The Age of Ridiculous Invention: 2.0

Rich Washburn
5 days ago
3 min read

(Still the same day. And yes, I’m still waiting for Amazon to catch up.)

Hey, remember that ridiculous IR floodlight project from this morning?you better it was literally this morning!

Well, Version 2.0 is here. And yes, it’s still the same calendar day.

As of this writing, it’s 8:11 p.m., and I’m literally about to eat dinner.

Which means I got from “ridiculous idea” to “Version 2.0 with full theming, notifications, and YouTube integration” in roughly the same time it takes to marinate a chicken.

Between breakfast and dinner — and, let’s say, an indeterminate number of coffees (the actual count can’t be known due to the Juan Pablo Uncertainty Principle, look it up, it’s science) — I picked this thing back up and cranked out the update.

Because apparently, no one else was going to.

Real Talk

I didn’t go to Amazon today to see if this product already existed. No. I went there to see if someone had taken the open-source firmware and hardware I posted this morning and already put it up for sale.

Because in 2025, I just assumed that’s how fast things move. Apparently, my expectations were… optimistic.

So fine. I’ll lower the bar. Slightly. But come on, people — it’s literally open source.

You have until Monday.

What’s New in Version 2.0 (a.k.a. No Excuses Now)

Custom branding: title, logo, color scheme — make it your own brand of genius.
Footer logo with hyperlink: link to your store, your site, or your morally flexible entrepreneurial venture.
Built-in Help Page: automatically shows your actual IP address in all the API commands. Copy. Paste. Done.
Embedded YouTube video: drop in your demo, tutorial, or trailer for your future Amazon listing.
PIN-protected Config Page: because I guess we’re classy now.
Alertzy integration: free notifications every time your device comes online or starts feeling neglected.

Still zero dependencies. No app. No cloud. No subscription. Just good old-fashioned local control — powered by caffeine and audacity.

The Real Joke Here

Let’s just take a step back. This morning, this thing didn’t exist. Now it’s Version 2.0 — themed, secured, documented, and self-hosting a help page with embedded video.

That’s idea → code → product in the span of a single day.

We’re not in an age of innovation anymore. We’re in an age of real-time invention. We’ve reached the point where the time between “I should build that” and “it’s live on my Wi-Fi” is measured in refills.

It’s ridiculous. It’s awesome. It’s… ridiculawesome.™

And Yet…

I still can’t buy it on Amazon. Which is just BS, it's been like hours bruh!

You can buy a pillow shaped like Nicolas Cage’s face, but not a simple, customizable, AI-built IR floodlight with a help page and YouTube embed.

So please — someone, anyone — make this, sell it, mark it up, and ship it. 3D print an enclosure. Slap a label on it. Pretend you thought of it first.

I’ll even give you the weekend. Because if there’s one thing I am, it’s magnanimously patient.

But come Monday, if I can’t add this to my cart with free shipping, we’re going to have words.

Final Thoughts

We’re living in a world where an idea can go from spark to finished product before dinner. And somehow, the part that still amazes me is that nobody else seems amazed.

This isn’t a tech demo. This is a wake-up call.This is the new normal.

So get on it. Because the Age of Ridiculous Invention waits for no one —and my Prime membership renews in April.

TL;DR: Version 1.0: before breakfast.Version 2.0: before dinner.Version 3.0: TBD — probably after dessert.

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