Digital Rights Management. Let’s face it, DRM sucks. It’s anti-consumer, it’s annoying since it prevents full use of content, and it makes us all feel like we’re slaves to the corporate consumption machine. DRM could be spun in the opposite direction, however, and be made to work for us. How? Let’s put “DRM” on our credit cards, on our private information that we share with businesses. Let’s put DRM on “identity” so we can revoke companies’ access to our information if/when they abuse it. It’s our data, it’s our vitals. Why not take control over it by utilization the same revocation schemes used by the entertainment industry.

Playground toys like swings, merry go rounds, and other human-powered equipment should be hooked up to pumps and generators. Kids and their parents could get paid to play in the playgrounds.

All Macs could better be used as planters.

I’d love to have a nuclear-powered car. So much time, effort and energy goes into producing bigger and better atomic bombs or nuclear powerplants… it seems to me that if we found a safe way to harness nuclear power and use it in personal transportation, our reliance on foreign oil would immediately disappear. Imagine getting a car that needs no refueling or no recharging. Ever.

Duct tape.
it was made to fix air ducts, its always used to fix almost everything.

There are many such devices and technologies that fall into this category. Most of the more interesting ones are devices that can be modded or “hacked” like iPods, various game consoles and the Apple TV. But “apparently” (wink-wink, nudge-nudge) one of the most interesting is modding the “original” Xbox console to perform as a media center. With this mod, not only will you be able to watch movies, record television shows, look at pictures, etc., but you will also retain the game console capability. It can also be a front-end to a MythTV box … how’s that for usefulness beyond intended purposes?

Two-thirds of the calories humans consume come from just four types of plants (corn, soybean, wheat, and rice), and at least a quarter of all food products contain corn-derived ingredients. Given that humans evolved to eat some 80,000 species, with 3,000 of these eaten regularly, it seems that our current eating habits are at odds with our genetics. So, I think the current technology used to grow corn and soybeans and turn them into a multitude of processed products would be better used to grow a diverse set of food species and distribute them largely unadulterated.

Zunes should be used as toilet paper.

If a technology is better used for something other than its original purpose, it might have been poorly designed. That reminds me that I use my PC and its 30” LCD display as a decent heater for my home office. That’s obviously not a design flaw – it is a rather nice side-effect in a town (Palo Alto) that is riddled with poorly insulated places that are worth for premium bucks.

Lightsaber as a bagel slicer.

I’d have to say that the technology and money used to create the iPods and iPhones could have been used towards a better cause, not just new devleopment of other iPods to compete with Microsoft, and see who can become richer. The money and technology could have helped millions of people who are homeless, hungry, slaves, etc. to create a better enviorment for all of us.

(Sorry to anyone who thinks this is a stupid response, but think about it. What if you were one of them?)

Ultrahigh resolution spy satellites repurposed for DIY science, geohacking, games, and art.

Self cleaning houses

This is actually true of most technology. This is why entrepreneurs need to “let a hundred flowers blossom.” Somewhere “two guys/gals in a garage” are working on something that will change the world, and they don’t even know it. One example is Twitter: I bet it gets used for something very far from “My cat just rolled over.”

since this is apparently from Ask a Ninja, then it should be obvious that all technology could and should (when appropriate) be also used as a weapon. It all depends on what happens to be around and what sort of damage you feel like doling out. Naturally older technology would have done a lot more damage, with it generally being bigger and bulkier, and there being a lot more cords and wires to strangle someone with, but the good old office and home-office standby’s still work, like your “World’s Greatest Mom” coffee mug and any pens you may have lying around, and we all know how accidentily stapling yourself hurts, so why not turn that around and on-purposely staple your enemies. Practice your Office Fu in your offtime and impress and intimidate your co-workers. You might be more likely to get the promotion if your boss is afraid that you might lose it and throw the all in one printer/fax machine/scanner/copier at them. And your company can save on the bottom line by no longer needing security. It’s a win win situation for everyone.

The possibilities are endless! You could have a remote, like for car alarms and door locks, to open your house. We could have better multi-use vehicles. I mean SUV stands for Sports Utility Vehicle right? So how come there has not been a decent hybrid boat car made since the 1960’s? How come my SUV can go up a mountian but, if I want to fish in the lake at the toip of the mountain I have to take a boat with me? Why can’t I just drive the old “Explorer” (the name itself is false advertising) into the lake, switch my all wheel drive to boat mode, and the wheels tilt back to act as propellors. Then I could just slide the roof up in the back (another feature these things need) so that I could toss my line in and fish. This makes perfect sense to me. I have my flip down dvd to keep me occupied while I get a “beverage” from the plug in mini fridge and, the fish steal my worms while I relax.

Here is something else we could use differently, microwave ovens. Why do they just have to cook my food? Why can’t we make them bigger to accomadate my laundry or, put a communications pannel on them to handle my long range messaging needs almost instantly? They cook things from the inside out (supposedly but, everything is still always frozen in the middle) using microwaves so, why cant a little transmitter on the roof be hooked into this thing. Then the microwave is just encoded with a message to Great Aunt Haildaborg in Transylvania and she gets it in like 5 seconds. This would seriouly cut down on phone bills. As far as drying your clothes, don’t you always have to put the jeans back in for another 30 minutes? Why not just harness that intense microwave heat into the dryer? It instantly gets WAY hotter than the best dryers and costs a fraction of the amount in energy.

And what about those damn robots. All they can do is basic tasks now. I want a robot like the one on the new popular brand beer commercial that I won’t name incase they want to sue me. I mean she can replicate herself into three HOT robot chicks and poor me a tall frosty mug of beer. Where are the Cherry 2000 robots, the Futureworld bots, hell even the “Danger person whos’s name I can’t say, Danger!” robots? I don’t want to mow my grass anymore, I should have a robot for that by now damn it.

All I am saying is, why the hell are the scientists and inventors spending all their time looking for ways to make cleaner, free energy. Or they are looking for better ways to run our cars so we don’t waste all our petroleum resources and pollute our planet to death. I mean can’t some of that time be spent on making me a giant SUV that can turn into a boat with a tv and fridge or a hot robot that can poor me a beer? What about drying my socks in 30 seconds or sending Great Aunt Haildaborg a picture of my newest high score on Pac-Man? Am I asking to much for these things? I don’t think so no.

Using wireless technology to transmit electricity. Sure this is still in the realm of MIT graduate students, but before too long, battery life will no longer be a problem on many of our beloved appliances. Take a laptop, you would have one wireless card for you internet, and then another one that pickups the one for the power. Thus eliminating the need for a battery. Or cell phones, using the same antenna, just a different frequency. This I think is the most promising use of a technology other than its intended purpose.

The PS3, nuff said…
Take out the unimportant stuff, add a drink-holder, and PRESTO!, you’re raking the money in like crazy.

My fave one was the first one with the swings and getting paid to go on it! i like the sound of that! :D

We’re seeing the computer enter its third phase. From a “computing” tool to a “work” tool to a “social” tool.