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Ideas Unlimited: 11 Suggestions for New Inventions
securitas writes "The New York Times asked 11 prominent people to write about a device that they'd like to see invented (Google). Contributors include John Perry Barlow, Scott Adams, William Gibson and Bill Joy, among others. There are some intriguing ideas and some that are way out there, but lots of fun for geeks everywhere."
This would have been a really cool article a few years ago, you know, back when to patent something you needed to actually build it and show it to the patent office.
In the current climate this article is completely redundant, if it can be conceived of it has not only been patented but there are defensive patents surrounding it's use, offensive patents surrounding it's use while painted a different colour and more than likely several publicly traded companies bidding on the future rights to sell a cut down version for kids.
The product itself will never be developed however because there are 3 studies proving it causes cancer and several court cases that are claiming that the concept artwork was inspiration for some violent outburst.
Please note, I have not even suggested the possibility that you might have to pay SCO for using it. Wait a minute. Damit!
Hmmm. Aside from the rather rediculous suggestions that ended up in the NYTimes, why not spend the ink space and advocate some suggestions for real innovations that could change peoples lives. Like bionic/biological/cybernetic retinas that actually work?
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
A flash/thumb drive that can store 4.2 gigs.
Imagine all the space Blockbuster would save. Rent movies on a flash drive, go home plug it into your home entertainment center or PC and watch the flicks. Probably save Netflix a ton of money on shipping too. Or, just go to Blockbuster with your own 4.2 gig thumb drives, plug into the USB 3 (this is the future ya know) port, download right there. Movie somehow self destructs and no need to return it.
Of course the MPAA would find some way to relate all of this to the Boston Strangler I'm sure.
An honest-to-goodness cluebat for the manager that Just Doesn't Get It[tm].
The New York Times asked 11 prominent people to write about a device that they'd like to see invented
Hmm, if they can think of something to invent, didn't they just invented it? I thought an invention was essentially something new that nobody thought about before (and no, it's not the same as something that's patented : you can patent something everybody wants).
Here's the invention I'm working on : a machine with a dictionary of technical words, verbs and old english expressions, that spits out random descriptions and diagrams, staples everything together, puts it in an envelope, stick a stamp on it and sends it to the USPTO automatically. It then sits on google, waits for pages with a lot of similar words, and automatically dials my attorney's number when it finds one. I expect to reap great profits from such a machine.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Free Mac Mini
Donald J. Trump... I would like a computer chip that I could attach to the brains of all my contractors so that they would know exactly what I wanted, when I wanted it, and at what price I wanted it. This would save me a lot of time and a lot of yelling.
Heck with contractors, I'd attach those chips to my wife and kids. For pretty much the same reasons. (Admit it, Donald, you'd do the same.)
No late return fees?
You know that companies make a lot of money of silly things like that.
hmm... for fun I enjoy launching DDoS attacks against 127.87.42.5
Margret Cho says, "The computer should be powered by solar energy, which could be from any source, not only the sun, so that even the illumination of the screen could keep it going."
Holy Crap! Patent that before someone else does!
Download my free songs!
Hey, we don't need 11 prominent people to come up with ideas. Everyday folks do just fine. Check out whynot.net for a variety of clever solutions just waiting to be implemented.
I would love to have a small device like the Apple iPod in a small relational database to store virtually everything I would need for family and personal records, including health records.
Why am I not surprised that the chairman of the FCC wants to come up with a way for forms to be filled out quicker? Why am I not surprised that a senior government beauracrat wants to take all of my personal information and put it in one easy to subpoena location?
Pat Russo, CEO of Lucent, at one time a supposed leader of the technology revolution (Lucent, not Russo, that is) says she would like "One Gizmo to Supplant 15," a laptop, cellphone, and pda all in one. Wow. Amazing. I can't believe no one else has thought of that.
Shouldn't someone leading a giant technology company be able to come up with something a little more clever than that?!? It could be at least a little more interesting - like an all in one device where the power comes from an organic photocell for photosynthesis. Jesus. No wonder Lucent isn't going anywhere!
Download my free songs!
Okay, I'll take one for the team and make the obligatory Simpsons reference.
"Margaret, in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics."
I want a device that gives me a hug when someone mods me up.
Bring that one back and go from there...
This is my sig.
I thought Michael Powell had the most interesting and useful idea -- standardized data formats. Technologically, it wouldn't be difficult to do (XML for example), however it would be very difficult to get everyone to agree on a standard. It's hard enough to reach a consensus on DVD formats -- imagine trying to get every doctor's office, community rec center, grade school, church, retail store, etc. in the country to abide by the standardized formats. Not to mention providing the necessary hardware to communicate with your 'MePod'. Yikes!
Who am I to blow against the wind? -- Paul Simon
GAWS: The Goatse.cx Advanced Warning System
A heuristic neural network which would flash large warnings on a computer screen when an obfuscated link would lead the user to goatse.cx.
Trolling is a art,
Doesn't everyone just velcro them to the wall above the litter box?
Why is everyone backing away from me?!
-- Fratz, human
Well, there is a problem with that. You see, the anti-drug puritans have basically defined "addiction" as "liking something and doing it regularly". Soon we'll be hearing about Internet addiction (oops too late), sex addiction (oops too late), chocolate addiction, McDonalds addiction and psychologist addiction.
Let's face it, when people like something, they often do it frequently. When people really like something, they really do it frequently.
To put it a different way, is skiing good for you? It might help your mental attitude, and might help your conditioning, but it could also land you in the hospital or the morgue (ask Sonny Bono). So, is someone that skis every day an "addict"? Should skiing be illegal because it's dangerous? Should Big Macs?
My answer to all of that is no. People should be held accountable for their behavior, with the freedom to do what they please even if it is "partly bad for them". If someone uses drugs and kills someone they should be tried for murder. If someone uses drugs and eats a pizza, well...let the punishment fit the crime.
Galileo: "The Earth revolves around the Sun!"
Score: -1 100% Flamebait
4.2 gigs? That's not nearly enough space. A single movie, stored in 1920x1080 @ 23 fps is around 8 gigs when compressed using Media Player 9's codec.
Even a 480p movie will take up 4.72 gigs for every 120 minutes, that's uncompressed tho.
I'm fine with the physical size of the media out now. I doubt a flash card costs less in materials than a DVD, since all a DVD consists of is a small plastic wafer and metallic film. That boils down to much, much less than a penny in materials. Then you've got that added benefit of people already having CD and DVD storage devices.
I'm a lot more concerned with what's considered acceptible quality right now. Movies need to be encoded at 1280x720 and 1920x1080 with the original audio data on the disc. Currently, anyone with a decent 36", or larger, display is stuck watching artifacts and seeing about 1/4 of the detail the original film was recorded in.
It's much like comparing a 128K mp3 to a CD Audio track. The effect isn't really noticed until it's experienced.
Microsoft, which I've hated for years, has managed to be the only ones being proactive at bringing decent quality movies to home theaters.
For a demonstration of this product, click here. Be warned, you need Windows and Media Player 9 to view the site. If you have these, then you can download some video demos in 720p and 1080p. Yeah, it's not much content, but I'm all ears if anyone's found a better demo with more actual products out.
Sorry about the long-winded response. One only has to browse back through my comment history to see how upset I am with the industry over HDTV issues. We can put a damn man on the moon, but we can't seem to get a system in place to have high-resolution video entertainment in our homes.
I must say that some of the suggestions are far from being interesting enough to warrant a page in the NYT ... or a Slashdotting for that matter.
A hand-held relational database containing the personal information of you and your loved ones?
A surefire way to tell if a tennis ball was in or out?
A combination of laptop and cell-phone that works in both Europe and US?
The only really interesting piece, is in my opinion that of William Gibson. The rest seems very much like something a person would come up with after being given only 15 seconds to think of a novel new idea.
When whynot.net is available again, post to whynot.net asking for a pre-emptive solution to being slashdotted.
As a vaguely athletic and health conscious person, I want a HUD that will allow me to see my current vital stats.
I want to know my testosterone/estrogen/progesterone levels. I want to know my serotonin/tryptophan/dopamine levels. I want to know my platlet count, and I want to know my red blood cell count.
All in charts and graphs.
Along with that, it would also be nice for the old standby of a system that would allow me to look at someone and then have everything I know about them on screen so that I don't have to feel bad for not knowing their names.
I am absolutely terrible with names.
There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.
For us mere mortals who've got cool inventive ideas, check out ShouldExist.org. This web spot could very well become a great breeding ground if enough good minds participated.
Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
Err, yeah. It's bad news when the best idea out of your panel of 11 geniuses comes from Cris Collinsworth. Imagine if Terry Bradshaw or John Madden had been included!
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
(myself included) The story about CD length is debatable: here and here.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
"I would love to see recreational drugs that aren't bad for you and that aren't addictive."
The man just doesn't understand drugs or the human body. Not surprising for someone who is a vegan... All substances are toxic, it just depends on how much. Drink enough water, it will kill you. Eat a big enough salad, and your stomach will explode from all the gas being released by bacterial decomposition of the plant fiber. Many intoxicating drugs ARE relatively safe, at least safer than alcohol. Safety really isn't the issue when it comes to drugs of abuse. Amphetamine overdoses are rarely fatal, even when someone takes 100+ times the recommended dosage (which is at minimum 5 mg).
Further, he obviously doesn't understand addiction. Addiction is our body's way of conditioning us to behave in ways which are beneficial to us. What is good for life is pleasurable, what is bad is painful. We are hard wired to crave pleasure and avoid pain. It is impossible for anything pleasurable to NOT be addictive, especially when it is a foreign substance mimicing naturally occuring ones in our body.
That being said, there are some good ideas for minimizing addiction and death. It is entirely possible for instance to create a narcotic drug which only reduces pain and causes pleasure, but does not cause respiratory suppresion. Addiction would still result, but at least you couldn't overdose.
But, such hedonists always make me remember this Nietzsche quote:
"You want, if possible - and there is no more insane "if possible" - to abolish suffering. And we? It really seems that we would rather have it higher and worse than ever. Well-being as you understand it - that is no goal, that seems to us an end, a state that soon makes man ridiculous and contemptible - that makes his destruction desirable. The discipline of suffering, of great suffering - do you not know that only this discipline has created all enhancements of man so far?"
I don't read or respond to AC posts
there are two kinds of addiction - physiological and psychological. that was a distinction that moby left out, in my opinion. he seems to be preoccupied with physiology. technically (and i'm remembering as best i can here, so might be a bit off), addiction is considered bad if it's maladaptive - i.e., it negatively affects your ability to attend to basic needs. so for instance, while there may be no physiological addiction to LSD or THC (could be argued either way in some cases), there can definitely be psychological addictions to the feelings/perceptual changes.
Let me get this straight... you want an electric thumb that happens to hold 4.2?
I think Ford and Zaphod would be proud!
Blockwars: multiplayer and free!
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
Sorry, but most addictions have absolutely nothing to do with liking something.... Rather, the brain just hooks onto the addiction, regardless of how enjoyable it is. Or isn't. Think of all the Everquest and Counter-Strike addictions, games that are addictive but not actually fun. Or couch potatoes who watch sitcoms that aren't funny.... Or slashdot posters that are want to get a point of view across no matter how futile or unenjoyable it is.
Well, there is a problem with that. You see, the anti-drug puritans have basically defined "addiction" as "liking something and doing it regularly".
Rubbish! Addiction is commonly accepted to mean being so dependant on something that you just can't give it up. Addiction is normally accepted to mean that an addicted person trying to stop whatever behaviour or substance they are addicted to will suffer severe repurcussions and be unable to function during this period.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I want a robotic nymphomaniac. I want her to look like Milla Jovovich. I want her to talk like a New Yorker. I want her to curse like a truck driver. And, I want her to have an aggressive "bodyguard mode" in which she goes absolutely POSTAL if anyone messes with her or me. Her signature move would be grabbing an enemy by the ankles, swinging him around in a hyperkinetic hammer throw, and going for distance! "Wow, honey, I think you cleared a hundred meters with that one, he almost made it to the river. You would have had much better distance if he hadn't have hit that billboard..."
Farewell! It's been a fine buncha years!
A use for the Segway.
I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.
"Certainly some people can use recreational drugs and not cause a burden to society, but there are many more who become unable to maintain gainful employment."
Swap 'Fast food' for 'recreational drugs'. Interesting, huh?
The idea that recreational drugs turns you into an unemployable SOB is as old as 'Reefer madness', and given theres a social penetration of cannibis approaching 60% (UK Polls) there have to be some that are useful members of society. Hell, check out my tax bill for a rough idea.
"Just don't let me see them in the unemployment line asking for a check, or in the ER with no insurance asking to have their heart evaluated or their lungs checked."
Yeah, fuck the smokers. They contribute nothing in taxes...oh, wait...
Funnily enough, some people think the same about the UK welfare state and NHS without remembering that it's a safety net for reasonable people. Yes, there are some that are perfectly willing to stay home and watch their ass spread, but that's the downside of society; create rules to provide for special cases and you start descriminating. I'm not suggesting that's a bad thing, but it doesn't take much to add another rule, and another, and another...
Hopefully you get the picture.
"Therefore, we must limit the burden by keeping some of these drugs on the illegal status list."
Huzzah. That way we can keep track of the health implications and dangerous cocktails that dealers (notoriously bad in the field of personal health and safety) have a propensity to develop in the search for higher profits. While I agree that usage under some circumstances should be kept illegal, they present an interesting method of tracking health and black market taxation if they're regulated. The trouble is that the US is fostering a certain level of fear regarding recreational drug use that ignores such things as the current president admitting to having a drink problem up until the age of 40.
On the one hand, it shows that he's human, but on the other hand you have to ape a certain amount of the shocked outrage that permeates any attempt at a reasoned discussion into drugs.
I should point out that modern SSRIs (Anti-depressants) are functionally the same as MDMA with minor kinks; The prescription of Seroxat to under sixteens should be investigated as a criminal offence because of the neurology involved, but that might involve a bit of a scandal...
Oddly Draconis
Too cynical to live, too stubborn to die.