Simple Ideas That Made It BigWong Limsoon 11 February 2011 Some Inventions
Simple Ideas That Made It Big
Wong Limsoon 11 February 2011 Some Inventions
An invention should be Novel Non-obvious Useful It is NOT required to be complicated, technologically sophisticated, etc. So inventing should be easy … But when there is already a solution to a problem, it is not easy to invent a better one
From ancient time
An invention is normally a device like this big stick of the Neanderthal man
An invention can also be a process, like this ancient man drilling wood to get fire
An invention can even be something “representational”, like money
An invention can be a composition of all of the above (device, process, etc) as well
Inns, from antiquity Serve travelers Restaurants, invented in ~1000AD in the Arab Empire Serve anyone
An invention can even be something “abstract”, like language
From modern times
An invention can be a device
Cat's eye is a safety device marking roads Originated in UK in 1933 and is now used all over the world A key feature of the cat's eye is the flexible rubber dome which is occasionally deformed by the passage of traffic. A fixed rubber wiper cleans the surface of the reflectors as they sink below the surface of the road (the base tends to hold water after a shower of rain, making this process even more efficient). The rubber dome is protected from impact damage by metal 'kerbs' – which also give tactile and audible feedback for wandering drivers. Image and prose credit: Wikipedia
An invention can be a process
Walter Jacobs thought (in 1920’s), “Hmm. If people rented horses, why wouldn't they rent cars, too?” He raised enough capital to buy 12 used Model T's and begin renting the cars. A few years later his fleet was up to 565 and annual revenues exceeded $1,000,000 Jacobs' thriving rental business is now the #1 rental car company in the world (Hertz) Prose credit: Ezine @rticles ®
An invention can be a representation
Machine Language (ATARI) 169 1 160 0 153 0 128 153 0 129 153 130 153 0 131 200 208 241 96 BASIC FOR I=1 TO 1000: PRINT "A";: NEXT I Programming a computer in the old days Programming a computer today
An invention can be a composition of all of the above (device, process, etc) as well
Theme Parks, invented in 1930’s
Math formula is not an invention, but its use to solve a real problem is
Who is Limsoon? ~200,000 webpages contain “limsoon” Millions of webpages contain “who” “is” None contains all of “who” “is” “limsoon” Which webpages to show? Need to determine which word is key Word occurring freq in a doc & also occurs in many docs is not impt Term frequency-inverse document frequency
Logical reasoning is not an invention, but its use to solve a problem is
So “who” “is” are not impt words to look for in a doc, but “limsoon” is But there would still be ~200,000 webpages that are found. Which ones to show first? A webpage that is ref by more other webpages is more impt
Exercise: Inventing the Internet
Computer Network
Jack Rose Network Long Message Problem : Data Communication relies essentially on electronic signals which can be unreliable. This slide came from Anthony Tung
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Computer Network
Jack Rose Network Long Message Problem: Data Communication relies essentially on electronic signals which can be unreliable. This slide came from Anthony Tung
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Computer Network
Jack Rose Network Long Message Problem: Data Communication relies essentially on electronic signals which can be unreliable. Breakdown! This slide came from Anthony Tung
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Computer Network
Jack Rose Network Long Message Problem: Data Communication relies essentially on electronic signals which can be unreliable. Resend This slide came from Anthony Tung
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