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njwilson2012
 USA
Open Source Auto Industry Printer Friendly Version
The auto industry today has some major flaws. You buy a new car for a large sum of money, after 10 or 12 years, the repair costs are more than the value of the car, so you toss it into a junkyard and buy a brand new car. The car companies are rewarded for making a car that is difficult to repair. In some cases, it seems like they are intentionally designed so that customers cannot work on them themselves. The cars must be taken to the dealer and the repair costs are outrageous.
Here's the solution: in the aeronautics industry, aircraft are designed for ease of maintenance. Many aircraft are designed to last 100 years and to have parts that are easily replaceable. The concept of designing products for a maximum life and ease of maintenance and repair is known as sustainment.
In the arms industry, many firearms are designed to maximize the compatibility of their parts. Parts for a Colt 1911 made in 2015 will be compatible with parts made in the 1930s. An AR-15 upper receiver made by Smith & Wesson is compatible with a lower receiver made by Bushmaster. Compatibility.
Last, in the world of open source software, the intellectual property is built by volunteers all around the world who wish to create a better product for themselves and everyone else. Also, projects like the Adruino have created open source hardware and have dramatically driven down the costs of custom circuit boards by opening their designs to the free market. This is the beauty of open source information.
What I want to do is to create a car company that uses the best of all of these worlds. Cars that are designed to last a lifetime because they are designed for ease of maintenance. Parts that will fit your car today, and in 50 years you will still be able to buy parts that fit. Last, all intellectual property will be open source. This means people from all over the world will be able to propose design improvements and create new 3D models using open source software. Also, this will open the door to the free market so manufacturers from all over the world will be able to manufacture parts that fit together. You can buy an engine from Honda and a transmission from Toyota and they will be compatible in the same car. Designing cars for sustainment and compatibility with open source information will revolutionize the auto industry. It will make cheap and reliable transportation available to everyone on the planet.
Reward: To change the world
 

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ling
 China
Cook it yourself restaurants Printer Friendly Version
Frinds, lovers, or family members can cook for each other or learn cooking even when they are far away from home in these cook it yourself restaurants. These restaurants can provide raw materials, or materials packed according to recipes. Professional chef could also stand by to offer help during cooking. This type of restaurant may be a good news for people who like cooking.
Reward: Some coupons to this type of restaurant
 

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mtd28student
 New Zealand
Sun Glare Printer Friendly Version
I have been sitting on this idea for a while now. I emailed the below letter to BMW’s online innovation website, but unfortunately they responded many months later with: “We have evaluated your proposal and unfortunately have to inform you that we do not see any possibility of implementing your idea.” Oh well. So here I give my idea to you. Any advancements or improvements let me know.
It seems no matter what a driver does, sun glare continues to make driving difficult. At one time or another we’ve all gone through the routine of trying to avoid the sun’s glare while driving, and we know that driving and sun glare can be a deadly mixture. Poor visibility due to sun glare is the suspected cause of many motor vehicle accidents. Of those surveyed, 97 percent said that they had experienced sun strike during driving. Several ways to reduce the affects of sun glare are listed below.
• Make sure your windshield is free of pits and is clean, not only on the outside but also free of any inside film.

• Be sure to carry a good pair of sunglasses to provide some shade.

• Anticipate slowing traffic ahead of you. Adjust your speed so that you're not suddenly reacting to a slowdown.

• If you do suddenly become blinded by sun, don't slam on your breaks. Instead, let off the accelerator and slow down gradually.

• If at all possible, try to avoid the sunrise or sunset time frame. Leave early or later.
These methods help reduce the sun strike, but are not always convenient for the driver. One new innovative way to reduce the effects of glare is the tint the windscreen using LCD (or similar) technology. The windscreen could be made up many pixels which will only darken in the areas necessary. In other words the darkened pixels will cast a shadow of the drivers and passengers faces, thus blocking the sun and allowing them to still see the road.

To achieve this two main pieces of information are needed. These are the position of the sun in the sky relative to the car as well as the position of the people heads inside the car. These are both quite simple to do.
Some modern airbag designs get input from ultrasonic sensors around in the cars cabin as to location of the occupants. This gives the airbag the information needed on how much to deploy. This same technology could be used for finding the position of the occupant’s heads.
Finding the position of the sun could be achieved with a small, inexpensive black and white camera. The camera could be positioned out of the way, in one of the head lights. With the aid of software the position of the bright object (in this case the sun) could be located. The camera could also detect the intensity of the light and adjust the contrast of the pixels accordingly.
Software would then put all the information together and tint the windscreen in the appropriate places.
Having this technology in a car would give rise to several advantages.
• You could do away with the sun visor, making the inside of the car smoother.

• The whole windscreen could tint slightly when driving in snow to help reduce the overall brightness.

• When the car is parked up, the windscreen could darken, which would protect the interior from the sun as well making the inside of the car cooler.

• Increased safety because of information the airbags receive.
This is a basic overview of this concept. If you have any further questions please to not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for your time.


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