Comments for IOTD @ Patrick Andrews

Comment on #1830: iPlate by Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:11:42 +0000

MadeleineRooney MadeleineRooney
@PatrickRAndrews IPAD NOT TRAY!

PatrickRAndrews Patrick Andrews
@MadeleineRooney Next up -the MacBook Air toasted sandwich maker… $795 #whatwouldstevehavedone

Comment on #1400: Flashare by Patrick

Patrick — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 08:46:12 +0000

Here is a more recent, related idea
http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2012/01/outlisten-wants-to-see-your-shaky-cellphone-concert-videos/

Comment on #1812: ArcBars by Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:43:17 +0000

These tubes could also be slid inside one another and locked in place so that a parked bicycle would be impossible to ride away and hard to sell on.

Comment on #1702: WagerWaste by Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:37:24 +0000

I agree Rory. I’d probably put the bins in public locations to discourage people from tricking the system.

I think it would only work in any case if people felt they were getting some small reward/recognition for cleaning up, rather than expecting some kind of big payoff.

If it actually resulted in people ‘gaming’ the system that would at least be a sign that imaginations were engaged…there are numerous ways in which such a system could then be altered over time to improve its performance.

Comment on #1702: WagerWaste by Rory O’Kane

Rory O’Kane — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:57:18 +0000

I would guess it would still be easy to game. You could just print out a sheet of many different barcodes and cut them up into single barcodes, then feed them one at a time into the rubbish bin. It probably wouldn’t take too long to feed, say, 500 barcodes in. And if there is less than a one in 500 chance at winning, the average payout is going to have to be pretty high for people to bother – which will further incentivize gaming.

Comment on #1814: Rampmap by Patrick

Patrick — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 12:27:12 +0000

It would be pretty easy to use software to automatically identify eg U turns as locations where wheelchair users had been thwarted. Perhaps it would also be possible to ask people to do a special spin or X gesture there to highlight a problem.

Comment on #122: Skylight wiper by Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:52:48 +0000

Why not indeed.
Since I wrote the original post, technology has moved on and I would probably opt for a system consisting of a small, square cleaning pad on the outside with a magnet and a similar unit on the inside. The pads would attract each other, so that they both were held firmly but not tightly to the glass. I’d equip the inner pad with some rubber wheels (using Lego) -motorised and controlled remotely. This would allow something like a mindstorms controller to move the inner pad so as to wipe the whole window surface periodically, dragging the outer pad at the same time.
My other suggestion here would be to talk to one of the manufacturers eg Velux. They already sell hugely expensive motorised windows.

Comment on #122: Skylight wiper by Jason

Jason — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 05:15:01 +0000

Love the idea of it all. I have been talking about this system with family for awhile. Would like to hear about your ideas on making a standardized mounting system for the movable parts of the wiper assembly.
I had envisioned a track system with a vertical wiper. Hardware mounted at the top of the window. Why not?

Comment on #1808: Spinstilettos by Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:28:53 +0000

I guess several small gyros per foot would work better and some kind of KE recovery mechanism would limit the wastage of battery energy during all that braking between steps. Ideally, I’d want to drive the gyros partly using energy from the motion of walking itself.

Safer? possibly. Graceful? maybe not.

Comment on #3: Self heating clothing by Patrick

Patrick — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 11:31:22 +0000

No problem. If you can have a million dollar idea today, you’ll certainly have others. When you do, get back in touch before you make it public
Cheers,
P