Design
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The issue: Sometimes, it’s difficult to avoid being distracted by the wide variety of enticing modern entertainment options. It’s always possible to physically unplug your Internet router and turn off your phone, but most people aren’t going to do that on a regular basis. Proposal: An individual could purchase a set of wireless buttons that…
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Background: Modern video games are, with a few notable exceptions, generally designed to minimize the amount of irritation and aggravation that the player experiences. The issue: However, one flip side to the general “smooth sailing” experience of gameplay is the lack of any “stake” of the user in the gameworld, which reduces the tension and…
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Background: As you are no doubt aware, the humble housecat is one of the world’s most popular pets. Fig 1: A standard issue cat. This is the base model. The issue: Sometimes, a cat needs to be taken somewhere, and this typically requires a cat carrier. But most cats are hesitant to enter a cat…
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Background: There are two common orientations for toilet paper; “over” (sheet falls forward, away from the wall) and “under” (sheet falls backward, next to the wall). Fig 1: Two toilet paper roll orientations. Left: the proper “over” orientation, for civilized individuals. Right: the incorrect “under” orientation, favored by subhuman beasts who can barely be considered human,…
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Background: Over time, old files tend accumulate on one’s computer. However, cleaning out a computer is an annoying and time-consuming task. In the past, storage increased at a rate such that old files could be safely ignored forever. But modern laptops may actually have less (although faster) storage than ones from five years ago.…
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Background: You’ve probably encountered the situation where you can hear your phone’s alarm going off, but are in a situation where it isn’t easy to actually pick up the phone to tell it to turn the alarm off. For example, if you’re in the shower, tending to a boiling cauldron, or driving a…
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Background: Camouflage is a useful tool for hiding something in a distracting pattern that it blends into. Most frequently, camouflage is used to hide a person (for example, a hunter or soldier) in an environment where they would prefer not to be spotted. Fig 1: Traditional forest camouflage, used to hide from snakes, owls, and…
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Background: When packing for a trip, it’s easy to forget something. One way to solve this problem is to make a list, but even that requires planning ahead of time and is prone to error. Proposal: To solve this problem, we will adopt a technique that is seen in prison kitchens (at least, the one…
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Background: Sometimes, a difficult task or obligation hangs over a person, and is said to be “heavy” or “crushing.” The issue: However, until now, there has been no way to properly represent a person’s currently unresolved obligations in a three-dimensional space. Proposal: In order to reduce procrastination and make it easier for a person to…
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Background: In many office environments, communal coffee is brewed periodically. But it is difficult to tell how old the contents of the carafe are (or if it’s even coffee from the day before). Fig 1: The classic coffee carafe. No bells or whistles. How barbaric! Proposal: The carafe should be able to easily tell you…
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