Strokes of Genius

Moving pictures that click

I'll call them clickies

I can't give you an example right now, but I often "invent" things that I find out within a few days are common-place, well known items.

I invented a type of piston in which the energy from your bike-pedaling is stored in the form of air compressed in a canister. Its purpose is to give you a sudden start when you come to an abrupt stop. This way, you don't have to work up the traveling speed again and (on a multi-geared bike) do not have to change gears. I tried to get it patented, but the process is too complicated.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Raistlin

There needs to be an automated house cleaner.

---

They've tried this. The house collapses.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Christmas

Very portable keyboard

This requires (or at least it helps) a flat surface. I have an ongoing plan of making a watch out of a StrongARM and a small colour LCD; one input method I'm looking at requires placing the watch on a flat surface. Then project (with a bright LED or possibly a small semiconductor laser) an image of a keyboard layout onto the surface, at a very shallow angle, from the side of the watch. Using two planar rangefinders (or possibly angle finders) on the watch corners, detecting intersections within a couple of mm above the surface, would allow a "key press" to be detected, and which key it affected. Would require care to avoid hairline fractures (since there is no key "give"), but it's much more portable than VR keyboard gloves (recently demoed as a Bluetooth application) or a folding keyboard. Working on ideas for a cheap planar rangefinder - I can see expensive ways of doing it (such as sweeping lasers, in the style of barcode readers).

Virtual key caps

Another keyboard design - this allowing real keys with changing legends. The normal approach is to use a touch-sensitive screen, but this allows proper (moving) keys. Initially I was thinking of an LCD built in to the top of the keys, but this is prone to breakage and has connectivity issues. The solution I propose is to have a backlit LCD below the keyboard (or possibly each individual key, depending on which is cheaper) and have transparent keys supported around their edges, with a lens projecting the LCD image to a translucent key top.

Keyboard with air vents

I find that when typing a lot, in cold weather my fingers get very cold (I tend to switch to Dvorak keyboard layouts or my Libretto, which has a small keyboard, to compensate), and in hot weather my fingers sweat more than the rest of me. The proposed solution, inspired by the Mattel Aquarius 8-bit micro of the early 1980s, is to blow air out between the keys. A small heating element would raise the temperature a bit, and active cooling could be used at a push - although the extra ventilation would probably be enough. This would also help keep dust out of the keyboard, so long as the vent was out of the way (the Aquarius sucked in at the bottom, and vacuumed the carpet if you weren't careful). This could be combined with a PSU fan (using an air hose alongside the keyboard cable) possibly?

---

That virtual keyboard thing has never worked at the ATMs they've tried them on.

I don't understand what Virtual caps are...

I don't see a keyboard managing to fix your finger temperature.

One day I shall make the automatic ball scratcher and be worshiped like a GOD.