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New Inventions Featured at the BIS
kjh1 writes "BBC News is running an article covering the British Invention Show (BIS) and some of the (quite useful) inventions that will be on display there this year."
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For example, "The Keyed Chain" was invented about 15 years ago here in the US. I know because I had one in my parents home when I grew up (they still have it). You reach your arm in the door with the key and unlock (and release) the chain.
I'm not trying to be cynical here, I'm just pointing it out.
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
Here I was wondering what the RIAA was up to now.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
Having been to e3 and CIS(or whatever its called), im thinking of one day going to the BIS. Is it worth it? What do you the /.ers think?
Call me and my voicemail! 914-713-6795. (wow, I have the balls to post my voip number on
...all patented. For $699 I'll tell you which patents.
sigs, as if you care.
Why can't people offer an HTML version fo their PDF/.doc documents? Really it's not too hard to click "Save as web page" instead of "Save".
ROMANES EUNT DOMUS
"It's a fun entry," says Professor Wolff of Daniel Doheny's Mousemaster, a trap able to hold "12 to 15 mice in one go".
Call me old-fashioned, but how exactly cruelty towards animals can be considered fun?
Sincerely,
Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
"Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
If you can patent children, then I have two waking machines that are absolutely infallible at the task.
http://www.busyweather.com/
Absolutely Normal
It allows you to use a mobile network from a desk phone. Too expensive though at £500.
Deleted
The MouseMaster??? This doesn't seem like a big improvement to me. You Brits sure get excited about some pointless shit!
At least in America we get excited about things like "Ginger" (or IT if you prefer). I mean I could run over as many mice as that trap holds in a few minutes on a Segway.
Just poking fun at you folks East of the Pacific. Mostly because There's a lot of trash talk to us US folks as well.
For a second I read that as
"New Inventions Featured at the BS"
One of his more entertaining ideas was "The Great Egg Race". Build a machine out of ordinary household junk. Any household junk you like. The only requirements are that it be able to carry a raw egg across a course without damaging or breaking the egg, and to do so in the least possible time. The only motive power allowed was a tiny elastic band.
The idea was simple, ingenious, and triggered several fairly successful (yet geeky) competitive tech shows and inspired The Power Game - a national contest between schools along similar lines.
(The first "Power Game" was a simple variation of the Egg Race, involving dropping coins along a race track at specific points. Missing the target was penalized heavily. The following year, competitors were asked to build near-frictionless mobile platforms that could carry a person over the longest possible distance around a complex course. Oh, and the platform had to be made of cardboard.)
To be honest, it matters little if the BIS, any geek television show, or any techie contest, ever shows anything much. What matters is whether they inspire people to come up with things that maybe are useful. Nobody could accuse the entrants of, say, the Great Egg Race or the Micromouse Championships of producing something fundamentally worthwhile. At the same time, I'm willing to bet that many more of those people who have built things that are useful have been inspired by demonstrations of how to do a great deal with very little, than those who are fed a diet of "nobody could do that, it's too complicated!" or "only big corporations can invent!"
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
"Hey! Can you save that article that's just about to come off the roll about the new Microsoft IE exploit?"
"Too late."
"Ah well. It'll probably come up as a dupe again later."
Although I do agree, it's annoying that its a PDF document in the first place. Either way, here you go:
British Invention Show FAQ PDF > HTML google cache
She's built like a steak house, but she handles like a bistro....
here's an item that's existed prior as on our boiler at my work we also use one on top of the sand filter for the pool, it has a float valve, just like a toilet, that allows air to escape, but not water..
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
Whatever that guy has on his finger. That would kill for my wizard's DnD sessions. Plus it would be the coolest lighter ever.
BIS?
More like MIS. That means Majoring In Stupidity, or more simply: ass sex.
The "expandable airport walkway" is found at smaller airports today. Santa Barbara, California, has several.
Tilting-ramp mousetraps have been around for years and are quite effective.
Retractable parking posts are widely used. Most are solid (there's now a big "security" market for the things) but there are lightweight ones that can be driven over.
Everything else listed has been found by someone else, so I won't rehash that.
Maybe this is what they need to remedy their noted tooth decay problem.
Huzzah! With this new "Tooth-Brush" technology, we Subjects of The Queen can now polish those hard to reach places in our teapots after teatime! Marvelous!
Bloody queer name for a teapot brush, but whatever works, eh mate?
(Runs and hides from enraged Englishmen)
How strong are these things anyway? AFAIK most are pretty flimsy. If my relative was inside and seriously incapacitated, and the door was locked only with one of these things, I'd just kick the door in. Much faster than using a key or fumbling with your hand inside.
;).
Of course one would have to be sure that the said relative was not lying close to the trajectory of the door that one is kicking in
p.s. only do the kicking stuff if you are wearing good boots/shoes and jeans/thick trousers, so in event the door splinters you don't end up being yet another incapacitated relative. The shoulder charge thing might work - but I'd prefer kicking.
Marmite!
King(Armed with shotgun): PULL! ... PULL!
+ a mouse is flung into the air, BANG King shoots and misses +
King: Drifting to the left.
+ another mouse is catapulted skyward, BANG King nails it +
King: Fell like a stone.
Flash is the Herpes of the Internet.
your.opinion >
Humane and economical!
If you can patent children
Drug companies are moving toward that very result.