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74 results found
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| Electronic Component Tattle-Tail Stickers 
There are chemicals that change color with temperature (mood rings) and can be designed to coat paper stickers so that when a certain temperature threshold is reached, the sticker will change from green to red (for example) and not change back. We also know that most electronic components will increase in normal temperature when a failure occurs. With a sticker designed for and affixed to all components at point of manufacture, a failure would become VISUALLY apparent. Many TVs, monitors, stereos, etc. are tossed simply because an intermittant problem won't happen when the tech has it in the shop. Many are discarded because the problem is so difficult to troubleshoot that the estimate is too high to be worth repairing. Many COULD be repaired by the home do-it-yourselfer with a soldering iron if he/she could visually see the component to replace.This invention would make these things possible.I thought of this idea when I found out that my $2000.00 21" monitor that died just out of warranty doesn't have a schematic available from any source in the world -- not even the manufacturer. In searching, I found that to be a common industry problem these days.So,... anybody know any chemist out there that would like to tackle this one?Reward: The NAME of the slave labor 7 year old that put that bad capacitor in my Chinese made monitor. ;-)5/5/03 Update: My monitor problem was a 10M ohm wire-wound resistor that burnt open (like a blown fuse) without leaving a mark on the body of the resistor. This means that instead of stickers, some components capable of 'spot' failures should be completely coated with a translucent color changing chemical coating. That would have made this problem visually detectable. 
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| Entrepreneur's Business Park
Every area has talented people. Skills all going to waste. Dying of loneliness. And lack of opportunity. In my experience, the only people who really benefit from the agencies set-up to help entrepreneurs, are the employees who mostly do very little to actually help alleviate their struggles. So why not introduce a true enterprise zone to help bring enterprising people together. Government funded, industrial type building - you're allowed all kinds of styles in business parks! It could be a sort of theme park for adults, with places to crash out, bars that serve good food/drinks, IT stations, art studio facilities, noticeboards, keep fit equipment including fun stuff like swings, a gym for people to play ball games etc., and most importantly, a large conference suite so that council members or big business can consult the brainy bods!Surround the place with loads of trees, flowers. Create enough parking (could be underground). Maybe charge members an annual fee, reimburseable if they make a good contribution to help run the place efficiently/cost effectively.For ambience, try using weatherboarding on the floor - nail down and sand the panels, apply paint/varnish! Cheap, effective, hard-wearing. Don't make ceilings too high or problems keeping place warm. Could show educational films relating to art/craft/design. Hold seminars about whatever people are interested in, e.g. tackling poverty... Could run a store re-using waste paper etc. There's so much potential, the mind boggles!Reward: Just make it happen! Invite me along to my local think tank. That would more than suffice.
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| Electronic cable labeller
I've been looking everywhere for a very simple, cheap but ingenious device that prints labels for electrical/electronic cords and cables.How many of us who have multiple electric/electronic/computing devices have coils of cables with various ends that we don't know how to organize while they aren't being used? One particular beef is the power-supply bricks that always seem to get separated from their device. They are rarely labelled and you end up having two or three hanging around but have no idea what device they were used to power -- and plugging in the wrong adapter could fry a device if it's the wrong one.I was thinking of something resembling a stapler, except it would be "filled" with white flexible plastic tape that somehow one could enter a name onto -- say, "USB to iPad Mini" and then clamp it around the cord somehow and it would produce a tag with the words "USB to iPad Mini" on both sides. It would have to be durable but not too wide -- in other words, about half the width of Scotch tape. It would be white or colored, depending on the "cartridge" or whatever you use to attach the tape, and there would have to be some way of inputting the text. The tags themselves could be as long or as short as you wanted, depending on the descriptions; thus, you could have a tag that said "Firewire to Thunderbolt for Canon Elura 100" or in the case of a power brick, "Power supply for label printer."At the moment what I'm doing is using a Dymo label printer to print out the text and then, because the tape is inexplicable clear, attaching it to label paper, then cutting that out to make a tag, then attaching it to the cord -- very tedious and laborious work if you have 100 cords to do.I have never seen anything like this anywhere. The only reward I would want is to have one for my personal use! I myself have no electronics knowledge or inventor skills whatsoever. Perhaps you could suggest a DIY hack that would at least reduce the work to a quick under-a-minute process? And something SIMPLE -- I don't need to be able to select among 20 fonts or tape widths.Reward: Have one of these made for me for free!
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