SMARTER STRATEGIES

IdeaSpeeder: First-Round Draft Picks

John Jainschigg | Date: 03-17-10 | Comments

Think our Smarter Technology articles are interesting? Wait til you see our readers� thought-provoking ideas to tackle challenging problems with innovative technologies.

If you're a regular reader of Smarter Technology, you've probably noticed the IdeaSpeeder boxes below certain articles. Each presents a challenge based on the article topic at hand and invites readers like you to submit ideas and solutions, letting subsequent readers re-order the ideas submitted, pushing their favorites toward the top of the list.

Over the past several months of semi-under-the-radar operation, quite a few readers have risen to our IdeaSpeeder challenges, and many more have spared the time to read ideas and cast their votes. We've been delighted with readers' ingenuity, and even a little surprised at the deep science and engineering chops evidenced by some of the ideas they've submitted. Clearly, our community includes some very sharp thinkers who aren't afraid to tackle hard problems that cut across many disciplines.

This past weekend, we began winnowing ideas and rankings, and getting a sense of what our readers recognize as a good solution. Later this week, we'll be publishing reader picks for "best idea" in several categories. Meanwhile, here are some of the most interesting ideas now in the IdeaSpeeder database.

R. Colin Johnson's recent article Data Center Energy: The Newest IT Asset earned quite a few idea submissions. The challenge was to think up other ways in which the incidental ubiquitous deployment of net-connected devices could be used to acquire data useful in solving real-world problems. Reader JosephP suggested using data acquired as a side-effect of online software registration and updating to build cumulative demographic maps of industries and locations (we feel pretty sure that the largest enterprise software makers are doing this already). Responding to the same challenge, reader Prahini suggested that anonymized records of iPhone text-entry errors might be helpful in mapping incidence of visual impairments, dyslexias and learning disabilities in the general population.

Dave Greenfield's article WiFi Power Taking Charge, about Airnergy's new product that uses WiFi energy to recharge mobile devices, also earned some solid responses to a very open-ended challenge: What other sources of electronic noise might be harvested for power? Reader kixx wrote: "Why not develop an energy source that utilizes the earth's magnetic field? It is everywhere, not affected by weather, solar and other RF." At first reading, we thought this idea might founder on the difficulty of creating a huge coil of wire around the Earth, to act as a stator to Terra's rotor. But a little Wikipedia-ing suggests this may not be an insurmountable problem: Faraday-style monopolar disk generators might prove a workable model (at this cosmic scale, we consider "workable model" to mean anything that doesn't require us to build a superconducting tunnel from the North to the South Pole), the Coriolis pseudo-force might be adapted, or the more exotic science of magneto-hydrodynamic generation�done by moving hot gases through a field�might be adapted.

Dave Greenfield's piece Brain Synapse Simulated by Transistor, posted earlier this week, was assigned what we though was a very scary challenge: Readers were asked to propose electrochemical means to duplicate core functions of a nerve cell, including the ability to dynamically reinforce "circuit paths" by growing extra receptors toward a source of frequent stimulation. The challenge got one fast response we thought was really intriguing. Reader Tesla described a way of using gel electrophoresis�a well-established tool for biochemical analysis�to induce engineered carrier molecules to move precise distances toward a current source, laying down chelated conductor payloads in a chain. Really cool stuff!

And keep it coming by submitting your own ideas via the IdeaSpeeder boxes below certain articles.