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| Invention is the child of Necessity -- as seen in this Working Man photographed in a tiny homemade garden pond in a gas station in Thailand |
As a child, I used to love to read my mom's monthly copies of Good Housekeeping magazine (www.goodhousekeeping.com). Don't know if they still do this (it's been at least 5 years since I've seen a copy of the magazine though I couldn't find it on the website) but they used to have a regular column about things people wished had been invented. Now they have a column and awards for best innovations of the year. How I'd love to see someone create something that could clean up the oceans. Some people I knew in Connecticut had a special formula that made pollutants drop out of the water. They tried it out during "Habitat for Humanity" in Istanbul, Turkey and were praised by royals and politicos alike. Kept hoping to hear about it again during the BP oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. A lot of the inventions are probably out there but are not being manufactured -- as yet. Australian TV has a show called "The New Inventors" that proves the point.
As an avowed technophile, I'm so happy to be alive in the 21st Century with access to so many technologies that give such real pleasures. When I first went overseas back in the 1970's and through the early 1990's, I missed my family and friends so badly. A telephone call cost an-arm-and-a-leg; a letter would take several weeks to arrive. There were no fax machines; in an emergency, you could send a telegram. But now -- here I am in Asia and I can see my sister at her desk via webcam. We talk in "real time."
Still almost every day, I wish I had some 'magical' tool that would improve my life. An ant just crawled across the monitor -- despite my efforts to keep everything superclean -- I want an ant-away chemical or electrical appliance that didn't have adverse effects on humans. Somehow those rodent and insect boxes that you plug into an outlet seem to change the atmosphere in a room. It may be an illusion but I think I 'hear' them.
Then a medical monitor would be useful, one that would report any abnormalities in temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, germ counts and chemicals on the skin or hair. Someday maybe someone will invent something that allows measurement of body chemistry without having to pierce the skin. Most of the technologies are already out there and just need to be consolidated and miniaturized. On "The Biggest Loser Asia," one contestant sported a calorie counter watch that showed how many calories he had used up through body movements. The trainers taught the learners how to look up calorie counts on various websites and enter the counts for all food they ate. Ideally, a whole system could be organized for GIGO - calories in and out. If we could wear a watch or have a chip put under the skin that measured calories, maybe there would not be so much dangerous obesity.
Carrying books from locker to class to home and back to school may have built muscles that have lasted me, but as a child, I spent hours drawing designs for a floating bookshelf based on my primitive understanding of how a hydrofoil works by blowing air. It would float down the halls at your side and perhaps turn into a desk when you reached your classroom. When we talked about such ideas in classes, people got panicky about the idea that we may someday just become 'talking heads,' motionless in wheelchairs.
Sitting at the computer for so many hours, the rear expands. A sculptor friend and I drew up plans for an ergonomic computer chair that supported all major body parts and that moved very slowly on a scheduled plan. A desk with computer screen and keyboard platforms would move carefully prescribed distances as well, changing the relationships between body and machine. Extensive research would be needed to design the perfect "compuchair." The design could incorporate such discoveries as the psychological correlations of eye angles such that it is almost impossible to remain depressed if you look upwards. It would have to have adjustable mechanics to accommodate the varying needs of individuals and to decrease the stresses on bones, joints and muscles. An end to 'carpal tunnel' and lower back pain!
So many other ideas come up which I all-too-quickly forget. Can't wait until the end of cables -- no more electric cords or adapters, maybe even an end to plugs and outlets. As I can't manage not to trip over the various wires, definitely, I can't wait for computers to go completely wireless. Bought the wireless mouse but it pops on and off so I went back to the cable.
Just finished writing a review of the Dell Inspiron Mini which is smaller than a sheet of notebook paper and weighs about 3 pounds. It's the wave of the future, I suspect. It comes with a TV antenna so you can watch local broadcast TV, wireless connections to internet servers, webcam and microphone so you can even make phone calls on it, connectors to projectors and LCD screens, multiple USB ports, etc. I have been so tempted by the advertising for the "Kindle" book emulator but playing with a Mini, it occurred to me that if you turn it, the Mini is the same size, shape and weight of a book. So why can they just allow us to turn the screen from vertical to horizontal when we want to read something? It's somehow hard to read a book even on a large screen. If it could do that,. the Mini, if you were to install all the bells and whistles of the newer minis (subnotebooks), you wouldn't need any other digital device. As smartphones get bigger and mini laptops get smaller, and both become even more powerful and connective, eventually we are going to have a choice between the simplicity of a watch and the comfort of a book. Me, I want both - asap!
Copyright 2010, TF (teviothome@gmail.com)
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