Locals only! Pavement

Sydney has a convoluted maze of streets and overloaded main arteries not designed for peak-hour traffic loads. This overload results in cars cutting through neighborhood streets. It's not a huge problem when the drivers are respectful,  but often it's the jerk who can't wait in line with everyone else -  the one with the loud obnoxious engine who races through the quiet street.  Rather than blocking off the street,  the goal is to control speeds on it.  In this respect,  wavy pavement might do the trick -  with undulations alternating for each tire track!  Not the height of speed bumps,  but a continuous,  slight undulation in the surface that becomes more noticeable at greater speed. On the side,  a smooth bicycle lane to facilitate human powered travelers. Either this, or simply make the pavement corrugated, like a rumble strip; except for the bike lane. This would present a visual indicator to drivers that the street is primarily for locals, and slow-speed traffic has the right-of-way. Speed bumps work somewhat, but the tendency is to race up to them, brake, and race away.

Rain gutters / eave troughs

I'm not completely down with the notion of eave troughs.  They fill with leaves,  they rust,  they fall down -  there's got to be a better way.  Why do you want them in the first place? Well,  I can see not wanting sheets of water over exit doors (nor icicles),  and maybe you wouldn't be able to see out of windows or tell how much it's raining if sheets of water were flowing off the roof.  There's one more purpose -  you don't want water soaking in under your house,  which could affect the foundation -  settling,  cracking,  leaky basement. But the water around the house foundation would be better served by creating a dry, perhaps concrete, "moat"  around the house - collect all the water and run it to a distant low point. As for doors and windows,  simply have open-ended gutters above them that drain to the sides and into the moat below. No need for downpipes even unless wind blowing the water is an issue,  then you could angle the trough and run it down one side.  OK,  by the time you put downpipes on every window,  you'd equal the amount of trough to run around the eaves.  But would you really need a downpipe for every window?

Video "watch it later"

OK - "Watch it later" is wonderful for queuing videos to watch in available free time. But what I want with this is also a link-back to my referring source, so I can comment to the person who originally referred me. Also, while we're at it, I want the videos to load into my available storage so that when I finally get around to watching them, I won't have to wait for the cache to load. I want this loading to be low priority, so that when I am physically downloading something else, this background loading will temporarily halt. All of this could be done, I would think without too much trouble.

Phone / Computer log-in

This invention is a no-brainer. If you have a smart phone, you need to secure it with a password. Furthermore, it would be good to render it inoperable, except for providing return information when it's lost.

The answer is a ring that you can wear, or an RFID card in your pocket, or some sort of wifi or blue-tooth ID matching that when present, unlocks your phone. When at an intermediate distance, this device might cause the phone to chirp, unless it's physically deactivated by the person who has the ID matching card, ring, RFID tag. Why should I have to log into my phone all the time? If I have the proper ID signal, it remains unlocked.

Does anyone already make this? I have read about this concept being used for firearms - where the owner has a ring that allows firing of the gun. It seems straightforward enough it should already be out there for smartphones as well. Furthermore, how many RFID tags do I need to carry around with me? It seems more systems should be set up to accept external RFID tags, if the numbers are appropriately unique. If a card is stolen, that number can easily be disabled in the system.

Economy passenger airline cabin revamp

Awright - anyone who's spent more than a few hours in a flying tin can has felt how poorly designed the cattle car is. So, on my last interminable flight, I devoted some thought to a revamp. Here's my notion... The primary issue is the amount of legroom and inability to fully recline on longer flights. Answer? Get rid of the overhead storage. Stagger the seats up and down. Those sitting on the upper level (non-handicapped) will climb a set of steps (or ladder) to get to their seat. Instead of overhead storage, there will be storage in the space UNDER the elevated seats. From front to back, and in the standard set of 3 seats, the seats will be staggered up and down. This will allow seats to recline without hitting the seat behind them, because the seat behind them will be at the lower level. This will also allow more leg room. I may have to draw a picture of this layout.

Dishwashers and Washing Machines

Imagine if washing machines were as inefficient as dishwashers - that is to say, you had to rinse each item of clothing off before you put it in the washer?

Perhaps disposable utensils have stifled the proper development of the dishwasher? What's really needed is a steam or ultrasonic removal process with traps to catch the particles for composting (before any chemicals are added).

Or in the other direction, why are there not more disposable clothes? Most disposable clothing is pretty poor quality (uncomfortable synthetic suits for laboratories seems to be the one major market). While I wouldn't want to encourage our throw-away society, what's really happening is we're throwing away (or giving away) clothing that is probably over-built for the lifespan for which it is kept. Take t-shirts given away at foot races or other events. What we really want is the artwork for our archives. The t-shirt holds some bragging rights, but many runners have an overabundance in their collection, and it's the history and the art that's the part desired for collection - yet the t-shirt is attached, so we hang on to the shirt long after it gets holes. Is there a better answer?

Energy savings - tire change?

Random thoughts...  How much energy would a typical SUV or truck save by switching snow tread for slicks?  But changing tires is a pain in the ass.  What if you could push a button and hydraulics would lift the chassis and pop off the tires? Motorhomes have hydraulic levelors ; the Hummer has an inflate/deflate option.   Wouldn't an easy-change tire option be nice ?