MetaFilter posts tagged with inventions

BECAUSE HE GODDAMN WELL COULD, THAT'S WHY

zarq — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 15:45:47 -0800

'News of impending fatherhood affects men in different ways. Some guys pump their fists. Others light cigars. A few flee. When 33-year-old Colin Furze learned that his girlfriend was pregnant, he channeled his paternal excitement into building the world’s fastest baby stroller.' The twin-exhaust, 10-horsepower, gasoline-fueled pram has four gears. And cupholders. And it can accelerate to 50mph in less than 30 seconds. On October 14, 2012, he broke the Guinness World Record for fastest pram with a top speed of 53.46mph. Previous record holder was just under 30mph. There's also a "Behind the Scenes" video.

Gay Byrne says hello to his fanclub

Fence — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 10:29:13 -0800

In Which The Irish Invent Twitter, 1984 (via Broadsheet.ie) Back in 1984 on the Late Late Show Gay Byrne shows off a new invention, a machine that allows you to send text over the phonelines. Among the uses to which this invention was put was securely communicating with Nelson Mandela in prison. Although, unfortunately, it didn't work reliably with South African phone lines. For more background on the company, Data Display as it is now, and the inventor Kevin Neville see this pdf article.

"Technology presumes there's just one right way to do things and there never is." - Robert M. Pirsig

troll — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:24:30 -0800

The Museum of RetroTechnology is a curated online collection of (mostly) obsolete inventions. The exhibitions include Gearwheels From Hell, the Dynosphere monowheel, Unusual Pedal Bicycles, Propeller-Driven Sleighs, Water Engines, Dog and Goat Engines, Acoustic Location and Sound Mirrors, Optical Telegraphs, and Combat Cutlery.

Seeing with sonar

BlackLeotardFront — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:24:45 -0800

Tacit is a wearable sonar system for the vision-impaired that communicates the distance of nearby objects using variable pressure on the wrist of the user. Part list, circuit diagram, and detailed instructions for building the ~$100 device included.

Dr Fad... Dr Fad... Dr Fad...

antifuse — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 09:49:02 -0800

In 1983, Ken Hakuta's mother in Japan sent him some toys in the mail for his kids. They were octopus shaped, and when you threw them against the wall they "walked" down the wall. Seeing some marketing potential, he bought the rights to the toys for $100,000, and the Wacky Wall Walker was born. It became a HUGE success after a slow start, being offered as a prize in Kellogg's cereals and even inspiring a Christmas special on NBC. Eventually they ended up (according to Hakuta) selling a over 240 million units! Sometime during this wildly successful period, Dr. Fad was born. Ken wanted to everybody to invent and create. From 1988 to 1994, the Dr Fad Show featured a Wall Walker-covered-sweater wearing Hakuta as "Dr Fad" in a kids' gameshow format, with contestants coming on and showing off their inventions, the winner being judged by an applause meter. The show also had a "Golden Gizmo" segment, honouring the great fads of the past - a young Rodney Mullen accepted the Golden Gizmo for skateboarding, while other "famous" folks responsible (or in some other way related to) the fads appeared to receive the award in other segments. More Dr Fad 80' TV goodness: Dr Fad clip featuring Betty James, wife of the inventor of the Slinky accepting the golden gizmo Dr Fad clip featuring a totally nonsensical 1978 flashback Dr Fad clip featuring "Fad Court", a segment with kids judging "good" and "bad" fads

"A Socially Developed Product™"

flex — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 13:31:27 -0800

Quirky is sort of like Threadless, but for inventions. (via) People can submit ideas for products and vote on the best ideas. The company develops chosen ideas into actual products. If enough people commit to buy a resulting product in pre-sale, it is manufactured and sold. (site & description found on Rebecca Likes Online Shopping which was on mefi projects)

"Watch how it works."

Fizz — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 06:07:36 -0800

Fifth Wheel Driving! [SLYT]

The Future's So Bright ...

WCityMike — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:34:23 -0800

A Day in the Future. "I don’t live in Philadelphia, but my friend has a machine that lets us see what’s happening there. I have one too. Almost everyone does. The sun won’t rise for another hour, but I don’t need to light a fire or candles. I have artificial ones, mounted on the ceiling. Hit a tiny switch and I can see everything, any time of day."

Speed-Creating

divabat — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 20:38:52 -0800

Dominic Wilcox (previously) spent a month speed-creating - inventing something new every day for 30 days with the resources around him. Amongst his creations are lightbulb bread, a diary in the form of measuring tape, and a football that makes smoothies.

A man with a new idea is a crank…… until he succeeds.

Kerasia — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:37:29 -0800

A chair that can diagnose depression and bipolar disorder and calibrate medication. Solar paint that turns every surface into solar power collection material. A infinitely variable geared transmission that never loses the sweet spot. A tool for microscopes that can detect bacteria quickly and cheaply using flashed light. And a power plant the size of a room that can turn out 10kw power from low grade heat. These five inventions were finalists in the Australian science show The New Inventors. And the winner is... EVestG

Electrovestibulography (EVestG) is a new diagnostic tool/system which allows for a visualisation of the vestibular signal. As the vestibular system is sensitive to fluctuations in neurotransmitter levels, EVestG has shown potential to evaluate not only vestibular disorders (e.g. Meniere’s Disease and Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo) but a range of other neuropsychiatric disorders (including depression and bipolar disorder). At this stage, EVestG biomarkers are being discovered / “mined” /calibrated from the brainwaves of people already diagnosed with mental or nerve conditions compared with age and gender match healthy controls. These biomarkers correlations have sensitivities and specificities of 90% with their primary diagnosis and are available within the 45 minutes it takes to process the signal through a computer. This time should be compared to the current time taken clinical diagnosis which can take over 5 years in many conditions; some such as Alzheimer’s can only be diagnosed post mortem.

Fighting to Return My Obligation to the American Taxpayer

netbros — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:06:13 -0800

Dirty Medicine — How medical supply behemoths stick it to the little guy, making America’s health care system more dangerous and expensive. "This is hardly the first time Shaw has found his path to market blocked. In fact, he has spent the last fifteen years watching his potentially game-changing inventions collect dust on warehouse shelves. And the same is true of countless other small medical suppliers. Their plight is just the most visible outgrowth of the tangled system hospitals use to purchase their supplies—a system built on a seemingly minor provision in Medicare law that few people even know about. It’s a system that has stifled innovation and kept lifesaving medical devices off the market. And while it’s supposed to curb prices, it may actually be driving up the cost of medical supplies, the second largest expenditure for our nation’s hospitals and clinics and a major contributor to the ballooning cost of health care, which consumes nearly a fifth of our gross domestic product. "

50 Worst Pageviews Ever

oneswellfoop — Sun, 30 May 2010 11:30:24 -0800

What do you do when you're supposed to come up with 50 separate webpages on a poorly defined topic? You come up with a mix of dangerous products (most of which were successful before their dangers were known), second-best technologies, just plain silly ideas, cool things that never caught on, uncool things that DID catch on and modern annoyances (including one that your website uses) to make "Time Magazine's 50 Worst Inventions" (link points to FULL LIST, or just refer to all the tags).
(I know, not the BEST of the web; just the MOST of the web)

Intellectual Ventures

stbalbach — Wed, 26 May 2010 12:19:34 -0800

Intellectual Ventures is an invention factory founded by Nathan Myhrvold, who previously founded Microsoft Research and was MS's CTO. Bill Gates raves about IV, Malcolm Gladwell wrote an article about the IV invention process in The New Yorker, Newsweek profiled Nathan’s company in April 2010, and this week there was an hour-long TV interview with Myhrvold on Charlie Rose. Take a 6-min video tour of the laboratory.

The Amazing Inventions of Steven M. Johnson

twoleftfeet — Sun, 02 May 2010 22:32:29 -0800

Steven M. Johnson is a prolific inventor whose designs revolutionize everything from office apparel to recreational vehicles to basketball. Many of of these inventions are found in his 1984 book What the World Needs Now.

Variations on Normal

MuffinMan — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:43:31 -0800

Variations on Normal - the unusual inventions of Dominic Wilcox. Previously.

Flying bicycles

mrgrimm — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:30:36 -0800

Kolelinia is a city fly attempt. We are born to move, this makes us alive. The transport is not only a transport, it has to be an experience! (via)

Les Freres Lumière

netbros — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:14:13 -0800

The Lumière brothers, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas and Louis Jean, were among the earliest filmmakers. Their father, Claude-Antoine Lumière, ran a photographic firm and both brothers worked for him. It was not until their father retired in 1892 that the brothers began to create moving pictures. They patented a number of significant processes leading up to their film camera — most notably film perforations as a means of advancing the film through the camera and projector, and the cinématographe. Their first public screening of films at which admission was charged was held on December 28, 1895 in Paris. This history-making presentation featured ten short films, including their first film, Sortie des Usines Lumière à Lyon (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory). Each film is 17 meters long, which, when hand cranked through a projector, runs approximately 50 seconds. Lumière Brothers - The Little Girl And Her Cat Lumière Brothers - The Serpentine Dance Lumière Brothers - Indochina: Children Gathering Rice Lumière Brothers - Whole Dam Family and the Dam Dog Lumière Brothers - Sky Scrapers of New York City first films video review Lumière Brothers still photography - (previous MeFi post)

Dumb inventions

serazin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:18:48 -0800

LIFE magazine presents: 30 Dumb Inventions of the 1950s and 60s. via laughing squid.

And the Pursuit of Happiness

ericb — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 11:35:06 -0800

Maira Kalman (previously - 1 | 2 | 3) on Benjamin Franklin.

He ain't heavy, he's my guitar ...

woodblock100 — Fri, 08 May 2009 06:34:34 -0800

"The StringStation introduces a fresh and inventive playing surface allowing one musician to play in real time on an instrument that offers thunderous bass, compelling rhythm, 3-D orchestration and melody. It uses new ways to approach groups of strings that find amazing intertwined performance techniques. It opens and lays out new paths to evolve tactile music composition skills." It's the baby of engineer/inventor Jim Bartz, who is on a mission to bring his invention into the musical mainstream. Start your exploration of what the StringStation can do with this video of Bartz playing his prototype model (actual performance comes in at 2:25). If you're in the Northwest you have a chance to catch him at some upcoming gigs in the Seattle area. "The current working model is assembled from a customized triple neck 8-string slide guitar, a 10-string Chapman Stick and a modified 6-string electric guitar. It plays well as a proof-of concept model but has few of the advanced features of the eventual design." Bartz has a proposal for funding (.pdf) to assemble a team to create the actual instrument itself.

A Century of Disasters: The Top 10 Worst Inventions in History

forrestal — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:46:14 -0800

The Cat Wig, The Inflatable Dartboard, et al. Plus, two inventions that sound bad, but aren't.

new designs

nickyskye — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:06:07 -0800

DesignFilter: Walking house designed to beat the floods [pics and vid] l Wearable Gadgets [pics and vids] l Backpacks l Commuting by JetPack l Blog Designs l Twitter Clapper l and for Halloween, some awesome [whoa] carved pumpkin designs.

Make it work

Artw — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:05:33 -0800

"He's always thinking about lots of things — he's a pollinator, he brings ideas to the table" You probably know Neal Stephenson for his work as an author (generally in or adjacent to the Science Fiction genre), but he's also an inventor at Washington based "Idea Factory" Intellectual Ventures, a place with modern goals like stomping out malaria and preventing hurricanes. This is after his old job as part-time rocket scientist.

Invention Playhouse

netbros — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 05:48:11 -0800

Explore the playful side of invention and the inventive side of play in Invention at Play. Learn how play connects to the creative impulse of both historic and contemporary inventors. From the Lemelson Center at the Smithsonian.

Water water everywhere, now with more drops to drink

mullingitover — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:14:41 -0800

Not content to rest on his laurels after creations like the portable kidney dialysis machine, the IBOT robotic wheelchair, the Segway, and the innovative cyborg replacement limbs, DEKA Research President Dean Kamen demonstrates his new vapor compression distiller on The Colbert Report. Mentioned previously.