Feng shui, the art of room arrangement that's meant to benefit your chi, or life energy, may soon be made easier by a new Motorola patent. A feng shui helper could be used in a cell phone or PDA, using a camera to check the colors of your living room, a microphone to measure ambient noise, and a compass to tell which way is north. It can also, strangely enough, detect mobile and radio transmissions, as apparently strong signals mean negative chi. Of course, strong signals also mean you can use your cell phone, so that seems like a counterproductive feature. It's also not clear how exactly this would help people, since furniture arrangement is as important a facet of feng shui as anything, and that isn't addressed here. I suppose that's why this isn't available on any phones yet; Motorola has some time to work out the kinks before improving everyone's chi. — Adam Frucci

Via New Scientist Invention Blog