I'll get the ball rolling...
Sidewinder Gaming Keyboard - Most gamers have run into the "too many keys at once" bug. For instance, on almost all keyboards you couldn't A: Hold the walk direction B: Hold the run button C: Press the jump button in a Mario type game (Granted, a keyboard isn't the optimal way to play this type of game). Sometimes, changing the configuration of the game will allow you to press an extra key, but it still doesn't eliminate the problem. The problem has been solved by do-it-yourselfer's, but a DIY job like this for a device with this many buttons is a nightmare. An excerpt from Hanaho.com's HotRod Joystick's FAQ (The HotRod uses the keyboard port for input) states: "Keyboard hacks use a matrix system for input which is inferior due to the keyboard design. The keyboard was never designed for multiple buttons to be pressed and held for sustained periods. For retro type games this causes ghosting and produces latency issues. Every button on the Hotrod joystick can be simultaneously pressed and released because HotRod's inputs are sampled independently without use of a matrix system" I imagine it being black with 4 USB ports.
(Powered? Nah, game controllers don't need powered ports... But power users do ). It would be a flat, not split, keyboard because it's for gamers, not office comfort. Of course, the name Sidewinder is refering to Microsoft, but they'd never make such a thing Until they or someone else does, the Internet Keyboard Pro is my thing...
Megaflopy External - Ever see those Sony MemoryStick or Smart-Media FlashPath Floppy disk adapters? Well, the MemStick version can be used to give the Sony Mavica FD cameras 100's of MBs for storing pictures instead of only 1.44MB as well as provide a convienient way to get them on your PC. What if someone implemented a floppy disk image device with this? For instance: One 128MB Flash Memory thing could hold ~90-something floppies. Now imagine being able to copy all your important floppys as floppy images to this 128MB device, that can then be popped into any floppy drive & used. Imagine, having ALL windows boot / setup disk on one device. Never again be troubled by that STUPID "wrong MS-DOS version" message when trying to install an OS. Just pop it out, select the other floppy image (All independant of the PC of course) & try again. Then you could also have all your drivers there on the same disk for when the OS finishes installing! Handy. No, CD-Rs are NOT this flexible, not even bootable ones. If possible, it could have a numbered display on the disk for selecting disk images.
Megafloppy Internal - Uses that anoying second floppy drive bay without using a expensive (Outrageous Per-MB cost!) Zip drive. Has a display on the front with labels for all floppy images stored on the device. Uses floppy interface plus has it's own floppy interface for a "floppy pass through" mode as well as an auto-imaging mode (Pop in a disk, it images it and stores it). It perfectly simulates a floppy on the hardware level so that you never even have to make a floppy of a boot disk or the like in the first place! Perhaps it could be removeable like a hard drive rack. I'd even suggest that it use a regular floppy-sized power connector just to make use of it since all power supplies will have one. Perhaps both
USB game-port - Let's face it: The gameport is practically DEAD, but our great old joysticks & gamepads aren't! My Nintendo 3D1, Original Sidewinder Gamepad & Force-Feedback Pro come to mind, as none of these have USB adapters. USB adapters for specific models/brands exist, but none for the generic digital gamepad/joystick. The only USB adapter I know of that's not limited to a specific brand is sold by Radio Shack & it ONLY works with legacy non-digital 2-axis 4-button controllers by creating a virtual 4-axis 4-button controller & NOT a virtual gameport. This accessory would be awesome for MIDI artist using laptops, as most can only get a gameport w/ a non-portable docking station (This should answer your "but all soundcards have 'em" statements before they're said ).
Well, I have WAY more, & I'm sure you guys do too... So POST AWAY!
PS: Please don't consider this off topic just because it's fictional! Perhaps some DIYers could take notice & make a killer business out of some of this...
Sidewinder Gaming Keyboard - Most gamers have run into the "too many keys at once" bug. For instance, on almost all keyboards you couldn't A: Hold the walk direction B: Hold the run button C: Press the jump button in a Mario type game (Granted, a keyboard isn't the optimal way to play this type of game). Sometimes, changing the configuration of the game will allow you to press an extra key, but it still doesn't eliminate the problem. The problem has been solved by do-it-yourselfer's, but a DIY job like this for a device with this many buttons is a nightmare. An excerpt from Hanaho.com's HotRod Joystick's FAQ (The HotRod uses the keyboard port for input) states: "Keyboard hacks use a matrix system for input which is inferior due to the keyboard design. The keyboard was never designed for multiple buttons to be pressed and held for sustained periods. For retro type games this causes ghosting and produces latency issues. Every button on the Hotrod joystick can be simultaneously pressed and released because HotRod's inputs are sampled independently without use of a matrix system" I imagine it being black with 4 USB ports.
(Powered? Nah, game controllers don't need powered ports... But power users do ). It would be a flat, not split, keyboard because it's for gamers, not office comfort. Of course, the name Sidewinder is refering to Microsoft, but they'd never make such a thing Until they or someone else does, the Internet Keyboard Pro is my thing...
Megaflopy External - Ever see those Sony MemoryStick or Smart-Media FlashPath Floppy disk adapters? Well, the MemStick version can be used to give the Sony Mavica FD cameras 100's of MBs for storing pictures instead of only 1.44MB as well as provide a convienient way to get them on your PC. What if someone implemented a floppy disk image device with this? For instance: One 128MB Flash Memory thing could hold ~90-something floppies. Now imagine being able to copy all your important floppys as floppy images to this 128MB device, that can then be popped into any floppy drive & used. Imagine, having ALL windows boot / setup disk on one device. Never again be troubled by that STUPID "wrong MS-DOS version" message when trying to install an OS. Just pop it out, select the other floppy image (All independant of the PC of course) & try again. Then you could also have all your drivers there on the same disk for when the OS finishes installing! Handy. No, CD-Rs are NOT this flexible, not even bootable ones. If possible, it could have a numbered display on the disk for selecting disk images.
Megafloppy Internal - Uses that anoying second floppy drive bay without using a expensive (Outrageous Per-MB cost!) Zip drive. Has a display on the front with labels for all floppy images stored on the device. Uses floppy interface plus has it's own floppy interface for a "floppy pass through" mode as well as an auto-imaging mode (Pop in a disk, it images it and stores it). It perfectly simulates a floppy on the hardware level so that you never even have to make a floppy of a boot disk or the like in the first place! Perhaps it could be removeable like a hard drive rack. I'd even suggest that it use a regular floppy-sized power connector just to make use of it since all power supplies will have one. Perhaps both
USB game-port - Let's face it: The gameport is practically DEAD, but our great old joysticks & gamepads aren't! My Nintendo 3D1, Original Sidewinder Gamepad & Force-Feedback Pro come to mind, as none of these have USB adapters. USB adapters for specific models/brands exist, but none for the generic digital gamepad/joystick. The only USB adapter I know of that's not limited to a specific brand is sold by Radio Shack & it ONLY works with legacy non-digital 2-axis 4-button controllers by creating a virtual 4-axis 4-button controller & NOT a virtual gameport. This accessory would be awesome for MIDI artist using laptops, as most can only get a gameport w/ a non-portable docking station (This should answer your "but all soundcards have 'em" statements before they're said ).
Well, I have WAY more, & I'm sure you guys do too... So POST AWAY!
PS: Please don't consider this off topic just because it's fictional! Perhaps some DIYers could take notice & make a killer business out of some of this...