Ideas Unlimited: 11 Suggestions for New Inventions 554
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."
Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to see. (Score:5, Interesting)
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 [slashdot.org] I'm sure.
Personal taste... (Score:2, Interesting)
Besides, there are objective criteria that can define constraints; for instance, falsh media cards are better that 5''1/4 floppies, because they fit better in the palm of the hand.
Michael Powell (Score:5, Interesting)
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?
Two types of responses (Score:2, Interesting)
- I want a cool thing to gimme more control over YOU.
Watch the YOU sayers...
Chips in contractors brains, sjeeez, is this Trump guy STILL not in jail?
"/Dread"
Re:"Solve my problem" (Score:5, Interesting)
Bring that one back and go from there...
Re:Michael Powell (Score:3, Interesting)
Which is also one easily erased or disposed of location if you think about it.
The most interesting idea (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes, but someone, somewhere, would open the store that uses the Flash devices, and it would be a hit. The Flash device would be given free and act as the customer's membership card. The store could be automated with just a couple people on site for technical help and system maintenance. Eventually, when they franchise the thing, their database of films could be sotred at a central location and dowloaded over the network. You could walk into this store and rent every film ever made in history (assuming a copy still exists to be transferred to storage).
Remember, Sam Walton started with one store.
The movie companies, I think, would like this. They get a fee for each rental, and they don't have to produce a physical product.
Actually, those auto-destructing DVDs might work well here if you could get a licensing agreement and the cost per disc gets low enough.
Re:Here's the next (realistic) thing I'd like to s (Score:4, Interesting)
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 [windowsmedia.com]. 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 want a heads up display of my vitals (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Highs that don't hurt...... (Score:3, Interesting)
By "spinning thing", I'm referring to a bit of playground equipment that consisted of a round turntable, usually with 4-8 handrails set along the radius of the turntable at equal distances. A couple of people would get on, and one or more people would grab the handrails and run, setting the thing spinning, fast enough that if you were on it you really had to hang on or you'd get thrown off. I'd wager a 10 year old with decent strength could get it going 60 RPM or faster, although it was hard to sustain the speed unless the pusher didn't jump on.
The only ones I've ever seen have been made out of steel, and I haven't seen one in a park or playground in a long time. It's one of those playground toys that one kind in 5000 might get hurt on (falling off, etc), so they're probably not insurable. Which is too bad, since they were a lot of fun.
Just some comments (Score:3, Interesting)
1) "Dump the Doodads, and Retrofit the Brain"
I'm all for brain implants, but I think a cell phone ringing in your head day after day would drive anyone insane. Hell, the cell phone in thier pocket drives some people to the brink as it is!
2) "Laptop, Butler and Virtual Mom"
I understand that this is probably an eggageration for humor's sake, but a laptop powered by the glow of it's own screen would be a perpetual motion device. Although otherwise this does seem to reflect a "fewer, more useful gadgets" concept that seems to be pretty common.
3) "Lies Exposed in Telltale Colors"
I like the concept a lot. The only problem is... who is in charge of the system that determines if it's a lie, spin or misperception?
4) I think Trump's telepathic zombie chips speak for themselves...
5) "Zap! The Form's Filled Out"
I don't think I'd want all my personal information, let alone the informatino of myself and my entire family, in a single, pocket sized device with WiFi download capability. I'd stick with a datebook and a pencil... at least they'd have to go through the trouble of confronting (read: Mugging) me to get the info!
6) "One Gizmo to Supplant 15"
Again, another uber-gadget to make for less things to carry around. It's also putting all your eggs in one basket sort of speak. Personal preference I guess.
7) "TiVo Replay Power, on the Road"
I suppose a quick-fix alternative would be a portable DVD player and a DVD-R device at home. But overall it's a good (but not very impressive) idea.
8) "The Ball Is In, or Out. Period."
I could've sworn they had this already... but the best inventions are usually the ones that seem the most obvious in retrospect
9) "Can Run, but He Can't Hide"
Get a dog!
10) "A High That Wouldn't Hurt"
It's hard for me to imagine that any drug (or anything, really) can be made so that it's 100% non addictive. Maybe not chemically adictive, but psychologically. Even so, I think the last thing society needs is another chemical diversion from Real Life(tm) no matter how mild. Best to accept your lemons and do your best to make lemonade than to try and hide from it... just my take on it, though.
11) "Memo to My Borsalino: Quiet!"
Anyone else reminded of Peril Sensitive Sunglasses [hhgproject.org]? It's bad enough people turn a figurative blind eye to things they really don't want to be bothered with... but this is going a bit far.
Personally, I'd like to see a mix of #3 and #11... a device that, upon sensing that someone is full of shit, will bleep them out for everybody within range. I can see such a device being banned from political debates...
=Smidge=
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Snow Crash! (Score:2, Interesting)
Yikes! Anybody remember the Bob Rife character in Snow Crash who did this exact thing to all of his workers? He was supposed to be a parody of Ross Perot, but now it sounds like Donald Trump is the real thing!
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Poor Moby, that crazy junkie... (Score:4, Interesting)
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?"
Not that anyone asked me... (Score:3, Interesting)
I want a keyless keyboard-- I want something that I just position my hands on a flat (or not so flat space) and start typing.
I would prefer to have it using like gloves with some type of sensors (RFID's anyone?) in the fingers, and a couple sensors for tracking, or even the original idea, which was something that fit over your arms and tracked the muscles that you used to type something. It would be something totally for computer users that know how to touch type, and it could (optionally) sense how your fingers are positioned, and in a certain position, it could be used as a mouse. This would also be cool as a 3 dimensional "mouse", for those upcoming 3d desktops (yes, I know they already exist, there is no good way to interface them that I'm aware of.)
Over the years I've gone from a computer on the ground, to a computer on a desk with no room for KB/mouse, and at times a desk with no chair, forcing me to either sit on the ground or on my bed. Also, I've gone from periods of carpal tunnel so severe I couldn't look at a keyboard without my arms cramping up, and I believe if it allowed the amount of freedom I'm looking for, it would be great for treating that (your fingers would have to be in the same relative position to each other, and probably your wrist, but it would provide you with the ability to shift your position quite a bit and have still be able to type.
Just something that's been bouncing off my mind for the past couple years... I started developing something to this effect... Then I got depressed and started working on another project that was doomed to failure...
Re:I want to vote instead of congress (Score:3, Interesting)
The whole thing scares the hell out of me, the only real super power left, it's run by bunch oil rich, evangelical fascists and the population seems to think it's a good idea.
But I sort of like the parent's idea, with the stipulation that you should only be able to vote on subjects you are competent on and have a license for.
Re:Moby's is the best... (Score:4, Interesting)
five tools for aborigines? (Score:3, Interesting)
POTS Phone Replacement System for Home (Score:3, Interesting)
A mobile phone and/or PDA cradle that is located right inside the front door to your house or apartment (or anywhere you want, I guess) that connects to your current POTS** phone wiring in your home so that you can continue to use the existing POTS phones throughout your home. Essentially the mobile phone or PDA would provide the dialtone service for your home and/or IP connectivity for ethernet/wifi connections throughout the house - all calls (or IP traffic) would be routed through the existing wiring to the phone and onto your wireless providers network.
My priority would be the POTS telephony device, especially given that commercial WiFi that PDAs and 3G phones connect to is still prohibitively slow and expensive compared to wired broadband service for residential users. With the POTS cradle system, you could disconnect your current landline phone from the RBOC's** and just get an unlimited minutes mobile phone plan that would give you a single number that is always with you (the ability to switch your current POTS/landline phone number to your mobile phone is one of the benefits of recent cell phone regs reform). You could throw out your current answering machine and/or drop your landline voicemail since you would only need the voicemail that comes with your mobile phone.
Remember, as the RBOC's remind us anytime we have phone problems, the wiring in your your home belongs to you. Once you drop your RBOC account, you would be free of their charges (and the accompanying taxes) entirely.
I figure the unit could be built with off-the-shelf components for about $25, and could easily sell for $90, given that it should be able to rapidly pay for itself. The cradle would be designed to act as a charger for the mobile phone, but in the case of power outage, the battery of the phone would ideally be able to power the POTS dialtone wiring for up to a day. A speaker phone version of the cradle is a possible upgade, as it would be nice for retrieving voicemail, but I don't think it would be needed for the basic unit.
* If any tech firm wants to use this idea contact me via my Slashdot Journal. I'm sure we can work out a mutually agreeable arrangement. The ideal development partner would be a Cell phone provider, or an IP telephony provider.
** POTS = Plain Old Telephone System, aka Landline.
RBOC = Regional Bell Operating Companies, the former AT&T subsidiaries that run the POTS, aka Verizon, SBC, PacBell, etc.
Re:I want a heads up display of my vitals (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Moby's is the best... (Score:3, Interesting)
I hope you're speaking from personal experience, because it doesn't match mine.
"there are two kinds of addiction - physiological and psychological."
Yeah, but both can be argued to be linked to the endorphin/dopamine reward system to a certain degree, which keeps you going back despite nasty experiences during withdrawal or knowledge that it is maladaptive
The problem is that you can't split narcotics so neatly from anything in the pharmocopia, or indeed anything that can cause a mood alteration in humans; recently we've seen people being treated for sex addiction (I regard this as an excuse for philandering) which is going to be connected with endorphin highs. Throw in the things which are like narcotics, but appear to be doled out like sweets to anyone who has the cash, and you have a problem that is both above and below the radar.
The fundamental point is that humans like to get high, and they'll get high no matter what the vector or whether it injures themselves or others. The trick is to flatten the playfield and start to regulate the end result rather than human nature. Start with preaching personal responsibility rather than abstention. Start with Hollywood. Start with the storylines on TV.
Re:I want a heads up display of my vitals (Score:2, Interesting)
All of those with the obvious caveat of the thing can't do harm to me and it has to work and be easily updated.
It would also be nice to have it spell check (since I'm an awful speller), and it would be neat to have a GPS read out in there as well.
It could essentially become a display that gets its info from a wireless connection to whatever device you want.
You could have a phone in your pcoket, it rings and the face of the person calling and their number and info pops up in your HUD.
Or while you sit on a plane, your laptop could display a movie right there.
Obvious issues would be spoofs into that signal - whether it be advertising, or malicious manipulation of it (you could argue that both points are the same).
So I guess my idea is two part - the HUD for everything that only I can see, and then some way to non-invasively monitor my body's vitals.
Heart rate and blood pressure seem relatively easy to do. Blood cell density is also relatively easy to do.
But blood oxygen content and hormone/neurotransmitter levels are much harder to do with present tech AFAIK.
Anyway, that is my ideal gadget.