Things I've Read Recently That I Wish I Hadn't

A stupid thing, but I still remember the patent!! It was an example of "stupid inventions" or something like this... :)

Things I've Read Recently That I Wish I Hadn't: Via BoingBoing again. Now for those just two lazy to use their tongues to lick around the edges of an ice cream cone, there is a motorized ice-cream cone that does the turning for you. Yikes. "

Diagrams on the Tablet PC with MindManager

Recently I posted a request on TabletPCBuzz (www.tabletpcbuzz.com) if anybody knew a software for creating simple diagrams on the Tablet using inked annotations, and there have been some good recommendations (Visio, Corel and so on).
Nevertheless I decided to stick with Mindmanager, as it comes quite near to what I was looking for. Have a look at the samples below for diagrams that are usually used in TRIZ-Workshops to analyse a system or problem situation. I used the free annotations of Mindmanager and connected them with the arrows. The only thing that is nasty is that you have to watch out not to come near the "Main Topic" Field, as the annotations then become a branch of a mindmap, which is not intended ;)




















Another example for an object model to represent an engineering system:

Scientists working on method to turn off your walls

The Principle of Change of Colour... Imagine this:

Scientists working on method to turn off your walls: "Filed under: Misc. Gadgets We can't tell you how many times a day we wish we could flip a switch and turn a wall on or off, and it sounds like at least some scientists at the Imperial College in London and the University of Neuchatel are on their way to creating just that. Or at least that's what they'd have us believe; they won't really discuss their discoveries too openly, but they claim to have created crystals invisible to the human eye, which could theoretically imbue building materials and make things (like walls) invisible. We're a little skeptical, so we encourage said boffins to um, show us. That is, if they can find where they placed their fantastic invisible material.[Thanks, Nick] Read Permalink Email this Linking Blogs Comments "

NASA's Spidernaut robot arachnid

Here's something for the Bionics-Folks!!!

NASA's Spidernaut robot arachnid: "Filed under: Robots We've heard tell of NASA's Spidernaut, a large robot designed to service spacecraft, but after finally seeing it in action we're not so sure humans are fully prepared to battle against robots in the coming rebellion -- this thing is pretty hardcore. Supposedly its current incarnation is only 1/4 of the final size, but the target is a 600 pound robot that can distribute weight evenly over its eight legs to avoid damaging the skin of the spacecraft or for scurrying across solar panels. NASA is even looking into a 'web' deployment system for the bot, in which case we're hiding the women and children and locking the doors. Read Permalink Email this Linking Blogs Comments "

Puzzling Alarm Clock

Another good idea for sleepheads: Segmentation the snooze-button?! Argh, imagine yourself crawling under the bed to find the last fragment on a sunday when you forgot to switch off the alarm clock :-D

Puzzling Alarm Clock: "DailyCandy: The New York Times Sunday crossword? Sudoku? Rubik’s cube? Pfft. You can solve those suckers in your sleep. Which may explain why you always need just five (okay, twenty) more minutes in bed. If your propensity to hit the snooze button is the only thing keeping you down, check out the Puzzle Alarm Clock. When it’s time to get up, this good-morning messenger not only starts the requisite racket, but it also shoots off four colorful puzzle pieces from its top. The only way to bring back silence is to put everything back where it belongs. Piece of Wake [DailyCandy]"

US, Canadian Olympic skiers get skintight armor

Smart Materials offer awide range of awesome possibilities. Here is another: Flexible material (used for e.g. clothes) hardens on impact! Great thing! Make the clothes respond to the super-system/environment more efficiently and let it adapt to changes!

US, Canadian Olympic skiers get skintight armor: "Filed under: Wearables Some American and Canadian skiers competing in the Olympics have a secret weapon: a flexible form of 'body armor' that's molded to the shape of their bodies and hardens on impact. The material, known as d3o, and developed by scientists working with skiwear maker Spyder, contains a proprietary polymer that has 'strain rate flexibility.' While normally flexible, sudden impact hardens the molecules of the material, making it as protective as the traditional arm and leg guards worn in slalom runs. The developers envision expanding d30's uses to other purposes, including protection for military and police personnel. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have any plans for a material that can protect Bode Miller from himself. Read Permalink Email this Linking Blogs Comments "

Frustrated Total Internal Reflection (FTIR)

Remeber the movie with tom cruise? The futuristic concepts of interaction with pcs come to life... Wow!

Frustrated Total Internal Reflection (FTIR): "FTIR is one of those science abbreviations that doesn't really convey what it's about, but it turns out to be very interesting. FTIR stands for Frustrated Total Internal Reflection and it's a touch-sensing technique used in biometric applications like fingerprint image acquisition.In this case, we learned that FTIR technology is being used to develop multi-touch interaction with a graphical display system. Touch-screen systems we've seen pretty much only allow you to point and tap with a single finger or stylus to do something. But multi-touch interaction allows the user to use more than one finger at a time so that a user could use several fingers on one hand or even multiple fingers using both hands!Jefferson Han, at the Media Research Laboratory in New York University's Department of Computer Science has a page which illustrates the FTIR technique and another page with demo images and video of FTIR displays and applications in action. Very cool stuff. This reminds me of some of the user interface concepts we saw in the 2002 movie Minority Report. I wonder how long it will take for this technology to reach consumers. I'm ready now!"

Flexible OLED display prototype demonstrated

The Future goes TRIZ: Another step towards flexible displays.

Flexible OLED display prototype demonstrated: "Filed under: Displays The field of thin, rollable displays just got a little more crowded with the demonstration of a flexible OLED display by Universal Display Corp. According to the company, its 4-inch prototype display is based on flexible metal foil and is just 0.1mm thick; a comparable glass display would be at least 1 mm. The display is capable of displaying full motion video at a resolution of 100 dpi. Universal Display's research has been funded in part by the US Department of Defense, and prototype displays have been provided to military research labs.[Via the Inquirer] Read Permalink Email this Linking Blogs Comments "

USB cuff links

Add additional functionality to an existing system increases ideality! There was a bracelet-style usb-memory as well :-)

USB cuff links: "Filed under: Wireless You'll want to take a peek Tonia Welter's USB cuff links not only because we here at Engadget encourage you to get a little dandy from time to time, but because this is the timeless kind of gadget you can actually pass down to your son or son-in-law on their wedding day without looking like a complete oldster (assuming, of course, USB is still around -- but these cuff links aren't new, from what we can tell). We don't actually know if these things have any memory or wireless capabilities or useful functions outside their holding those French-cuffed shirts of yours in place (you do have some French-cuffed shits, right?), but since you can get USB memory in just about every other form under the sun, we think we'll just revel in their prodigality and leave it at that.[Via Techie Diva] Read Permalink Email this Linking Blogs Comments "

I-O Data's DVR-UW8DP dual DVD burner copies discs without a PC

Another self-sufficient system, they simply trimmed the PC! Cool!

I-O Data's DVR-UW8DP dual DVD burner copies discs without a PC: "Filed under: Peripherals We thought we got away from the old disc-swapping shuffle when we graduated from floppy drives decades ago. But duping CDs and DVDs often involves a painful back-and-forth, or at the very least, dumping tons of files on your hard drive as an interim step. Fortunately, I-O Data seems to have a good solution: the DVR-UW8DP, a dual DVD burner that works with our without a PC, which will be available in Japan next month for ¥53,000 ($448). Without a PC, using it is as simple as putting a CD or DVD with data on it into one slot and a blank into another, and pressing one button. When connected to a PC via USB, it's a double drive that can be used to both play and burn discs. And, just in case you were wondering, no, it can't dupe protected commercial DVDs ... at least not without a little help.[Via Akihabara News] Read Permalink Email this Linking Blogs Comments "

Japan's "real" 3D image projector

A basic evolutionary trend for technical systems: transition from 1D to 2D to 3D. Here's one more step to a real 3D image!! Great idea!

Japan's "real" 3D image projector: "Filed under: Displays, Misc. Gadgets A new device developed by Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology uses lasers to project 'real' 3D images into the ether. A special projector can cast three-dimensional shapes of white light between 2 and 3-meters into the air -- previous devices only tricked the eyes into thinking the image was 3D. The images are created by blasting the nitrogen and oxygen in the air at fixed points resulting in glowing plasma emissions which hang-out just long enough to etch an ephemeral image. The 3D images are, gulp, accompanied by a series of satisfying 'tiny explosions' from the expanding air. With improved lasers, scientists say they'll be capable of projecting images at greater distances with more color variation making the device suitable for pyrotechnics or outdoor advertising. Sure that can, but we also hope to see 3D replacements to those child-hating balloons at the Macy's parade -- complete with what must be massive explosions at that scale to drown out any obligatory marching band shrill. Then we might actually pay attention. [Via Pink Tentacle, Thanks Ed] Read Permalink Email this Linking Blogs Comments "

SolidAlliance's iCool scented MP3 player

And again, an additional field "smell" is added!

SolidAlliance's iCool scented MP3 player: "Filed under: Portable Audio Leave it to SolidAlliance to develop the iCool (no, not that iCool). The same kids we awarded with the weirdest gadget from 2005 now bring us this mis-named MP3 player sportin' 256MB of internal memory and SD slot that, well, also smells like chocolate, roses, lemon, strawberry, raspberry or blueberry. What, 'iSmell' not polite enough?[Via Akihabara News] Permalink Email this Linking Blogs Comments "

Scented Phones

Introducing an additional field :-)

Scented Phones: " Iconoculture: Your phone is reeking. Japan’s Keitai KunKun smelltones release subtle (yet unmistakable) aromas like Berry and Wild Nature. There’s even a special blend for Hello Kitty. The smelly celly accessories are triggered by the signal of an incoming call, e-mail, or text message. Keitai KunKun isn’t the only tech company following its nose: Singapore’s Nice Smell Kaori-chan Perfume Straps for cellphones emit sweet (and savory) scents like Jasmine, Curry, and English Tea with every ring. Japan’s Keitai KunKun offers smelltones for cellphones [Iconoculture]"

The Displax Interactive Window

Interactive Displays! Reminds me of the trend tt increased dynamization!

The Displax Interactive Window: " Displax.com: Displax® projects itself in a transparent, holographic display, with high definition, visible at daylight, captures the customers attention, bonds with the reality of the business of any kind of organization and has customized sizes, witch allows its placement in window stores of banks or telecommunications store, with the certainty that, whoever passes by, will not be indifferent to it. It has a great impact! Displax® - Interactive window will be released in three versions. Displax® Interactive is the solution that allows people to interact with a projected multimedia application, just pressing the display with a finger. Displax® - Network allows managing displays placed in any location of the world, in a remote and central way. Displax® - Show allows you to present, in an innovative way, the products in a display, set in a window-store or inside the shop. Who can use Displax® - Interactive window ? Banks, Car Show-Rooms, Telecommunications, Shopping Centers, Fairs and Exhibits, Travel Agencies, Museums, Theatres… Displax.com"

Aged Wines in Few Seconds

Not for everybody, but nevertheless interesting:
Aged Wines in Few Seconds: "Mainichi: Aging is the name of the game when it comes to fine wine. Top producers mature their brews in oak barrels; connoisseurs will keep a bottle in the cellar for years so they can savor the complex bouquet at its peak. For Hiroshi Tanaka, all that waiting is just a waste of time -- and he says he's got the machinery to prove it. 'We can now electrolyze young wine and ship bottles of fine wine out in no time at all,' declared Tanaka, president of Japanese startup Innovative Design and Technology Inc., which runs a small laboratory in Hamamatsu, west of Tokyo. 'Think of the savings we'll make. Shorter production time, no need for storage, no need to invest in barrels,' he said. The company is in talks with wineries in California and Washington state to start providing its U.S. affiliate, BW2 Holdings, with young wine to treat and sell, Tanaka said. BW2 hopes to sell the bottles on the Internet later this year for an affordable US$5. Bordeaux Beware! [Mainichi]"

Moody Player

One more step towards the "Ideality Approach" to things: A media player that senses the user's mood. Cool.
Moody Player: " The Uber-Review: Walt Disney is working on a multimedia player that selects songs based on the owner's latest mood via wrist sensors. The sensors, measure and collects body temperature, perspiration and pulse rate to build a profile of what music or video to play. Based on the profile, the device comes up a song or video to match the mood. If nothing is available in your media library to match your mood the player can download something new to do the trick. Using Tivo-esque qualities, the player will get better at matching media with the owner's mood based on rejection or approval of the selections. Now for the quintessential Disney portion of the player, 'the device could display animated cartoons when the owner is particularly happy'. The Disney Mood Player, Plays Songs Or Videos Based On Your Mood [The Uber-Review]"