UI / UX
User interfaces and “user experience” ideas.
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Background: Some vacuum cleaners are capable of measuring how much junk they’re currently pulling up off the floor. These vacuums will usually turn on a “this surface is now clean!” light to notify the user that their vacuuming job has been sufficiently through on a particular tiny section of the floor. The Issue: The “floor…
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Background: Job-related social media sites (the largest of which in 2025 is LinkedIn) typically have a newsfeed that shows users what their former co-workers and classmates are working on these days. The Issue: There is a strong selection bias for what actually gets posted: most posts are from people reporting their successes in business. This…
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Background: A common issue in many interactions is that different people have different ideas of what is enjoyable. This comes up a lot when multiple people are trying to decide on a single dinner location, pick a movie to watch, etc. The Issue: In particular, let’s investigate the situation where two people want to go…
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Background: More and more software is gaining AI integration. Now, if a person is typing a sentence, it is highly likely that an AI will suggestion a possible remainder of the sentence. Sometimes this is useful, and sometimes it is annoying, but weirdly it is NEVER monetized! Proposal: At least… not yet! But it would…
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Originally published 2025-09-29. Background: Sunglasses: they keep the sun out of your eyes. The Issue: UNLESS, of course, the sun happens to be to the side (and the sunglasses aren’t wrap-around sunglasses): then, your eyeballs will be seared with deadly solar radiation (Figure 1). Proposal: The solution is simple: it’s the same as the solution…
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The Issue: Car turn signals (or “blinkers,” if you prefer) make an audible “click… click… click” noise when they’re active (Figure 1). Bizarrely, this sound is both 1) not customizable by the driver and 2) identical for both the “turning left” and “turning right” signal. Proposal: The fix is so obvious. Just as a user might set…
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The Issue: Marriage ceremonies traditionally involve an exchange of vows. Strangely, only very rarely does a marriage ceremony include an obstacle course, “pub quiz” component, co-op video game challenge, or other method of allowing two people to demonstrate their suitability as partners. As a result, people occasionally get married and only later discover that they…
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Background: “Augmented reality” (“AR”) headsets (e.g. the Oculus/Meta Quest or the Apple Vision Pro) are capable of overlaying computer screens on top of a view of the real world. From the perspective of the headset-wearer, the virtual screens can entirely cover up any real world objects behind them. The Issue: If a person wears an…
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Background: A “chocolate fountain” is a food-serving item that a person might see at a wedding or fancy party: it’s just a device that recirculates melted chocolate so that you can dip strawberries or marshmallows in it before chomping them (Figure 1). Fancy! The Issue: Strangely, this type of device is almost never seen recirculating…
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The Issue: It’s common for people to compulsively and unthinkingly pull out their cell phone and fiddle with it at all times. If only there were some way to subtly discourage “snacking” on the Internet! Proposal: The solution is simple: every time you unlock your cell phone, it should display a yawning “groggy” face for…
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