Sunday, May 30, 2010

Digital Camera Back Employing Foveon Sensor

Foveon invented a better sensor, but then had trouble interesting camera manufacturers in the technology.

Instead of needing to convince camera manufacturers to embed the technology in their cameras, the manufacturers could be circumvented by manufacturing Foveon-based digital camera backs for popular SLRs. This would be considerably simpler than manufacturing entire cameras.

Note: This idea turns out to be moot, because Foveon was acquired by Sigma. A disappointing outcome for a technology that was going to obsolesce all computers, cameras, and cellphones.

French Press With Lever

Coffee made in a French press is delicious, particularly when the grounds are ground very fine.

But when ground very fine, the grounds make it almost impossible to press down on the piston. The palm of the hand winds up bruised from the pressure.

The effort could be greatly reduced by adding a lever.

One end of the lever would attach to a hinge on one size of the cylinder, the piston would connect to the lever with a rotating pin, and the preparer would press down on the long end of the lever to drive the piston into the cylinder.

The lever and pin would be easy to remove, in order to clean the press.

Squirrel-proof Squirrel Feeder

I'm looking at our fourth squirrel feeder.

It is lying on the ground, the squirrels having chewed through the strap that was holding it up on a tree trunk. The top is halfway chewed through--and it's made of tough plastic.

The previous squirrel feeders fared no better. One made from wood was reduced to sawdust, another was knocked down and crushed by a car, and so forth.

It might require titanium-vanadium alloy, but there must be some way to make a squirrel feeder that can't be destroyed by squirrels.