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Things I’m surprised we don’t have yet
- zeynel1 17y agoI think Tesla investigated how to transport electricity without wires but I don't have any references.
- fnid2 17y agoElectricity without wires can be transmitted now. http://blog.ted.com/2009/08/wireless_electr.php http://blog.ted.com/2009/08/wireless_electr.php A lot of the other things the OP wants already exist as well. Including monitors with about 10x more pixels than a 1024x768. Batteries in some devices can last months or years. Most of the things that person wants are just too expensive or unnecessary or beyond the "i'm ready for this" stage of marketability. People don't want all electric cars. People don't want the expense when other things are "good enough".
- abstractbill 17y agoWireless everything. Why is my A/V receiver such a mess? Yes! We moved house recently and setting up our projector, wii and mac-mini so that the cables didn't look horrific was way too much work. Maybe it's a bandwidth thing? I suppose wirelessly transmitting video and not interfering with your neighbors' setups might need quite a significant amount of spectrum? Live events (sports, etc.) could be live-streamed. Heh. Over the content-owners' dead bodies apparently.
- derobert 17y agoHDMI 1.3 delivers 10.2Gbps according to the Wiki, and some simple math says 48-bit 1920x1080@60p is ~6Gbps. So, that should explain why it can't be wireless. It can be done over fiber—something the article's author apparently didn't bother to research as a Googling for "HDMI fiber" finds equipment. "HDMI cat5" tells me it can be done over CAT5 ("ethernet") cable as well.
- abstractbill 17y agoHDMI 1.3 delivers 10.2Gbps according to the Wiki, and some simple math says 48-bit 1920x1080@60p is ~6Gbps. So, that should explain why it can't be wireless. I don't think this math alone shows video can't be wireless (all TV content used to be wireless, and many more channels were broadcast that way than I have close neighbors). I would guess there's not enough unused spectrum to make it work right now though.
- derobert 17y agoWireless TV uses a much lower bandwidth, and picture quality, than HDMI offers. ATSC (current US over the air HDTV standard), for example, delivers around 18mbps, three orders of magnitude less than HDMI. SDTV did not use bits, it was analogue (and had even less quality than ATSC).
- jurjenh 17y agoJust need to shift the decoder to the screen - Audio was like that once as well. Just because the raw bandwidth isn't sufficient doesn't mean it can't be done. A few months back I read something about streaming H264 but haven't got the time to dig up the link. That should likely be able to get the bandwidth down to something reasonable.
- smlacy 17y agoThe thing you're forgetting (at least, for the A/V space) is that these days there's pretty much no such thing as video content that hasn't been compressed at some point along the way. Broadcast ATSC tops out at 19Mbps (yes, mega-bits per second), and that's the best quality signal I can bring into my home. Everything else is compressed even more. So, there's plenty of bandwidth out there in a 54Mbps WiFi-style system to transmit several channels of "distribution quality" video & audio. I guess the only sources of "pure" HDTV content are the rendered sources, like XBox, PS3, or a PC's framebuffer. Those are all never-compressed video sources.
- bendtheblock 17y agoWireless electricity demo at TED... http://blog.ted.com/2009/08/wireless_electr.php http://blog.ted.com/2009/08/wireless_electr.php So it's on the horizon. The speaker actually powers a mobile phone as one of his examples.
- JoeAltmaier 17y agoGod Bless you Mr. Tesla!
- stcredzero 17y agoDisplayport would go a long way to doing away with wires. We should be able to dock our laptops with exactly one cable connection. The energy density of batteries is dependent on basic chemistry. The ideas about locks on our houses are pretty key, however.
- dkasper 17y agonice pun!
- briansmith 17y agoI think DisplayPort will still require another wire for AC power.
- stcredzero 17y agoI'm thinking about a DisplayPort successor.
- Zak 17y agoI don't think electronic locks are especially "better" than old-style mechanical key locks. They're slightly more convenient, but what happens when you lose your key and need a new one, at night on a weekend? I had exactly that experience with a VW transponder key last year, in England. If the local VW dealer hadn't had an unprogrammed key on hand that they had ordered for another customer, it might have taken two weeks to get a replacement. With an old-fashioned mechanical key, I can go to any dealer or most locksmiths with proof that I'm authorized to use the vehicle and have a new key cut by code in minutes. I don't find using a mechanical key to open my house especially inconvenient, and don't see any benefit to a more secure key; there are weaker points of entry for an intruder.
- frederickcook 17y agoI've always thought it would be incredibly convenient to have a remote-unlock for my front door like my car has. I'm always fumbling with my key while carrying bags or groceries. It would be nice to unlock the door from my car before gathering everything. I guess remote garage-door openers remedy this for most homeowners.
- Semiapies 17y agoWhat would you do during a power-outage?
- dkokelley 17y agoThat's another thing. Why don't almost all homes come with backup generators? I doubt it would be difficult to operate in a housing track.
- Semiapies 17y agoSo it's silly to have spare tires and jacks in cars, but houses should come with backup generators? :)
- HeyLaughingBoy 17y ago
- lzm 17y ago"My car will unlock itself when I touch it, and will start without me putting the key in the ignition." What? I've never heard of such thing. What car does this?
- scdlbx 17y agoLots of cars. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_key http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_key
- ebrenes 17y agoWikipedia is your friend: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_keyless_system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_keyless_system Apparently the tech has been around for a while +5 years.
- blhack 17y agoA lot of the newer infinitis are like this. In fact, a lot of new cars in general are like this, which I find absurdly annoying.
- cschneid 17y agoMy 2007 Prius has this, it detects the key fob within about 2 feet of the car, and there's a switch along the inside of the door handle that when you touch it (and the key is close), it unlocks the car. When I drive, my key never leaves my pocket, and I never have to push any buttons on my keys (there's a similar lock button on the handle too). Also prevents me from ever locking the keys in the car, since... they'd be in range, and it'd open.
- smlacy 17y agoBetter yet -- the car senses when the keys are inside and just doesn't lock the doors. This is the actual behavior. I believe there are 3 sensors on the outside of the car (2 front doors, 1 on the trunk) and 2 inside the car, one in the trunk, and one in the dash. The one in the trunk is specifically for the "you locked your keys in your car" problem.
- ErrantX 17y agoBatteries that last for months or years for portable electronics. That's a multi billion dollar solution if anyone can manage it. Battery tech has definitely not stagnated - it is just maddeningly hard to progress. Even the most modern car out there (arguably, the latest generation Toyota Prius) is still a mess of gears, oil, wires, and fairly crappy and old UI conventions on the inside The reason that "mess" has survived relatively unchanged for so long is simple: it "just works". It works really well and is simple. Changing a winning formula is tough. Better locks for my home We have digital locks at work and they are the biggest pain ever :) again there is a reason we have keys - they work.
- nazgulnarsil 17y agoWRT cars: switching costs can prevent marginal creeping improvement of the type we're used to in the iterate fast computer world.
- potatolicious 17y agoTo add to your point - battery tech (as well as power management tech) has progressed, but we've invented ever more power-hungry devices to match that progress. Those 4 AA batteries used to run your Game Boy for a handful of hours - nowadays a Li-ion battery packk that's half the size of those AA batteries can keep your Game Boy running for just about indefinitely. Except we no longer run 8MHz CPUs in our mobiles ;)
- stcredzero 17y agoActually, I bet that there are a lot of people out there who would be jazzed about a really well implemented 8MHz mobile. Especially if the batteries would run it for a month. http://runagate.noisepages.com/2009/11/8-bit-touch-sensitive-handheld-avr-homebrew-device-with-iphone-aspirations/ http://runagate.noisepages.com/2009/11/8-bit-touch-sensitive...
- frederickcook 17y agoAt least a couple of these issues are IP-related: "Video on demand for everything." The media czars own the copyrights and want to keep control. "Batteries that last for months or years for portable electronics." There is not much "freedom to operate" with battery technologies. I haven't read up on this in a while, but my understanding of why Toyota had a hybrid that was head-and-shoulders above other companies was that Panasonic owned the patents for their batteries, and wouldn't let anyone else come close (except Ford, who licensed them for the Escape). I don't know as much about small electronics, but I'm guessing it isn't a much easier area to work in.
- alain94040 17y ago1) video on demand: sure, IP is the #1 issue, but Apple was able to pull it off for audio with iTunes. So it's at least as much of a marketing issue as an IP issue. I agree that technically, this problem has been solved by now. But who will have the marketing power of a Steve Jobs to make it happen? 2) batteries: I don't think IP is the main gating factor. If there was such technology, it would get deployed pretty quickly. So it sounds like technology hasn't solved that problem yet.
- coryrc 17y agoActually, ChevronTexaco owns the patent: http://www.ev1.org/chevron.htm http://www.ev1.org/chevron.htm
- smlacy 17y ago<sarcasm>Well then clearly IPv6 will resolve these issues.</sarcasm>
- laut 17y ago"Why do I still have to carry around a spare tire and jack, jumper cables, tire chains, etc." Physics and economics. You can get run flat tires and a spray to fix small holes in tires, though. But run flat tires are a compromise and the ride isn't the same as with non-runflat tires. Tires are a compromise. In northern Europe many drivers change to winter tires in the winter and summer tires for the rest of the year. You can have "all season" tires but they don't have the same grip because they are a compromise. I don't know how many people use winter tires in the US.
- mey 17y agoDepends on the area and snow received. I know people that run slicks year round, people who swap out studded tires, all season, 3 season, and tire chains. Not all living in the same area.
- anamax 17y ago> I don't know how many people use winter tires in the US. The farther north you get in the US, the more likely it is that someone will use winter tires. However, remember that the US tends to be farther south than Europe. For example, Rome, which is in Southern Europe, is about the same longitude as Chicago, which is north/central US. (See http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001769.html http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001769.html and http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001796.html http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001796.html .) Yes, I know that winter temperatures and snowfall are more relevant but I don't have those.
- laut 17y agoA lot of Northern Europe by the sea has a relatively mild climate because of the Gulf stream. Chicago winters are more harsh than in Denmark for instance. Even though Denmark is 55 degrees north. Like southern Alaska. There are even palm trees some places in Scotland.
- smlacy 17y agoThis is the kind of narrow thinking that surprises me. Here are some random possibilites: - Solid urethane or other material tires. - Some other unpressurized (i.e. mechanical, rubber, electromechanical) device instead of pneumatics. - Built in air compressors into wheels. Alert for a slow leak and keep pumping in air until you get it fixed. (i.e. like a sump on a ship) - Built in "fix-a-flat" type goo dispersal device. - etc. Jumper cables? Why doesn't my car have an "emergency electrical jack" that I can just plug into from a home outlet, tow truck, or other car? Why do I have to go on about finding batteries, connecting alligator clips, etc. It should be more like "Connect two devices with emergency electrical cable. Press start on both devices. Wait for green light. Remove cables. Drive to service station." Tire chains? Do you seriously think this is the best solution to getting temporary cold weather traction? How about (at the least) those Spikes-Spyder things? (http://www.spikes-spiders.com/ http://www.spikes-spiders.com/) That's just the beginning of innovation that could happen in this space.
- dbz 17y agoMy friend has a keypad to get into his house. It's pretty freaken cool. I'm super jealous- not going to lie.
- smlacy 17y agoArguably a keypad is worse than a key when it comes to being easy to open. Think about carrying a heavy load or box. You can (usually) still reach into your pocket, pull out a key, unlock the door and go inside. It's likely impossible to key in the keypad while holding the heavy load.
- dbz 17y agoI do not understand why that would be so. With a key you need to use hand eye coordination to stick the key into the hole and turn with (sometimes) force (and sometimes need to apply pressure to the door as well). With a keypad you need to stick out your hand the same length as with a key- and push a few buttons. I do not believe you are correct.
- tetha 17y agoIt is pretty cool until you realize how much easier it is to spy on a combination than stealing a key from a somewhat careful person. Note that I am not trying to imply that stealing a key is hard or anything. It is in fact quite easy. But at least for me, I need my keys every few hours, so even if you managed to steal my keys from me without me noticing the theft, I would still know that my keys are gone at most a few hours later and 1 or 2 hours later, I'd be convinced that they are stolen. Thus, your window of opportunity is just around a few hours. If you just spy on the combination, you know the combination and the window of opportunity to break into the house is as large as the frequency of combination-changes. which, considering password-changing-frequencies in real life, might be month to years. Thus, I don't really think the coolness offsets the security issues.
- mattmaroon 17y agoA couple physics classes would explain almost all of these.
- smlacy 17y agoExplain? Why do we have HDMI,DVI,RCA,BNC,Optical,Composite,Component,S-Video etc. in home theater setups? Why not one simple unified cable? Why don't we have good wireless home entry systems? Does physics explain this? Why haven't displays followed Moore's law like everything else has?
- nickpp 17y ago> Why haven't displays followed Moore's law like everything else has? They have: they shrunk. In depth.
- smlacy 17y agoSo, they're 2^13 (13 * 18mos = 20yrs) times thinner than they were in 1990?
- mattmaroon 17y agoThat particular one is more an economics issue. Long story short, it's because there are many types of components, each of which is made by a hodgepodge of OEMs and has to interoperate with other components made by any OEM at any time in the last 20 years. Your TV has to be able to accept your DVD player, Tivo, VCR, and maybe gaming console, all of which have to also be able to feed audio out to your receiver. If all of your devices were made by one company this year, they probably would (and definitely could) have a universal connector. It would probably be HDMI. That's untenable because of price. Most people already have most of those things, and replace them piecemeal over time. I've actually thought about a startup to make all in ones, but TVs with integrated VCRs and DVD players have historically been so poorly manufactured that they leave a bad image in people's minds. It would be like selling a microbrew in aluminum cans. It;s a superior vessel to what's out there in every way, but because every other beer in a tin can is swill, serious beer drinkers would assume yours was too. And, by the way, if you buy a Palm Pre you don't have to plug it in. That's actually one of my favorite features of it.
- potatolicious 17y ago> "Even the most modern car out there (arguably, the latest generation Toyota Prius) is still a mess of gears, oil, wires" As someone who majored in mechanical engineering and has worked in the auto industry before, I take some slight offense to this - IMHO this comment is incredibly out of touch with just how much cars have improved, even in just the last decade. This is about as accurate and insightful as saying "well the web sure hasn't changed much in the last 10 years, it's still a mess of clickable links and pages". If you don't understand "gears, oil, and wires", learn a little about what you're complaining about before doing so.
- JoeAltmaier 17y agoWhen most folks buys most things by choosing the best price, the cheap stuff gets cheaper and the better stuff gets more expensive.