I want my phone charged now

We've all been there, our phone is at less than 20% capacity and we have somewhere we'd rather be than charging our device.  To compensate cellphone manufacturers have been doing an impressive job of designing faster charging phones.  In many cases allowing users to go from almost zero to 50% in less than 30 minutes, not too shabby, but people will always demand better.  A big issue is the fact that chemically lithium ion batteries are physically limited as to how much energy they can absorb in a given amount of time before they become a potential fire hazard.  Researchers have already created energy storage technologies that are capable of absorbintg energy incredibly quickly in the form of ultra-capacitors, devices that store their electrical energy non-chemically, fantastic for rapid charging , but overall they have a lower energy density and don't hold a charge as effectively.  What I would like to propose is a smart phone case that allows ultra-capacitors to augment a phone's internal battery.  Imagine a phone case similar to the many external battery cases on the market today, with a few key functional differences.

1.  purpose, instead of acting as a charge carrier that is always trying to store a given number of amp-hours of electrical enegy the capacitors would be intended to rapidly charge in parallel with the battery's normal charing process, but once unplugged the ultracapacitor would gradually provide charge to the phone.

2.  AC/DC conversion, as capacitors are already used in helping to convert alternating current to direct current it should be reasonable to design an adapter into the system, con, you will need a new cable to connect the phone into the wall that is seperate from your USB cable (never said the idea was perfect)

3.  safer than standard lithium ion batteries, as ultracapacitors do not suffer from the same material fatigue concerns as lithium ion, there is less likely that the external battery would harm the phone


Idealized use case

you're at the airport and need to top off your phone before your flight, and even quick charge won't be fast enough, fortunately you've bought the UltraCapCase(tm) for your smart phone.  Within 15 secondes of the case being plugged into the wall it is fully charged and supplying your phone with sweet sweet electrons.  The flight attendent makes the announcement 'last call for flight 61' you quickly unplug your device and get into line.  Your phone continues to charge off of the case's capacitors, had you used the standard rapid charge plug you might have gained 2% additional battery life, the UltraCapCase will gently supply power to your device providing enough energy to get your device to a solid 50% capcity.

the narrative is technically possible (broad strokes I didn't do an energy density check on how big the case would be etc...)  but I think it has the potential as product.

other thoughts, as ultra capacitors have the ability to be charged/discharged 100's of thousands of times, vs lithium ion which will start to noticably degrade after 1-3,000 cycles it would be possible that user's would have phone cases that were still useful long after the phone they used expired, alternative options, don't do it as a phone case but an external battery with USB ports, which gives a few more years of life, but as USB continues to evolve it is hard to be confident that the USB ports you design the battery around will still be around.  The better long term solution (not necessarily for consumer aesthetics) would be to design ultra-capacitor cells/control circuitry that is intended to be reused after the external battery or case is no longer useful, so your smart phone case could eventually be used to be a small part of improving grid reliability in your community.


thanks for reading if you have any thoughts, questions, please feel free to post

Making your number 2 number 1

It’s just happened: your perfect poop-- comfortable release, minimal splash, and only needed a single wipe to feel clean.  Since time immemorial there was no way to ensure that your bowel movements could be like this every time. That is, until Perfect Two from 2toNum1 industries.  Perfect Two is the ultimate in personal waste optimization applications.

Speaking with Noah Martin (formerly of Smart Pipe) we got a first hand look at what Perfect Two wants to bring to you.  “Perfect Two offers a new way to ensure even the parts of your life that you don’t like to talk about are as amazing as we can make them.”

And when Noah says amazing he means it. This author spent two weeks experiencing the future of a disrupted lifestyle.  With Perfect Two I never had to ask how will this meal feel after I’m done with it?  Using machine learning and a connection to my Instagram account, every meal was mapped and indicated what would happen in the next 16 to 36 hours. While it was impressive what the system was able to calculate, there was a learning period, for both me and the app.  After every ‘event’ it was necessary to provide a detailed description of what had transpired.  The developers promise that as time goes on and Perfect Two learns my body’s responses to what I feed it, I will only need to update on those ‘events’ that don’t match my needs. 

During the feedback period it was a bit strange receiving targeted feedback as to what solutions might make those number 2’s number 1, but it really did work.  With only slight adjustments of fiber intake and new enzymes I was feeling infinitely better before and after I went.

Training my Perfect 2 app to understand me

At this time I would only recommend those with more stringent health monitoring needs use Perfect Two as it does feel a bit much to be mapping that part of your life.  On the other hand it is pretty amazing when you can practically guarantee that every time you go it will be a single swipe to get cleaned up.

Some features that I’m excited about that will make Perfect Two a strong recommendation for every person who cares about their health--

Blockchain tracking:
In the modern world of fecal transplants, donors are often left in the dark on how their donations are helping people to live better lives. With Perfect Two Donations, your donation is tracked on the blockchain allowing you to receive anonymized feedback as to how you are helping someone’s life be better

Augmented Reality/Artificial Intelligence: 
In addition to scraping your social media feed for cues as to what you’ve eaten recently Perfect Two wants to help you be proactively aware of what a meal might do to your micro-biome's health.  With that in mind they are working to use machine learning with an augmented reality overlay to let you know how what you are thinking of eating will affect you the next day.

A quick snapshot from my first test of augmented reality
Surprisingly this burger was a good match for
my gut microbe's needs.

Smart Home/Green Living: 
Another development that the team is working on with restroom service companies is a dynamic microphone that looks for acoustic cues as to how much water will be necessary to keep everything beautiful while minimizing water usage.

Honestly not sure about social
might be for the German
market

Social:  
Perfect Two is offering integrations with Tinder, Bumble, and OK Cupid to aid in matching with biologically compatible partners. This feature works behind the scenes to help promote partners that your microbiome is most compatible with.

Music and Media:
When Perfect Two determines that your next movement will require a bit more of a stay, the system will recommend audio books, podcasts, or reading that will keep you amused while you make your deposit

Happy April Fools, I hope you enjoyed this post  The visual renders are thanks to my friend Andrew  Tremplay who was a fantastic collaborative partner.  Thank you for reading.

licensed by Creative Commons 3.0:
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A Special Hell

According to Shepherd Book there is a place in the special hell specifically reserved for those monsters who talk in the theater.  This past Sunday I had the 'pleasure' of reminding a couple in their 30's that color commentary during a movie was not appreciated  (way to ruin The Shape of Water a**h****).  The question is can we use technology to help with this problem?  Obviusly!  Two solutions came to my mind
1.  Ultra directional speakers.  It is possible to use ultra high fequencies of sound to create the effective behavior of traditonal sound waves, but with greater control of where those sound waves are heard.  It could be possible to make a special theater sound system that dynamically alters the sound for all audience members.  So if someone decides that they need to talk about how hot it is that the lady is about to make out with the fish dude, the speakers will send them a polite reminder that no, no one wants to hear them talk.

2.  paint ball guns: a little bit more low tech, by comparison, but by using microphones and a paint ball gun on a turret, the movie theater could automatically blast guests who are making too much noise.  In the short term the shouting about being stung by a high velocity pellet would be slightly more distracting, but audience members are more likely to get the point if pain is involved.

Or, bare with me here, people could not talk during the movies, it isn't hard, all society asks is that for 2 hours, when you are at a movie theater, don't take out your phone and don't talk.  we will all be the better for it




Option 3
have a theater that has actual ushers manually enforce a no talking rule, this author would be happy to pay a bit extra to go to a theater where talking is actually penalized

black body cooling on venus

a personal question, considering the incredible heat you find on venus, could a narrow band black body thermal radiator similar to that being developed at Stanford (other people are probably doing the research but, this is the team I am both aware of and find when I do a quick search), be developed for the atmosphere of venus.  On a planet with an incredibly thick atmosphere that holds onto heat harder than an action star hanging off of a helicopter in a movie, are there parts of the electro-magentic spectrum, that one could successfully dump heat into the void of space.

Nanny Bots

The nanny bot system first came about as an augment tool for UN forces overseeing wartorn regions, a true 3rd party overseer the network of quadcopters and cameras could not only observe and report on the actions of people but could learn patterns, over time limited non lethal tools were added to the repetaiore

all over the world company's and national institutions started to emulate the nanny bot system,
traffic stops started to eliminate patrol cars, while there might be a human operator on the otherside to talk to drivers, passengers, no one was risked

As time went on more police departments gave way to these systems

.....

turns out this is roughly the plot of robocop sans evil corporation plot line


tattlebots,(combo of tattle and paparrazzi) they follow you around, while following the local laws keeping an eye on individuals who might be up to something sketchy, their recordings can only be used when something bad happens, the vehicle gets damaged it sprays DNA barcodes all over the place
for the US an alternative/augment to low grade criminal monitoring tools
for abroad, following suspected millatants in a region