designapalooza’s posterous

I have never actually used this product, but the details of its design make it a
product that I would buy. A washlet is essentially a high-tech toilet seat that
has many functions and addresses needs that you never even knew you had. After
using the toilet, the toilet seat can clean your rear at one touch of a button.
 This is done by extending a wand, which shoots a jet of water at the
appropriate area. The user can then activate a dryer to dry the area that was
just washed. Additional features include automatic flushing and automatic
opening and closing of the lid when a user approaches and leaves. Some models
even have pulsating and massaging options for the stream of water. A heated
seat ensures that you will never freeze your behind on a cold seat again.
Because washlets can eliminate the need for toilet paper, they also promote
environmental consciousness. It is unfortunate that they are only really
prevalent in Asia.
 
For more information, see .
 
- Nick Dou

Since I have been bashing badly designed products/systems, I will talk about
something that I think is designed well. I got my Westone UM1?s as a
birthday present two years ago and I love them. They are in-ear headphones
with a foamy tip that is inserted into the ear canal. This design resembles an
earplug and in fact, it can block up to 25dB of noise. The cord wraps over the
ear instead of hanging straight down from them, which is more comfortable to
use. Also, the cord has a twisted design that makes them resistant to tangling
but still easy to wrap. The level of isolation can be bad in certain
situations, because I literally cannot hear somebody speaking next to me.
In-ear monitors from Shure have a special device that lets the headphone user
hear the outside world by pressing a button.
 
- Nick Dou

Ice skating is a very enjoyable activity, especially when rentals are only three
dollars at Johnson. However, ice skates can be a real pain. When the previous
wearer did not lace the skates properly, they can be difficult to loosen and
tighten, and re-lacing them takes forever because there are so many holes.
They have to be tied just right, not too loose or too tight, otherwise they
will hurt. The skates themselves are extremely stiff and there is virtually no
padding, causing inevitable pain after an hour. I found myself taking frequent
breaks because my feet were hurting. Another disadvantage of rental skates is
that they are usually not sharp, which prevents smooth gliding.
 
-Nick Dou

I spend a great deal of time biking up and down dorm row since I live in Next
House. From personal experience, I can say that Amherst Street is designed
extremely poorly. First of all, it is extremely narrow. If I am biking to
campus, I have to leave enough room for a car or truck to pass in the other
direction, which is a common but scary occurrence. Cars parked along the road
and construction work do not alleviate the problem at all. Little things can
also present challenges. The slight bend next to Burton Conner blocks
visibility and the ?wind tunnel? next to MacGregor can make biking a nearly
impossible ordeal. Finally, the speed bumps are extremely annoying to traverse.
 I have personally witnessed someone fall off his bike because he could not see
a speed bump in the dark.
 
-Nick Dou

As a Next House resident, I quickly discovered that going to class in the Stata
Center or taking the T from Kendall Square meant preparing for a 20 minute walk
across campus. After discovering the TechShuttle, however, I realized that I
could just hop on the bus and get to my destination in about half the time. I
can even check the projected arrival time of the next bus using nextbus.com,
which is usually quite accurate. Despite its convenience, there are several
things that could be improved. Since I don?t have internet on my phone, I
cannot check when the next bus will come when I am at already at the bus stop.
So if I am in a rush, I usually just end up walking, only to see the bus drive
right past me. An internet enabled clock that displayed arrival times at the
bus stops would be ideal. More bus stops along dorm row would also help a lot.
 
-Nick Dou

I used to have a dog named Einstein, he was a good friend.  He is now living with my parents since I now live in a dorm.  In order to fill the void of not having a pet I recently purchased a dwarf hamster.  The girl at the pet store told me the hamster was nocturnal, but I had no idea what the meaning of that was.  My problem was that the dumb hamster ran on is wheel in the middle of the night while i was trying to sleep.  The reason for this is the low cost engineering of the wheel.  The support and bearing system was previously composed of a simple cantilever shaft and a plastic housing. Below is a picture of the old shaft.  So in order to quiet down the hamster i modified the wheel so that it ran on a bearing.  The new system is composed of a flange bearing bolted to the wheel with two round plates. An Allen bolt, some flare washers and a butterfly nut served to secure it to the cage. In this particular situation i took care of my problem.

By: Heraclio Hernandez

     

Click here to download:

HAMSTER_WHEEL.zip (6481 KB)

Ever since visiting the school during IAP I have been in awe of the massive concrete structure that is the Institute.  Its giant pillars and spectacular domes are truly a sight.  For me the most incredible part is that fact that all this work was done using much simpler tools and methods. The precision with which the stones are cut and aligned is in no way iferior to any other structure of its kind. I guess the people who should truly be appreciated for the work are the old stone masons.  The men who built MIT were truly masters of their craft.  Its curious to see how some many incredible structures got built without the use of modern cranes and lifts, or computer aided drafint methods like the pyramids, palaces, colloseums and bridges.  Have we become dependet on our new technologies for accomplishing architechtural tasks?  What would happen if one day we had no moderm tools to build with, would we be able to think and do as our ancestors did?

By Heraclio Hernandez

Lifehacker brought up the very good point that board games are an absolute headache to deal with.
http://lifehacker.com/5138507/store-board-games-efficiently

Boxes of different sizes, made of weak cardboard that doesn't hold the weight of too many boxes stacked on top, each box taking up far more room that the game actually requires, removing a game at the bottom of the stack without messing up the ones on top, the mess made inside the box when you try to store it vertically.

It's just all a mess.

They brought up the point of "library" or "book" style boxes for board games, which, frankly, I've never heard of. It sounded like a great idea though. However, a quick Google search revealed that there really wasn't many of such boxes. This is the only kind I could find, and it's for classic games: . <Note: I had trouble getting the pic attached, no idea why.>

Feels like a great niche for a well designed product to fill.
Hmmmmm... there's an idea...

Kuan Cheng

There are two basic designs for stove tops. Either the controls are on the top, against the all, or on the bottom, closer to the user.

I feel like overall, the design in which the controls are closer to the user is a better design because it eliminates the need to reach over the hot food. In fact, this makes so much sense to me that I can hardly see why the other design exists at all. The only reason I can think of is to prevent small children from turning on the stove. Which, I guess, is a legit concern. But it's such a small demographic that I really don't think they deserve an entire stove design, right? Wouldn't it make more sense to just design all the stoves one way, and then have other little gadgets which help keep little hands from turning on the stove?

Kuan Cheng

   

Click here to download:

Stove_Controls.zip (100 KB)

One of the most puzzling things about our society is that on certain occasions, it expects females to encase their feet in objects which contort their feet into very unnatural poses. High-heeled shoes, for better or worse, are expected to be staples in almost all female wardrobes.
 
The worst type of high-heeled shoes are the ones with tapered (i.e. pointy) close-toe construction (see Exhibit A below). Not only is all your weight already resting on your toes (due to the heels), but your toes are encased in a space which does not geometrically match your actual foot's shape. How many of you were born with pointy feet?
 
Yes, yes, yes - we've heard all the arguments about high heels increasing your height, visually elongating your legs, etc. etc. etc. But it is a fact that these things are not truly comfortable and have been podiatrist-disapproved for ages. My beef is with the person who first invented them.
 
--Alice, who proudly wears flat shoes as much as she possibly can.