Inventions
Behind Coors’ color-changing beer cans
An ink-stained entrepreneur revamps beer labels and CD cases.
As an undergraduate at Cornell University, Lyle Small annoyed his housemates by spending days on end painting their Ping-Pong table in rainbow shades of ink. He brewed chemicals to create inks that changed hue when exposed to light and heat.
“I got obsessed,” says Small, now 41. “I [...]
Collapsable Milk Jug Makes Milk Last Longer
A young designer solves the eternal problem of making the milk last as long as you need it.
The James Dyson Awards, a sprawling event that garners thousands of entries from design students the world over, is a pretty phenomenal wellspring of ideas–the short list runs into the hundreds. Treehugger points us to one [...]
One Company Exists Just To Market Your Golf Inventions
You want to know how many golf inventors there are? Just find out how many golfers there are, and you’ll have the answer. One company just opened its door to all those inventors.
Fairways International LLC is a licensing and distribution company that will sign all the right documents to insure that your invention [...]
Turning up the heat: Dorm room bedbugs have enemy in UF invention
The occasional infestation of bed bugs into University of Florida dorm rooms has motivated researchers there to develop portable eradication devices for the bothersome little bloodsuckers.
The invention, created with less than $400 in equipment, can heat to 113 degrees and is big enough to slide a mattress or dresser into.
The heat destroys the bed [...]
Down to Earth Lighting
Australian entrepreneur Bradley Wein had an idea for a device that would make changing halogen lightbulbs, which are trickier to replace than regular bulbs, easy. His ladder-free concept would also eliminate a common cause of injury among the elderly.
Wein approached a team of industrial design students at Swinburne University, who spent eight months developing the [...]
Michael Jackson’s Design Legacy: Patented Anti-Gravity Shoes
As the world mourns the death of Michael Jackson, we remember his design legacy—not his taste in clothing (dictator chic), accessories (a crystal-studded white glove, primates), or typefaces (up with script fonts, down with serifs), but his patented anti-gravity footwear. That’s right, intellectual property fans, Jackson is listed as the first of three inventors on [...]
Jay Leno’s The Sluggie
One of the best bits of comedy on TV.
