Sometimes I think we need an English to English translator. Regionalisms … Street Talk … Academic and technical language … You’d have an app that could reword anything from pop music lyrics to Shakespeare in ways you’d understand. Or vice versa. Need to sound super-educated? Or just clever? App would do that. Could call it Read More …
Here’s a weird idea. (Yes, I’m back, at least for now, after spending a bunch of months journaling and trying to straighten out my head. More on that later. Perhaps.) Too many of us just sit at work, exercising nothing but our eyes and fingers typing at computers. Earlier, I had the idea for a giant keyboard Read More …
I don’t understand why I get spam with so many misspelled words. Just add a spellchecker and kick out the messages with the most misspelled words. C’mon, it can’t be that sticking numbers in words makes them spellcheck-proof. That seems fixable. Seriously, how does this crap get through? C ANA1DIAN PH A5RMACY SPE3CIAL V8I AG8R Read More …
It’s happened to me, it’s happened to my wife, maybe it’s happened to a lot of people. You take the pot off the stove and forget to turn the burner off. Generally, it’s no big deal … there’s nothing to catch fire. But wouldn’t it be safer to have burners that sense, “Hey, yo, there’s Read More …
Imagine how much the Web will be revolutionized (and I’m sure that others have) when search engines can search images. Still pictures. Videos. And sounds. Basically it’d be some phantasmadupercollossal tech that “looks” and “hears” incredibly fast, recognizes what it sees, labels and categorizes everything in its memory, and makes it all ready for instant Read More …
It’s kind of a popup desktop utility. You call up “Today’s Scoresheet.” Helped someone? Hurt someone? Check boxes. Double, triple check for double, triple points. Then some fancy graphics (gotta illustrate this*) and presto, your Instant Karma Meter tells you whether you’ve been bad or good, going to Heaven or Hell, and might be on Read More …
Holy freakin’ s-bomb. Think about this: When the day comes that machines master language, we’re all ego-doomed. Since anyone can implant a language chip in their brain (or at least in an earpiece), everybody can instantly find the best words. Then nothing will ever again believe that anyone is clever! No, it’s not you, babe, it’s your chip! Worse, Read More …
Sure, why not? Here’s a cartridge with Cheese Whiz. Here’s one with Instant Pudding in several “colors.” Or slip in the Marinara Module. Or the Ionizing Icing Applicator. You feed (pun intended) in sheets of edible “paper” — beef jerky pulp, pasta paper, flexible crackers (well, they’ll get “crackery” after they dry or baked, pliable cookie Read More …
I don’t understand commercials that make users of products look stupid. OK, it’s fine to postmodern and make fun of yourself (thereby engendering trust), but, hey, if it’s not funny and the user looks like a schmuck, well, why do I look like a schmuck and buy your product? First, tonight, I see a T-mobile ad Read More …
We’ve all sent complaints about products into the black hole of customer relations, never to return. But just suppose, whenever we did, our complaints were automatically added to a poll. Say I emailed, “My defroster failed!” The next person would see my comment, too, and be asked, “Did you also experience this?” No, she’s complains, “There’s this weird clunking Read More …
It’s the Digg era, with popularity driving content on all sorts of sites. What I haven’t seen yet (of course, maybe you have) is a site that lets popularity make the evolve. Start with 50 categories of stuff. News, sports, humor, video, celebrity gossip, blogs, etc. Put whatever you like at the top, however many items Read More …
It’s only a matter of time. Technology advances. Star salaries keep rising. And legal rights expire. Then someone could re-animate in the most realistic way all the bygone stars. Greta Garbo. The Three Stooges. Write new material, and they’d “know” how to act it out. Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk. Max Headroom was only just a sniff of what’s Read More …
Here’s a copy of my second post for inventorspot.com, “Biking for Better Biceps: Brain Rep 2.” Although hill-climbing can be a workout for your arms, most bike-riding does little for your upper bod. I realized this while lugging a watermelon in a bag back from a parking-lot produce market. Really added to the exercise. Could there Read More …
Who needs a bathroom scale? Nobody. Not when somebody makes and markets these handy Scale Shoes. Of course, for some people, who, how shall we say?, have trouble peering over their belts, the digital readout will have to speak. Or, since who wants everyone else to hear?, send a text message or email. Check the Read More …
What if … you had a very light spacecraft … OK, maybe it’s just a satellite with microchips … and suppose (yeah sure) they reallly could build a buckytube-walled space tube that’s 100 miles high … following me so far? … OK, we’ve got the outer part of our space elevator, but what’s to lift Read More …