The worst inventions from the Stupid Shit No One Needs Hackathon at Ryerson University
In case you missed it, the Stupid Shit No One Needs & Terrible Ideas Hackathon came to Ryerson last Saturday. The one-day event challenged attendees to make whatever they wanted—be it an app, a wearable device or a game—with one caveat: it had to be completely useless. Here are some of the best (worst?) ideas we could find.
Typing For Two
Their big idea: In this two-player game, two people are each given a different paragraph to type out. A timer then counts down from 30 seconds as they try to type two different paragraphs on the same keyboard. It is, in the words of its creators, “really pointless.”
BrainFart
Their big idea: An app that uses the Muse headband (which measures brainwaves) to monitor your calmness. Once you reach a certain level of Zen, the headband—which syncs to your computer—allows you to cue up music by blinking your eyes.
Yoga Fingers
Their big idea: Remember those miniature skateboards that you’d “ride” with your fingers? This is just as asinine, but with tiny yoga mats (you can see one of them in the photo above, beside Allison’s keyboard).
Waiting To Enter a Conference Call As The Moderator Has Not Yet Joined Simulator 2016
Their big idea: In a nutshell, it’s a VR device that makes you wait. Users put on the device and do absolutely nothing while waiting for the leader of a conference call to join the call. Spoiler alert: He never joins.
Preg Or Neg
Her big idea: This is one of the Hackathon’s more implausible ideas: It’s a pregnancy-testing app that is, to quote Yee, “pee-to-play:” users hold the phone under their urine stream for at least five seconds and pee on a bullseye on its screen. It is perhaps less suited to people who want to know if they’re pregnant, and more to those who want to creatively break their phones.
ChatChatBot
His big idea: ChatChatBot is a phone number—647-493-DUMB (which is, by the way, fully operational)—to which users text information that they want to tell a friend. ChatChatBot sends that information to the friend, who can then reply to ChatChatBot, which will in turn send the friend’s response back to the original messenger. It’s a phone number acting as a text-message carrier pigeon—the perfect exercise in futility.
 ideas we could find.
Typing For Two
[caption id="attachment_383938" align="alignnone" width="2000"] Typing For Two creators Riley Shaw and Phil Schleihauf (both programmers).[/caption]
Their big idea: In this two-player game, two people are each given a different paragraph to type out. A timer then counts down from 30 seconds as they try to type two different paragraphs on the same keyboard. It is, in the words of its creators, "really pointless."
BrainFart
[caption id="attachment_383937" align="alignnone" width="2000"] BrainFart inventors Amun Sihra (a 3rd year Medical Physics student at Ryerson), Jasna Todorovic (a developer for Muse, a brain-sensing wearable), and Fanny Sie (Manager at MaRS Innovation).[/caption]
Their big idea: An app that uses the Muse headband (which measures brainwaves) to monitor your calmness. Once you reach a certain level of Zen, the headband—which syncs to your computer—allows you to cue up music by blinking your eyes.
Yoga Fingers
[caption id="attachment_383940" align="alignnone" width="2000"] Yoga Fingers creators Taulant Sulko (graphic designer) and Allison Brown (studio manager at a design firm)[/caption]
Their big idea: Remember those miniature skateboards that you'd "ride" with your fingers? This is just as asinine, but with tiny yoga mats (you can see one of them in the photo above, beside Allison's keyboard).
Waiting To Enter a Conference Call As The Moderator Has Not Yet Joined Simulator 2016
[caption id="attachment_383941" align="alignnone" width="2000"] Paul Walker (computer programmer) and Lauren Walker (heritage consultant) created a conference call wait simulator.[/caption]
Their big idea: In a nutshell, it's a VR device that makes you wait. Users put on the device and do absolutely nothing while waiting for the leader of a conference call to join the call. Spoiler alert: He never joins.
Preg Or Neg
[caption id="attachment_383943" align="alignnone" width="2000"] Preg Or Neg's Sagan Yee.[/caption]
Her big idea: This is one of the Hackathon's more implausible ideas: It's a pregnancy-testing app that is, to quote Yee, "pee-to-play:” users hold the phone under their urine stream for at least five seconds and pee on a bullseye on its screen. It is perhaps less suited to people who want to know if they're pregnant, and more to those who want to creatively break their phones.
ChatChatBot
[caption id="attachment_383957" align="alignnone" width="2000"] ChatChatBot's Severin Smith.[/caption]
His big idea: ChatChatBot is a phone number—647-493-DUMB (which is, by the way, fully operational)—to which users text information that they want to tell a friend. ChatChatBot sends that information to the friend, who can then reply to ChatChatBot, which will in turn send the friend's response back to the original messenger. It's a phone number acting as a text-message carrier pigeon—the perfect exercise in futility.){kind=link}