INVENTIVE IIII
On this web page, you will find some things that don't currently exist (at least as far as I know), though I think they should. However, I'm not an engineer or a businessman, so I won't be making any of these ideas reality on my own. But if you want to do it, I encourage you. I don't even ask for any of the money or the fame. I simply want my ideas to make a significant positive difference in the world.
Extended Turn Signals
Imagine the following situation: You're driving nice and fast in the left lane of a major highway, enjoying a good song on the radio. Then you see a sign indicating that your exit is one mile away. Oh no! You have to cross over four lanes of traffic in less than a mile.
You immediately activate your right turn signal, check your mirrors and look over your shoulder. Wonderful... The lane on your right is clear, so you move over.
Now there's a truck in the next lane who is currently in your blind spot. Since there's nobody ahead of you, you push the accelerator. In a few seconds, you have cleared the truck, and you move into the next lane. That's two down, two to go.
Now you have a similar situation: there's a sports car in your blind spot. Again you hit the accelerator. But the driver of the sports car sees your right turn signal, so he speeds up to keep you from getting in front of him. With a sigh, you tap the brakes to let him pass you, and then you switch lanes.
This time, the convertible on your right is slightly ahead of you, but there's plenty of space behind it. So you tap your brakes and let the convertible pass. As you're about to switch lanes, you suddenly see that the car behind the convertible has sped up in order to prevent you from getting in front of him. You shout curse words at him as your exit passes by.
Does that scenario sound familiar? But what can be done about it?
Well, here's my idea. Let's add a second right turn signal (and a second left turn signal) to your car. The meaning of a single flashing light doesn't change; it means you want to switch lanes or turn. But if you activate both of the lights on the right (or left), that doesn't mean that you just want to switch to the next lane. It indicates that you want to move to the next lane AND THEN switch lanes again or turn. Then, wouldn't that SOB in your blind spot be more likely to let you enter his lane in front of him, since he knows that you'll be moving to the next lane soon, and he'll be able to speed up after you go? And how about that convertible? If he knew you were trying to exit, and he saw the exit just ahead, he might have had compassion and let you through. Or, more likely, he might have been worried that you would do something stupid in order to catch the exit, like swing across both lanes when there was barely enough room to do it. He might wisely drive a little more defensively until you were gone.
Another way the additional turn signals could be used would be in a situation where a stoplight has two lanes for turning left. If you are in the rightmost of these two lanes, approaching the stoplight, and you have your left turn signal on, it is ambiguous. It could simply mean that you will be turning left at the intersection. Alternatively, you might be signalling a lane change to the left, before your reach the stoplight (and then, of course, you will turn left at the intersection).
In any event, the additional signal provides you with the ability to give more useful information to the drivers around you.
Networked Clocks
Personally, I don't understand why they're still selling clocks that are unable to receive a signal from the network to tell them exactly what time it is. It really annoys me when the electricity goes out, even for only a few seconds, because it means that I'll need to set several different clocks around my home. The battery-powered clocks are unaffected by an electricity outage, but they run slow, so I have to reset them periodically, too. But I never have to fix the clock on my cell phone, because it gets the exact time via wireless signals. Now I ask, why can't all clocks do that?
Smart Snooze
The snooze button on alarm clocks is a clever idea, but there are times when you keep pushing the snooze button whenever the clock rings, so that the time you wake up is indeterminate. I would like to have an alarm clock that works in the following way. Suppose I want to get up at 6:00am. So I set my alarm clock for 6:00am and go to sleep. Then, the alarm clock actually begins to ring at 16 minutes to 6. If I really don't want to get up yet, I'll hit the snooze button. Then it rings again at 8 minutes to 6. I can hit the snooze again if I want to. The next ring comes at 4 minutes to 6. Then the alarm times are 2 minutes to six, 1 minute to six, 30 seconds to 6, fifteen seconds to six, 8 seconds to 6, 4 seconds, 2 seconds, and 1 second. And if I have actually pressed the snooze button all ten times, the snooze button will no longer stop the alarm's ringing, so I can't get in any more sleep. And so I'm up by 6:00am, just like I planned.
Electronic Road Signs
Unless it would be prohibitively expensive, I think it would be a good idea to make the signs on the side of the road electronic, so that their words could be changed by typing a few keys into a computer instead of building completely new signs to replace the old ones. Here is one example of how electronic road signs could be useful:
Everyone knows that you're supposed to drive slower in inclement weather, but nobody knows just how much slower. This means that the person who thinks the weather is bad enough that people should be driving 20 on the highway would not understand that he/she should be in the right lane with the hazard lights flashing. It also means that a lunatic can drive 65 in a snowstorm, and if the speed limit signs say 65, the police can't do anything about it. My solution is to make the speed limit signs electronic. Then, depending on the weather, the police could change the speed limit easily. People might disagree with their decision, but at least we would all understand what the baseline speed limit is and make our own choices accordingly.
Friendly Car Horn
Current car horns are only capable of blaring. Although the driver can control the volume and the duration of the blare, it's still a very unfriendly sound. I think the blare should only be used in case of emergencies, such as when a truck is moving into your lane while you're in his blind spot. But if you see a friend and want to say hi, you should be able to use a much more pleasant tune. And when the car in front of you hasn't noticed that the light has turned green, is it really so urgent that you need to make his heart jump? Also, there's no need to startle anybody else who happens to be in the vicinity.
What I would like is a way for one driver to communicate with another driver. Now, given the prevalence of road rage, I don't think they should be able to say whatever they want in any tone and volume. Instead, I would suggest a limited set of messages that can be sent, all of which are polite. Here is an example conversation between two drivers. (Translating it back into road-rage language is an exercise left to the reader.)
Honda: Pardon me. Would you mind changing lanes for just a minute? I would like to move past you.
Toyota: I am very sorry, but I have decided not to do you that favor.
Honda: Please understand that I am in a bit of a hurry. Would you please do what you can to help me reach my destination quickly?
Toyota: I am very sorry, but I have decided not to do you that favor.
Honda: Please understand that I am in a bit of a hurry. Would you please do what you can to help me reach my destination quickly?
Toyota: I am very sorry, but I have decided not to do you that favor.
Honda: Please understand that I am in a bit of a hurry. Would you please do what you can to help me reach my destination quickly?
Toyota: I am beginning to feel a bit distracted. I would appreciate it if you stopped talking to me for a while so that I could focus on my driving.
Honda: I am very sorry, but I have decided not to do you that favor.
Toyota: I thought you might want to know that I am shutting off my communicator device. Goodbye for now.
Opposite Reaction Car Horn
Don't you hate it when a driver gets mad and blows his car horn so loudly that it makes you jump? How inconsiderate. And dangerous. Even if he wasn't angry at you in particular, you still get the same effect. Well, I think it would discourage this kind of thoughtless behavior if all cars had an opposite reaction car horn installed. It would work like this: Whenever the driver blows his horn, then at some random time after that, the horn will blow inside his car with exactly the same sound as before.
Sex Radio
There are sports radio stations, religious radio stations, news radio stations, etc. But now, you can tune in to WXXX (or KXXX) and you'll find the sex station. There, you'll hear call in shows with people talking about sex, sex lessons,etc. And, or course, through all of this, you'll hear people moaning and screaming in the background. If you just want to hear the talk, then turn off the left speaker. Alternatively, if you're only interested in the sexual sounds, turn off the right speaker.
Autoflush Toilet
I think we can agree that those public toilets that flush automatically can be very annoying, because they often flush too early. So, if you're sitting on the toilet, you get an undesirable splash at random times. It's because the trigger isn't terribly accurate. I think that the trigger should be connected to the stall door, so that the toilet doesn't flush until the door is unlocked.
Elevator Chairs
For you people who are so lazy that you take the elevator instead of the stairs, I bet you'd like it if there was someplace to sit in the elevator. Well, what about attaching a fold-up seat to the back wall. When you want to sit, you pull it down. It's long enough for three or four people. And then when everybody stands up, it springs back against the wall.
Light Belts
Mommy, everybody at school has a light belt!!! You wear it around your waist just like a regular belt, and then the colorful lights on it start flashing. You can choose from different light patterns and various flash sequences. My best friend has pink lights that spin in circles around her. Another boy I know has one that flashes a red ring, then a white ring, and then a blue ring. But what I really want is the one that slowly spells out my name in different-colored letters.
Head-Supporting Chairs
Ergonomic chairs are a great invention, but why don't they extend further up in order to support your head comfortably. And why not put them in cars, too?
Washer-Drier Machine
I can't believe that we still have separate washer and drier machines? Is there something I don't know about that makes it impossible to connect them? I want to dump my clothes in a basket. Then, at the push of a button, they automatically move into a washing machine. When that's done, they get pushed into a drier. And then they're finally dumped into another basket, all clean. How about three or four baskets at each end, so that I can line up all of my loads in advance?
Water Horn
I wonder if it would be possible to design a musical instrument filled with water? So the sound would vibrate through water instead of air. Would it be possible to design the instrument so that you can play beautiful music with a unique sound. Perhaps the instrument needs to be totally immersed in water, and the listeners need to be underwater to hear it.
Weighted Straws
You know how, when you put a straw in a glass or can of cola, it won't stay down? The bubbles push it to the top. Isn't that annoying? But if the bottom of the straw was made heavier, wouldn't that prevent the straw from floating?
Facing Shower Heads
One of the things that lovers usually like to do is shower together. But when they do, only one of them can stand right under the water at a time, while the other has to hang out in the cold. But if there were two shower heads, one at each end of the bathtub, then the shower heads could be adjusted so that both people are in the water all the time. Also, what if a married couple want to shower at the same time? The standard way to deal with this problem is to have two showers. But imagine starting the day by showering with your spouse, even if you're only there to clean yourselves.
Caffinated Toothpaste
Do you need that cup of coffee every morning? Well how about if your toothpaste was spiked with caffeine? That would not only encourage you to brush your teeth, but you could also get out of the house and head to work faster.
Wireless Leash
I can't run nearly as fast as my dog can. So in order for him to get the exercise he really wants, I like to take him to a relatively safe place and take him off the leash. This is usually okay, because he's trained to come when I call him. The problem is that he thinks that obeying the "come" command is optional. So if he's doing something he thinks is more important, he'll choose not to obey my command. Now, if he's on the leash, one quick pull of the leash is sufficient for him to get the idea. Okay. Sometimes it takes two tugs. What I'd like to have a device that would cause his collar to pull backwards whenever I press a button. Even better would be if the collar would pull him in the direction that he should go to get to me. But if it only pulls the collar backward, that should be sufficient to draw him away from whatever it is that he is busy doing.
Heated Dolls
As I understand it, the purpose of a doll is to aid a child in imagining that he or she is a parent. And toward this end, dolls are given features like the ability to cry or to pee, to make them more like real babies. Well it seems to me that a significant difference between babies and dolls is that babies are warm, while dolls are cold. So why not manufacture dolls that are automatically heated to make them feel much more like babies when they are hugged? Along the same lines, stuffed animals could also be automatically heated to make them so much more huggable.
Pipe Pointer
Sometimes, professors will carry a pipe when they give lectures. They might not even be smoking. They just point to the board with the end of the pipe. Well, why not put a laser pointer in there?
Doggy Potty
I can't understand why nobody has ever invented an indoor toilet for dogs. It shouldn't be too difficult, since dogs can be trained to do the most amazing things. (In the movie, Due Date, a dog acted like he was masturbating!) So the only challenge is to make it physically possible for dogs to use the toilet, and they can be trained to do it. It could be as simple as a plastic tub, large enough for the dog to fit in, with cat litter on the bottom. Here's a picture of the "litter box" I have for my three cats. If the sides were a little lower so that a dog could step inside, then I don't see why the dog couldn't use it too. There might be a problem if a boy dog lifts his leg to pee, but a boy dog can be trained to pee like a girl.
PIN Gloves
A problem with typing your PIN into an ATM or a pad is that somebody might be looking over your shoulder. And a problem with using fingerprints to verify your identity is that somebody might cut off your hands. (Or maybe that only happens in the movies...) A more secure way to access something is to use PIN gloves, which are glove-shaped boxes that are attached to a flat surface. First, you put your hands into the PIN gloves and lay all ten of your fingers on the finger pads on the bottom of the PIN gloves. The device tests your fingerprints. Then you type in your PIN, with your fingers representing the numbers from 0 to 9 going from your left thumb to your right pinky finger. Voila! A safer way to enforce security!