Monday, November 22, 2004

Upload progress bar

Web browsers have download progress bars; why can't they have upload progress bars? -- Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Punch card printer

A printer that can both print ink and make holes in paper. -- Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Gridlock

A sliding block puzzle game

Thursday, November 11, 2004

World's Strongest Chessman

Combine ``Rapid Chess'' with the ''World's Strongest Man'' competition. Let the board be populated with very heavy life-sized pieces (perhaps made of stone) which the two players have to move around to checkmate the opponent. Imagine the strategy: By chasing the (say) very heavy queen all over the board, one player can force the other to run out of time on the clock. The trick will be finding strongmen who play chess, though.

Monday, November 08, 2004

802.11{b,g} cell phone

How difficult would it be to make a mobile telephone that communicates over Wifi (802.11b or its successors) and works over AIM (iChat AV) or Netmeeting (that is, it doesn't have a phone number). And deploy in a place like MIT that has wireless everywhere free for students.

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Clipped Circle

The area of a circle clipped by a square as its radius increases from 1 to sqrt(2) is 0.25*A = h + (pi/4 - atan(h))*r^2, where h=sqrt(r^2-1) (Dimensions sure are funny, aren't they.)

Quarter Circle Clipped by Square