Things that need to hurry up and get invented

[JoeBentley]

Ranging from the serious to the not so serious... and everything in between.

An industry standard downloadable hi-definition movie format. MP3s took off specifically because of the MP3 commonality. Video downloads are never going to take off as long as everything I own uses different formats.

An industry standard ebook format. Same reason.

Batteries that can power portable electronics for weeks and months instead of hours and days. You can make portable electronics as small, lightweight, and powerful as you like and it doesn't make a difference if you're tied to an outlet. I hear Toshiba is having good luck with fuel cell laptops in development which I hope are as good as the news I'm hearing.

An Xbox 360 controller with a decent D-pad.

[llewtrah]

Originally Posted by JoeBentley

Batteries that can power portable electronics for weeks and months instead of hours and days. You can make portable electronics as small, lightweight, and powerful as you like and it doesn't make a difference if you're tied to an outlet. I hear Toshiba is having good luck with fuel cell laptops in development which I hope are as good as the news I'm hearing.

I'd be happy with extremely efficient solar chargers (for topping up batteries) or solar power supplies (since most people are stationary when using a laptop). By efficient I mean able to generate power on an overcast day.

[Roadsterboy]

Hoverboards like in Back to the Future

[Mad Jay]

On demand computing. People have been toying with computing as a service for 50 years now. We are almost at the brink of it already. we should hurry up and just standardise the whole thing already. I don;t want to buy an expensive machine that is capable of doing a lot of things. I want to buy an inexpensive computer (like a netbook), that does IO very well(has good boradband capabilities, has a good display, sound, etc etc) I want everything else.. CPU/memory/processing/storage off loaded to the internet. We are almost there already with cloud computing platforms. All that is missing is integrating everything in off-the shelf desktops. What I want is a little dial on my ciomputer that lets me set how fast I want it to run. Based on my setting it will borrow computing resources from the cloud and tell me how much it's costing me. If all I'm doing is browsing the internet, I put my dial way down.. If I am crunching a billion rows of data, I push the dial all the way up. At the end of the month, I get a bill that tells me how many computing cycles I have used, and how much data I have stored, and this is what it costs me.. kinda like a electricity bill

[JoeBentley]

Eh I don't know. The whole "Cloud Computing" thing strikes a cord with me for some reason. But that might be my administrator and geek side showing through.

[Mosherette]

A computer system type thing that doesn't need drivers or installation CDs or you needing to download something in order to make everything work on it. You can just plug in your phone or camera or whatever - using a standard cable - and off you go. No more faffing about having to install (then uninstall, then install, then shout, then have a huff, then suddenly it magically starts working for no apparent reason) crap. Or even switch on the computer and switch on your phone or camera or whatever and they can just talk to each other without me having to lift a bloody finger or end up with a migraine trying to work out what the hell is going on.

(Yeah... the new phone and the PC don't get on so well. Can you tell??)

And a transporter.

And a fully trainable cat.

Oh, zero calorie chocolate.

Finally, a mute button for my mother.

[FullMetal]

Originally Posted by Mad Jay

On demand computing. People have been toying with computing as a service for 50 years now. We are almost at the brink of it already. we should hurry up and just standardise the whole thing already. I don;t want to buy an expensive machine that is capable of doing a lot of things. I want to buy an inexpensive computer (like a netbook), that does IO very well(has good boradband capabilities, has a good display, sound, etc etc) I want everything else.. CPU/memory/processing/storage off loaded to the internet. We are almost there already with cloud computing platforms. All that is missing is integrating everything in off-the shelf desktops. What I want is a little dial on my ciomputer that lets me set how fast I want it to run. Based on my setting it will borrow computing resources from the cloud and tell me how much it's costing me. If all I'm doing is browsing the internet, I put my dial way down.. If I am crunching a billion rows of data, I push the dial all the way up. At the end of the month, I get a bill that tells me how many computing cycles I have used, and how much data I have stored, and this is what it costs me.. kinda like a electricity bill

I actually vehemently oppose that, that's fine for some people, but for how I use computers (I'm in IT, and I'm a gamer, aka 100% geek) computing as a service is a horrible horrible solution for me. computers as a service is not even that new of a concept, mainframes and terminals are essentially what you're asking for, teletype machines allowed you to dial in to the mainframe and do your work from home over a 300 baud modem. This was because computers were very very expensive, now they're very very cheap, and many people want to go back to that. I don't, I want to have control over what I use in my computer, how much power I have. with a solution like that, you can and will be artificially limited to how much you can use your computer, whether it's your computing provider who limits you, or it's because you can't afford the computer this month. doing it that way would bring back "minutes" like allowing you 300 minutes a month of computing for a flat rate... and I don't want to go back there.

Also as I'd be the one to support this, it seems to me it'd be a massive headache to support and repair. after all, you can't connect to your computing environment because your internet's down, you'll call the computing provider. who tells you to call your isp, who tells you to call the computing..

[hambubba]

Originally Posted by Mosherette

A computer system type thing that doesn't need drivers or installation CDs or you needing to download something in order to make everything work on it. You can just plug in your phone or camera or whatever - using a standard cable - and off you go. No more faffing about having to install (then uninstall, then install, then shout, then have a huff, then suddenly it magically starts working for no apparent reason) crap.

Windows 7. That one is done! I have added ZERO anything to my Dell mini9 running the release candidate. I will try to install it on a computer with different options now that I have a purchased (gasp!) copy of it. But a 20 minute install that found my network printer, and had the drivers for everything built in? Sweetness.

[Daphodil]

Originally Posted by Mosherette

A computer system type thing that doesn't need drivers or installation CDs or you needing to download something in order to make everything work on it. You can just plug in your phone or camera or whatever - using a standard cable - and off you go. No more faffing about having to install (then uninstall, then install, then shout, then have a huff, then suddenly it magically starts working for no apparent reason) crap. Or even switch on the computer and switch on your phone or camera or whatever and they can just talk to each other without me having to lift a bloody finger or end up with a migraine trying to work out what the hell is going on.

(Yeah... the new phone and the PC don't get on so well. Can you tell??)

And a transporter.

And a fully trainable cat.

Oh, zero calorie chocolate.

Finally, a mute button for my mother.

Mosh, I have felt your pain. Imagine my surprise when I bought my Mac and didn't have to find drivers for the printer, scanner, camera, nothing. Literally a plug and play. It was awesome and quite close to your computer dream.

The rest of your items I'd like too, but haven't found anything remotely close

[Mad Jay]

Originally Posted by FullMetal

I actually vehemently oppose that, that's fine for some people, but for how I use computers (I'm in IT, and I'm a gamer, aka 100% geek) computing as a service is a horrible horrible solution for me. computers as a service is not even that new of a concept, mainframes and terminals are essentially what you're asking for, teletype machines allowed you to dial in to the mainframe and do your work from home over a 300 baud modem.

Yes but back then connectivity wasn't as widepread. You had to go somewhere to get really fast connectivity to the mainframe. Now, in the western countries, we have near universal connectivity.

And besides, the concept of of the server doing all the work and the client being dumb is not dead. It's very much alive. You are using it right now. Your browser is more or less mimicking a "dumb" terminal, whereas the server you connect to is doing all the heavy lifting. Let's say you do a Google search, the Google server is employing like a gazzilon servers to do all the work and get you results in 0.19 secs. Sure, the engineers at google could get you the result in double the time if they used half the amount of the servers. Conceptually, there is a "dial", but the dial is in the hands of the persons who design and manage the website. You are also paying for the use of the servers. The websites are monetizing their content either through ads or by selling services

I want the dial in my hand. I want ad-free websites that let me decide how many resources it should use to give me my content

This was because computers were very very expensive, now they're very very cheap, and many people want to go back to that. I don't, I want to have control over what I use in my computer, how much power I have. with a solution like that, you can and will be artificially limited to how much you can use your computer, whether it's your computing provider who limits you, or it's because you can't afford the computer this month. doing it that way would bring back "minutes" like allowing you 300 minutes a month of computing for a flat rate... and I don't want to go back there.

You are already paying for it. You are paying an upfront cost in buying a huge computer that is *mostly* staying idle. You end up paying more because you are budgeting for peak usage, not average usage

Let's take a real case:- I had to upgrade my computer after the new expansion pack for WoW came out. I got a "gaming" laptop that is more or less costing me 70 bucks per month for 2 years. GUess what? the next expansion is going to come right when I'm done paying for this computer, and I'm pretty sure I'll have to upgrade again. I am stuck in the endless cycle of buying equipment that becomes obsolete by the time I have paid for it. OTH, An Amazon server costs 8 cents an hour. I play on an average 20 hours a week; 80 hours a month.. which would come to 6.4.. let's round it to 7 bucks a month.

7 bucks a month.. that's what I would pay if my computer was running WoW on the cloud. 70 bucks a month, that's what I'm paying to run WoW on my local computer. The economics are much differrent now than the economics were when people first started thinking about computing as a service. Sure hardware is cheaper, but hardware is exponentially cheaper the larger it gets, which makes computing-as-a-service much more economical. Also, higher connectivity speeds means richer content can be downloaded to "dumb" terminals. "Dumb" terminals are exponentially much more powerful now

Also as I'd be the one to support this, it seems to me it'd be a massive headache to support and repair. after all, you can't connect to your computing environment because your internet's down, you'll call the computing provider. who tells you to call your isp, who tells you to call the computing..

We already take the headache to support and repair our home machines. Besides, if your internet is down, there's not much you can do with a good computer that you couldn't do with a cheap netbook, anyways. What are you going to do? take notes in notepad? play freecell? You can already do that with handhelds

[Hero_Mike]

How about....

- a "standard" connector for cell phones, headsets, and all other rechargable devices

- a "virtual machine" type of connectivity for "legacy" devices - where an old driver will work through a simulator for any device

- a truly transparent, durable and permanent screen protector for all type of device screens

- the end of "crippled" devices - where cell phone providers disable functions already built in to the devices by the manufacturer (or the iPod Touch missing features in the iPhone)

- a cure for malaria

- a decent small car from the "big three"

- HDTV that doesn't require a converter box from the cable/satellite company

- a hypo-allergenic dog, and cat

[queen of the caramels]

Originally Posted by Mosherette

And a fully trainable cat.

Oh, zero calorie chocolate.

Finally, a mute button for my mother.

I appear to have become a fully trainable feline servant.

I'd prefer zero calorie crisps as they are my downfall.

A 2-way button which allows DM to remember which stories I've told her, so I'm not regaled by an off-the-cuff remark I made several years ago being transmuted into a whole new UL with which I need to be warned about.

Thank DOYC she doesn't have a pc...I would be inundated by the whole of the ULRPs on a daily basis otherwise.

[TripleAAA]

A zero calorie sweetener that actually tastes like sugar or HFCS so my diet Dr. Pepper REALLY tastes like regular Dr. Pepper. And not upsetting my stomach would be a bonus.

A cure for cancer and diabetes.

A treatment for PMDD that doesn't involve hormones.

[I'mNotDedalus]

Originally Posted by JoeBentley

An industry standard downloadable hi-definition movie format. MP3s took off specifically because of the MP3 commonality. Video downloads are never going to take off as long as everything I own uses different formats.

Yes! Likewise, it'd be so nifty if film studios/distributors would make some sort of deal with Amazon so films were available to view and/or purchase online the same date that they're released in theaters. I'm so sick of movie theaters. Can't smoke. Can't drink. Can't curse at the screen or make loud sarcastic remarks.

In the film Minority Report, it shows autodriven cars with only passenger seats. I'd love that, too. Surely we're close to the technology for that, right? Imagine what a stupendous public works project that would be, to refit every street and road with electronic sensors of some kind or another for the autocars.

[Alchemy]

Originally Posted by Mad Jay

Let's take a real case:- I had to upgrade my computer after the new expansion pack for WoW came out. I got a "gaming" laptop that is more or less costing me 70 bucks per month for 2 years. GUess what? the next expansion is going to come right when I'm done paying for this computer, and I'm pretty sure I'll have to upgrade again. I am stuck in the endless cycle of buying equipment that becomes obsolete by the time I have paid for it. OTH, An Amazon server costs 8 cents an hour. I play on an average 20 hours a week; 80 hours a month.. which would come to 6.4.. let's round it to 7 bucks a month.

I guess you'd be looking at something like a service where you have a device that transmits input device(s) upstream and receives a simple compressed A/V downstream? Like those little game systems you find in some hotels?

[Die Capacitrix]

Originally Posted by Hero_Mike

How about....

- a "standard" connector for cell phones, headsets, and all other rechargable devices

Universal phone charger approved

A new mobile phone charger that will work with any handset has been approved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations body.

[Eddylizard]

Forward galleys on aircraft. We know you're going to feed and water the first class passengers first, then get to us plebs in economy, so why walk past us with the goodies then back again, eventually reaching us half an hour later?

[hambubba]

Originally Posted by JoeBentley

Batteries that can power portable electronics for weeks and months instead of hours and days. You can make portable electronics as small, lightweight, and powerful as you like and it doesn't make a difference if you're tied to an outlet. I hear Toshiba is having good luck with fuel cell laptops in development which I hope are as good as the news I'm hearing.

Originally Posted by Hero_Mike

- a "standard" connector for cell phones, headsets, and all other rechargable devices

Fat chance, start working on changing the worldwide electrical system to same plugs and voltages:

Giz Explains: Why Every Country Has a Different F#$%ing Plug


Fascinating, but ultimately pointless article!

[llewtrah]

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

Forward galleys on aircraft. We know you're going to feed and water the first class passengers first, then get to us plebs in economy, so why walk past us with the goodies then back again, eventually reaching us half an hour later?

It depends on the configuration of the aircraft. I've flown on plenty of long-haul flights that have forward galleys.

[Gibbie]

A cure for the common cold.

*sniffle*

Gibbie