Products that don't exist yet, but should
 

If I get my TV and/or internet and/or telephone via a phone wire
or cable or antenna wire coming into my house,
why do I need nineteen different components, each with their own
mini-transformer, dongles, and yards of spaghetti-wiring ?

I want only one wire/cable coming into my house connecting to one wireless router.
This generic router should have only one wire connecting to any 110v power source.
All the other components (TV's, monitors, computers, phones, printers, security cameras, etc.
should be like an electric alarm clock... a single plug for power.

All TV's, computers, play stations, smart phones, toys, security cameras, drones (:cool:)
should run off of one generic kind of wireless mouse+remote control devise.

It would be even better if the ISP cable were eliminated, so the
signals coming into the house would instead came from satellites.

Only geeks understand/enjoy the current situation.

You can turn the spaghetti into little bundles.

Just estimate how much length you actually need.

Search for "usb wall outlet". Installing one of these will let anything that can be powered by USB use a standard cable, hiding the wall wart inside the wall. You won't get internet through that, but if you've got wifi, you don't need a cable for any wifi-aware devices.
Satellites are slow, thanks to the speed of light. Municipal internet would have to be large-scale ground-tower-based ifi.

What am I missing here. I'm probably not understanding.
My search for "usb wall outlet" turns up wall outlets that "charge" USB devices.

Even if I do have wifi, isn't this concept going to require a wire running from each devise to a nearby wall plug ?
Or, is this include a way to distribute TV and network signals via the house-hold wiring, itself ?

Yes, I had heard from a cable-guy installer that satellites were too far away to give quick signal responses.
But still, that's only a minor problem and someone should be able to devise a simple work-around. ;)

If your wifi is set up, and your device supports wifi, then you don't need any cable for internet, but you will need a power cable unless it runs on batteries. The USB charging wall outlet allows you to use a USB cable instead of a wall wart.

Television is a different story. You will need a direct coaxial connection to the cable box, so at least that one will need two cables. Some DVRs may then be able to stream video, or you could get something like a SlingBox to get he video to another device.

There are ways to use household wiring for internet, but that essentially puts an ethernet jack on the outlet, and two cables are still needed from that outlet to the device, so if wifi is viable, it is probably better, if your goal is minimizing wires.

There are wifi enabled tvs now that will let you stream Netflix, Hulu, etc.

We just switched to satellite. We get 20mbps now. This is about 40 times faster than we used to get via landline.

Sent by thought transference

I'm sure this has been suggested before, and I can't believe it still isn't standard.

I go to the TV set, and I push the button marked "locate remote". The TV sends a signal to the remote control which begins beeping and doesn't stop until I find the #$%&er and press a button telling it to stop beeping.

If this were available, no-one would buy a TV without it again.

My remote does that automatically... because it has to be recharged all the time, and beeps when the battery gets low. So either it's in the recharging cradle, or it's beeping until I find it.

You can get things that you can stick to a remote, to do that, but it does seem logical for it to be built in.

The Roku has a headphone jack built into the remote, so audio has been done.

I wonder if there is a patent and a greedy inventor is looking for licensing fees nobody is willing to pay.

Edit: There are a ton of patents. The oldest is one where you clap your hands, and the remote chirps in response. That one is probably in the public domain by now since it issued in '85.

Heh, in highschool I had one of those key-finder things where you whistle and it goes beepbeepbeep. It was fine, until I was in music class with the kids with the flutes. :lol:

This stuff is changing fast. Lamplighter, check this out. If you can get it onto your phone, you can get it onto your TV. Including YouTube videos. $35.

Isn't roku Japanese for six?
Not relevant to this thread, just showing off something I learned this week.

Yes Z, that's actually what prompted me to start this thread.

The $35 + Google's offer of free Netflix made their inventory sell out in just 1 day !
I've been reading the reviews...
The price is so low, people are embarrassed to complain.
But, there are a few issues... picky, picky, picky.
... some geek issues about sound options, picture quality, etc.

Apple TV and Chromecast will compete with one another to improve both.

One billion points if you got that reference.

...

I'm wrestling with this one, but I'm sure I'll pin it down soon.

Bags that roll down around the trunks of trees and when October rolls around they catch all the leaves-just like a woman to figure something like this out, and cheaply too.

My gradfather puts a big blue tarp under his pecan trees.



And by the way, another benefit to my totally ignored wire bundling method...
When you un-bundle any part of the wires, they have a natural 'pigtail' tendency:

...not to be used with extension cords. Right ?

I get very frustrated when I find an extension cord wound up that way.
I use a very simple way to coil even a 100 ft extension so you can then
throw it out and it "uncoils" with few, if any, kinks.

Pet peeve is when people roll up the extension cord the wrong way. Just listen to it. It will tell you if it likes the way you are rolling it up. It should be effortless.

This is how an audio cable is properly coiled on set. I was actually given a test over whether we could coil a cable properly. Throw it across the floor with no stray twists, you get an A.

Addressing the OP. A TV, DVD player, Audio Reciever, and 1 set of stereo speakers, all placed in the same cabinet, will have at least three power cables, a couple of RCAs, S-Videos, HDMIs or whatever, and the speaker wire. All cables--with the exception of the speaker wire--cannot be cut to length. The components are probably very close to each other, and close to a power outlet, power strip, or UPS. Spaghetti wiring is inevitable.

Unless...you make bundles wrapped with velcro strips--this is acceptable, but unnecessary if you use the self-bundling technique. Also, you can use zip strips, with the added inconvenience of having to cut the zip strip (at some point in the future)--unless you have the reversible zip strips. The ultimate, really is to use the zip strips with an eye you can run a screw through, bundle up all of your wire bundles into one big bundle, and screw it to the bottom of something where you can't see it, and it will never be jostled.

All of that being said, the simplest solution, requiring no additional tools or materials, is to make self-bundled wire bundles, allowing exactly as much wire as you need. You can connect the components directly, with no slack cable in between. You can even connect them purposefully so that no wires cross over each other, leaving a flow chart which will diagram like this:

_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________

If you catch my drift. This is like spaghetti that is still in the box.

You can actually take a bunch of slimy noodles and put them back into Pandora's box.



If you have reason to suspect that your TV may suddenly be moved 100 ft away from everything else, then you have other issues going on.

We use these Velcro tabs about 4-6 inches long. We use them for everything, and they just pull off with the little colored tab at the end. I use it on the starter arm of the mower, so if I need to move a lawn chair I don't have to start the darn thing again. Also use it on my vacuum power cord if I use an extension. Handy as hell

I Velcro down the throttle bar of my mower. Probably not safe...

Ask Sunday's dad how that strategy worked out for him with his power tools....

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Ugh,,please explain

the lazy houseband
 

take the gripper off of this:

(not the robotic arm, just the coffee-sack & air pump)

stick it on the bottom of this:


upload the software of this:


and unleash it upon the household! might also make for an awkward waiter...

p.s.
maybe paint a smiley face on the the gripper so that it doesn't look like a flying penis

Nooo, I'd never be able to find anything.

it wasn't me!



















(it was my flying penis)

FYI - it shouldn't be that difficult to set up a system where you can put things where you want them to be in a certain area and have it scan it to remember where everything should be, only using the placement-algorithms with unrecognized items or as a default setting.

because combined with a romba, this is like the perfect house maid.

something that really should exist:

search for any music-clip or movie, click it, watch it (with ads or pay to watch it without).

no limitations by country
no picking up servers
no underground malware filled websites
no producers cut offs - sponsor or pay.

we have had the technology for years, just not the political infrastructure.

Traceur's TEDTalk clip reminded me of this (can't remember if I found this here, or not):



Replace the baton with a longneck BudLight, and then ya got something.

That is truly amazing programming !

By coincidence, last week I watched a teenage girl practicing
with one of those old fashioned toys: a cup on a handle, a ball on a string like this:
Attachment 45130

Where the object is to swing the ball up and catch it in the cup.

Apparently, that sort of thing would be "child's play" for these guys.

Ya really wanna impress somebody, get those quadcopters to use one of these:

Attachment 45132

makes me wonder if the aerodynamics of the quad would still work if it was placed beneath a tray.

i'm really open to the idea of having them waitress, i'd even treat it like i would like to treat a waitress, but... on which side is the bum? :p:

I#ve been looking for somwthing like this for the past two years

A magnet implanted into your sides, with a corresponding magnet in your purse so when you've got your purse on your shoulder and try to grab the trash you're taking out or rinsing out your coffee cup the damn purse doesn't flip in front knocking things over and falling off and pissing me right the fuck off so much I want to stab stab stab my purse.

(music turns whimsical)

I want a party with room fulls of laughter
Ten thousand tons of ice cream...

what about a tray made of expanded metal or mesh?

Go to this (pdf) showing several types/sizes of expanded metal mesh. The last column shows the "% open area" for each. It can run from 40% to over 75%.

Years ago, I saw charts in the Engineering Handbook or McMaster-Carr catalog, showing how much screen and woven wire mesh block.

I'd like to see how that make the steel mesh out of one plate of metal.

When doing work on my house, I've run into a plaster reinforcing mesh at the corners of some walls. That stuff is a bitch to cut cleanly through to do a patch. It wants to take the whole wall with it.

You could experiment with a belt, before going all-out on surgery.

I find more and more that I need a "Fuck All" button. Kinda like the Staples 'Easy Button'. Bad day? "Fuck All" that shit.

the technique is called slit and stretch. the video shows the machine in action, this link has a simplified animated drawing that is much clearer. Here's one more animation that could be helpful.

This animation is the best of the three links.

The interesting (and obvious in hindsight) thing about the youtube video is how slowly the supply side sheet is fed into the machine compared to how quickly the expanded finished product comes out. It looks like the sheet being fed in is not even moving while the mesh coming out is clearly moving, albeit slowly.

Although this really does exist, I don't have one and I want one...

Attachment 45478

The link below downloads a 23 page pdf for how to construct it.
Maybe V can make one for each of us.

The Good Human
David Quilty
March 15, 2011

Build Your Own Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine On The Cheap

AFAIK, there's no non-surgical way to cure Cerebral Palsy, let alone any way to cure it, but if one became available, I'd go for it - such as injecting stem cells directly into my cerebellum causing motor cell regeneration.

Ok, ok. I realize this post is not about an actual product, but still, it's something that should exist.

Self-programming remotes.

TV remote?

http://www.emtcompany.com/all-in-one...l/1002045.html

I want one that is a vertical tube, with the propellers at the top end, horizontal. The air in the tube heats up, rises, and turns the turbine.

Shaw, I like your thinking.
Too many male designers methinks.

I may have made this suggestion before,but it was orininally pre-Cellar days, so it bears repeating. It may only be of UK use.

Hair collar length? Too short and fone to effectively tie up?
Windy walk to walk?

HAIR SNORKEL.
Air not hair.
- Tube only
- Add goggles to protect eye amke-ip leaking at the corners
- Full face to retain moisture - guaranteed never to mist up due to SG technology
- Niquab style head covering as alternative to snorkel but please be aware this nay draw unwanted attention.

NB - ladies with thinks hair or longer than bobs just tie it up FFS.

Don't ask me why I think this should exist ...

Someone should design a normal household toilet (1.6 gal/flush) with... wait for it....
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
:urinal:a built-in urinal for males (< 0.6 gal/flush) to save a gallon of water each use.
.

The sink is right over there!

:D