StartupRealities

StartupRealities No 157 NoiseRevenge is a sound technology company which produces patented sound transmission devices that beam sound with a laser beam to an exact location. This allows users to utilise the device to punish inconsiderate neighbours who play loud music. The advantage of the NoiseRevenge technology is that the sound is delivered and released at a chosen location, rather than being heard in the entire space from source to destination in the normal way that sound waves spread. TECHNOLOGY NoiseRevenge uses the photoacoustic effect : when water vapour present in the air absorbs light from a laser beam, it forms sound waves. The quality of the sound is not particularly high but can still be encoded sufficiently to differentiate it from noise. A unique part of this technology is that the sound will only be heard at a given distance from the transmitter. CEO QUOTE "We bring civilisation to neighbourly relations with our new sound technology. There is no longer a ne...

StartupRealities No 9 QuickToire Limited (quick "toilet" in Japanese) is a manufacturer of Japanese-style high-end toilets and toilet seats that reduce the time users spend sitting on the toilet through behavioural nudging techniques (unpleasant noise and electricity), thus significantly reducing the incidence of haemorrhoids. SCIENCE Modern research recommends spending less time on the toilet and avoiding reading on the toilet in order to minimise the likelihood of developing haemorrhoids . There is a pronounced differences in haemorrhoid prevalence rates between two types of countries: those using modern (sitting) toilets record high haemorrhoid prevalence, while those using squat toilets register low percentages of haemorrhoids in the population. Two key factors lead to these differences. Firstly, people spend longer on sitting toilets than on squat toilets. Secondly, when using a sitting toilet, the pressure is concentrated on the anal muscles; while when using a sq...