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    7. A device that automatically disables any cell phone in any car within 50 car 
    lengths of me and heading in my direction.

I think this device would have the opposite effect that you hope for. I wonder how many days you would last with it?

Multiply the number of talker_drivers you meet with the probability that one of them can't handle the extra distraction of driving and banging on his cell phone, trying to reconnect his call that you jammed. Imagine on a busy commute, this happening every two or three seconds.

Actually, this could be a murder mystery plot, on par with cutting the brake lines. Hide a jammer in somebody's car, and wait for the inevitable result.

Spoiler alert !

Here in Austria we have these things already .. dunno if you need to get a license for them, or something. But anyway they're definitely available to the general public - I've been in a few restaurants with 'jammer' stickers displayed prominently on the front door.

I'd buy one, personally. I can't stand dickhead drivers and if this is some way to make the roads safer I'm all for it ..

I don't think jammers are the right way to deal with the "loud talkers" problem - they also block emergency calls. What if someone who lives above the restaurant needs an ambulance? What if someone in the restaurant gets an emergency call from their spouse?

Fair point, I don't know how these issues are addressed with the current technology .. but I do know, these jammers are out there and can be deployed by those who want a cell-phone free environment. Every location that I've seen them in has a big sign, usually, on the front door that says "YOUR CELL PHONE WILL NOT WORK IN HERE", or something to that effect .. its up to the owner of the technology to work out what to do in that case, I guess.

I believe Limor Fried did something similar for her master's thesis.

http://www.ladyada.net/make/wavebubble/index.html

1. I use a cordless phone at home with stations in every room. The base unit has bluetooth which when paired with cellphone(s) is able to receive calls. I drop the cell phone off at my charging station when I get home and never pick it up again until I'm ready to leave the house.

4. Isn't this the Peek(getpeek.com) device?

6. Doesn't Windows have to work first before a working clone can even be fathomed? I kid.

1. Neat. Just to clarify, this doesn't require a landline?

I keep my phone on vibrate all the time, which tends to mean that when I'm at home I miss a lot of calls. I'd definitely pay for a thing that looks like a regular landline phone but docks with my mobile phone.

Use location-awareness apps to set it to a ringtone when you're in the house. If you're on Android, I've had good results with [Locale](https://market.android.com/details?id=com.twofortyfouram.loc...). If you're on iOS or something else I have no idea.

Interesting, and I am on Android. But the reason I keep it on vibrate is to stop it making noise every time I get a low-priority notification. What I want is for it to ring for calls and text messages, but only vibrate for emails and facebook notifications.

There's probably some way of doing that, I guess.

You can easily set per-thing notifications. What didn't work?

Facebook: If you're using the official app, go to the main melu screen, menu button, settings, and notification controls are pretty much the bulk of the prefs.

Email:menu button pretty much anywhere, 'settings' (it's in the 'more' section if you're looking at an e-mail, then if you have multiple email accounts you tap on one. Though I don't see anything that explicitly says "make noise/vibrate/notify in menu"; all I see is "Email notifications" which I have turned on - and all I ever see is status bar notes and a trackball color flash.

I'm using CyanogenMod 7.1 on a Nexus One, things may be different for you. Especially if you're using a carrier or manufacturer branded ROM.

That is correct. I also couple it with a VOIP service but cordless phones can be used with only cell phone if you want that. I'm using Uniden but I know AT+T and Panasonic also have cordless sets that offer this "cell link" feature as well. The key is just ensuring you've got compatible versions of Bluetooth. If you're on a fairly recent cellphone, it's almost a given it will have Bluetooth.

1. I've had this setup at home for 6+ years, and 80% of the people who walk into our home end up doing the same thing within weeks. It's shocking how few people realize that this is possible.

Amazon cordless phone listings for all phones that support Bluetooth pairing: http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_scat_172614_ln?rh=...

We just set our phones down when we come in the front door, or even leave them in the car, and never have to worry about missing a call or finding our phones. Most all of these support pairing to two phones and a few support 4 or more phones.

And no landline required.

Does that bluetooth cordless phone handle multiple phones? So that my wife and I can both use it?

Also, got a link or brand?

Yes, they support multiple phones. Check the Amazon link that portman provided. It appears that all the major cordless manufacturers have sets that support this now. It's been pleasant to use since it (I'm using a Uniden set) has "just worked" for me since day one.

I'm actually going to set this up for my elderly mother for Christmas who has a regular landline but also a "dumb" cellphone. Her hearing is not that great so if the cellphone is not in her immediate proximity, she'll miss the call. In this case, I'm just interested in the redundancy for phone service in case of emergencies. It doesn't change how she will use the cordless phone at all but does provide us(her children) with more piece-of-mind. It really is this good.

Can you be more specific on #1?

A common use of Bluetooth with mobile phones has been for a wireless headset or handsfree operation in a car. This is another example of that but it happens in your home using cordless phone sets as the extension.

* 7. A device that automatically disables any cell phone in any car within 50 car lengths of me and heading in my direction.*

Pretty sure this would have the opposite of your desired effect. Nothing will distract people more and have them fumbling around with their phone than if a call drops, GPS loses signal, streaming radio stops, etc.

Obviously, people shouldn't be doing these things in cars, but I think it's always interesting to think about unintended consequences. Also, I'm pretty sure your (7) was in jest, anyway, but just playing along here...

> 5. A device that lets you know whether the dishes in the dishwasher are dirty or clean.

The door latch tells you that. If the door is latched, the dishes are clean. If the door is unlatched, the dishes are dirty.

This works if everyone who opens the door when it is latched either empties the dishwasher (and leaves it unlatched) or relatches it AND no one latches the door after putting in a dirty dish unless they also start it.

Newer dishwashers have a "Clean" indicator light that stays on after the cycle finishes, and you can toggle on and off.

As someone with consumer electronics experience and a 94-year-old grandmother, I actually think #4 is brilliant. She will never understand how to maneuver to email on her iPad, and the abstract 'reply' and 'send' symbols we all take for granted are hieroglyphics to her. There's definitely a market for an always on, single screen email device a toddler could use. Perhaps the stylus isn't dead yet!

I don't know the first thing about marketing to senior citizens and their caretakers, but I know I spent hours searching for "senior citizen email app.."

http://www.zoodles.com/ is designed for kids, but I think it could be converted or re-imagined for senior use. The video mail system is pretty slick. I bet my kid will have it figured out before he turns 3.

Key features for such an e-mail system:

- simple addressing. In this case, just click on the picture for who you want to mail.

- a big fat "I'm done, send this!" button.

- email whitelist. No spam, no scams, just people you personally know.

- new messages should either be read automatically, or you should get some sort of overlay every time you go into the app that says "you have new messages from [people]! [BIG read now button] [smaller wait until later button]" This way, grandma will always see her new messages.

5)

Get a laminated card with a magnetic back. The card says "i am clean". When you turn on the dishwasher, you put the card on. When you empty it you take the card of. No exceptions.

Alternatively you can buy these novelty "i am in/i am out" switches that some people have on the door of their kids room.

#7 would be pretty dangerous.

So, the guy suddenly loses his call. He then looks at his phone, trying to figure out what happened. In that time he accidentally swirves into another lane.

7. A device that automatically disables any cell phone in any car within 50 car lengths of me and heading in my direction.

Thanks, you just disabled my GPS, so now I'm looking at my phone trying to figure out what's wrong, instead of looking at the road. That's an idiotic idea if I ever heard one.

Do GSM jammers also affect GPS devices?

It's illegal in most places anyway: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_jammer#Legalities

If you use an Android phone then you're streaming map data off of Google's servers. The Maps app does cache stuff but there's only so much room.

Also other stuff like traffic conditions...

Great ideas, Ed. Way to bring the thinky.

Though I have to ask...why haven't you made any of these things? Your #1, #4, and #5 seem like weekend projects. I can think out the basis of the technical solutions for all of them while just sitting here. Granted, there are much better ways to spend a weekend. But hooking up my cell phone to the house lights sounds like it might be kind of fun.

In general, why don't more hackers make stuff like this? It seems like coming up with the long list of ideas is the hard part. Is it that putting the things together is just too much work?

#4 a weekend project?

5. A device that lets you know whether the dishes in the dishwasher are dirty or clean.

I would pay for a device that simply washes the dishes at once, one at a time, only dishes.

It could be a hybrid of a toaster and a car washing tunnel: you insert the dish and it spins inside the device with sucessive phases of soap, rinse, drying, the the dish pops up, hopefully not falling to the ground.

Same for glasses.

Have you ever seen a senior citizen try to use an iPod? A better idea would be "as easy as a toaster."

We recently did a ton of customer development in this area. They are pretty good at using iPads and apps, if the font is scalable, but transitioning between apps is harder. Agreed, though, that "appliance" is the mindset to go with.

Surely 4 is impossible. Email is both consumption and production. Listening to music is just consumption. By the crudest estimate, that means that any email device must have an interface that is twice as complicated as an ipod.

The jokey 7 Reminds me of the time I hitched a lift with a drunk driver, because I concluded that it was safer to be in his car, than walking along the road with all the drunk drivers about. Such a device actually sounds quite dangerous - I'd rather have someone driving towards me talking happily on their 'phone, than looking at it in confusion trying to see how many bars they have.

#2: Is Groupon Now doing this?

re: "2. A service which lets me know which restaurants have excess capacity and will give me a discount if I come right now."

Some of my local pizza places use Twitter to provide this service.

re: "7. A device that automatically disables any cell phone in any car within 50 car lengths of me and heading in my direction."

Cell phone jammers are readily available, but are illegal in the USA. (This is not legal advice.)

#1: There are a few devices out there that work like a Bluetooth headset merged with a cordless home phone. Here's one example: http://www.sigelectronics.com/SIG/Panasonic-KXTG7622-Link-to...

Analog clean/dirty indicator http://www.zazzle.com/clean_dirty_indicator_dishwasher_magne...

Re:#6, there's ReactOS: http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html but I've not used it so I don't know if it fits the "works" criteria.

Concering #6: I worked on ReactOS, for some time, a long time ago. But they still have a long way to go. On the other hand, they also come a long way.

2. Opentable actually does this - they give you up to 10x more "points" (redeemable for meals, later) for certain restaurants on quiet nights.

So you'd pay for a service that gave you a restaurant discount? How would this be priced so that there's a net savings?

#4: LinkedSenior.com is similar (not quite what you're describing but solving the same problem I think)

#2 exists.

http://www.thinknear.com/

Number 7 rocks. :)

It'd likely cause a more dangerous condition as the jammed drivers would be fussing with their phones trying to figure out what happened to their signal.

Not sure about that. Here's how it plays out: 1) driver coming towards you gets disconnected from her call; 2) she looks at phone to diagnose problem, starts to redial; 3) drifts across center line just before reaching you...

Not to worry, I'm sure it's highly illegal anyway.

1. Clever. You can probably build it yourself with some google voice hack. My computer (via googlevoice chrome plugin) tells me when someone has called or texted already, which is pretty useful in itself because there are often times when I've left my phone somewhere but I'm on my computer.

2. http://www.groupon.com/now, https://livingsocial.com/instant. I don't know if they are in Pittsburgh yet but will be soon, and maybe google will join the fray now that offers is there.

3. In Chicago (also flyover country) we have http://Peapod.com

4. http://www.getpeek.com/ was an attempt. A failed attempt as far as I know, though it did get a lot of press 3 years ago.

5. I can always tell by looking at them. You should add a sliding clean/dirty thing on your dishwasher.

Chicago is like layover country though, right?

#5: Your tongue