http://qtitools.caret.cam.ac.uk/

Sometimes I come up with an idea that I want to patent but I am so busy that I just blog it instead. Hopefully this will make it into the internet archive and folks can send me money when they want to license my invention.
This idea is pretty simple – headphones with a retractible cord. Basiclly I just want *everything* on the planet to have a retractible cord.
Here is my picture:
http://www.dr-chuck.com/images/2006/11/index.php?img=07-11-06_042259_01.jpg
I scribble these patents on scraps of paper and then type them in later.

Sometimes I come up with an idea that I want to patent but I am so busy that I just blog it instead. Hopefully this will make it into the internet archive and folks can send me money when they want to license my invention.
The basic idea here is to put RFIDs in luggage. This way the systems at airports can slowly develop a profile of a pices of luggage.
How many times have we seen this luggage?
What countries has this luggage been to?
How many times has this luggage been pulled for security check?
Who has used this luggage?
We can either manufacture this RFID into luggage from the beginning or can add it after the fact. For those of you in Homeland Security – you could evne slip this into baggage while it is in the airport. Or perhaps you could work with TSA and voluntarly have them install their RFID.
You can establish the identy of the person who is associated with *this* piece of luggage each time a person checks in. This could also be done at a security checkpoint if we got some type of air traveller ID or perhaps we put RFIDs in passports.
So most folks would think of this as “Big Brother” – sure – like you being uncomfortable with Big Brother stops it from happening. If you don’t want to be tracked, photographed, searched, etc – stay away from public transportation. As far as I am concerned once I get near a plane – my life is an open book and I expect that the rest of the folks sharing that transport with me are equally willing to be scrutinized.
Ah well – this is not about politics – this is about roylaties for me and my patent.

Sometimes I invent things and don’t have time to file a formal Patent – so I just Blog it.
The basic idea is to be able to take a completely dynamic video or audio on demand system and allow arbitrary groups to create synchronized shared experiences. These groups will self-organize and membership will be dynamic.
This will allow a person working with a VOD system such a as a digital CATV system. The idea is that instead of simply starting the program – one would indicate that they want the program to start at a particular time in the future – typically in 10 minutes or so. The VOD system would display a “joining code” on the screen and count down to the start of the program. This join code could be send to friends or other groups who want to watch the program in a synchronized manner – those other folks would enter the join code on their systems and become part of the synchronized VOD stream. You could even join after the program started. The likely distribution of the code will be IM, SMS, Phone, or E-Mail. Maybe even the CATV system would have a notification mechanism or a group capability.
So the upshot is that you and your group can watch the same thing *at the same time* – all on demand – effectively this is VOD for groups. This has a number of aplications – teaching, learning – where there could be IM or other out of band communication to allow rreactions – also you could collectively pause to discuss things. Other things would be effectively like watching a movie Saturday evening with pals around the world – they might also have separate monitors with webcams so follks could interact and hear each other’s laughter or screams. Effectively creating a distributed theater.
So where did I come up with this idea? Well on a A330 coming to England I watched as two children next to me struggled with their individual VOD systems so as to watch the *same* movie at the *same* time. They navigated to the start of the movie and pressed “Play” at the *same* time so they could share the experience.
As we get to the point where we can completely isolate ourselves with totally customized entertainment – we will slowly yearn for group interactions. And the beauty is that adding a group interaction layer on top of a completely personalized system – this also saves bandwidth, etc becuase information can be multicast and precious resources like Digital channels can be used for multiple destinations at the same time.
This provides a nice hybrid between pure VOD and the “movie will start in 35 minutes” of partial VOD.
Please call me if you want to license this patent :)

I was in Australia last week at Charles Sturt University. I had many meetings – in one with CELT (Center for E Learning Technology) – Matt Morton-Allen said I could not say *anything* nerdy.
He helped me with this little outline – which I need to turn into Powerpoint. I put this down so I can throw the paper away:
– Pedagogy focus – hot tech but not luddite either
– What are others doing
– How does the community organize itself? Working and Discussion Groups.
– Talk about Bodginton
– Accessibility
– Usability
– Goal Aware Tools
– Talk about Wiki
– Talk about ePortfolio
– Relate to Moodle
– Talk about Samigo
– Talk about training and communities of practice (Etudes example)
– Prioritization and requirements process
Looks like a good outline.
Thanks Matt.