Sessions at OSCON 2010 about Patents

Friday 23rd July 2010

• The World's Worst Inventions

  by Paul Fenwick

  Technology advances through the creation of new inventions. Devices, protocols, machines, and ideas all increase the breadth of human knowledge, and make life easier for us all… At least in theory.

  In reality, the advance of progress is littered with bad ideas. A profound lack of foresight, thinking, or just plain common sense has left us with countless artefacts of mis-design. What’s worse, we often build upon such twisted horrors in the creation of new technology.

  Leeches that predict the weather, fire alarms that trap their users, poorly thought-out medicines, toys which irradiate, mangle, or intoxicate their users, and a bizarre array of poorly conceived ideas are just a few of the inventions that litter the otherwise noble pursuit of applied science.

  Join internationally acclaimed speaker Paul Fenwick as we examine some of the worst design decisions ever made.

  • Failure
  • Patents
  • Science

  At 12:40pm to 12:40pm, Friday 23rd July

  Coverage video