Your everyday problems that need solutions.

[W_HAMILTON]

I've got a project due, where I am supposed to come up with a brand new product. Well, I'm not all that creative. I'm one of those types that are like, "everything has already been invented!"

I know a lot of great products have been invented to help solve everyday problems, so what are some of your problems? :)

Maybe I will get some inspiration!

[femmocrat]

1. Kick.

Hope someone comes up with something. Sorry, I'm like you... can't think of anything creative.

I used to teach a unit on inventions and even the kids didn't have good ideas. I must have seen 1000 "electric pencils to do their homework"! LOL

[W_HAMILTON]

18. Thanks for the kick :)

It looked like the thread was going to die a slow -- well, considering how quickly this message dropped down the page after I posted it, maybe a quick -- death.

I have a couple of ideas that I have been tossing around, but would prefer to come up with some more.

Thanks to everyone else for the responses, now to see if my unimaginative brain can come up with anything :)

[Phillycat]

2. I want wireless electricity.

I have so many cables for my computer and all my gadgets. I want some way to charge things wirelessly. They are already doing this, but the object has to be quite close to the charging station. I want to be able to be across the room. No more wires!

[begin_within]

4. That's what Tesla wanted in the first place.

He wanted electricity to be free to anyone and transmitted wirelessly.

[Phillycat]

5. How would that work, exactly?

Wouldn't it be bad to have electricity arcing all over the place?

Keep in mind you're talking to someone who is a physics idiot. :hi:

[begin_within]

9. I'll find out and I'll get back to you on it

Katie. I remember that Tesla wanted electricity to be free.

[Phillycat]

11. My grandfather used to call me Katie.

:)

[kentauros]

24. There would have been no arcing.

Tesla worked with very high and very low frequencies of electricity. The low frequencies would allow for propagating the electricity over the surface of the earth while the high frequencies had to do with determining a means of transmitting electricity wirelessly through a very low-pressure space, like in the upper atmostphere.

This site explains all that better in the opening statements, though I haven't read the whole page:
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/9654/tesla/projecttesla.html

High frequency electricy is actually quite safe, but his backers (Westinghouse) didn't want electricity sent out for free. So Tesla had to lower the freqs to the 60cycle (Hz) model we know and use today.

I don't know physics either, but Tesla was beyond a lot of them. Some of his pattents could be put to use today again if only they would resurrect them. Such as a lightbulb that uses a single filament more like an antenna than a "normal" light bulb. It just requires very high frequencies to operate, much like a "radiowave" bulb GE "invented" some years back. More like the improved on one of Tesla's patents and called it their own.

[mainegreen]

3. A better way to store and dispense silverware.

I've never liked the way those things you put in drawers work. Spoons always end up in the fork section, and they all just mis-align, and take up more space than silverware should.

Petty, I know, but it really drives me nuts.

[siligut]

22. Found a unit in Switzerland.

The silverware has rings on the ends and hangs from something like a lazy susan with a pole coming up from the middle. It is small, uses vertical rather than horizontal space and can be kept on the table.

[siligut]

23. I found a picture. Link inside.

This one doesn't look as high quality, but it gives you the idea.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. I want an alarm clock

that triggers a hydraulic lift that rolls me out of bed onto the floor in the morning. I tend to oversleep.

[bluethruandthru]

7. I want some kind of suction device

in all my baseboards where I have hardwood floors. Then I can flip a switch and all the dust and crumbs are sucked up in seconds! No more sweeping/vacuuming the hardwoods!

[NJmaverick]

25. rats, I thought this was going in a different direction

:P :hi:

[HEyHEY]

8. Something to stop me from drinking

[Phillycat]

10. They've got that already.

It's called AA. I'll save a seat for ya. :hi:

[HEyHEY]

12. Shit, I wasn't SERIOUS

;-)

[Deja Q]

13. Everything is solved with Devo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf7e3P7N7Zc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyNU_sXiFTU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioYbjLGBbLI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c86TAbudJEk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9Y8NKhuIi8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F65HuARUZzY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE1KfORCHR8

[XemaSab]

14. Tiny little month labels

for stuff in the fridge. x(

[cynatnite]

15. Wireless internet straight into my brain...

oh, and I need unlimited bandwidth, too.

[rucky]

16. I wish I could fill a pepper grinder without spilling!

[rucky]

17. But I'd go with the Devo thing.

[Broken_Hero]

19. self lighting cigarette? nt

[YankeyMCC]

20. How to deal with the ice rink that forms in my parking lot

every time it rains and snows.

[NJmaverick]

26. There are things you can purchase for you shoes/boots

that give you traction on the snow and ice. I know Herrington sent me an email, that they were on sale.

[WinkyDink]

21. You know how you have to close your umbrella with the car door still open, and then place

the wet umbrella IN the car somewhere?

Yeah, fix that!