1. Appliance Sensors

How often do people leave the house only to panic soon after, trying to remember if they shut the stove or turned off the hair straightener?  I am proposing some sort of sensor that would detect the activity of the appliance that you place it near.  If it does not detect your presence near the appliance for a half hour, it would make some sort of sound to remind you that it’s on. After an hour or so it might text your phone in case you left the house without shutting it. Additionally, you would be able to check the sensors from your phone (through an app) to make sure the appliance is shut off.

http://www.boomercaretech.com/product/sg

2.Breathalyzer Wristwatch

So after doing some research this technology has already been thought of, however the watch simply just returns a number (your BAC). People often don’t even know what these numbers mean (or are too intoxicated to remember), so what if this wrist watch could do more?  You can set it to a level you would like to be that night (for instance, legal driving limit). Then after having a drink and checking your level, it would give you recommendations, like to order a non-alcoholic beverage for now.  Then it might beep in an hour, asking you to check your level again, to tell you if its safe to have another drink.  For certain BACs it may give you an image (like a skull and cross bones) if your alcohol content is really high.

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/191868/technology/lohans-ankle-bracelet-has-breathalyzer-technology

3. Digital Wallet

Idea I proposed during 7 in 7. Since we are moving more and more toward reliance on credit cards, it could be hooked up only to your credit card account (since this is the only feasible way to do it anyway). You can set balances for each day, and it will tell you how much you spent, how much you have remaining from your credit card balance.  This is more convenient for a lot of people who don’t have IPhones/IPads, or who don’t want to go on the internet to check their credit card statement It would be right in front of their face every time they open their wallet so they don’t forget if they’ve spent too much. You can even check the spendings for that week or month, and maybe it would constantly scroll through these amounts to give you a wake-up call/reality check.

Software/Hardware Mashups

1. Mr. Softee Tracker App

http://www.mistersoftee.com

Mister Softee has over 600 trucks and over 350 franchise dealers operating in 15 states plus China.  Mister Softee was founded in 1956 and has now become America’s most recognizable mobile ice cream vendor.

I have so many memories as a child waiting for Mr. Softee to come around to my block – but as soon as I would go inside to eat dinner, I would hear the famous Mr. Softee song. I would be playing at the park with the other kids who all wanted Mr. Softee, just to be disappointed when he never arrived.  I would be indoors at a friends’ house when we’d hear the truck, and run outside only to find out we were a minute too late. I’ve searched online and found there are other people who feel the same way as me – Mr. Softee needs a GPS tracker.

I am proposing that each Mr. Softee truck be equipped with a GPS tracker.  There would be a web app that would show the locations of the Mr. Softee trucks nearest you so that you can go find him when you want to buy ice cream.  Additionally, if you are with a group of people and want Mr.Softee to come to you, you can enter the address and the number of people you are with. More and more kids these days have IPads and IPhones, so this would not be an issue for younger children who want Mr.Softee. Therefore, instead of Mr.Softee waiting at a park where there are no customers, or driving around trying to find customers, he can receive the information of addressed and number of people on his end.  He can customize it so he does not get a request of less than 4 people (this is just an example number). This maximization of time and customers would definitely bring in more revenue for Mr. Softee, while additionally keeping their ice-cream lovin’ customers happy.

[GPS, Google Maps, Web app, some sort of display screen for the truck]

2. Real Life

Version of the game Life, but would be called Real Life

If you’ve ever played Life, you know you get to choose a job, salary, and house and you go around the board trying to get to the end with the most money.  Along the way you land on spaces where half of the time good things happen (you plant a tree, have a baby, etc) and you get a “life”, which gives you more money.. Or, bad things happen – a tornado hit your house, you got some life threatening disease, and you lose money.

This is an American game so it is relevant to the American dollar and income. I would like to change the perspective from the game, possibly so that it mimics the salary/events of a poorer country.  The other idea would be to use multiple countries, so each player is from a different place that they cannot choose in the beginning-  you can be from Rwanda for instance, living off of 2$ a day, and your teammate could be from a wealthier country.  This would give the wealthier people an unfair advantage (as Life does), but would raise awareness about actual conditions that other countries live in. I definitely need to think about this more and do some research, but children playing would get perspectives from other countries and realize that these are real world issues.

Software Mashups

3.  Suicide University

A map that shows suicide rates of different colleges and universities  throughout America, compared to their academic ranking in order to see if there are correlations.  I am choosing this issue because in my senior year alone at Cornell about 8 students committed suicide, and the effect that each one had on the school and the students was monumental.  Maybe there is information I can bring out in an attempt to get to the root of the problem, and hopefully this would make schools aware of the effect they are having on students.

4. Stereotypes of Manhattan neighborhoods map

5. Map that would compare most commonly eaten foods and obesity rates (of either US states or by country).

I am trying to design an useful thing which looks cut and quite daily. For me, I  use the USB driver everyday, so, I am going to do some work with it both in software and hardware. I really hope it can be built.

USB Plants:

USB+ Construction+ Botany
A special USB in a different shape: USB driver can be a base for the construction, and the plant is growing in the construction.

Hardware:

• USB is just a Usb Driver, can be bigger, can be tiny. It works as a base to supply the heat and energy for the plant which is growing in the construction. When it links to the laptop/computer, it can collect the electricity to transform into the heat for the plant.
• Construction can be a famous building, and/or a well-known construction( I chose the NEST of Beijing Olympic Games). It holds the nutriment for the plant, also some soil. This part works as a small flowerpot. All the seeds are put in it.
• Plant, something is really small, well-fed, does not need much water.

The Sketch of the USB Plants:

I assembled this presentation to show my ideas and projected steps for the Mashup and Feedback loop assignment.

PRESENTATION

Participating in the Scrapyard Challenge at Parsons Sunday Sept 25th we created mashed a turntable with some test tubes, magnets and some wire to make an instrument , in collaboration with Noa Dolberg and Alex. The wire mohawks were taped to the test tubes, and as they pass by the two leads they act as a switch closing the circuit and creating a sound.

Turntable test tube punk switches

And in the process of disassembling the turntable, this happened:

Proving that in the past things were made to last longer than today…. I did this!!