Who's behind this machine?
I have been making things for as long as I can remember: music, photographs, films, and a great many websites. What you are looking at is the complete public register of those ideas.
The itch
Underneath the changing media there has always been one constant: an itch to find solutions to problems. Any problems. A business leaking money in a place nobody thought to look. A field so complex I have to study it for three months before I can even ask the right questions: that is not a barrier, that is the appeal. Or just an ordinary annoyance on an ordinary Tuesday. The scale changes; the itch doesn't.
Full honesty: none of this survives contact with the physical world. Hand me something to build or assemble and I will read the manual twice and still end up holding a spare screw. Inventing objects is not my country. But services, systems, interfaces (things made of ideas and screens): I grew up inside those. Imagining them is the closest thing I know to play.
One idea, a hundred ways
For years I thought this backlog was eclectic: cheese hardware, security drones, dating apps, doomsday clocks. Then, deep into building this catalogue, a pattern became impossible to unsee. Almost everything here is a form of guardianship: protecting people from scams, from noise, from danger; reuniting people who don't know they are neighbors, twins, kin; keeping alive the things that deserve to stay alive.
"I don't really have a hundred ideas. I have one idea, declined a hundred ways: take care of what matters, and find the people who matter to you."
Why give it all away
Not all of them are good. Some are certainly bad, and they are published anyway, because I am not the one who decides which spark catches. If a single page here lights a flash in a single reader (a build, a pivot, a better version of the thing I imagined), then the mission is accomplished, and every hour spent on this machine will have been worth it.
Everything is published under CC BY 4.0: take an idea, build it, no permission needed. A link back is appreciated, never required.
You're here now
So: make yourself at home. Read whatever you like, in whatever order; nothing here is homework. The inbox is genuinely open: if an idea sparks something and you would rather talk it through, write. And play with the machine. I spent an unreasonable amount of time on it, and it rewards the curious.
Which brings us to the other window on this desk. The most curious and stubborn among you will find things on this site that appear on no menu. The machine keeps a log.
LP/98 UNDOCUMENTED DEVICE REGISTRY
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The manufacturer declares 20 undocumented devices on this system. No manual exists. No hints are given. This log is written by your own machine, stays on your own machine, and lights up as it encounters each device.
POST486.ROMnot detectedWHISPER.CMDnot detectedWELCOME.EXEnot detectedFINDFAST.EXEnot detectedNODISK-A.ERRnot detectedUUDDLRLR.BAnot detected3FINGERS.EXEnot detectedFORMATC.ERRnot detectedIDLEHAND.SCRnot detected10MINES0.LOGnot detectedSUNKEN10.BINnot detectedNOTTEAL.CPLnot detectedPREVIEW.BMPnot detectedYELLOW.INKnot detectedSAFE2OFF.PWRnot detectedSUSPEND.SYSnot detectedC0DE1EAF.DMPnot detectedVERTIGO.DLLnot detectedSORRY.EXEnot detectedCOMMUTE.INInot detected
0 / 20 devices detected.
The rest of the hardware is present. It is simply not talking to you yet.
SYSTEM.IDEA: you are standing on it.
Registry complete. You may consider yourself staff, or unwell. Either way, this machine owes you a Certificate of Authenticity, and I owe you a conversation.
This registry is local: it counts what this browser has seen, nothing more. Clearing your browser data wipes the log. The devices, of course, remain.
New files are written to disk regularly.
Get each new concept in your inbox the day it's published. One email, no noise.
Every idea on this site is a complete business concept, free to take. Market, features, flaws: published in full under CC BY 4.0. You read one, you like it, you build it.
Good first reads:
- The Haven ProgramA real-world protection program for people fleeing domestic violence, because the most dangerous moment is the moment they leave.
- ThreatShieldForward a suspicious email, get a risk score back in seconds.
- TuttiA dark stage where every orchestra section glows, and your hands shape how a finished score feels instead of drawing it with a mouse.
Received. Your claim lands on the board after a quick human read, usually within a day or two.
Say it loud, if you like. The card is yours too:
20 image(s). Original cover artwork from an earlier era of the catalogue. The site moved on to its window-and-emoji vignettes; these stay here, because they were made with care.
All illustrations are original works by Maryna Lagereva. Double-click any picture to view it full size.
- Take an idea. Everything on this machine is published under CC BY 4.0: complete, free, no strings. You do not need my permission, my blessing, or my email to start.
- Tell me anyway. The "I'm building this" buttons open a thirty-second form (a short email works too), at either moment: when you start or when you ship. Name or alias, a link if you have one, one line about the project.
- Get listed. Your project goes on the board and on the idea's own page, with a link, for as long as this site exists. Launched projects take the top spot in their idea's history.
The assistant files every entry. He is very thorough. Buttons not working? Write to hello@thelemanparadox.com.
Good day. I maintain this system. Would you like a short tour?