News Time: The 50 Best Inventions of 2009

[tblaxland]

See the full list here:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1934027,00.html

Some good ideas/products in there but large loads of rubbish in there too, IMHO. My commentary:

1. NASA's Ares Rockets (wouldn't be my pick but I suppose it is a good thing to see popular media space coverage)

3. The $10 million dollar light bulb (probably my pick of the bunch but I could be accused of bias since I am an electrical/lighting engineer)

6. Teleportation (huh? Reading the article the transported "data" from one atom to another a metre away. Surely a cool quantum physics experiment but not teleportation)

9. Tweeting by Thinking (like it isn't enough that we get to see all the useless brain farts people could actually be bothered to type...)

12. The Personal Carbon Footprint (how is that an invention, and if it is, who invented it?)

34. The Human-Powered Vending Machine (sure its an invention, but who would use it?)

38. The Foldable Speaker (this appeals to me for some reason I can't quite put my finger on...)

40. The Edible Race Car (I guess someone forget to tell the editor that that just because parts of a car are made from carrot fibres and potato starch that does not imply that they are edible)

42. The Supersuit ("other swimsuits made from plastic derivatives are no longer permitted in international competition" - huh? No more nylon Speedos? Actually the rules state that the fabric must be woven textile, so nylon Speedos are still OK)

49. The Newest Cloud (undulatus asperatus - just beautiful, but not an invention...)

 

[martins]

One of the coolest things I heard about in 2009 (although research must have been going on longer) is the news that the cloaking device has finally been invented.

 

[n72.75]

One of the coolest things I heard about in 2009 (although research must have been going on longer) is the news that the cloaking device has finally been invented.

I need one.

 

[Andy44]

The Ares rockets? Maybe I'm a little slow but last time I looked niether one had been invented yet...

 

[n72.75]

The Ares rockets? Maybe I'm a little slow but last time I looked niether one had been invented yet...

And it's not that big an invention, it's been almost 50 years since we've been to the moon and ares is the only thing we can come up with, that is sad.

 

[anemazoso]

See the full list here:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1934027,00.html

1. NASA's Ares Rockets (wouldn't be my pick but I suppose it is a good thing to see popular media space coverage)

This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen! First of all the Ares I does not exist yet and I would put my money on it never flying.
:beathead:

The following quote sums it up.

"Ares 1-X is a rocket that is cobbled together from pieces of old shuttle hardware, a borrowed avionics system, and dummy upper stages - none of which will ever fly again. Its first - and only - flight resulted in unexpected upper stage trajectories, a parachute system malfunction, and heavy damage to its launch pad. Indeed, the Ares 1 (still a paper rocket), as currently designed, would not perform properly due to vibroacoustic and performance issues that have yet to be resolved. Indeed, its prime payload, the Orion space capsule, has had to be shrunk - TWICE - in both size and crew capacity - because the Ares 1 is incapable of lifting it into space as it was originally designed.
Is a "best invention" something that is years behind schedule and grossly over budget, underpowered such that it cannot do what it was designed to do, with only one partial mockup in existence, half of which is on the bottom of the sea?" Kieth Cowing - NASA Watch




I'd rather the main stream media not report this stuff at all if there going to get it completely wrong and basically act as BS propaganda. Makes me wonder is ATK has something to do with it.

 

[T.Neo]

The Ares rockets are not "inventions of 2009". They have been (and will be) in development for some time.

Most of the others are either complete nonsense or somewhat useless, at least IMO. In this day and age a good idea executed properly is a rare thing indeed.

EDIT:
Now that I am actually reading through the full list, I can see more "inventions of 2009" that were invented (or at least thought of) many years before...

 

[Urwumpe]

where is the doomsday protection kit in the list?

 

[RisingFury]

One of the coolest things I heard about in 2009 (although research must have been going on longer) is the news that the cloaking device has finally been invented.

Yea, I heard about that. That would have made it to within 10 best spots on my list...

 

[jinglesassy]

half of the stuff they put on this list is a joke i mean a living wall how does that benefit society

 

[Unstung]

I seem to disagree with many ratings, with things related to space higher. Actually, the inventions nearing 50 I disagree with more.
This one really disappointed me:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1934027_1934003_1933992,00.html
It seems to be much safer, I'd give it a 90s-range.

 

[anemazoso]

I must post the press release from [FONT=geneva,arial,verdana][SIZE=-1]Rick Tumlinson head of the Space Fronier Foundation posted on www.spaceref.com

[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=geneva,arial,verdana][SIZE=-1]Citing Time magazine's selection of [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]NASA's[/COLOR][/COLOR] proposed Ares rockets "The Best [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]Invention[/COLOR][/COLOR] of the Year" based on a single purported "test flight" of the vehicle on October 28th, the Space Frontier Foundation congratulated NASA on its propaganda triumph. The Foundation pointed out that the rocket launched by NASA was not an [COLOR=blue ! important][COLOR=blue ! important]Ares[/COLOR][/COLOR] 1 at all, but a dummy vehicle cobbled together from pieces of other space systems, an elaborate mock-up shaped and painted to look like the actual vehicle, which isn't even scheduled to fly for another 6 years.

"While many reporters know that Ares 1 is far behind schedule and likely to be canceled as an unnecessary and expensive distraction from real exploration missions, apparently Time magazine fell for this publicity hoax. There was no boy in the balloon and there most definitely was no Ares rocket launched in Florida last month," said the Foundation's Rick Tumlinson. "If anyone at Time had bothered to go beyond the NASA and contractor flacks, they would have found out what most people in the space community already knew. This was a marketing ploy designed to save a program threatened with imminent cancellation."[/SIZE][/FONT]

:rofl: