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Invention

The-Saint

Asked by The-Saint over 2 years ago for 5 kudos
Best answer by Eltanin
Last active over 2 years ago 6 responses

If you could invent something REALLY REALLY helpful to man/womankind, what would it be?

Following a VERY unfortunate incident a few years ago, I definitely wish I had invented a mobile phone with a breathalyser attachment, which would have stopped me sending someone an entirely inappropriate text whilst under the affluence of incahol.

Any more chaps and chapesses??

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6 responses

Eltanin

Happily someone at LG must’ve had a similar incident a couple of years back:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=2125709

I always fancied a cold pill. Drop it in your drink, it bubbles a bit and a few seconds later the drink’s twenty degrees colder. Tricky to find two chemicals that react to form nothing but a tasteless non-toxic insoluble gas that’s lighter than air, though. Bah. Years of warm drinks loom ahead…

Posted over 2 years ago by Eltanin

BoutrosBoutrosBoutros

Liquid nitrogen would do it. I usually have some on me.

Posted over 2 years ago by BoutrosBoutrosBoutros

pottytime

Actually, a cold pill would be brilliant. Only not the sort of cold pill you’re thinking about. I’m thinking more of something you could take on your way into work which suddenly gives you all the symptoms of a really bad cold. When you got to work you’d get all the kudos of dragging yourself in and then be sent home again. By which time the pill would have worn off and you’d have the rest of the day in healthy happiness!

Posted over 2 years ago by pottytime

BraveNewMalden

You know those giant skips you find at construction sites? Not the ones outside people’s homes, but the stretched ones that look like WW2 landing craft. With the downturn in the building industry some of these could be cleaned out then taken to housing estates in deprived areas during warm spells. Once offloaded from the truck, they’d be filled with water and hey presto! An excellent swimming pool right on their doorstep. You’d have to put some ladders up the side and hook another one over the edge for people to get out again. A nearby dumpster or first floor balcony could serve as a makeshift diving board. There might be a few injuries and maybe the odd drowning, but what’s that when set against the bigger picture of happy kids enjoying the sensation of swimming in cool, deep water, perhaps for the first time in their lives?

Posted over 2 years ago by BraveNewMalden

TerryB

Sod all that. When I was at school I invented Pop-Choc. A chocolate bar with popcorn in it. A world first as far as my research has shown (I have not done any research).

Posted over 2 years ago by TerryB

Jingle

Over the past 24 hours, two ideas have started to crystalise in my mind: 1) Coffee splutter-proofing for screens and keyboards – I’m thinking something along the lines of a face-long visor (like the ones they give you with your ear-protectors when being issued with chainsaws – you can fit your hand/mug underneath them, but the coffee would never reach the keyboard in case of unexpected exhalation)

2) 3D typography for the internets mk3: An alternative to smilies with which to imbue intonation into otherwise 2D text. Would run the risk of ruining a lot of innuendo, but also save a lot of guesswork. I read something somewhere along the lines of dyslexics may actually see text in 3D – i.e. they’re actually getting a lot more information off the page – but that may be rubbish). Anyway, something like that – where you could automatically get a sense of depth and/or colour to match inflexion in speech: More sophisticated, effective communication, less dumbing down to match the limitations of the technology.

Oh, and I’ve just thought of a #3: An evolution of #2 that would automatically parse my paragraphs of rambling into concise bullet points that meant exactly what I intended. Actually, scratch that: could be dangerous.

Oh, and BNM – did you see that skip re-purposing thing? I’m sure that was on here at some point…I’ll have a trawl when I can.

Posted over 2 years ago by Jingle