attached a tokomak reactor to my mousepad, where can I pick up my trophy?
Saw this little gadget and instantly thought "Finally! I can get my caffeine with out all that bothersome coffee and Mountaing Dew making me pee all the time."
Or, may be not...
Soko
"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
ok. so the mechanical heart is cool. but what about the wireless battery? either this is a missprint or something even cooler, a battery with a wireless transmitter small enough to be worn on the hip, yet transmit enough 'power' to power a heart? now thats cool.
"AbioCor is entirely self-contained, save for a wireless battery pack"
Chris Lee
lee@mediawaveonline.com
but where are all the less physical inventions? Surely someone invented a new type process that affects our day to day lives... this list of greatest inventions is neet, but its all eye-candy. There are very few listed there which really meet the parameter that Time describes as being important to their list: "how it changes our lives." There are a few there: the artificial heart, the cooling pot, etc. But the automatic mashed potato maker???! Give me a break. That is pure consumerism. What have we learned after 9/11? Nothing? Where are the inventions that help alleviate economic and environmental disasters? What about things that help education in poorer countries? What about tools that make new industries possible, therefore creating jobs?
Helping with organizational effectiveness is our job.
This is hilarious:
i hope that's tounge in cheek...
.... and reverse that for fuel cells.
2H20 + electricity -> 2H2 + 02
the only way to 'destroy' hydrogen is through fusion. remember that pesky rule of thumb about conservation of mass/energy?
try this link, it's more informative than my little summary.
http://www.howstuffworks.com/fuel-cell.htm
A: None. The Universe spins the bulb, and the Zen master merely stays out of the way.
I am just curious: Does a pogo stick with air shocks really belong on TIME's top inventions of the year? Sure it is kind of neat, but is it really that special?
. html Seems like a vapor story to me...
I can understand the medical advances being on the top of the list, but most of the rest sort of suprise me.
The streetcarver: a skateboard with new and improved suspention? As great as it sounds (no sarcasm intended, i think) is that in the top 20 that we could do this year?
for those who have not read the article, here is some more I thought was kind of odd being on a top #xx list:
Hydrogen powered scooter? I though we finally got over that.
And just take a look at this: http://www.time.com/time/2001/inventions/go/infly
I know this is a very negitive post, ill try to balance it out:
The artificial liver and heart are a good call on TIME's part. If not the top inventions I would think that they belong in there somewhere.
also the gyroplane and the EZ rocket seem like they could be taken to he next step and are not just wistful attempts at becoming rocketman.
But a natural light bulb? I bought one of them years ago...
(PS: A MASHED POTATO MACHINE?? WTF? IS THIS THE HOME SHOPPING NETWORK?)
It's clearly the "list" time of year: The bottom five of 2001.
Who the hell would want a Fuel Cell mountain bike?
I want a Fuel Cell Harley, but I think the 'Harley Rumble' might have to be an MP3.
"I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
As pleased as I am to see some serious private rocket development, I am astounded to see that EZ-Rocket, in 2001, has yet to reach the same level of capability of rocket planes built during the late 1930's and early 1040s's.
Yes, you read that right. They are just now getting to the level of technology that the Germans (especially the Germans), the US, and the Russians had before and during WWII.
Why has private rocket development been held up for 60 years!
Stonewolf
Any bets we're going to see one of these "Flying Boats" in an upcoming Bond flick? (Maybe the name will fit the boat better then.)
"I am a cipher, a cipher, wrapped in an enigma, smothered in secret sauce" -Jimmy James
The car Think has been for sale/lease since 1999 in Norway. Not exactly a 2001 invention.
Thought Time did better research than that.
I am not a moron.
Actually, I wouldn't mind programmable jumpsuits with a wireless interface, so that they could be programmed to whatever color scheme and configuration that made sense to me. Of course, in my case, setting the damn thing to transparency mode would get me landed in jail for terrorizing the public.
The wireless interface offers other interesting hacking possibilities.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Scene: Two construction workers, Bob and Jim, having lunch at their local pub. Bob is seated at the bar watching the game. Jim just went out to the truck for his wallet.
...
Television cuts away from the game to a news bulletin: We're interrupting the game to bring you this breaking report on the crash of an Irisbus in front of the Home Depot on Main Street just a short while ago. Authorities say
Jim walks back in: Hey, Bob. Looks like we lost that five-gallon bucket of red paint. I bet it fell off when we hit that bump pulling out of Home Depot.
Seriously, how do you authenticate a stripe of red paint?
Humans aren't perfect, but applications of technology that remove human control are scary. The increased potential for intentional and accidental abuse are staggering. The scene above was sort of tongue-in-cheek, but in reality, this bus might very well reduce the cost of terrorism to the price of a bucket of paint!
But tucked inside its waist seams and hidden behind zippers on the legs are three extra mesh-lined pockets for stashing everything from your cell phone to your PDA.
Boggle. Boggle again. Barf.
Since when having extra pockets in pants counts as an invention, and more, worthy of mentioning as one of the inventions of 2001?
Kaa
Kaa's Law: In any sufficiently large group of people most are idiots.
Patents are supposed to cover inventions, eh? Seems like this Time site is the best refutation yet of software and business method patents. Common sense says invetions are seomthing you can touch. Greed says an invention is whatever greed can get away with. Politicians of course agree with whatever pile of money is the biggest.
Infuriate left and right
I've invented a way to exploit a slash bug in order to bring -1's to 0, and 5's to 4. With this message, I'll be moving some of the -1's to 0. Look at the moderations done one some of the troll/offtopic posts, and you'll see they've gotten an extra point bonus. Didn't cost a mod point, either.
NOTE: The purpose of this post was to simply execute the mod bug, but I thought I might as well explain why. A "slashdot" invention, though, so it is on-topic. Probably not the BEST for 2001, though.
This bike looks like shit. The specs are shit and the technology? Pfui! 41 KM range? I can fucking pedal better than that! Now if there was a WANKLE powered version that could burn propane... otherwise this is a lameoid loser device. Sterling engine?
how about that totally cool japanese nurse suit with motors to help them carry heavy people? I saw an article here; I can't find the URL, but I want one of those to fight crime (or destroy the world, haven't pick a side yet)
--
Stay tuned for some shock and awe coming right up after this messages!
The item I'm most likely to buy personally would be the Steri-pen, or maybe the mashed-potato machine. I already own a natural-spectrum lamp, have done so for well over a year, as have thousands of other people, so I'm not sure how innovative I'd call it.
The gyroplane looks really cool too. Why isn't the military all over this concept, instead of pouring money into the black hole that is the Osprey project?
But the winner, for me, is the food cooling system. It's ultra-low-tech, but it's likely to make the biggest difference in parts of the world where food storage is a very real problem with very real human and economic effects.
Slashdot - News for Herds. Stuff that Splatters.
You remember, "it." "It" was supposed to revolutionize the world, be bigger than the Internet. What the hell was "it" all about?!?
Satanists get good grades too...suspiciously good grades
Moller's aircar as an invention of the year? This guy has been hawking this thing for more than 30 years and has yet to come up with more than a wild spec. sheet and some fancy marketting. What the heck is up with journalism in America!? This "invention of the year" has to be the dumbest thing on the list, including "IT", which is pretty dang stupid too, since the editors have no idea what "IT" is.
Unless of course you want to count shares and preorders in Moller as a successful scam, but then you'd have to admit that this was invented long before the year 2001.
...well, make that sufficient hindsight. Who knew what a big deal the stirrup and the interrupted-screw breech were going to be in military technology? More to the point, when Linus did his thing with a roll-yer-own Unix clone kernel ten years ago, how many people knew what a big deal it was going to be?
The great thing about the advent of the Web is it's going to more easily (I hope) let us track these kinds of lists for reference later, when the historians research the history of technology. But for now, it's hard to look at recent developments and say which ones are going to stick around, and which of those are going to be really influential, this close in time to their inception. Only sufficient passage of time will reveal which ones were (are) important.
"How many light bulbs does it take to change a person?" --BMcC-->
My winner is the stink-free shoes. Teva needs to license this.
How about an annual list of mis-inventions? i.e. old, widely-published or common-sense ideas that were "rejuvenated" this year by being patented?
Anybody else have a problem with riding around with a cannister of highly compressed explosive gas between their thighs?
These things are so weak. Cargo pockets?
Great inventions are ones like the airplane,
penicillin, superheterodyning, the transistor, and the LASER.
Stupid new products sold by corporate whores are not news at all. We live in a world of lamers.
The stock generally goes down. They make an announcement of a prototype, the stock shoots up a bunch, then it returns to going down. Nowadays they make an announcement of a prototype like this and the stock barely budges from its downward spiral. They claim to have a large investor who promised to keep them going until Dec 31, 2003. It seems to be a race: will they lose funding, or will they get a product first? And if they get a product, will it prevent them from going broke?
It would be really nice if they succeeded. Poor batteries are holding back the rest of technology nowadays.
Somebody please TELL ME why this damn thing is even mentioned?
Auto-gyros have been aound for years, but they have been limited to mainly the enthusiast market and thus are usually small 1 or 2 seater open-cockpit craft. They are propelled by a small propeller engine and a large helicopter-like wing on top turns as air is forced upon it, producing lift.
Assisted-power takeoff is also an old concept with auto-gyros, where the wing is powered by the engine to allow for short takeoffs ( similar to Harrier short takeoffs ). Obvously if you're going to attempt a vehicle capable of VTOL you incur the added weight and power requirements of a stabilizizing tail and fan, something a pure auto-gyro doesn't require.
Obviously, this thing is nothing more than a helicopter with the ability to cut-off the rotor engine and tilt the rotors. Can you really take the unpowered wing of an auto-gyro and meld it with a heavy, inefficient helicopter and expect good results?
Man is the animal that laughs.
And occasionally whores for Karma.
The way the wireless battery packs work are actually pretty cool.
Firstly, the big problem with any implanted device is the power requirement, and that it's a major health risk to leave things poking through the skin.
So, to power implanted devices (there are a number of newer pacemakers that also work in this manner), there is a coil of wires implanted into the skin (it's actually wrapped in plastic, and place in the subcutaneus layer). Then this is wired up to a rechargeable battery implanted elsewhere (generally tucked between the base of the lung and the stomach). Over the skin where the wire is implanted, a complementary coil is placed, and the current is transferred by magnetic induction.
There is one major problem of this system, and that's the limit to current transfer that's possible. However, it turns out that the maximum current before unaccepable heating effects isn't that much greater.
So this external battery pack will be in something like a bum bag, and a patch over the coils (they stick by magenetism).
In reality, the issue of power, and heat dissipation is the major barrier to implanted components, along with lack of space.
This whole article is really just a fluffy, throwaway advertising supplement. Pants with *gasp* pockets?! A smoke detector with a remote control?! I agree, not significant. I like how they provided links to the manufacturers too. Just advertising, I suppose they threw the Millenium Bridge and the artificial heart in just to generate credibility.
O'Connor hopes that someday "mashed-potato machines will be for Americans what rice cookers are for Asians."
Heh. For a lot of geeks, I suspect rice cookers are already de rigeur for those times when ramen just won't cut it. I sure wouldn't replace mine with a mashed-potato maker!
Freedom: "I won't!"
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/07/02/113624 6&mode=thread
This says it all.
cheers'
Try adding some cheese! That's how we'd eat it down in the South! It'll also be better at sticking to pubic hair.
I can see it now...
"Bye mom, I'm off to sch---*THOOOOM!*"
"Oh, the humanity... poor little Timmy!"
--=Maj
One useless man is called a disgrace; two are called a law firm; and three or more become a Congress. -John Adams, 1776
You can't really say (+1, Taco Actually Did It), so I guess I owe this Wyatt Erp guy a point of karma. I decided, instead of spending one of my precious mod points on his post, to reply to it - and pointing everyone to the Holiday Guide to Geek Gifts he requested. (Please don't give me "Informative" for this - anyone who reads this post has already seen that article. It's above this one on the main page. Mostly I'm just patting Erp on the back.)
:\
I wonder if Taco got the idea from Erp's post? Anyway, I'd also like to request that one of you other moderators give this guy some karma. It was a really good idea. Non-geeks have a phenomenally hard time christmas shopping for geeks. The only snag is that only geeks read slashdot - so I guess we'll all have to say "Here, read this!" to our potential gift-givers, which is akin to asking for a present
PUBLIC SPLIT ON WHETHER BUSH IS A DIVIDER -CNN scrolling banner, 10/15/2004
Where's IT err I mean Ginger.
;-)
So close and yet so far from the world's perfect ID number
Did seem like the 'What's New' section of PopSci, though.
NetInfo connection failed for server 127.0.0.1/local
More to the point, the prototype hasn't flown yet. When we see movie footage of the thing taking off, doing a quick once-around-the-block, and landing under its own steam, *then* get excited :)
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
The link to Agion in the article was wrong, so check up on it here. And here's the 'shoe''s'. I'd personally like to see some running shoes with this shit, but whatever.
[o]_O