Super Mouse

When I’m working, I hate having to slow down to wait for my computer to do things or to transfer files from one computer to another. I just don’t understand how in this day and age, computers and their peripherals aren’t more efficient! As it happens I work from a laptop and a desktop. The desktop is connected to the office network and the laptop isn’t. All I want to be able to do is to use one mouse to work on my computers – I want to be able to copy a file from my desktop and paste it to my laptop. When working from one computer, this is accomplished via the clipboard.
 

So what do Mighty Mouse, Speedy Gonzales, Mickey Mouse and Jerry have in common? They’re all super mice that do special things. So with such obvious role models, why is the common PC mouse so dull?

Super Mouse is a new idea for a Bluetooth mouse with its own clipboard. The clipboard can even be removable (USB memory stick) and able to store everything you copy to it for later use. Super Mouse also enables using your own memory stick which has information already on it for use as you see fit in your workspace. Super Mouse is basically a Bluetooth mouse that requests permission to pair with multiple components (e.g., a computer, a laptop, and a smartphone). For more information about Bluetooth technology limitations, such as transfer rates, maximum connections, and so on, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth. After the pairing, moving from one component to another can be achieved either by moving the mouse off one screen and onto another, or by clicking both buttons together and moving the mouse downwards. Although there are similar solutions out there that enable you to share a mouse cursor across different computers in your workspace (e.g., http://synergy-foss.org/), Super Mouse lets you truly take control of your workspace and save valuable time. 

Since Super Mouse is based on existing technologies, it shouldn’t be too expensive to manufacture. Also, since mice are already common PC peripherals, finding outlets to market Super Mouse will be a breeze. In my opinion, the Super Mouse is the embodiment of product innovation – a new idea for one of the most common products in the market.

Measure Mate

Ever wondered how far away that mountain is from you, or that building, or what the distance is between you and that tree, or that car in front of you? With Measure Mate, your speculations need no longer lead you astray. This new idea, based on a new product, takes the form of an app for future smart phones with 3D cameras. It’s only a matter of time before smart phones are equipped with 3D camera (2 lenses) functionality and that’s when this new app idea gains credence. Measure Mate is a distance measuring app, based on triangulation calculations, rather than echo or laser techniques. Triangulation means calculating all the sides and angles in a network of triangles based on the length of at least one side of a triangle. Therefore, the precise measurement of the length of a single baseline can determine the scale of an entire triangulation network. In other words, if you take a picture of a tree with 2 cameras placed exactly 5 cm apart (or any other distance), you can calculate the exact distance to the tree in the pictures. Triangulation is not a new technique, astronomers have been using it for years to calculate distances to stellar objects (see parallax), and neither is stereoscopic imaging for creating the illusion of depth in 2D images a new idea (see stereoscopy). But Measure Mate is. Once smart phones include 3D cameras, the exact length of the first side of the triangle becomes a constant. 

 

This is how it works:

1. You take a picture with Measure Mate (which is really two pictures: one from each lens).
2. Measure Mate superimposes the images one atop the other to create a new picture.
3. You select an object to which you want to know the distance in the new picture.
4. Measure Mate triangulates the distance to the object based on the distance between the two lenses.

You can read more about the necessary calculations here.

Measure Mate should be extremely cheap and easy to program – all the formulas already exist and all the technological concepts already exists. The most expensive budget item would probably be copyright protection for the app. I also think the potential market for Measure Mate is virtually limitless, from civilian to military markets, who wouldn’t pay just a few dollars for this piece of product innovation? Or forget about selling it, make it a free app and capitalize from advertising.

RFID Shopping

Why can't I walk into a supermarket, fill up my shopping cart, swipe my credit card at the door and leave? And I'm not referring to smart shopping carts which cost heaps and offer little or RFID enabled mobile phones or credit cards. RFID Shopping is simple, safe, and much more fun – more like a filling up at a self-service gas station. I guess this is more of a service based on existing products than a product in itself, but here goes anyway. RFID Shopping is a system that includes RFID tags instead of barcodes on all the items in a supermarket, a fixed RFID reader located anywhere in the supermarket and connected to a user-operated pay station, and a second fixed RFID reader located near the exit and connected to an alarm.

With RFID Shopping, you would enter the supermarket, fill up your cart or shopping bags, proceed to the pay station where a list of all your items would appear onscreen, swipe your credit card, and leave. When you approach the exit, if the additional fixed RFID reader detects that the content in your shopping cart mysteriously doesn't match the content you paid for at the pay station, it would sound an alarm notifying security personnel, or not open the door for you. Such a supermarket would still employ one or two conventional check-out personnel for dealing with problems that could arise or for people who prefer to pay cash.

RFID Shopping is a relatively cheap way for supermarkets to evolve, without necessitating enormous initial costs, as do some of the other RFID related ideas out there. With RFID Shopping, most of the supermarket infrastructure remains the same as new smart shopping carts or expensive computer systems do not have to be purchased or developed. RFID Shopping has many advantages for a supermarket, including reduced supermarket personnel expenses due to the reduced amount of check-out personnel required; increased floor size obtained by reducing the amount of check-out counters and lanes, which in turn enables displaying and selling more products; a more positive and less time consuming shopping experience for customers.

LazyPower

Originally, this idea was for an infrared-based remote controlled power socket that you could plug into an electric socket and plug any electric appliance into it, giving you remote control over the power to that appliance. This idea came to me when I was in bed, too lazy to get up and turn off the fan which was plugged into the wall socket a few meters away. I wished I had a remote control for the damned thing… Since I thought of LazyPower just about 10 years ago, and technology has leapt forward, I think it would be prudent to update this idea to incorporate both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technologies. B-LazyPower would be an electric power socket with BlueTooth that would be connected between any electric appliance and the wall socket and be controlled by your smartphone, when within range. Wi-LazyPower, on the other hand, would incorporate Wi-Fi technology and enable control of the socket from your home network (or anywhere else via this network). Each has its pros and its cons and each provides different development opportunities and user comforts. I would incorporate some software with each, for example an iPhone app for controlling all the detected B-LazyPower units and a program (Win/Mac) for controlling or setting up timer de/activation of all the detected Wi-LazyPower units from your PC.

In addition to the plug-and-play variety, which could convert your fan, radiator, fridge, or even toaster into a smarter and more accessible appliance, LazyPower could also be incorporated into permanent wall fixtures (light switches, RJ-11/45), providing a more affordable solution to some of the comforts offered by conventional smarthomes. Marketability of LazyPower is almost endless, including providing accessibility to people with disabilities, controlling and enforcing power-out periods at either work or home, and efficient power-saving by not forgetting appliances turned on all night. Once again, I think that LazyPower could be produced fairly easily for it too relies on already existing technologies – it just blends them together for new purposes. For this reason, LazyPower be marketed at very competitive rates and I know I'd buy it.

Snapper

Wouldn't it be great if when you're snapping pics on holiday, someone you care about could see them as you snap them from half the world away? Well, I tend to think so. Snapper would be some sort of BlueTooth enabled USB dongle that you could plug into your digital camera and would enable you to transmit pictures taken to your 3G phone. A simple application could then forward the received picture to anywhere you want (email, SMS, Facebook). I envisage it as a two-step procedure:

1) Plug in the Snapper dongle to your camera.

2) Take a picture.

When you plug in the Snapper dongle, your preconfigured Bluetooth device (phone) is recognized and ready to send any picture received to a preconfigured location. Then when you take the picture, it is automatically sent to wherever you wanted it to go. That is, assuming there is 3G network coverage when you take the picture.

Snapper could also work with a Wi-Fi dongle enabling you to send pictures through your home network to local storage or the Internet. This would alleviate the need for the phone acting as a middle man but is much more limited for there are fewer places with public Wi-Fi than with 3G network coverage. Snapper could also eliminate the need for large and costly memory cards by sending all pictures taken on your camera to be stored externally and not on the camera's memory card. I think that Snapper could be produced fairly easily for it relies on already existing technologies – it just blends them together for new purposes. For this reason, Snapper could be marketed at under $100 and I know I'd pay that much for it.

Snapper would be especially useful for whenever you go out with your camera, be it for a holiday or a trip to the zoo with the kids, but also for the more specialized market of reporters and professional photographers (to whom you could offer Snapper with data encryption). Also, if you take many pictures at home and you're lazy like me – simply can't be bothered transferring the pictures to my computer – Snapper would be perfect for you!