Invention Ideas
From time to time I have an idea for something that should exist, or something I believe will exist in the future. Often times, after a little research, I find out said thing already DOES exist, or did exist and was completely uninteresting to everyone.
All that being said, below are some of my ideas:
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02/07/06
Massively distributed, multiply redundant processing.
Rather than pushing hard to increase processor power, just devote one (or more) processor(s) completely to the task of best determining the distribution of all other tasks. Then distribute any given task redundantly to multiple processors, in case on or more processors is damaged or fails.
Why would you want such a system? I’m thinking of wearable computers. You’d need small, durable processors that could be distributed over the body. If you could make them cheaply, individual processor damage from “wear and tear” (haha, I’m punny) would be a minor issue, and wouldn’t interfere with redundantly distributed processing.
As long as some of your processors had a minimum size capable of handling your single largest (indivisible) task, you’d probably have good overall processing speed.
Water bottle sanitizer
At a typical ultimate frisbee tournament, water bottles become communal property and get passed around among 25 different guys. Statistically, one of them is bound to have some sort of bug, and if you factor in the fact that you spend the weekend eating crap, sleeping little, and pushing your body to its physical limits, you can almost gaurantee getting sick.
Since my teammates are pretty much wise to the tricks of writing “I’m sick” on my bottle, hiding it under a coat, or visibly rubbing it on my crotch, I’ve pretty much had to put up with sharing water. Now, I can at least avoid the germs.
I have dreamed up a bottle cap that one would size to fit whatever water bottle. The cap will hold a small amount of grain alcohol and hold it in with a valve. When the cap is snapped securely onto the bottle, the lip of the bottle will be exposed to the alcohol, while the valve keeps the interior contents separate. The alcohol kills the germs and leaves a tangy taste of your favorite liquor, which will hopefully dissuade future drink sneakers.
When the cap is again removed, the valve snaps shut to keep the alcohol in the cap, and you can drink from your bottle, secure in a germ-free libation.