Hot Commodity

You already know how much I love lists, so here goes…

Some of these are far more feasible than others… some are straight up crazy. A couple are my own ideas and others are ideas I’ve discussed with friends or colleagues. You may find yourself laughing about, scoffing at, or even identifying with the need for some of these innovations, but regardless of how you react to the individual ideas I hope that, at the very least, you find it stimulating. In no particular order…

1)      Sensitive Thermostat: No I don’t want my thermostat to cry when it’s sad or smile when it’s happy, but rather to adjust according to bodies in the room instead of some preset temperature. Often when I’m caught up in an activity or busy thinking about something else, I’ll go several minutes without realizing I’m uncomfortable (either too hot or too cold)… plus, getting up and changing the temperature on the thermostat is a pain… especially in the middle of the night. I’m sure there is some technology out there that has the potential to use pulse/ heartbeats, or sense goose bumps/ overactive sweat glands, and adjust the temperature accordingly.

2)      Sleep Storage: We’ve all had those weeks where we just wish we could squeeze in a couple more hours of sleep. How amazing would it be to be able to capture “excess sleep” for use in “times of need”. There are all kinds of problems with this, not the least of which is that I have no idea how it would possibly be done. Plus, I can only begin to imagine all the ways this technology could be used for “evil” and the several court cases that might arise as a result. Nevertheless, it’s fun to think about!

3)      Brainshots: Speaking of sleep, I somehow I always find myself being most creative right before I go to bed. When I have an essay to write, the perfect sentences come to me right before I fall asleep but the thought flow is constantly interrupted by my efforts to commit the ideas to memory, and yet I inevitably will forget them in the morning. If there was a way to take “screenshots” of my ideas/thoughts from when I get in bed to the time I fall asleep it would be phenomenal. There are already ways to covert audio into documents, perhaps someone will figure out how to covert brainwaves too…?

4)      Virtual Fitting Rooms: Whether you’re lazy or always running short on time, trying on clothes in the fitting room of a store is annoying. Sometimes I’ll see something I like after leaving the fitting room and won’t buy it just because I’m too lazy to go back and try it on. If instead of fitting rooms stores had booths where you could scan the items you want to “try on” into a machine (much like the ones at Walmart that tell you product prices) that then also quickly scanned your body to create images of you in each piece of clothing, it’d be great. The 2.0 version of this would of course allow you to send the images to friends or family via email or a new social network to get their opinions of the outfit

I’ve broken the golden rule of only writing lists in round numbers, so there may be a part 2 at a later date. And for those of you that now think I’m insane let me share with you a quote by Arthur C. Clarke, a famous British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist who passed away earlier this year:

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Have your own crazy invention ideas? Feel free to share.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 5th, 2008 at 5:07 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.