Sunday, 19 September 2010

Caffeine, but without the addiction

Are there any chemicals with beneficial psycoactive properties that the body does not get used to, resulting in dependency and higher dose to achieve the same effect?

Wednesday, 15 September 2010


Adulthood is about putting right all the wrongs of your childhood.

Automated paper shredder briquette maker

I want an automated paper shredder briquette maker. Auto-document feed at one end that can be loaded with confidential paper. Compressed paper briquettes for the wood burning stove coming out of the other end. Eco, but automated.

Monday, 13 September 2010

Vacuum capsule

Helium balloons work because helium is less dense than air. It seems to me that a vacuum is even less dense than helium. Is it possible to create a capsule light enough to be lifted by the buoyancy of the vacuum in it and strong enough to withstand that vacuum?

Retractable lens covers for binoculars

It drives me up the wall having to take four lens caps off binoculars every time I use them. I wonder whether it is possible to have a mechanical system that retracts (or otherwise moves) the lens covers when you hold down a button on the top of the binoculars.

Test the kids labels

I saw a role of cling film the other day and it said it was 50m long by 300mm wide. I tried to calculate the area of cling film in my head. The answer is of course 15m2. But I thought "wouldn't it be great if whilst you were out shopping, or when using products around the house, you could have ready-prepared questions to ask the kids about the products they (or you) are using". These would be part of the label for the product. Almost all products have weights and measurements, which lend themselves very well to testing kids maths. Another example that springs to mind is "this carton contains 1l of milk. If Billy has 200ml twice, and Jane has 75ml three times, how much milk is left".

I think such a series of labels would be a very successful PR exercise for supermarkets own brands.

Obviously, the labels would need to have the answers too, for those adults whose confidence in their mathematical ability is weaker.

Saturday, 4 September 2010

Consumer technology: driven by technology?

Is the consumer technology market driven by technological innovation or consumer demand?

Obviously sales cannot be made without consumer demand, however companies are skilled at creating demand, making consumers want products that they mightn't otherwise want. So the question is: do comsumer technology companies make products to meet demand, or do they make products that they can make, and then shape consumer demand.

Consumer demand

There are many consumer technology products that consumers want, but that technology cannot currently (or ever) provide. For example, consumers want teleportation (safety concerns aside). Why do consumers want teleportation? Because they want travel to be more convenient, faster.

The same is true of more realisable technological advances: consumers want computers that are quicker, that start up quicker, that download information from the internet quicker. They want portable devices that have longer battery lives.

So what do consumers want? A few:

  • Save time
  • Save effort
  • Save money
  • Status
  • Reduce risk to friends, family, property
Is there a complete list somewhere of all the (types of) things consumers want?

In summary: there is always consumer demand for the benefit given by a product (or product feature), but not necessarily demand for the specific mechanism by which that demand is met.

Blog, website backup

I want a piece of software that automatically backs up my blogs, websites, etc at regular intervals to my local computer (or local network attached storage).

Journalism exclusivity protection

I feel the quality of journalism in the current news media falls below that standard that I would like. In particular, there is insufficient focus on investigative journalism. I don't believe the poor quality of journalism reflects the lack of intelligence or hard work of the journalists, but rather the economics of providing news. Investigative journalism costs money and doesn't generate sufficient impact to circulation. I wonder whether it would be possible to protect the exclusivity of a story in law (say for about a week) such that readers would be forced to buy the particular news service, rather than picking up the story second hand from their regular news service. This would make investigative journalism more economically viable.

Freezing to stop bleeding?

I was thinking the other day about how to stop bleeding from major injuries. I remember hearing that super glue is used, but I can't see how this would work if the blood is pouring out. I wonder what the impact of pouring on a very cool liquid (e.g. liquid nitrogen) would be. Would it freeze the wound, stopping bleeding for long enough to allow a clot to form? Or perhaps the combination of a very cool liquid and then super glue would work, the cool liquid slowing the flow enough for the super glue to work?