Top 10 Strangest Gadgets of the Future 174
Anonymous Cow writes "This week, the editors of TechEBlog have compiled a list of the 'Top 10 Strangest Gadgets of the Future,' from solar powered LEDs to memory LCD screens, it's all there." Urinal gaming stations! How did no one implement this sooner?
I once had one of those ... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I once had one of those ... (Score:2)
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGuBx6Xj-PE [youtube.com]
This technology isn't even new (Score:2)
http://www.fujitsu.com/global/news/pr/archives/mo
Re:This technology isn't even new (Score:3, Insightful)
Neither are the shoes that light up when you step down - they've had them in Wallyworld for $14.99 for a couple of years
And half the stuff isn't even at the prototype stage, like the origami screen - its just a "wouldn't this be neet".
Re:This technology isn't even new (Score:2)
Re:This technology isn't even new (Score:2)
Speaking of assumptions ...
4 points:
Re:I once had one of those ... (Score:3, Funny)
I think it was called a 'picture'. ;)
Re:I once had one of those ... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I once had one of those ... (Score:2)
Chocolate teapots ... little old ladies will buy ANYTHING mail-order, if you say "... and this week, we'll throw in a subscription to Chocolate Teapot Lovers Magazine as a special bonus".
I have a friend who bought a chocolate Monopoly game. We've eaten most of the hotels and houses.
Re:I once had one of those ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Do you really need a watch that displays the time down to the nanosecond? I didn't think so. The display would change every second, and the display would not require power between updates. Let's take the worst case you're probably about to bring up: chronograph. The stopwatch feature of most watches resolves to the nearest hundredth of a second. This still isn't a problem; see, your LCD watch probably has a 15ms-20ms response time, so you really don't get an accurate reading until you stop the count, and honestly, you can't even read beyond the tenth of the second while the display is updating because a) the LCD for the hundredths place is really just a blur due to response time and b) persistance of vision. A watch would be an ideal application for e-ink or static display technologies. heck, It would be great for my watch because I keep only the date displayed on the LCD (it's a combination analog/digital flight computer) and turn the rest off because I like the blacked-out look (it's less geeky/more dressy, as far as chunky watches go anyhow).
It's no worse than a quartz watch with a sweep hand; the hands don't update all the time; every few seconds for the minute hand (if it steps several times between each minute) or once a minute (if it steps a full minute), and once a second for the second hand (disregard Rolex's sweep second hand here; we're talking quartz watches, not mechanical). Every second the watch displays what the time WAS. Even if the watch could display down to the nanosecond, it would still be displaying a snapshot of the time a nanosecond (or so) prior. Even if you had an atomic clock with the highest possible resolution, it would be reporting what the time was not what it is. Welcome to the confines of four dimensions!
BTW why the hell am I responding to a troll?
Re:I once had one of those ... (Score:5, Funny)
You must be new here.
Of course, I need a watch that displays time to the nanosecond and wirelessly updates itself via the NIST Atomic Clock. It should also be able to play music and operate as a cell-phone/video phone.
Turn in your geek license at the door on the way out...
What law says you can't mix 'n match anyhow? (Score:2)
Re:I once had one of those ... (Score:2)
I might be wrong but I think the idea is power savings. The watch runs internally but only has to display the time (update) once a minute (if only hours/minutes) or once a second (if a "normal" watch).
Another application in a normal digital watch w
Re:I once had one of those ... (Score:2)
Yup. There are many uses (think of public displays that change less than once per hour), but the thin the greatparent argued against were watches - those just don't profit from this that much. Usualy it's better to have the watch display nothing at all than to have it display a wrong time.
Re:I once had one of those ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Unless you're going to wind it up every day, you're still going to need the power suply to be on constantly to run the internal clock.
The way to save energy would be to have the battery run the internal clock, then once a second update the display - but we already have those types of watches - they have things called "hands" that move once a second. $6.99, batteries included :-)
Actually... (Score:2)
However, in a regular watch it seems pointless, since the cells used typically last 3-5 years before needing replacement. Maybe as watches gain more functions (cameras, radios, cell phones, remotes, calculators - all of that wrapped in one - probably already exist somewhere - I k
Re:Actually... (Score:2)
They're called "self-winding watches", and they've been around for decades :-)
http://www.nextag.com/Watches--a-Watch+Features-_- Self-Winding--zz2702409zB4z5---html [nextag.com]
How they work:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/question285.htm [howstuffworks.com]
(includes link to video)
Re:I once had one of those ... (Score:5, Funny)
I wonder if it has to be turned over and shaken to clear the screen?
LEDs to LCDs? WOW (Score:5, Funny)
What a spectrum, it's a veritable A to B of things, it boggles the mind. Like the Simpsons quote: "... and these manned orbits will answer questions that have limitless application, from watch making to watch repair."
What I want (Score:2)
Could somebody please hurry up and invent the thing for me?
Re:What I want (Score:2)
All Terrain Board (Score:4, Funny)
The self cooling beer can seems just plain wasteful. I'd rather they filled the space that the cooling mech uses with more beer. And I don't get the urinal thing at all, probably be quite fun after a few cans of nice cool beer though.
Re:All Terrain Board (Score:2)
well, you won't be able to ride it arund here without a license - at 80cc, its over the 49cc limit for unlicensed vehicles and unlicensed drivers.
This is just a rehash of the guy who put a chainsaw motor on his skateboard ...
Re:All Terrain Board (Score:2)
Re:All Terrain Board (Score:2)
Urinal gaming station (Score:3, Informative)
Only if awesome == craptacular (Score:4, Interesting)
No speed == no air. No boarder is going to want these things unless they either seriously beef up th ehorsepower somehow, or allow manual foot intervention to speed them up just before the ramping begins. Otherwise it's just a glorified pre-teen mini-scooter.
Re:All Terrain Board (Score:2, Funny)
Re:All Terrain Board (Score:3, Funny)
-matthew
Re:All Terrain Board (Score:2)
Re:All Terrain Board (Score:2)
Of course, real men don't drink beer from cans nor do they drink beer that needs to be that cold, so it was of little use to me.
-matthew
Re:All Terrain Board (Score:2)
I dunno. I was thinking it looked a little slow. I mean, they had the fast paced music and all and tried to make it seem "Xtreme" as if they were showing clips from the X-Games, but it was going like 7mph or something. And THEN they showed it in slow motion as if the board wasn't going slow enough already!
-matthew
Urinal gaming stations! (Score:5, Funny)
This is clearly a plot to improve our aim.
Re:Urinal gaming stations! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Urinal gaming stations! (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, they already did [mit.edu], four years ago at Ye Olde MIT Media Lab. Check out the videos.
Re:Urinal gaming stations! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Urinal gaming stations! (Score:2)
>> Urinal gaming stations
This is clearly a plot to improve our aim.
You ladies really are in desperate need of improvement.
More urinal gaming stations! (Score:2)
Due to the upcoming football World Championships it had been fitted with a small goal and ball on a string...
Slightly less interactive were the urinals at the Aberdeen (Scotland) Paramount pub, some ten years ago they had TV's behind a perspexs screen. Presumably to piss off the other team :)
Wii (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Urinal gaming stations! (Score:3, Funny)
I'm waiting for their toilet-mounted model so I can play Katamari Damacy.
Re:Urinal gaming stations! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Urinal gaming stations! (Score:2)
Sounds weird I know, I wouldn't beleive it either. But video games? Come on!
Re:Urinal gaming stations! (Score:2)
Re:Urinal gaming stations! (Score:3, Funny)
Pot to piss in... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Pot to piss in... (Score:3, Insightful)
Airports? Maybe. Schools? Are you kidding? With the way educational budgets are shrinking, the schools of the future will be lucky if they have anything more than a trench dug outside where the science lab used to be.
Re:Pot to piss in... (Score:5, Interesting)
Knowing my kids, this would hardly be used to improve hygene. When they run out of proper game tokens, they will move on to other things to continue the game such as fingers. Somehow having the kids play games with the touch screen in a urnal does not seem like a way to improve hygene.
Re:Pot to piss in... (Score:2)
It does seem to save on cleaning.
Transparent Toaster? (Score:4, Funny)
Old... (Score:2)
Its the perfect toaster for you then! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Its the perfect toaster for you then! (Score:2)
This toaster sounds perfect. I remove one of the glass plates and put the thing on the side. Then I can use the remaining
virtusphere looks quite fun (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe if they could make the "sphere" the actual projection screen, mount it on something mobile and maybe have some kind of force feedback bodysuit? Hmm, I feel a patent looming.
And the heliodisplay is completely cool, a volume projecting version would be even cooler.
Re:virtusphere looks quite fun (Score:2)
I was thinking to myself about how it would make for a good WWII Online or Red Orchestra addition since those games don't use a great deal of jumping and falling (usually falls result in death anyways).
Re:virtusphere looks quite fun (Score:2)
Okay, that wasn't my first thought. My first thought was how much it looked like the hamster ball my gerbil used to have.
Solar LED light could actually be useful (Score:3, Interesting)
three quick alternatives (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Solar LED light could actually be useful (Score:3, Informative)
The only way those things work is by having a *seriously* powerful magnet in them. A big powerful magnet near my extraordinarily-subtle-interplay-of-magnetic-forc
Re:Solar LED light could actually be useful (Score:2)
Re:Solar LED light could actually be useful (Score:2)
Re:Solar LED light could actually be useful (Score:2)
1) To be very close - ie pull the drive apart and rub a magnet on the platter
2) Have an insanely strong magnet - can someone lend me an MRI machine?
Where's the flying car? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Where's the flying car? (Score:2)
Re:Where's the flying car? (Score:2)
I would add, however, that it has been beaten to the market by a few years by the wheelman [wheelman.com.au], a kick-ass austrailian motorcycle board where you stand inside the wheels.
Missing item (Score:3, Funny)
Not so (Score:5, Funny)
Once everyone and his brother can create a score of nude virgins in an afternoon, then we won't have any further inventions.
Re:Not so (Score:2)
Re:Not so (Score:2)
I think the GP had it right the first time. When everyone can live their wildest fantasy, there won't be any more inventions...
Re:Not so (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Not so (Score:2)
Memory LCD's ... (Score:2)
Re:Memory LCD's or Paper (Score:2)
Urinal game? (Score:4, Funny)
When you lose, I guess it would be too embarrassing to complain about the 'controller' being the problem.
No not really, same problem as the original x-box (Score:4, Funny)
Re:No not really, same problem as the original x-b (Score:2)
Analog urinal game (Score:4, Funny)
Oh, god. (Score:4, Funny)
"As a product, it would target the business traveler who wants a convenient way to watch DVD movies."
Play Urinal Football Now! (Score:3, Funny)
Anyone been to Karlsruhe in Germany lately? In one of the big stores they are celebrating the World Cup with penalty shots in the urinals.
Sadly no German keeper though..
http://www.wee-goal.com/ [wee-goal.com]
Memory LCD - ebook (Score:2)
Re:Memory LCD - ebook (Score:2)
Re:Memory LCD - ebook (Score:3, Insightful)
DRM and eBooks (Score:2)
Microsoft Reader was one of the things that Microsoft was hyping to us Palm users as a killer feature of the Pocket PC over the Palm.
The problem was that the DRM in Microsoft Reader was really annoying, and the user interface was trying to emulate a paper book on a tiny screen.
And where there are DRM-protected and unprotected versions of the same books, the unprotected ones cost under $5 and the protected ones cost around $20. It makes the choice really easy...
http://fictionwise.com/ [fictionwise.com]
http://webscrip [webscriptions.net]
Re:DRM and eBooks (Score:2)
Still, e-boook readers (with big screens) are pretty much dead. That's sad.
I really wanted one that could double as a printer (attach to the computer - usb or wireless - print to it and, maybe later, attach to printer and produce hard-copy). Can't be that hard.
Re:DRM and eBooks (Score:2)
I want to separate the screen from my data. I just want the screen to be something between a web browser and an X terminal... but a browser model would work... that accesses my data in a repository that isn't tied to any screen.
Let me stick the smarts in a keychain fob, or a credit-card PDA, or a full-sized PDA, or a smart card, something that I can pull out of... or disconnect from... the big eBook screen and use my cellphone, or a PDA-sized screen, or a full
Not entirely new (Score:5, Interesting)
A cardboard forerunner of the urinal game, called Whizzers, was marketed in the 70s.
rj
The future is clear (Score:2)
Heliodisplay (Score:2)
It's not as great as people are lead to think. Ya, it's cool but it projects on to a self generated mist. Air waves disrupt it (like people walking by) and sunlight renders it hard to see.
Super cool in concept but it's not ideal for all situations.
Great top 10 !!! (Score:2, Interesting)
10) Citizen's Memory LCD
"that retains the image even when turned off." and "Practical applications would include watches" That would be very useful for watches. It would always be 5 oclock PM friday as long as it is turned off. Practical.
9) EyeMove PC
Wow they found something even more annoying than cell phone in public transport.
8) Scarpar - The All-Terrain Motorized Board
Th
Re:Great top 10 !!! (Score:2)
It would be useful for watches because you'd only have to provide power to the display once a minute (when you needed to update it). The benefit would be much longer battery life.
Re:Great top 10 !!! (Score:2, Interesting)
You're like the 10th person I've seen make a lame comment on entry 10. I can't take it anymore, and have to respond.
Please think before typing. Right now an LCD watch display is almost always on and updating. Updating many many times per second. Assume, for the sake
Re:Great top 10 !!! (Score:4, Funny)
This is, by far, the most surreal sentence I have ever read.
Solar powered LED lights are available (Score:2)
No word yet on pricing and availability.
I've seen these in the catalogs for REI, LL Bean, Campmor and a few other vendors. They cost $10-20. I don't see them in the online stores--- just the paper catalogs. I wonder if supply of these is limited.
Re:Solar powered LED lights are available (Score:2)
Thanks for pointing that out. The Berkeleypoint store looks pretty cool, and they're less then a mile from my house! Never heard of them before.
Intelligent Spoon (Score:2)
I've had a gadget that does this for about 22 years.
I call it the tounge (patent pending)
Memory LCD is over twelve years old! (Score:2)
Check out Kent Displays [kentdisplays.com]. It was spun off in 1993 from a project at Kent State University.
I wonder why it never took off.
A plethura of bad ideas (Score:2)
10. Semi-permanent LCD. Sounds like e-paper / e-ink [eink.com] (or here [gizmodo.com]) to me.
9. Eye-move pc. All the projectors I've seen get pretty toasty, which translates to power usage. In a battery powered device this small (what kind of batteries?), I would think the projected display would be either too small or too dim for use by actual humans for any length of time. This feels like one of those ideas that's waiting for a miraculous invention (by someone else) to appear.
8. Flash required. The future
Re:A plethura of bad ideas (Score:2)
Followed by:
All I really need is [...] my expresso [sic] setup.
Irony. It's what's for breakfast.
Re:Hilarious! Worst music videos ever. (Score:2)
Most of these gadgets feel like this elektronik-supersonik [blogspot.com] to me.
Re:Future? They've been around for years (Score:2)
Anyhow, I did have a problem when I first moved into my house that I solved with one of these cheap lights. Ordering a pizza for delivery invariably had the driver calling the house to have me or someone else stand out in the driveway so they knew where to deliver the thing. We had numbers on the house, but they weren't well lit at night, and running an
Re:#1 strangest gadget (Score:2)