Alonline » invention

The Shit Box – a good idea rather than a joke

Al — Fri, 30 May 2008 21:53:02 +0000

I like the idea of this, and would like to believe that such a product really is available somewhere. An instant emergency toilet for travel purposes is a fantastic idea, and one that would probably sell. However, this site is almost definitely not real as there are no links to buy the product or to find out more information. Shame – it would be something someone would definitely buy.

How to produce oil and gas from anything

Al — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:52:05 +0000

The inventor of a device that can make oil and gas from anything that contains hydrocarbons is scared that the oil companies may assassinate him. From this report, he may just have reason to worry, as his invention uses microwaves to break down hydrocarbon based items into their components, which then coalesce into oil and/or gas. The device is reasonably self-sustaining, as it can produce more than enough fuel to power itself, and still have enough left over to contribute to local economies. This might end up being one of the best recycling tools available today, and should become more widespread as it grows in its abilities.

Cheap, low speed wind power

Al — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:25:36 +0000

Until these incredibly simple redesign of wind power it was impossible to make wind turbines that could harness breezes and output small voltages. Bearings can only be manufactured to a certain tolerance, and so become the main fail point in micro-turbines. However, if you completely redesign the method of extracting wind energy, so that bearings are no longer an issue, then you can take a generator down to very small scale and produce small scale voltages. What’s really cool about this design, though , is that it can also be scaled up to industrial size and could then be employed in lots of situations. In this video the concept is explained and the designer also mentions that, in addition to producing small scale energy, this design could be scaled up to be emplaced under bridges and along canyons, where it could produce serious power. Watch, and be amazed how obvious well crafted designs can be.

The Heineken world bottle – ahead of it’s time

Al — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 23:20:29 +0000

Here’s a clever, and very green idea from Heineken which, unfortunately, arrived in1963, just before the first real green campaigns began. It’s a remarkably simple idea, where each bottle is vaguely brick shaped, and designed in such a way as to link together pretty seamlessly. The purpose was to provide a use for the bottle beyond carrying Heineken’s beer, and to enable people to build with the bottles afterward. I’d rather like a glass wall built out of beer bottles, although it might have been better if they produced the bottles in clear glass as well as green.

The Back Up gun rack – only in America

Al — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 01:52:10 +0000

You’d be unlikely to see an advert like this in any other country in the world. I’m not sure what this says about American society when people feel the need to take shotguns to be with them, but that’s another factor that puts me off visiting or living in America. I almost feel sorry for people born in the US: having to grow up in a gun culture cannot be conducive to a restful life.

Airtrax – reinventing the wheel

Al — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 22:28:03 +0000

It’s not often that someone can actually claim to have reinvented the wheel, but in this case they really have, and it’s very cleverly done as well. Instead of a standard wheel you get angled rollers set on each rim, which means that with a little bit of clever electronics the wheels can negate forward and backward movement, whilst still providing sideways thrust – the result is a wheel which can go in any direction, allowing perfect 360′s within a vehicle’s own length and true sideways movement. Truly amazing!

The Meating Place: slaughterhouse tools

Al — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 00:55:58 +0000

There are companies in the world that make some very strange things, and some that make some very specialised things, but here’s a company that makes strange, specialised and disturbing things: Jarvis Products make tools for the slaughterhouse, and they come with some very weird purposes.

To start with have a look at the “lung gun“, which appears to vacuum the lungs (and kidneys – although I should imagine these would take a different approach) straight out of the carcass. The there’s the “bung ring expander“, which I’m not sure I really want to know about; or the “spinal cord remover“, which also has a vacuum attached to prevent mess. Just something for you to think about next time you’re enjoying your Sunday roast – I’ll be sure to think about how the pig died that provided me with the ham I’m going to have tomorrow.

Huge magnetically levitated wind turbines

Al — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 01:21:17 +0000

MagLev wind turbines are a relatively new an idea, the first practical design was unveiled in China last year. The magnetic levitation allows near frictionless operation which helps reduce the wind speed needed to make these turbines start generating electricity, and so reduces the cost of each Kilowatt generated.

Now there is a distinct possibility that one, or more, massive turbines may be built by an Arizona based company. They are marketing these turbines as cheaper and more efficient than previous wind farms as they are a single device, rather than many, and so construction and maintenance costs should be reduced. As an additional benefit they believe that such a massive turbine should be able to produce a Gigawatt of power, which is enough to power 750,000 homes on a good day. Providing winds keep blowing, this seems like a good idea.

A technology avalanche is coming

Al — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 21:24:56 +0000

The last century has seen technology advance at an ever increasing rate, the last 50 years have seen the growth of digital technology, and so computing hardware, that is almost unbelievable, and the next 20 years might be even faster yet. Be prepared to be inundated with faster, bigger, better hardware as there are some amazing predictions about how fast technology will increase in it’s capabilities. This article, from Cisco, details 2 predictions which might give you pause for thought:

IBM have predicted that, by the year 2010, the amount of digital information held worldwide will double every 11 hours!
if data storage continues to increase in capacity at the level it has been for the last 50 years, then by 2025 you should be able to buy 6.3Pb (PetaBytes) of storage for approximately $100 (I’m not sure if a collapse in the American economy has been considered here). That’s an awful lot of data, which the article uses a nice analogy to describe.

Anyway, it’s a short article, so have a quick read, and maybe listen to the podcast too.

Nuclear fusion without the hassle

Al — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 01:23:33 +0000

It seems that nuclear fusion is now a strong possibility, providing some funding can be pointed in the right direction. I like the suggestion of the title of this article, as Google definitely have the money to pump into something as interesting as this, and in doing so may end up solving all their power bills (which are astronomical). If Google won’t fund this research, then someone needs to do so, as cold nuclear fusion, with no huge superconducting magnets and walls of Lithium, would be the answer to the world’s energy needs. This might actually be a problem, as this would virtually remove any dependency on oil – which would be a good thing as it would remove the hold the Middle East has on the world, but would also cause all the oil companies to take strong action to bury such research.