Today’s invention is a cup which is shaped to fit the human hand.
Not having an off-centre handle means that the centre of mass is much more nearly where the holder’s muscles can support and control it.
This could be made with a cardboard sleeve to insulate the fingers.
On a cold day, the cup would allow a hot drink to warm one’s hand effectively.
Today’s invention is a notepad the spiral binding of which is formed from a couple of extended, suitably-shaped ballpoint pen ink reservoirs.
It should be possible to supply enough ink so that they would never run out before the book was full.
This would also ensure that both writing implements never got detached from the notebook (being slipped inside the coils when not in use).
Conventional taxis in New York City are soon to be replaced by vehicles with sliding doors.
One concern is that passengers will fling such a door open and step into the path of eg another car or a bike.
Today’s invention is a sliding door which has a hinged, L-section hatch section overhead.
When the vehicle stops, the hatch opens but the door will not slide until both of the (blue) rooftop cameras have registered that the passenger has looked both ways.
Everyone gets too much email, but nobody ever thinks they send too much.
I’d hate it if we had to pay to send mail, but it seems to me that some inhibition of the urge to cc everyone on the planet would be no bad thing.
I was wrangling with my Twitter feed this morning as usual. Retweeting anything automatically scrolls me up the page, losing my place. That nuisance makes me less of an RTer than I might otherwise be.
Today’s invention introduces a small ‘cost’ every time you copy someone into a message.
The cost is not monetary but in terms of entropy increase.
CCing would automatically cause your Inbox, or a section of it, to be reordered randomly (and the order-by-eg-sender function disabled for a fixed period).
I’ve admitted before to not really getting golf.
Today’s invention however is offered as a boon to those who are devotees of the ‘sport’.
Golf karts shield players from the worst of the weather but not when shots are actually being taken. Has anyone ever tried to use a club whilst holding an umbrella? (Caddies are now so out of fashion and anyway they refuse to run alongside one’s kart).
Today’s invention is a motorised canopy which would unfold as shown allowing players to play all shots (including putting without driving onto a green) whilst staying out of the rain.
Airbags in road vehicles are part of increasingly smart systems. There are now many different bags in a car which deploy according to various super-secret algorithms -dependent on the decelerations experienced in different directions.
Today’s invention is a novel addition for the benefit of both occupants and rescue workers who may appear on the scene of an accident.
It is perfectly possible that the airbag control unit, if still functioning, might interpret impacts to the vehicle by eg a fireaxe or hydraulic cutters as a further crash.
The system should therefore incorporate an external switch to de-activate all undeployed bags.
This could be placed behind a thin layer of glass -perhaps within a high, brake-light unit. Breaking the glass could be done with only fingertip pressure from a rescuer (and yet be highly tamper-evident). It might also act as an engine stop switch.
No-one who goes to a casino should trust the House.
Today’s invention allows punters some extra measure of control over games of chance…but also limits their ability to cheat.
Everyone sitting at a roulette table would have access to one of the extended arms on the wheel (red).
This would allow control of the spinning to be shared by several individuals.
The croupier would only be responsible for placing the ball in a suspended cup which would be similarly shaken by the players pulling on strings (blue).
The ball would drop through a mechanical trapdoor actuated automatically after a fixed time period.
People would thus feel more involved in the gambling. It would also be very difficult for even a coordinated subset of players to attempt to influence the outcome of plays.
This crowd approach could also be adapted to any game in which dice are thrown.
With apologies to those readers of a nervous disposition who don’t like firearms, today’s invention is a visual indicator of how many rounds remain in a semi-automatic handgun.
One of the two pistol grips is made transparent, as is one side of the ammunition clip.
This allows the user to glance at the weapon and understand at once how many shots are left, without making that apparent to anyone else.
Today’s invention is a way for people to think about the future…specifically the future of their tattoos.
Before anyone committed themselves to such a longlasting embellishment, a program would show them a photo-quality rendering of their chosen design as if on someone’s body (in the very place they are planning to have it).
Then, a mathematical model, including the effects of blood flow, expected weight changes and skin aging, would simulate how the tattoo would look in say 25 years -after the influence of a lifetime of blurring by pigment diffusion.
With any luck, this might become a legal requirement before anyone signed up for any ‘ink’.
If you find yourself in a miltary vehicle with the ability to loft weapons into the sky, it’s a really top idea not to be around when they plummet earthwards again.
Today’s invention is a guidance system for such antiaircraft vehicles which predicts where the shells will go and then guides the steering so that, when travelling at high speed, you don’t drive under your own bombardment.
Another mode of operation would be to have the vehicle set a course and use that to dictate which directions you could fire in, but I suspect that might not be so useful.
