Medical

I was just reading about the prize for the inventing the tricorder which reminded me of medical inventions that I can’t remember if they exist in reality or just my head.

The tricorder would be good in that it can be set up in booths in public such as shopping centres (or perhaps night clubs if it does STIs too – you could provide patrons with ‘clean’ bands!)

What I’ve not seen is the device like an airport scanner but with a mapping laser and camera takes a 3D&HD all over body image (yeah, you have to be naked) which can be done on a regular basis to detect changes and computer analysed  for things like cancerous moles & other stuff – I’m sure that exists?

After they are about then there needs to be something where you lie face down in special goo which can make an firmness map that can’t be done with a laser which can both aid with healthy living but also perhaps check for odd lumps.

These body maps can then be sold on to niche fetish sites to make some money back for the NHS. (not really!)

..and whilst were on the subject of boobs (well, nearly) why don’t they put lots of thin silicone strands on to implants which can be fed under the top layer of skin (using a needle on the end inside and a magnet outside) up and over the shoulders to create an internal bra type thing to prevent skin stretching/droopage?

Hob Nob Cereal. Tube Laser Projector. Firework App

My last post a few hours ago reminded me that I’d made a note in my phone of things to remember – The Title of the post is the message.

(I thought of something else yesterday that was amazing but forgot now)

HobNob Cereal  There was an advert on the other day and I thought it was going to be for this – turns out it wasn’t and I was disappointed.

Tube Laser Projector  on the edges of the trains it should project things onto the walls of the tube. This can be information or adverts or both.
Now it could be that the wall is too lumpy for it to be readable, but then another laser can be put in front to ‘read’ the bumps and tell where to project for it to work.

Firework App I don’t know. How am I supposed to remember what I mean?! oh. I remember.
This one is for the 2012 Olympics – In China they had lots of fireworks co-ordinated across the city.
This would be difficult to do here but we can use distributed people power to create an even better effect.
People buy a special dongle for their iphone/android/nokia and a few fireworks each.  Each firework can have a dirt-cheap connector to the dongle.
An app is then created utilising the GPS and net connection  to co-ordinate detonation in a pattern.. perhaps the olympic rings 100miles wide –  or a giant ripple coming out from East London.
Co-ordinate it for when the ISS is going overhead and it can be filmed from space.

These dongles can then be re-used for other fireworks nights perhaps co-0rdinating with music coming in the FM radio to create a co-ordinated display over a village/town seeing as these displays are getting fewer ‘cos of Elfen Safety

Damn kid stole my phone/doorbell idea

Not sure if I blogged this one – chances are I didn’t but some kid has nicked it anyway.

My idea was that the intercom in my block of flats should be connected to skype (so you can forward to your phone etc. if you’re not in or don’t hear the ringer, or use your PC for video)

… and now there’s some kid on the BBC London News who has done a cut down version for private houses where it just calls you using the phone.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13683578

Lambing Live and Low Power Bluetooth

Watching Lambing live on the telly now I’m struck with how many ways inventions could make things better.

It also makes me think of many things that people may think of but would actually make things worse… when we’re talking about highly skilled farmers and their animals, they are often much better at many tasks than tech can hope to be and I hope I don’t stray into this category there.

My idea for this evening was that the tags on the sheep should all have a low power bluetooth transmitter in them.

Then when the sheep are led to graze on common land, 1 in say 100 sheep can be fitted with a receiver (or all the farmers can co-op to buy receivers for some trees) which can then let them know where most of the sheep are or have been… either with a built in mobile phone style device or as mobile signal will be limited, with a certain amount of memory which is later downloaded, or a bit of both.
The farmers can have NFC receivers on their phones so when traveling on their quads to herd the sheep, they know which sheep are in range and can also tell the sheep’s history.
The sorting process can then be mostly automated too with a sensor in the gate.

If there are many receiver sheep in the area, a lot of sheep movements can then be triangulated and look for problems… Although I think this is byproduct information that may or may not be that useful

Tups can also be fitted with  a receiver and um.. motion sensor which can then log what actions with which sheep.

Lambing Live is on the BBC all week so I’m sure I’ll be thinking of something else before the week is through.

Quick unrelated note: Auto-updating has just gone live on http://eb.am which is great fun!

Transport For London

again another post on transport, sorry about that.

My Solution for TFL:

Apart from the obvious things like removing traffic lights & implementing an AI system for the rest, turning left on red, or use of flashing amber, and the other things I’ve thought of like putting car/motorbike trains through crossrail and having baggage/check in/out on the HS train to Boris island airport (which can serve ekraoplanes, airships and electric shuttle planes to UK destinations so HS2 isn’t needed), here are a few technological ideas:

Buses:
These should all be retrofitted with a device which stalls them at bus stops, junctions and traffic lights etc. Using the battery to restart them is too slow so it should use compressed air which is either generated from the engine or the brakes… a bit like a reverse supercharger.
This would reduce fuel use, improve the air and improve the comfort for passengers. As they already have some sort of compressed air system it shouldn’t be too hard to fit onto existing engines.

Taxis:
These should be assisted to go electric as it’s ideal for their slow speed and continual stop/starting. A standard battery swapping format should be developed and then permission be given for lots of swapping stations (perhaps built into the road at traffic lights). The batteries can be charged at low cost times and charged on account (each taxi can have a tag as it goes through the swapping process to work out the charge)
The result will be lower taxi fares and better air.

Tubes:
For added speed  and comfort, grooves should be put in the ceiling of the tunnel and rubber tyres attached to the roofs of tube trains on scissor suspension. Probably best for the Victoria line as that is always in tunnel.

Braking assistance should be given at stations by hydraulic pistons which raise a large weight in a cylindrical column – this weight can then be used to give the train a shove to help it overcome inertia.

Moving walkways should be put between stations that are close together in central London, but make them enclosed and the walls move too, so you can put them in sections that slowly get faster and faster compared to the ground speed, but feels like a normal pace. Trains at non-peak times can then miss out some stations provided for by these walkways which will decrease journey times.

Electric Scooters/Segways etc: Sort out the law so they’re allowed or at least we know where they are permitted… Perhaps a smaller battery swapping scheme for these would also be good.

 

Search for London Stuff

Reality

Gonna comment on the Horizon prog that was on today on about reality, just so I’ve got a log of what I’m thinking – A physics person will either know or be able to disprove me already.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xxgbn

Anyways… That quantum slot experiment.

1 particle appears to have an interference pattern.
… but not if it’s detected prior to going through the slots.

So thinking of the diverging universe theory (“parallel universes”) .. in the first case, the universe didn’t split – or rather it did and so the particles went through a slot each but because the universes were exactly the same (except for the one particle) they effectively merged back together again.

Whereas in the 2nd case because the detectors had to show something different then there was a split, prior to the slots – and there was enough difference for us not to experience a re-joining (best way I can describe) … this happens because THE UNIVERSE ISN’T INFINITE.

Remember the theory the sky would be bright with stars if it was.

So this gives us reality split in 3… I would say dimensions but that would make it confusing…
We have Time (x), Space (y) and um.. the other thing… Experience Path? Reality?! let’s say z
Of course they’re all the same thing but we experience them differently.

This fits with hologram theory in that we are perhaps in a big sphere of these 3 things projecting inwards (which should finally get us to ditch that stupid big bang theory) and we experience a straight line through it (whatever straight is) – We travel along x at a constant, choose(-ish) our y and this results in how far along we go on z.  and z is fuzzy.

So yeah, it’s a bloody big sphere but  if it was infinite at a point in the road where the choice is left or right, in an infinite universe there’ll be an experience path where I turned into an orange. It doesn’t happen.

This also means that it is possible to die, but we will always experience our longest life.

So perhaps my english can’t explain reality and if reality can only be explained by maths then perhaps the simplest explanation is

Reality = 1

Perhaps that’s too simple to be beautiful though
…but my brain hurts so I’m gonna watch eastenders.

Sink Heater

This idea is worthy of Dyson… as in a great solution to a problem that already has a better solution!

We’ve all had the dilemma: When washing up, you put things in to soak but leave it too long and the water has gone cold – too soon and the crapfood is hard to shift.

Solution:

A hot air blower at the side of the sink can blow air up through the drying dishes,  but before that you close up the holes and it keeps the sink water warm – the hot air venting towards your feet so when you keep splashing your legs/feet with the washing water they don’t go cold.

Easy.

… or you could just buy a dishwasher (if you have room)

Pickpocket Ring

Have I come up with this idea before? .. can’t remember or be bothered to check

Here’s another idea that uses NFC. I heard today of someone that got pick pocketed.

Now if they had a ring or a watch containing an rfid doodah and their purse/phone had a sensor, when it was held it could tell who was holding it – and electrocute as  necessary.

Simple and foolproof – except when you pass your phone to someone else to use.. so would need something that made it turn off-able.

Wouldn’t help in a mugging as they’d nick the ring aswell… perhaps a second ring could be added and if the first goes out of range of the second then it will inject the wearer with a tranquiliser, using the same microneedle system I thought of which I might not have written – the one where there’s a heart sensor in the watch and it can inject with adrenaline if you’re having a heart attack (or whatever you need)

Just make sure you give the mugger the correct ring!!

SPS: Shop Positionning System

Now when I wonder around the supermarket I’m always wondering what happened to those things you used to get in safeways where you scanned your own items and were just charged for it at the end.

I guess there was too much nicking, although this could be countered with rfid chips.

Also I’m thinking that when I walk or drive I now have a device woman telling me which way to turn and what lane to be in – don’t get that in a supermarket,

What I want… If I scan my nectar card on a device which sticks in my trolley/basket, it should give me offers as I wonder through the aisles, tailor made to my buying tastes – or even just let me know of products I may like.

Then when they do eventually have rfid on everything they can even do things like make me aware of items in the aisle I’m in which are nearer to their sell by date and give them to me for cheaper …. or if I have a shopping list (perhaps gathered from a recipe from their website) then it can give me the most efficient way of walking round the store (although obviously they’d fudge that to make me buy stuff I don’t want too!)

Nokia N8

I would post this on my shopping blog but I’ve forgotten the login

Just got me a Nokia N8

It took so long to come out I got me a HTC legend in the meantime and I think I’ve been spoilt a bit.

Missing from the N8 is the nice linking of my facebook contacts with their numbers and photos in the phonebook… and it took me a while to work out how to sync my google calendar (had to set it as a microsoft exchange thingy)

Apps I like like Google Sky and Layar are also not to be found.
I’m also missing my back button.

But I do like a dedicated camera button, and the key entry is nice (although I’d like a portrait qwerty option)

It’s nice that I can plug a USB key in and read off of it… what would be nice is if you could plug another phone in this USB and it would sync (or at least charge it so you could help a mate out)

But I like it – it just needs some work and some more apps before it’ll be great.

But then I’ve not really used it for calls & music yet which is what I use my phone most for so I’ll have to post an update when I do.