IDEA: Reusable occasion cards

Hi,
  after the holidays are over and we all settle down to clearing away the decoration I am stuck with my chrismas and occasion cards I received from acquaintences, friends and family. Although I would think that some people will frown at this idea I consider it a worthwhile idea to make reusable cards. I shan't argue the case for or against here as this isn't the forum.  Instead I consider the options to make reusable cards.

  First consideration should be towards the material. For reusable cards it is required to provide some form of resisting material that can stand wear and tear without looking used. The blank card will probably be something made out of durable plastic with pouches where inserts can be added. Possibly a area that permanently has written the people a card has been given to. The frame could be extendable to stick together several cards for a bigger card for example.

  Second consideration should be the message. Of course the card needs to be themed. Given the basic design has pouches it should be an easy detail to create respective templates to slot into the pouches. It may well be that new pouches are added for every new occasion creating a little book.

  As an interesting side effect one can consider the life cycle of the card and who it is given to by whom. I presume that a chrismas card that went through celebrity hands at one time or another should give a neat touch to the actual ritual. I certainly wouldn't mind getting a card given to me that in a former cycle was handled by Steve Jobs, Larry Wall, Larry Page or Sergey Brin or even all of them!

 

 

IDEA: Garden fence the opens up or closes as per my mood

Hi,
  Garden or property fences have many useful functions. They can be protective, enable privacy or obstructive. The latter is necessary for the former. A decorative but open fence does not prevent intrusion or visibility. Just like curtains or windows shutters it would be nice if at times one could open up the garden fence for a better view or better air circulation. Businesses may attract more customers when the merchandise (such as cars or machinery) is visible during business hours and protected during shop closing hours.

 One could consider an almost infinite number of different styles and/or mechanisms. There will be not enough room here to discuss even a fraction of the possibilities that come to mind. Still, a couple of neat once come to mind:

A blade based fence where fence posts are equally spaced around the perimeter with a distances of 5-15cm. Each fence post rotates around its axis by 45..135 degrees. A metal or wooden panel is fixed to the post. When the fence is closed all panels stand shoulder to shoulder. The open or semi open fence rotates the post and thus opens up the view.  This fence can be made very tall using a top support.



Another design is a metal cage fence where metal or wood panels with small holes are combined into the rectangular shape of a brick wall fence. The design requires this to be hollow in order to have another panel layer inside. The inside 'wall' can shift a small distance sideways (or vertical subject to your design). In the left position the inside panel has its holes at the same spot as the outside panel and thus allows light to go through. In the opposite position the holes are offset as such that no light can go through.

The last design is a fold up fence that is raised and lowered through poles that move into the ground. The fence itself consists of horizontal panels that fold up into the ground. This type of fence removes itself completely from view when lowered.

IDEA: Using a Pay-as-you-go phone as free Skype gateway

Hi,
   my phone company has given me my old phone with a free SIM card when I extended my contract with them. Recently I noticed that I have free skype inbound calling on this SIM card.

  Currently, a skype gateway requires some siptosit software to bridge skype and open voip. Using a sound card with some custom cables to simulate a hands free kit I realised that it may be possible simulate a mobile phone to skype gateway. The bluetooth messaging system may even be helpful in identifying calls and callers. Arguably the actual implementation may well be more complex than a siptosit gateway - but this method does not require a fixed internet access.

  A caller who wants to get in touch calls my skype ID. The call will be handled by the mobile phone provider inbound and causes a connection request on the phone. The phone will message this via bluetooth to the server on the other side of the audio connection. The voice will be sampled via the soundcard and forwarded (possibly using some asterisk server) to the correct extension.

  The same may be possible the other way round. A voip enabled house phone would call an extension to create a skype outbound call. The bluetooth connection will establish the skype connection and the audio will be created using the speaker output on the server.

  Of course a more sophisticated process would simulate a bluetooth hands free kit and do away with the cables to the mobile phone.  Another interesting potential to use some data over voip such as file upload via skype.

TRIAL: using cling-film to avoid clearing ice and snow from the car

Hi,
last night, anticipating a hefty snow fall, I applied cheap cling film to the windscreen of my car. The idea is that I can simply remove the cling film with the layer of ice and snow ontop and discard it. For this trial I only tried it on two spots.

The pictures show the before and after images. There was not enough frost to freeze the water under the cling film and hence the peeling was very easy.

Verdict: useful, plausible
Pro: time saver in the morning
Con: wasteful for cling film and somewhat fiddly to apply.

More trials to be done.

BUSINESS IDEA: shopping tracking

Hi,
I have been repeatedly playing around with optical character recognition in order to manage my shopping habits better. Ideally, I would like to scan in my receipts and process the receipt using OCR to extract the line items. This has to be template based as receipts are notoriously different.

Using this data a variety of different options are possible. For example one could start planning the shopping further ahead knowing the typical items that are needed and when they are needed. Given online shops it may be possible to submit shopping lists to the shops and identify the best shops for various items.

Other options are to keep stock in order to avoid the 'do I have enough toilet paper?' thinking when in the shop itself. Whilst using the web browser on the mobile phone the available amount for various perishables and consumables can be tracked. Given the shopping list it is possible to identify when more consumables are needed.

If the items are reviewed frequently then perishable items can be sourced better by looking at how much of bread was wasted as it bad before it was used up.

IDEA: Improve tv online program guide using labelling

Hi,
over the last view months I have grown to like "labelling" as a technique to organise bookmarks, mails, documents .. anything. Labelling does create your own dictionary of your world. After some trial and error an intuitive style of categorising items develops that can improve access to related data significantly.

Hence i wish that this facility would be available on my BBC, Virgin, Tiscali, Sky or other programming guide. Rather than being stuck with Sci-fi, Drama and News I am really keen on my own qualification. Such as science, local news, entertainment or even specific shows.

Hopefully, there will be many new programs available in the future. Hence an automatic labelling and learning may be needed as companion that evaluates perhaps the producer, actors or titles to add chosen labels automatically.

IDEA: energy saving adaptive illumination

Hi,
currently the interior lighting design aims to provide suitable illumination in a space for all purposes. Typically and depending on the size of the space one or more light sources are distributed in a room providing somewhere between minimal and maximal tolerable ambient lighting.

This can be very wasteful for sparingly used rooms and areas where most of the illumination is not used at all. A more economical approach adapts the light to the task and usage at each part of the room. Open floor space, audio visual equipment and comfort chairs do typically require not as much light as a work table or reading chair. Statically by using multiple light sources spread evenly accross the work area requiring good illumination and spread sparingly for ambient illumination the light is more usage directed.

However, most of the work area is not in use all the time. Hence the exposure is not as resourceful as one might want. Also, light fixtures and fittings tend to be embedded in the building or room. Hence, adaptation to a new layout or function of a room is sometimes difficult. Optionally, mobile light sources such as desk lamps are used. Manual attention is required to ensure that the desk light is only switched on when used.

A more useful approach for the illumination is to combine a dimmer controlled light source with a motion sensor. Unlike motion sensitive lighting used for security purposes around properties our motion sensor adapts the lighting level on the amount of movement and the length of time it takes place. Hence, a person sitting statically in a chair will be exposed to little light. Heavy activity, such as playing, working or cleaning result in more motion and thus get granted more illumination.

Sufficient light sources can therefore be distributed in the room for all activities. However, given the self dimming effect combined with the motion sensor only a fraction of the total output is required at any time. Hence, a suitable and sizeable power saving can be achieved.

Unfortunately, motion sensor cannot give sufficient information to detect if someone is reading or knitting for example as opposed to using the remote to switch the TV channel. Some manual adjustment of each light sources should be possible to tune the sensitivity locally to a task. A simple laser pointer could be sufficient to signal to a suitable sensor at the light source that a change of brightness is required.