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BlueTooth Enabled Household AppliancesBy Anonymous Hero, Thu Feb 24th, 2005 at 01:26:54 PM PST
Recently I have started linking all the technology I can get my hands on together. For example, I use the GSRPS connection on my cell phone to remotely communicate with my computer by sending packets disguised as SMS. I also use my palm pilot as a remote control. As for my computer it alerts my palm pilot, witch is wirelessly connected to my cell phone's GSRPS connection via blue tooth. With that said my computer, palm pilot, and cell phone all can interchangeably be controlled.
How cool would it be if this same concept were applied to household appliances? For example, a blue tooth enabled coffee maker, door locks, lights, stereo, TV, fridge. Of course, the door lock example would require an encryption as useful as a normal key without the option to unlock. All appliances would still function without connectivity, but with connectivity, they can interchangeably communicate. Here's a scenario. Have your computer instruct your television to turn on at 6:00 am to channel 3 if its Tuesday and make coffee at 5:55 am Monday through Friday. At 12:00 am turn off the lights and lock the doors. Those are just useful scheduling tasks, this concept can be applied far greater than just time driven events. For example, when the door lock is disengaged manually it emits a signal that the computer catches and instructs the lights to turn on. Or when your gone and want to make sure your kids are safe, you could telnet into your computer and lock the doors. What about a bluetooth landline telephone? Would be nice if it emited a signal not just a ring. That way your computer can even request the phone to send caller id information. With the caller ID information you can instruct the phone to automatically block certain calls or have an event driven dynamic answering machine. You could even implement a situation where your computer would determine if your home or not by seeing if any lights are on and if the doors are locked. When you miss a house call the caller id information can be sent to your cellphone, with name and number.
The appliances main concern would be receiving and sending messages, not interpreting and applying logic much like windows API system. A computer should be programmed to as an interface to all the appliances and handle the different messages (like a mediator from on appliance to another). (1 comment) Comments >> Walking Robot that Learns to walkBy timjowers, Thu Feb 24th, 2005 at 01:26:34 PM PST
Glossing over an article on Robots that Walk Like Humans at http://www.livescience.com/technology/050217_robot_walking.html
and it came to me that one should build a robot that uses AI or other learning to learn to walk! (1 comment, 117 words in story) Full Idea Railway safety using soundBy xmpcray, Thu Feb 24th, 2005 at 01:26:24 PM PST
I want to suggest a way of preventing head on collision between trains which are accidently (human/mechanical error) on the same track.
Each train's engine (first rail-car on the train) has a sound device fitted on right side front wheel. This produces a sound at a specific frequency which gets conducted through the rail track (right side). Now since metal conducts sound faster than air (almost 15 times), when the train is moving it is always emitting a sound which gets conducted faster through the rail ahead. Now every train's left front left wheel should have a receiver device which just picks up sound from the rail. If ever 2 trains are on the same rail-track both train engine's left wheel will pick up the sound emitted from the other train's right wheel and can stop (automically if required). Now there could be problem if there is a stopped train on the rail. This too can get sorted out because if there is a stopped rail car on the tracks, the metal body of the stopped rail car is joining the two tracks and the moving train engine's own sound emitted from its right wheel will travel through the stopped metal rail car, and transmit through the left rail and stop it. (Since the other train is not moving the time the moving train has to come to a halt is more) (5 comments) Comments >> Public Database To Capture User-Driven Search FilteringBy tekkie00, Mon Nov 15th, 2004 at 06:30:28 PM PST
Search engines like Google, A9, and now MSN, will continue to advance techniques for indexing documents and improving underlying infrastructure (i.e. semantic web) to yield better and more relevant search results.
But as of today, there is still tons of results that one has to sift through in order to find the right information. In the spirit of wiki collaboration (wikipedia), what if there was a publicly managed database that collected a listing of pre-filtered associations of topics to documents [URLs] that would represent a more specialized post-filtered search-result dataset. In other words, if a user queried "heart disease" on Google, he/she would produce results in the thousands. After a given period of time, that user would eventually determine which links or results are the most relevant, and which links are search junk. Assuming the most relevant links are found by a combination of trial/error and good-ole human judgement, they would represent the results of intuitive filtering that search engines would not be able to fully capture. So say the user submits an association to the public database. Those who are interested in heart disease can now access a more accurate listing of potentially relevant documents from the public database, rather than querying the entire web. The search path would be narrower, and would be more focused - based on others experiences and relevancy ratings. This of course, assumes that the associations are reliable. It is even conceivable that the reliability of associations could be mathematically tuned based on metric analysis, such as the number of occurences of document references for a particular topic over time. It is not too hard to imagine how this could evolve into some new type of filtering agent that could enhance the self-tuning abilities of the database. So what you really end up with is a set of smart databases that are topic-oriented and association based, versus an endless web of indexed documents to the billionth count. This of course, would change the way in which people issue queries. If the user decides to tap into this public database, I can imagine the query being more "topic" based (heart disease AND old age), rather than pure keywords. Since the association and filter has already been provided by other people, there is no need to search within documents for keywords (or maybe this could also be enabled ...) A simple idea, nothing more than an abstraction of a result set provided by the "search engine runtime". If designed well, the database can really become a smart filter (the filter work already done by the user) that can also further filter itself over time (taking that filtered data and determining its relevancy across domains, metric analysis, etc...). Who knows, maybe the gateway to this public database can even be exposed through a FireFox browser plugin, similar to the way the "Add to Favorites/Bookmark" system would work. (7 comments) Comments >> Life on the oceanBy Anonymous Hero, Fri Nov 12th, 2004 at 11:51:46 AM PST
Something attainable today. Something real, proven and dependable. Ferro-cement boat building technology. Cheap, fairly resistant to rot and decay, incredibly strong, and not toxic to wildlife.
Build the soon to be tower on it's side in a boat yard, and move with tugboats as a barge, have a chamber on one end that you fill when you reach your destination, and voila you have a tower in the sea. Why bother trying to have a farm, just farm the ocean for seaweed and sustainable shellfish and fish farms, and conduct trade with the mainland like you were on an island. anchor the structure to the bottom, and you have a very large bobber that only bounces around in the largest storms. However much less than a boat would. When you want to move somewhere pull anchor, and force the water out of the holding tank, use a tugboat or put on some outriggers and a sail. You might want your own little sub for coming and going in anything but the calmest seas. Swim well (4 comments) Comments >> Bring forums to ShouldExist.orgBy zoohouse, Fri Nov 12th, 2004 at 11:48:38 AM PST
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1 There must exist a way for the members of ShouldExist.org to interact with each other in conversation.
We can start feeling more like a community if we have a way to communicate with each other.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
iD8DBQFBkmIBrUbXy3j+EIURAjTaAKDA7Q9YFH6vd9eZ3tmDJxYMsrW/jgCfZYU4 (8 comments) Comments >> Innovative, Interactive Green Hotel as Platform to Stimulate Restorative EconomyBy Ryan, Wed Oct 27th, 2004 at 04:07:01 AM PST
"We have the capacity and ability to create a remarkably different economy, one that can restore ecosystems and protect the environment while bringing forth innovation, prosperity, meaningful work, and true security. The restorative economy unites ecology and commerce into one sustainable act of production and distribution that mimics and enhances natural processes."
Paul Hawken - The Ecology of Commerce (project is written as reality but obvioulsy it's not as funding has yet to be secured...imagine!!) The Green Hotel Group is a 501-c3 corporation founded on the premise that to stimulate the restorative economy there must be venues where sustainable and restorative solutions, integrated together, can be fully experienced and promoted. We develop and operate state-of-the-art, high-performance green hotels to provide such venues. Through multi-stakeholder partnerships with organizations dedicated to eco-tourism, green building and products and local arts and culture, we create truly unique hotel environments and tourist attractions. Passive solar design, eco building products, renewable energy, grey/black water systems, organic bedding and linens, and green certified standards are just a few of the solutions that are integrated into each of our exclusive hotels. Informational displays mounted throughout our hotels highlight the environmental and economic benefits of these solutions while contrasting them with the detrimental effects of their conventional counterparts. This creates an interactive educational forum in which our guests learn how their lifestyle choices impact the environment, other species and communities around the world. Most importantly, they directly experience the solutions that they can choose which act to protect ecosystems and species' habitats, while creating a cleaner, safer and more prosperous planet. As a key aspect of our purpose, we locate our hotels in select, economically-challenged communities, where they serve as powerful development platforms. While they are being designed, built, and operated, we provide local youth and university students with job training, internship, and employment opportunities. We also design and decorate each hotel with the influence of the local culture and the work of local artists. This enables and encourages the development of restorative economies within the community. Of course, our goal is not only to spawn new restorative-minded enterprises in the communities where our hotels are located, but also in the communities where our guests return to. In an age of information and media overload, in which the public is being deluged with stories about global calamities 24/7, it's vital that people be empowered with a first hand experience of real solutions that can be applied to their daily lives. It's also critical for the success of the sustainable development movement as a whole, that the pioneering efforts of various stakeholders within it be synergized together, under one roof, and made tangible. Our hotels fulfill these needs and more- they provide meaningful work in economically disadvantaged communities and act to inspire and empower both employees and guests. We believe that they'll go far to jump start a bold, new restorative economy that joins the needs of community, culture and environment, seamlessly together. We know that hotels can be much more than beds, bathrooms and TV's- let us show you why. Come join us, stay with us and do your part to help usher in a new era of planetary health, prosperity and true security for all. For more information, please contact Ryan at rhurley_ir@yahoo.com (4 comments) Comments >> No More MosquitoesBy AlbertRoggensack, Tue Oct 26th, 2004 at 04:49:59 PM PST
Implant genes into a common species of plant, animal or
insect which will cause it to manufacture either the female mosquitoe's pheromones, or other attractant. This would redirect the male mosquitoes to the genetically altered species. An advantage of using a modified species, is that it would propagate and spread on its own. (14 comments) Comments >>
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