One of my biggest gripes about HTC's U11 is that its Edge Sense gimmick -- which lets you squeeze the phone to activate shortcuts -- didn't actually let you do very much. Well, that's about to change. The company is going to push a software update to...
How simply convenient! The Squeeze toothbrush by Kevin Clarridge allows you to extract every bit of toothpaste from that dang tube… because if you can’t design a better tube, design a better toothbrush!
Changing a toothpaste tube is a massive market exercise because toothpastes are heavily tied with brands, and no brand really has the eagerness to experiment with something that works (the if-it-ain’t-broke syndrome). The Squeeze toothbrush however provides a rather wonderful solution. With its peg-like base, it allows you to manually steamroll each and every ounce of toothpaste from your tube. The toothbrush comes in two components, so you can retain the base and just switch the bristled top every couple of months! What’s more, the peg-shaped base even helps to dock the toothbrush on the rim of any tumbler, or on a line, need be.
Designer: Kevin Clarridge
Apple likes to build devices using metal. Unfortunately, the material isn't usually conducive to touch, in the literal sense of the word -- capacitive touch doesn't always register on a metal gadget, and you can often forget about a response to pressure. A newly published patent from the company could at last get these unfeeling devices to acknowledge our grip without putting sensors above the surface. Apple's method would detect the changes in capacitance between hidden nodes when a device's shell is put under strain, and trigger a hardware or software reaction when there's a strong-enough squeeze. The concept is simple enough. Just what Apple would like to do with the patent, if anything, is the real riddle. The patent was originally filed in 2009, and covers just about everything computer- or mobile-based that Apple could produce; any burning desire to use the technique would likely have been satisfied by now. If our future iPhones or Macs ever answer a hug with more than just cold indifference, though, we'll know why.
Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops, Tablets, Apple
Source: USPTO