原创 Some unusual products I'd like to see

Once in a while, it's nice to take a low-cost, creative diversion from the daily details and deadlines. And the best way to stay "low cost" is to do this primarily as a thought exercise. With these in mind, these ideas came to me:

Why stop with Twitter and its 140 character limit? After all, "less is more, right"? And why not make tweeting employ a little more mind exercise? My idea is MorseTwitter. You would use Twitter as your application, but send all messages in Morse code, and the audience would have to decode it. [There is probably an app already out there for this, but that's besides the point.] So a message such as "At Starbucks having my latte now" would be sent as:

.- -   ... - .- .-. -... ..- -.-. -.- ...   .... .- ...- .. -. --.   -- -.--   .-.. .- - - .   -. --- .--

Since Morse code characters average three symbols each, and you need a space between characters, figure on about 140/4 characters per tweet, or 35 characters per message. You'd learn to be really brief, and you'd enhance your "digital communications" (i.e. Morse code) skills—as well as a those of your audience. And what if they are not interested in learning Morse code? Well, then, they really don't care enough that you want them follow you, anyway.

(Note: Online translation done by this site.)

—Combine stud jewelry with temperature measurement—could be a new market, or a way to get some new biomedical data "in the field" (It's otherwise tough to get skin and body temperature data from real subjects in normal settings, since the sensors look so awkward). Why not turn that drawback into an opportunity, with tiny thermocouples and thermistors fashioned to look like stud and piercings? This just-announced miniature thermistor from Vishay gives you one starting point in planning what might be done, see here.

I'm sure our creative, imaginative audience has other edgy and innovative ideas that are suitable for tossing around on April 1, and can be implemented using available components, technologies, and tools. So let's hear from you.