Awesome Idea of the Day

sfsuphysics said:
Also how would that infrared camera work with something that steams up? Would the camera get blinded?

not if it is IR.


I do like that he's not asking for a kickstarter or money in general too, just to let him know that you would consider one if reasonably priced.
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he'll get rich off the patent. very smart move. make the money but don't have to do much developement work.

dceremuga said:
My thoughts..

Did anyone think about what he said. He got the patent. So, even signing for a company to make it, he would be a millionaire over and over by selling the patent, or use of the patent technology.

Good for him, but it is nothing but a money grab.
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money grab maybe, wish I had thought of it. Eventually he will become rich off this idea. not until the price of IR cameras come down though.

-PK- said:
I had no idea the price of IR cameras had gone down enough to make this feasible.
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they haven't.

There is a cheapy add-on camera made for iphone 5 that costs "only" a few hundred dollars. all the others cost thousands. I know. I've been researching IR rifle scopes and other ways of seeing IR,.

There may soon be an affordable small IR camera that could be used for something like this though. Once there is..

I gotta start thinking of these kind of new ideas. He is gonna make some dough.
 
The Flir iPhone thingie is actually pretty decent for the money, but sure, it's not quite as good as one of their higher-end $1k+ models.

For those interested, go watch videos about them on Youtube from either EEVBlog or MikesElectricStuff, both EXCELLENT channels.
 
The thousands of dollars ones are commercial grade and designed to be super strong. Also priced accordingly with the fact that no one is going to buy one. Even if they were $500 dollars instead of $5000, why would you buy one?

The cooking thing is actually an excellent use that i never considered. One use that im aware of is for checking for cold spots in building insulation. That was one reason i originally did research on them.

I wouldn't find it too hard to believe this could catch on fast and reduce the price substantially. One of the cost factors is i believe a lens made of germanium or something like that. Not sure it'll ever get *super cheap*.
 
dceremuga said:
Good for him, but it is nothing but a money grab.
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We have different definitions of "money grab." He spent a year creating a prototype for this and it's actually something new that could have real use and even be a paradigm shift for the appliances. A money grab is something like Charlie Sheen holding a seminar to give him money just for being a coked up actor.

What should he have done for this not to be a money grab? Give away the idea for free and let someone else patent it? All that would happen is major appliance companies would patent it themselves and some already rich executives of them would get richer for stealing his idea. He didn't cure a virus and this is something that humanity desperately needs where the humane thing to do is give it away for free. I would much rather see the profits go to an actual inventor like this who's actually doing something rather than let more wealth stagnate at the top.
 
From the "Why doesn't this exist already?" department.

It wouldn't work for everything, but it has a lot of obvious use cases. LCDs/IR cameras are cheap enough that it shouldn't even add too much cost.


Though the biggest problem that I can see is being able to see what's actually in the microwave. I could see a final version integrating the screen above the keypad and leaving the window clear. Still functions, lower cost, and doesn't obstruct the view.
 
This is a very good idea, but yeah.....IR cameras are NOT cheap. Of course, you may not need a super good one for this type of application. Mass production would drive the price down as well.

I would buy such a microwave, but the key factor would be the cost. I'm not going to pay more than $300 for a microwave since I only use them to cook popcorn or heat up left overs...both of which wouldn't require an IR camera.
 
idea is good but microwaved anything tastes like a shoe at best
 
docmal said:
Sooo...

How does it work???
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Well since it's not an IR sensor (as I originally guessed) My second guess was a humidistat which monitors increased steam that's often generated when water boils.
 
Goatblaster said:
...I was like, 9 years old so thought "I'll just watch it! Yeah!" and then my mind strayed, as 9 year old minds do.

4 hours later my mother yells down to me while I'm watching TV, "You got something in the microwave?". "No...!? - errr.. OMG YES, MY HOTDOG".

I came back up to a shriveled thin charred black sad looking line. My poor hotdog, it died a horrible burning death instead of being devoured by my stomach acid, like it should have been.
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I once put a potato in a cheap digital timer microwave and set the timer for something like 8 minutes and forgot about it. About 30-60 minutes later, I remembered it and went to get my baked potato, but somehow the timer was at something like 99:26 and the potato was glowing red. I opened the door and the potato immediately burst into flame and I had to close the door again. A few minutes later my potato was just a pile of ash. :(
 
I think it'd be a much better idea if the microwave was just a computer, and you could program it and download community maintained best cooking programming for all sorts of items. Search for the item you're about to cook and hit start.
 
chameleoneel said:
A. bacon was way too crunchy

B. I haven't used a microwave for about 4 years.
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So how do you heat up food? I use a microwave every day to heat up my lunch I bring to work. And I heat up frozen bread at home for breakfast. Doing this with a regular stove would take too long and use much more energy.
 
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