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Technology

Inventions of 2001 142

Posted by michael from the beating-a-path-to-their-door dept.
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."
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Inventions of 2001 More

Inventions of 2001

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  • Where's IT? (Score:1, Redundant)

    by Snar Bloot ( 324250 )
    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?

    • Re:Where's IT? (Score:2, Informative)

      by rnb ( 471088 )
      You mean Ginger?

      I remember the guy who invented it coming out and saying it wasn't as big a deal as people were making it out to be, and then various news sites got hold of patent applications for a small scooter with pictures of Brady Bunch-era teens riding it. It was all downhill after that.
      • Ginger. Yeah, that was IT. Other speculation was a hovercraft or true cold fusion. Perhaps a scooter that doubled as a hovercraft powered by cold fusion. And you're right...it was the Brady Bunch teens that killed it.

    • Re:Where's IT? (Score:4, Informative)

      by HarrisonSilp ( 527951 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2001 @10:52AM (#2589117) Homepage
      Right here. [time.com]

      • Re:Where's IT? (Score:2, Insightful)

        by 3ryon ( 415000 )
        It's truely sad that Ginger was listed as one of the inventions of the year when no one even knows for sure what It(TM) is, or if It(TM) even works. The blind leading the stupid.

    • Bezos? I thought it was Dean Kamen. With the economic downturn & our recent Jihad run-in, I think the VCs are gonna be skittish for a little while longer. Too bad, I'm really curious about this Ginger thing...

    • Re:Where's IT? (Score:2, Informative)

      by oo7tushar ( 311912 )
      Yeah, it's listed on Time as well. Apparently the details that were leaked made a lot of people nervous and some major investors pulled out.

      Another thing was the book deal that Dean Kamen made with Steve Kemper (Harvard Business School). Kemper leaked what could have been details; in the book proposal and that caused Dean to become very quiet about the whole matter.

      In fact we still don't know what project Ginger could be. I could very well be something like Ginger from the Civilisation Earth series (by Harry Turtledove, a continuation of the World War series). to time [time.com]

  • Visions of the Future (Score:4, Funny)

    by Alien54 ( 180860 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2001 @10:48AM (#2589094) Journal
    Remember the old movies, etc that said how the world would be in 2001?

    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"

    • I want my flying cars

      Just imagine the rush-hour carnage!

    • 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...

    • Re:Visions of the Future (Score:2, Informative)

      by an_mo ( 175299 )
      I want my flying cars

      In case you haven't noticed yhe skycar [moller.com] is here.

      It is supposed to run at 350mph and take off and land from the same spots helicopters do, so in principle from the top of one's building/dorm/etc...

      It is awaiting AFA approval I believe
    • In that case, you'll want to check out Yesterday's Tomorrows [yesterdaystomorrows.org], a traveling museum exhibit of flying cars and the like. I agree, the world should be like this. Maybe in the future.... People tried to invent lots of this stuff, but it just never really took off (pardon the pun). Which is funny considering they all seem so much more exciting than slug eating robots.
    • Remember the old movies, etc that said how the world would be in 2001? I want my flying cars, jet packs, all those neat toys.

      Yeah, I want all that stuff, too, but I think the tradeoff is that we have to wear silver jumpsuits all the time.
      • Yeah, I want all that stuff, too, but I think the tradeoff is that we have to wear silver jumpsuits all the time.

        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.

        • 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.

          Ooooooh, nice. I'm gonna add that to my Geek Gift [slashdot.org] wishlist.

  • Millenium Bridge (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by jeff_bond ( 135948 )
    I wouldn't call the millenium bridge a great invention, since it has a big problem [bbc.co.uk] with swaying. Oh dear.

    Jeff

    • Try reading the article - it refers to the Millennium Bridge in Gateshead (NE England), NOT the wobbly one in London.

      Rob

      PS I went over the wobbly one on the morning before they closed it, and it wasn't that bad - just like walking on the deck of a ferry really! Quite cool!
      • Try reading the article - it refers to the Millennium Bridge in Gateshead (NE England), NOT the wobbly one in London.

        OK, I admit it, I didn't read the article! I didn't actually think that there would be two bridges in the UK with the same name.

        I remember some program on the telly about the Gatehead millenium bridge. Don't they actually 'squeeze' the whole bridge lengthways with huge hydraulic rams to make the thing tilt?

        Jeff

    • Re:Millenium Bridge (Score:5, Interesting)

      by JimPooley ( 150814 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2001 @11:06AM (#2589200) Homepage
      You are SO wrong!

      Had you bothered to read the bloody article, you would have seen that the Millennium Bridge they are talking about is the one in Gateshead over the Tyne.

      The bridge you mentioned is the one over the Thames, which has been closed now for ages because on its opening day it started swaying from side to side as people walked over it. It's a pile of crap like most of Blair's other Millennium Projects (Don't get me started on the Dome!!!).

      The Gateshead bridge mentioned in the Time article which you so obviously didn't bother to read is a marvellously designed piece of work.

      You can read more about the Gateshead bridge here [gateshead.gov.uk].
    • Of course, Americans (If you're one) are famous for getting bridges mixed up.
    • Wrong bridge. The one that sways is in London, this is 200 miles away (its quite far in the little old UK) in Newcastle. I live near this bridge. And its very impressive. Best part of it (imho) is the fact its so well balanced it only costs GBP1.30 (approx $1.8) to raise and lower it, something it does about 2 or 3 times a day.

  • Artifical Heart (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    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?

  • Most worrisome invention on the list... (Score:3, Funny)

    by mbessey ( 304651 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2001 @10:55AM (#2589136) Homepage Journal
    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?
    • Don't these people watch Sci-Fi movies? What were they thinking?
      I wouldn't worry all too much. This thing only eats slugs, so unless you're a trial lawyer, I don't think that this thing is going to eat you.

    • Actually, I am more concerned about all those gizmos for enhancing the male ego by travelling very fast over water while spewing motor oil and gasoline freely, and occasionally bumping and killing people who happen to be in the water at normal speed. And I was naive enough to believe the water motorcycle was bad enough.

  • fuel cell bike? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by terradyn ( 242947 )
    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.
    • The enjoy seemed to be a heavy, but not unmanagable weight:

      Weight
      Dry weight
      City: 31 Kg (68.2 lbs)
      Racing: 29 kg (63.8 lbs)

      Much lighter than a motorcycle, but about 3 times heavier than a good bicycle. It's too heavy for me to buy it, as I would have to carry it around.

      How much did the e-bike weigh? Their website didn't even say, so I guess it weighed too much.

      -Ben
      • Holy Crap Batman!
        31 Kilos?!?!??!

        Marco Pantani AND his bike barely weigh that much!

        No thanks, I just keep using my legs for a reciprocating engine.

        BTW, check out www.rabbittool.com for a nice electric bike, including the solar cells to recharge them.
    • The fuel cell lasts 43 miles or so. I'm assuming flat surface. They say that it's twice as far as the previous bikes.

    • 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.

  • Ginger (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    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?

  • not so tasty (Score:2, Funny)

    by Bazman ( 4849 )
    I bet the artificial liver doesn't taste as nice with some fava beans and a nice chianti...
  • 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...)
    • 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 [slashdot.org] 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 :\

  • Popular Science (Score:2, Informative)

    by nob ( 244898 )
    The current issue of Popular Science has a similar article [popularscience.com]. It's "the hundred best products and technologies" of the past year.
    • I was about to post this link as well, but figured I'd scan for it first. Just FYI, the Popular Science article is called "The Best of What's New," and it's an annual feature that culls the most interesting/innovative/promising inventions out of the year. Every issue has a section called "What's New" and this is just a distillation of that; there are often some quite interesting things that come up and then are never seen again.

  • 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.

  • pogo stick (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    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?
    • where do you get more?

      Simple - water (what did you think H2O stood for? ;-). And the day the world runs out of water, we're going to be worried about more than how to power your laptop...

      Grab.
    • By the time we run out of hydrogen and water on earth we'll be harvesting hydrogen from dead stars.

      Quick explanation, only the core of the star has fusion, it doesn't cycle the hydrogen from most of the star into the core. So when a star dies it's about 10% helium and 90% hydrogen. This means that the outer layers of the hydrogen drift off into space making dead stars ideal refueling ports.

      This is of course all hypothetical but wouldn't it be a very nice way to travel? Just fuel up your fuel cells by "flying" through a cloud of gas.

    • what? (Score:2)

      by 3am ( 314579 )
      i hope that's tounge in cheek...

      2H20 + electricity -> 2H2 + 02 .... and reverse that for fuel cells.

      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
    • *phew* I'm glad someone picked up my sarcasim... I was starting to worry for a minute...

  • NO NO its XP!!!! (Score:3, Funny)

    by MosesJones ( 55544 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2001 @11:28AM (#2589345) Homepage

    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.
  • 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?
  • 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.
  • They list a lot of stuff, but they forgot to mention Windows XP, which incorporates all kind of new inventions by Microsoft in 2001:

    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...

    • Re:They forget the most important (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      remote desktop: work remotely with graphical apps

      this is not a microsoft invention, this was first integrated into the "coherent" operating system by the mark williams company 15 years ago

      multimedia: play dvd's, burn cdr's

      some european already did this

      nice GUI: lots of aqua-colored blue-ish gui stuff

      this was done in the "geos" gui for commodore 64 in 1986

      and many many more innovative stuff which make you forget how computers worked... etc, etc

      you are thinking of the amiga
    • That's funny. I put XP on an old hard drive. While dual-monitors is supported more cleanly than Win2K or Enlightenment, and I seem to be more productive on it than any OS I've ever used, and I am utterly amazed by the multimedia improvements, what are the 2 things that keep me booting into Win2K?

      I can't play DVD's or burn CD-RW's! (CD-R's work fine, though).

  • Motor-Powered Fill-In-Blank (Score:3, Insightful)

    by robbway ( 200983 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2001 @11:32AM (#2589380) Journal
    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.
    • I think they were going with a combination of cool and style. They are after all a news/money making magazine as opposed to a research or scientific magazine.
      But the motor powered scooter is a hydrogen powered scooter. It's an advancement of putting fuel cells in smaller areas. This is very important when you want a car to actually go far without running out of gas. It can also be beneficial to put one of these cells (must be small) in something like an artificial heart. It'll last longer and that's pretty important.
      I agree they could've trimmed the surfboard off their list, but it's really really sweet and light. It's like that article on slashdot about the fridge in a server box. It's just something neat.

  • Pretty cool inventions except... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Uttles ( 324447 ) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [selttu]> on Tuesday November 20, 2001 @11:41AM (#2589439) Homepage Journal
    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...
    • This is a pretty stupid list. Another electro-bike? A robot that will destroy all your plants whilst looking for slugs? A freekin skateboard with independent suspension, for christ sakes? And don't even get me started on the mashed potato maker.

      Had I only known, I'd have nominated the pull-my-finger-freddy I bought last year. Bald guy sitting in an armchair, pull his finger and he farts and makes a comment. About as deserving of an award as the crap on that list.

  • sheesh (Score:3, Insightful)

    by underpaidISPtech ( 409395 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2001 @11:41AM (#2589443) Homepage
    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?
    • Since when does strapping an engine on something make it a great invention?


      In my day, we called them horseless carriages. You may know them better as 'automobiles' or 'cars'.


      Look them up sometime, they revolutionized the industrial world sometime around ought-nine or so.

  • Yessssss..... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Soko ( 17987 ) on Tuesday November 20, 2001 @11:42AM (#2589451) Homepage
    Saw this little gadget [time.com] 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
  • 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
    • If I remember a _Newsweek_ article correctly (and assuming _that's_ accurate), yes, it's wireless.

      I don't remember how they do it, 'tho -- maybe an induction coil?
    • Its got an internal batery under the skin, and then a plate that recieves power transmitted from the belt battery pack, not sure how, electromagnaets? It can run without the belt for a few hours.
    • I believe it will probably be done through induction, similar as to the way your electric toothbrush is charged.

      If I remember correctly from another article on this, the main heart power comes from an external (but portable) power pack. The heart has its own internal battery that can power it for a short period of time if the main power unit fails.
    • 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.

  • Very Physical (Score:3, Interesting)

    by under_score ( 65824 ) <mishkin@be[ ]ig.com ['rte' in gap]> on Tuesday November 20, 2001 @11:46AM (#2589478) Homepage
    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?
    • I think we're looking at the wrong timescale. Anything new takes time to become adopted. You can look back at the new inventions of 1991, and see what ones changed our lives, but seeing what is new today is pointless.
    • 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.
    • 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!

    • dude, look at the stats on how much longer food survives using that cooler pot. Then realize that it uses no electricity, and remember how completely fucking poor EVERYONE in Nigeria is. You may not give a fuck (actually no one in America would give a fuck) about it, but to someone in Nigeria, it's a godsend. It's silly, but it reminds me of that guy in Iran who made extreme temperature proof housing, and NASA started looking into it because it might be usable on Mars.

  • This is hilarious:

    There is an ultraviolet fire sensor in the engine bay that illuminates a light on the instrument panel in the event of a fire. We tested it. It works really well.
  • It's clearly the "list" time of year: The bottom five of 2001 [yahoo.com].
  • 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
    • NASA and the gov't had a monopoly on rocket technology due to the Cold War. Why? Two reasons:

      1) Nationalism requires that We The People (as in the government representing us) defeat the Soviets in the space race

      2) Somewhat more logically, if private inventors started building rockets, some mad scientist type would be able to sell missile technology to whoever wanted it, including the enemies.
    • The EZ-Rocket wasn't designed for maximum performance, its a demonstrator to show routine operations of rocket-powered vehicles. Reusable launch vehicles won't be commercially viable until you can fly every day without having to take the vehicle apart.

      Its not necessarily a step back. We have been able to build it for a fraction of the cost of past efforts, a key part to making this business a business.
  • Any bets we're going to see one of these "Flying Boats" [klemflyingboats.com] in an upcoming Bond flick? (Maybe the name will fit the boat better then.)
  • 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 [time.com] 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!
    • 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!

      There's a driver at the controls. One of his/her controls is a brake. Problem solved. You are now free to freak out about something else.

      (Could be I'm missing their point, but I don't understand why they need the bus to be self-steering if there's gonna be a driver anyway.)

      BTW, I was in a hardware store the other day, and they were selling box-cutters! Box-cutters, right out there in the open where any terrorist could have bought as many as they wanted. No permit needed, no waiting-period, nobody checking anybody's papers, nothing. Are those people living in the '90's, or what?

  • 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?
  • 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.
  • 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)

  • 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.

  • You remember, "it." "It" was supposed to revolutionize the world, be bigger than the Internet. What the hell was "it" all about?!?
  • Moller's aircar [time.com] 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.
  • My winner is the stink-free shoes [agion-tech.com]. Teva [teva.com] 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?
  • 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.
  • I've been following the company that makes the fuel cells for the fuel-cell bike (MHTX) for several years. Their initial goal was micro-fuel cells (on sheets of plastic, manufactured with printed circuit technology) for cell phones, target early 2001. They're still working on it. They're also doing water filtration (same porous polymer technology as the fuel cell), holographic memory (going nowhere due to lack of suitable material), haptics (feel honey or molasses with a mouse), and some internet image format. The stock had a big run-up peaking in Feb. 2000, and they bought a German company making more traditional fuel cells (NovArs). The German fuel cells are the ones in the bike.

    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?

  • I can see it now...

    "Bye mom, I'm off to sch---*THOOOOM!*"

    "Oh, the humanity... poor little Timmy!"

    --=Maj
  • The link to Agion in the article was wrong, so check up on it here [agion-tech.com]. And here [teva.com]'s the 'shoe''s'. I'd personally like to see some running shoes with this shit, but whatever.

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