/
1x
Advertisement
Proudly Canadian, obsessively Toronto. Subscribe to Toronto Life!
City News

The worst inventions from the Stupid Shit No One Needs Hackathon at Ryerson University

By Vibhu Gairola| Photography by Kieran Meyn
Copy link

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
The worst inventions from the Stupid Shit No One Needs Hackathon at Ryerson University
Typing For Two creators Riley Shaw and Phil Schleihauf (both programmers).

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
The worst inventions from the Stupid Shit No One Needs Hackathon at Ryerson University
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).

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
The worst inventions from the Stupid Shit No One Needs Hackathon at Ryerson University
Yoga Fingers creators Taulant Sulko (graphic designer) and Allison Brown (studio manager at a design firm)

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
The worst inventions from the Stupid Shit No One Needs Hackathon at Ryerson University
Paul Walker (computer programmer) and Lauren Walker (heritage consultant) created a conference call wait simulator.

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. 

Advertisement
Preg Or Neg
The worst inventions from the Stupid Shit No One Needs Hackathon at Ryerson University
Preg Or Neg’s Sagan Yee.

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
The worst inventions from the Stupid Shit No One Needs Hackathon at Ryerson University
ChatChatBot’s Severin Smith.

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.

NEVER MISS A TORONTO LIFE STORY

Sign up for This City, our free newsletter about everything that matters right now in Toronto politics, sports, business, culture, society and more.

By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.
You may unsubscribe at any time.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Advertisement
Advertisement

The Latest

A gold-medal Olympian dancer is breaking at Scarborough Town Centre this weekend
City News

A gold-medal Olympian dancer is breaking at Scarborough Town Centre this weekend

Inside the Latest Issue

The June issue of Toronto Life features our annual ranking of the best new restaurants. Plus, our obsessive coverage of everything that matters now in the city.