OK, cue mushy-tech revolution. All with handwavium strains that became well distributed.
* "Grey Pane" solar panels that turn 90% of the incident radiation falling on them, from IR through the visible spectrum to UV, into usable electrical energy. These are waved conventional solar panels. This meant people could make their own power cheaper than it could be generated and distributed centrally. The grid was still useful for evening-out power loads, though.
* "Super Batteries" are a waved combination of Lithium-Ion batteries and Super Capacitors with a waved processor, and can store ridiculous amounts of power. Most people turn to an electrical technician to put it all together. This meant people could store solar power for use at night, cloudy conditions, or even the long periods of darkness near the Poles, meaning they needed no other source of power.
* "Dole Yeast" is a ruggedly healthy and stable yeast growth that can be eaten to provide all needed human nutrition; unfortunately it is nearly tasteless, and makes wet cardboard appear a gormet dish. This is fed on just about anything organic (with the needed trace elements), including raw sewage, that has passed through a special handwavium-created filter (that is electrically powered). Living on this is a strong incentive to find some source of more attractive food.
* "Aqua Clean" is an electrically-powered handwavium filter which will take the most polluted water (including sea water, and sewage) and produce clean water for drinking. Waving makes this sufficiently cheap.
Then there is the "Magic Wardrobe" that measures people, makes (non-designer) clothes of almost any sort for them (including shoes), and also cleans clothes and repair and re-dyes old clothes to new; needs rags, scrap leather, waste plastic, metal scrap. Somehow these clothes always look a bit old-fashioned, but not enough to have become fashionable again. Cleaning and repairing (or resizing) old clothes is practically quirk-free, but you can really mess yourself up specifying new stuff, and the wardrobe can make very hurtful comments on your fashion sense.
The "Doc Phone" which tracked its owners medical state, and made an emergency call generally early enough people could be effectively treated. Waving lets this pick-up on delicate shifts and advance warnings.
The "Wave Meter", a tough, mostly idiot-proof, handheld device with a small LCD screen and a rechargable battery, which detects the presence of handwavium, and names it from a database of over five thousand strains (the database can be kept up-to-date by plugging this into a standard phone socket). This will pick-up if there is enough handwavium to cause a one-off biomod, but minute quantities (particularly inside living things) can be overlooked.
The "Kanzashi", a small worn ornament, maybe in your hair, which contains (part of) a friendly AI who cares about you, will talk to you when you are lonely, enjoys your interests, and wants you to, and works towards, you having a fun life. Called the "IThink" by the more cynical. This has greatly reduced rates of depression across the world. Taking someones Kanzashi is a human rights violation in more enlightened places. These AIs are linked to phones, and are backed-up so destroying their physical part only looses their short-term memories. For some reason the standard versions of these don't work if taken to a height above Terra beyond about 50mls. Originally it was hoped this would spread quite rapidly, but the only first world country that has fully embraced this is Japan; there are countries which ban this due to it being 'anti-authority'.
Edit: added bits due to feedback. Added "Wave Meter".
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind
* "Grey Pane" solar panels that turn 90% of the incident radiation falling on them, from IR through the visible spectrum to UV, into usable electrical energy. These are waved conventional solar panels. This meant people could make their own power cheaper than it could be generated and distributed centrally. The grid was still useful for evening-out power loads, though.
* "Super Batteries" are a waved combination of Lithium-Ion batteries and Super Capacitors with a waved processor, and can store ridiculous amounts of power. Most people turn to an electrical technician to put it all together. This meant people could store solar power for use at night, cloudy conditions, or even the long periods of darkness near the Poles, meaning they needed no other source of power.
* "Dole Yeast" is a ruggedly healthy and stable yeast growth that can be eaten to provide all needed human nutrition; unfortunately it is nearly tasteless, and makes wet cardboard appear a gormet dish. This is fed on just about anything organic (with the needed trace elements), including raw sewage, that has passed through a special handwavium-created filter (that is electrically powered). Living on this is a strong incentive to find some source of more attractive food.
* "Aqua Clean" is an electrically-powered handwavium filter which will take the most polluted water (including sea water, and sewage) and produce clean water for drinking. Waving makes this sufficiently cheap.
Then there is the "Magic Wardrobe" that measures people, makes (non-designer) clothes of almost any sort for them (including shoes), and also cleans clothes and repair and re-dyes old clothes to new; needs rags, scrap leather, waste plastic, metal scrap. Somehow these clothes always look a bit old-fashioned, but not enough to have become fashionable again. Cleaning and repairing (or resizing) old clothes is practically quirk-free, but you can really mess yourself up specifying new stuff, and the wardrobe can make very hurtful comments on your fashion sense.
The "Doc Phone" which tracked its owners medical state, and made an emergency call generally early enough people could be effectively treated. Waving lets this pick-up on delicate shifts and advance warnings.
The "Wave Meter", a tough, mostly idiot-proof, handheld device with a small LCD screen and a rechargable battery, which detects the presence of handwavium, and names it from a database of over five thousand strains (the database can be kept up-to-date by plugging this into a standard phone socket). This will pick-up if there is enough handwavium to cause a one-off biomod, but minute quantities (particularly inside living things) can be overlooked.
The "Kanzashi", a small worn ornament, maybe in your hair, which contains (part of) a friendly AI who cares about you, will talk to you when you are lonely, enjoys your interests, and wants you to, and works towards, you having a fun life. Called the "IThink" by the more cynical. This has greatly reduced rates of depression across the world. Taking someones Kanzashi is a human rights violation in more enlightened places. These AIs are linked to phones, and are backed-up so destroying their physical part only looses their short-term memories. For some reason the standard versions of these don't work if taken to a height above Terra beyond about 50mls. Originally it was hoped this would spread quite rapidly, but the only first world country that has fully embraced this is Japan; there are countries which ban this due to it being 'anti-authority'.
Edit: added bits due to feedback. Added "Wave Meter".
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind