Single And Lovin' It! Another Coffee Company Establishes A Lifestyle

Myra Per-Lee — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:47:43 -0800

Coffee lovers are feeling the need to be single... at least at their coffee machines. And there's one company in particular that's driving the the single-cup lifestyle. This company makes an automatic single-cup coffee maker (the "razor") and a patented package for the coffee it brews (the "razor blades").

THE 11 Best Toys of 2008: Toy Industry Awards

Myra Per-Lee — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:13:04 -0800

The toy industry held its 105^th annual Toy Fair this week in New York City. At the opening ceremonies, The Toy Industry Association (TIA) announced the winners of 2008's, T.O.T.Y's, Toy Of The Year awards. Like the Oscars, the T.O.T.Y's are awarded to toys debuting in the prior year. Twelve T.O.T.Y.'s were awarded in eleven categories, like Best Outdoor Toy, Best Educational Toy, Game of the Year, Most Innovative Toy, Best Boy Toy, and of course, the Best Toy Of The Year!

Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards: 10 Most Brilliant Gadgets Of 2008

Myra Per-Lee — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:26:14 -0700

Popular Mechanics announced its picks for the 2008 Breakthrough Awards to The 10 Most Brilliant Gadets of the Year. Here's the list of international winners; you may be surprised at the gadgets on the list.

11 Brilliant Inventions From Popular Science's Best of What's New 2008

Myra Per-Lee — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 16:56:57 -0800

Popular Science has announced its Best of What's New awards for 2008; they are all brilliant inventions, but some are phenomenal! There were 11 categories of best invention awards ranging across a wide spectrum of technology, from automobile to security technologies. One of the 11 winners was named the Grand Award Winner... see if you can guess which one!

Inventor, Entrepreneur, Salesperson, Spy...

Myra Per-Lee — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 13:01:08 -0700

Yes, I absolutely recommend that every inventor who's decided to go out on his own with his invention spy on other companies. Spy on all the businesses that have great products, great service and great reputations, and figure out what they're doing right. Put your detective hat on, smoke a pipe, do whatever it is that gets your own product and ego out of the way while you discover what makes other companies successful. read more »

Time Picks Best Invention Of The Year 2008: DNA Test "23andMe"

Myra Per-Lee — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 13:10:11 -0700

Time Magazine has announced the 50 best inventions of 2008 and at its top is a DNA test called 23andMe. It's not as well-known as the iPhone, Time's best invention of 2007, but if 23andMe catches on, it will change how much we know about ourselves, our families, and possibly, about others.

Inventor's Hall of Fame Picks 2008 Collegiate Inventors Finalists

Myra Per-Lee — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:13:03 -0700

The National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation announced the 2008 finalists of the Collegiate Inventors Competition. Sponsored by the Abbott Fund and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the competiton winners were undergraduate and graduate students whose inventions were found to meet pressing needs in our society.

TeleNav GPS Navigator™ Wins 2008 Mobile Internet Innovation Award

Myra Per-Lee — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:19:46 -0700

GPS systems are tough to follow while you are driving... not to mention dangerous. The TeleNav GPS Navigator provides both a visual map and voice driving instructions through your cell phone. Yesterday, the visual-voice navigator received xchange magazine's Mobile Internet World Innovation 2008 Award, adding to the list of TeleNav's awards and recognitions.

How To Make A Toxin-Free Gold Nanoparticle

Myra Per-Lee — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 15:53:27 -0700

Gold nanoparticles that are used today in medicine and other fields of technology, are broken down from gold compounds, or "gold salts," with synthetic chemicals, some of which are toxic -- bad for you, bad for the environment. A research team from the University of Missouri just made big news by finding a biocompatible and environmentally friendly method of obtaining gold nanoparticles through "green" chemistry.

A Rubberband Contest For Kid Inventors To Stretch Their Minds

Myra Per-Lee — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:11:33 -0700

There's a really cool contest going on now for students grades 5 through 8, challenging them to invent something with one or more rubber bands. It's the first of its kind, according to the sponsors, and just thinking about using a rubber band in something totally new has got to be a stretch.

2008 Nobel Prize In Chemistry For Work on "Jellyfish's Green Light"

Myra Per-Lee — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:56:51 -0700

The 2008 Nobel Prize for Chemistry was awarded today to three biochemists for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP, originating in the Aequorea victoria jellyfish. The three scientists - Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie, and Roger Y. Tsien - contributed greatly to the study of cell biology, by identifying and marking proteins that contribute to illness and disease.

2008 Nobel Prize In Physics: 3 Early Contributors To Big Bang Theory

Myra Per-Lee — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:34:45 -0700

Today, in Stockholm, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three Japanese physicists - Yoichiro Nambu, Makoto Kobayashi, and Toshihide Maskawa. In different studies, 14 years apart, these men contributed to the understanding of broken symmetries at the sub-atomic, or quark, level of matter and antimatter. The work of these men has led to an understanding of why everything in nature does not react symmetrically.

2008 Nobel Prize In Medicine Awarded To HIV And HPV Discoverers

Myra Per-Lee — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:57:25 -0700

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden announced today that the 2008 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine would be shared by the discoverers of HPV (human papilloma virus) that causes cervical cancer, and the HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), both sexually transmitted viruses.

Wall Street Journal Announces Innovation Awards For 2008

Myra Per-Lee — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:13:57 -0700

The Wall Street Journal announced the recipients of its 2008 Technology Innovation Awards. The top award went to Vidacare, a U.S. firm, that created the EZ-IO device, a high-speed drill that delivers medications and other fluids directly into bones.

Phonevite® Gets Best In Show From Public And ITEXPO West

Myra Per-Lee — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:24:50 -0700

Phonevite™, an Internet-based telephone messaging system that debuted last year, has won Best of Show at the 2008 Technology Marketing Corporation's Internet Telephony Conference and Expo (ITEXPO) West, beating 150 other competitors for this prize. This already very popular service is just getting its recognition from the technology community.

Iraqi Expat Wins British Invention Award: An Inspiring Story

Myra Per-Lee — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 17:16:01 -0700

If you like stories of personal struggle that end well, you will like this one. It's about an Iraqi citizen who fled Iraq with his family to avoid the death squads of Saddam Hussein, worked day and night to support himself through the University of Derby in the East Midlands of England, invented a device....

For Inventors, Young & Old: "Prototype This" On Discovery Channel

Myra Per-Lee — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 13:23:37 -0700

The Discovery Channel, the "number one non-fiction media company," has produced a TV series just perfect for inventors, designers, and wannabes of any age. It's called Prototype This and guess what it is not! It is NOT a reality show! Hurray!

Fiskar's Push & Print Stamp Factory Wins 2008 Best Innovation Award

Myra Per-Lee — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:57:16 -0700

Paper crafters and scrapbookers rejoice! Fiskars is coming out with a cleaner, crisper, time-saving method to do your stamping. Fiskar's new patent pending device is called the Push and Print Stamp Factory and it just won Best Of Class for Scrapbooking and Paper Crafting Innovation from the Craft and Hobby Association. Find out how it works...

Most Functional Bionic Hand Gets 2008 British Engineering Award

Myra Per-Lee — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:29:25 -0700

The most functional bionic hand ever created for prosthetic use was developed by Touch Bionics, a British prosthetics company that just received the 2008 Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award. The new bionic hand is called the i-LIMB Hand.

Intel® 2008 Awards: Teen Winners Make Amazing Contributions To Their Fields!

Myra Per-Lee — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:33:15 -0700

The three young women who won top awards for their "science projects" for the 2008 Intel® Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) each won $50,000 scholarships from the Intel Foundation as part of their awards. They are already at the level of Eve Curie! Take a look at their "science projects!"

Europe Honors Its Best: European Inventor of the Year Awards For 2008

Myra Per-Lee — Wed, 07 May 2008 09:36:03 -0700

The 2008 European Inventors of the Year were awarded yesterday in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Even if you don't recognize the names of the inventors, you will certainly know their inventions and the contributions those inventions have made to the world during the last 10 to 15 years.

MoneyMaker Pump Inventor Wins Lemelson-MIT Sustainability Award

Myra Per-Lee — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:32:47 -0700

Dr. Martin Fisher, inventor of the MoneyMaker irrigation pump has won the $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for sustainability for his invention. The pump, available now in three versions, has helped more than 300,000 African farmers become entrepreneurs and rise out of poverty.

Need Invention Help? Try Inventors Anonymous

Myra Per-Lee — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 02:00:00 -0800

Have you started to question whether you next great idea is really great? Need to bounce your ideas off someone?

Myra Per-Lee developed, manufactured, and marketed about a dozen products in a ten year period, most on her own with very little start-up capital. The most successful of her inventions, massage tools for adults, animals and infants, known as Nukkles®, Nuzzles®, and Snukkles®, is still going strong after eight years on the market. Myra lets us in on where inventors go to get an honest opinion.

Here's her article:

* * * * * * * * * * *

Why does everyone call us paranoid just because we don't want to talk about our ideas? I'm mum because I don't want to spend my energy describing projects, when I could be working on them. And more than fear of theft, I fear others hounding me to death about what I'm doing. read more »

Popular Science Wants Your Inventions!

Myra Per-Lee — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:10:59 -0700

The very popular Popular Science Magazine is calling for submissions for the next world changing invention... not an invention, as they call it, "born in the R& D labs of universities and corporations," but ones just like most of ours, born while taking a shower or shopping at your local hardware store.

Ten inventions will be awarded prizes in a variety of categories, plus there will be a Student Award Category this year, the second year of the PopSci Invention Awards.

Baseball Evolving? Nah, Com'On...

Myra Per-Lee — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 10:43:40 -0700

Cameron Kruse With His Invention (Photo Intel.com)

That last inning of the All-Star baseball game last night should be the cover story for Nail-Biter Magazine!

I watched the whole game real intently though, because I had just learned an interesting bit of detail about baseball -- that the balls are rubbed with mud before they're put in play. Apparently, new baseballs are slick and slippery and can lead to the dropsies unless they are deglossed. Did every fan already know this?

Sixteen-year-old Cameron Kruse knew it. ... read more »

Calling All Teen Inventors! Get Your Projects Ready Now!

Myra Per-Lee — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 22:01:32 -0700

What could your highschool do with an extra $10,000?

When you finish your list, keep reading...

One way to get that much needed dough and encourage creative thinking and invention in your highschool is to form an invent team and a project now... because applications for the 2009 Lemelson-Mit InvenTeams awards begin this fall.... read more »

Electrolux Sponsors Second Life 100,000L$ Inventor Contest

Myra Per-Lee — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 14:31:47 -0700

Better hurry to get your invention ideas to Electrolux, because the deadline is November 1, and the contest was just announced on October 18, 2007! Your challenge is to create useful devices that solve specific challenges in Second Life: what's at stake is up to 100,000 Linden Dollars (L$s)!

Call For Submissions! 2008 Canadian Invention Competition

Myra Per-Lee — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:42:50 -0800

A C$10,000 feasibility study, C$50,000 worth of design and construction on your prototype, and up to C$10,000 liability protection will go to the winner of the second annual Canadian Invention Competition, co-sponsored by Canadian Business Magazine and Nytric, a Canadian innovation engineering and consulting company.

Whose Bright Idea Was That? The New York Times Magazine Ideas of 2007

Myra Per-Lee — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:09:39 -0800

The Gomboc

They're not the best, not all the most promising .... They're not even the most popular. The ideas are not necessarily good ideas. They are not categorized by science, technology, or other standard classifications -- only alphabetically ordered. But the New York Times Magazine's 7th Annual Year In Ideas has picked 70 ideas just for your interest that have been percolating around the world in 2007. read more »

An Invention For The Age of Connectivity: Rapid Reader

Myra Per-Lee — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:06:01 -0800

Bigger, better, and a lot more complicated than the Information Age, success in the Age of Connectivity depends more on our capacity to learn what is needed for tomorrow, than what we know today. As soon as information is available, our computers, hand-helds, and cell-phones make it accessible. We need to retrieve it and act on it; that is critical to our livelihoods and to our lives. read more »