MetaFilter posts tagged with inventions

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.

On The Fence

DWRoelands — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:50:37 -0800

On November 24, 1874, Joseph Glidden was granted patent number 157124. The invention decribed within is the subject of striking images, body art, and painfully bad movies. Yet, the history of barbed wire is interesting enough to warrant multiple museums.

dining designs

nickyskye — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:25:39 -0800

Cutlery pen caps l Top 10 Picks of the Dining in 2015 competition. Some other innovative food container design hacks and fun cutlery ideas: constructive, eating tools, finger food.

flubber blue

nickyskye — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 17:17:32 -0800

Reporter whacks man with shovel [video]. d30 (dee-three-oh) is a specially engineered material made with intelligent molecules. They flow with you as you move but on shock lock together to absorb the impact energy.

Can Do But Why Bother?

amyms — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:48:03 -0800

Lazy-Ass Nation. "Somewhere along the way, we fell in love with the dream of the effort-free existence."

interesting visuals

nickyskye — Sat, 19 May 2007 12:56:53 -0800

AmazingFilter: foolish fun inventions, lovey dovey, trompe l'oeil and anamorphosis art by Eduador Relero, Bev Doolittle (?), on buildings, kirigami, photographs [disturbing] and irony.

this is going to change the world ...

madamjujujive — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 10:46:22 -0800

Gizmo - using news footage from the 1920s to the 1950s, Howard Smith created an amusing 1977 documentary about contraptions made by the inventors, technophiles, and eccentrics of yesteryear. The last 7 minutes is Letterman interviewing Smith. (Google video, 1 hr., 19 min. Via beans beans good for your heart)

Exhausted Air Recycling System

weapons-grade pandemonium — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 10:05:06 -0800

Australian inventor Chris Bosua, frustrated by the inefficiency of his air compressor, devised a method of recycling the exhaust air from air tools. His Exhausted Air Recycling System (E.A.R.S.) improves efficiency by eighty percent. It runs cooler, almost halves the power consumption, extends the life of the compressor, provides a cleaner working environment, and reduces the noise of an air tool to that of a sewing machine. Happy Earth Day, everyone!

Beer! Now! Fire!

parmanparman — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 07:03:12 -0800

The Beer Launcher. From the starry eyed minds of the students of Duke University comes the next great innovation in humankind's continued struggle to stay sedentary.

I (Y)am The Genius

humannaire — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 15:09:37 -0800

Yoshiro Nakamatsu aka Dr. NakaMats has invented everything, other than all the other stuff that the rest of us have invented. He has 3218 patents to his name. (Edison had 1093.) Among his many inventions? The compact disc, the compact disc player ('natch), the digital watch, a unique golf putter, the floppy disk (!), and a water-powered engine. Besides being the founder of the World Genius Convention (where the world first learned of ingenuity of ADR ceramic disks, for instance), Dr. NakaMats was voted by the US Science Academic Society as one of five greatest scientists in history - in the company of Archimedes, Michael Faraday, Marie Curie, and Nikola Tesla - and he plans to live until 144!

innovations of sorts

nickyskye — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 21:06:20 -0800

Some new gadgets, things and inventions: solar bikini that charges your ipod, paper soft wall, waterproof laptop, million dollar fishing lure, Obvio hybrid micro-car, needle-free injection, hi-tech dummies that can speak, breathe, bleed, react to drugs & die, dragon bag. Interactive sight, sound and physical objects from the student artists of the NYU Interactive telecommunications biannual showcase [video], including Animalia Chordata and Botanicalls, building telecommunications between people and their plants.

Time Magazine's Best Inventions of 2006

eunoia — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 16:17:43 -0800

Time Magazine has released its picks for the best inventions of 2006. Youtube beat out a vaccine that cures a STD that causes cervical cancer. Not to mention this extremely lifelike robot, this magic mirror, a wine-tasting robot and a shirt that simulates a hug!

A technological Hero

blahblahblah — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 11:10:52 -0800

Leonardo is overrated: the steam turbine was invented two millennia ago by Hero of Alexandria who developed the aeolipile as a toy. Hero was also responsible for the first vending machine (for holy water) and hydraulic automatic temple doors, along with advances in areas as diverse as physics and mathematics. A translation of Hero's influential Pneumatics is available online, featuring illustrated examples of many of his inventions, many of which are related to clever devices for drinking or prayer, or both.

Boredom detector

srs — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 10:53:25 -0800

Device warns you if you're boring or irritating MIT develops emotional intelligence prosthetic.

Top 25 Inventions of 2006

paulychamp — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 20:47:42 -0800

The Modern Marvels Invent Now Challenge named 25 finalists (selected from over 4,000 entries) in a competition to find the greatest invention of 2006. The winner will be named during History Channel's Great Inventions Week (May 24-27th), but you won't have to wait to check out the finalists. MAKE: Blog briefly profiled each invention in a series of posts this week: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5. The inventions will also be on exhibit at the California Science Center in Los Angeles (April 7-15th), the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago (April 20-30th), the Museum of Science in Boston (May 5-14th) and Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal in New York City (May 22-27th), and finally, the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, OH (through August 2006).

Where's My Flying Car?

ereshkigal45 — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 06:36:49 -0800

Where Science Meets Fiction "Explore the wide variety of inventions and ideas of science fiction writers - over 975 are available on Technovelgy (that's tek-novel-gee!)." Science fiction inventions become reality. Sort of.

The World's Most Underrated Inventions

dios — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 08:29:03 -0800

The World's Most Underrated Inventions A curious list of the world's most underrated inventions. Including: the chariot; concrete; horse collar; longbow; eyeglasses; rotary printing press; barbed wire; carborundum; and bakelite.