This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Category: technology
Typographic Clock
The clock face is an LCD, so it can change the design pretty flexibly.
This work is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
MIT Engineer Develops Software That Converts Sketches into Interactive Mechanical Systems
This is truly amazing.
“We’re truly living in the Age of Miracles!” they’re saying. And we are!
3D Image Display and its potential
If there were a 3D display, even a very small one, it would be a lot of fun. The real object’s image could be easily and clearly seen from any angle, and what else has been difficult to be displayed with our conventional monitors could be done as a matter of course.
So, here’s my ideas of what could be done if I had an external small 3D display:
1) photo slide show: mac-like cool screen saver would be nice
2) calendar: good to have aside of my iMac when working ’cause it’s not distractive but helpful. Being able to pick a theme like ocean, forest, etc. would be cool.
3) Google Earth: I just can’t wait to see the 3D building images moving! You have the real earth image in the box!
4) 3D applications: could be handled much more easily.
Maybe it would be also possible to display a holographic image of a person you’re talking to on the phone.
What do you think? Give me other ideas.
This work is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Digital, but analog bookmark
To me, THIS is a bookmark. And I quite often write down something on a page like this for various purposes.
Wouldn’t it happen on the desktop, too?
This work is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Smoke Detecting Maternity Badge
In Japan, there is a “maternity mark” used for asking for courtesy towards pregnant women in public places. It’s widely used in badges, cell-phone straps, posters, signs, etc., but unfortunately there are still some people who are ignorant about it. I’ve even seen a few men who started smoking even when there was a pregnant woman around. I know it’s sometimes hard to know a woman you see is pregnant or not, but smoking should be refrained in public places.
This badge detects smoke and glows blue with a sign “Don’t smoke!”. The faces on the badge change, too. It’s also good for the expectant mother because she can quickly notice the smoke and get out of there.
We could use the idea not only for smoke but for heat, coldness and some other harsh environments for expectant moms. But hopefully the people around the woman should know better without this.
Chosen as Blog of the day
Thanks to all your interest, Petitinvention is chosen one of “Blogs of the Day” of WordPress for December 18, 2007. I really appreciate everyone who visited Petitinvention. I’ll introduce more and more interesting ideas for the coming holidays and next year. Looking forward to your comments!
Mac Funamizu
“Mouse-Over” for Touch Screen
With your mouse, it’s pretty convenient when you move the cursor over an item to point it and sometimes it gives you a basic information about the object. Using my iPod Touch everyday, I’ve started to hope there’s the mouse-over function for it, too.In order to make it realize, there must be a more sensitive sensor to monitor the screen, but what I think is this.When you move your finger slightly above the screen, the object on the screen right below the finger changes to the “mouse-over” mode, which is maybe slightly brighter or darker in color, etc. And when you touch the object, it means “click”. That way, the feeling of inconvenience we feel when using the touch screen can be reduced.
iPhone & iPod Touch’s instant access button (you can allocate functions)
I’ve found it quite hard to quickly turn up and down the volume of my iPod Touch when I want to on a crowded train. There is lot of noise when the train is running, so I turn up the volume, but when it stops, it becomes quiet around so I have to quickly turn it down. When I was using my old iPod shuffle, it was quite easy to manipulate the basic functions even when I wasn’t looking at it. So naturally I want that usability for my iPod Touch.
You know there’s a button on top of iPhone and iPod Touch to lock/unlock the screen. I think that can be used for a few useful purposes. As iPhone and iPod Touch know which side is now up and which side is down, it should also know “when the button is pushed with this side up”. So there can be a few functions you can customize like:
If the button is clicked when…
1) the top side up — lock/unlock the screen
2) the bottom side up — mute/regain volume
And if the button is clicked TWICE when…
3) the top side up — access the homepage with Safari
4) the bottom side up — YouTube launches
Something like that.
What do you think?
Examples of the button usage
Reduce the solar radiation before reaching the earth
OK. I don’t know anything about global warming, so if I’m being an idiot, just laugh it off.
Simply put, this solar powered glass plate floating on the orbit blocks some solar radiation. We can switch the plate from “transparent mode”, which just blocks only specific kind of light to “black mode”, which cut any kind of light off. We can switch the modes from the earth with the usual remote control. So it’s like putting sunglasses above the earth; sunglasses that can become usual glasses.
In short, you can ADJUST the sunlight coming to the earth.
Of course, only a single disc does not change anything, but if there are one thousand of them above your city, it can make a small change.
By the way, is it possible to transcend electricity in the air?