Articles at InventorSpot.com

Love it or hate it, the Japan's Hello Kitty has become a global icon. Why has Hello Kitty succeeded while more appealing and refreshing characters like Afro Ken have failed? And who or what is "Afro Ken" anyway? read more »

With participants coming from approximately 59 different countries, the Imagine Cup was an array of diversity as much as it was a unified setting for the growth of technology. read more »

If you think about an episode of the Jetsons when you think about the future, chances are your predictions may be right on. This is especially true in the nation of Korea, where South Korea specifically has made it a goal to have a robot in every home by the year 2013. read more »

Why not stand out a little and get the "golden" iPod shuffle. A German company called Xecoo has made an iPod shuffle from 18 carat gold. In order to pick one of these gold iPod shuffles, you need to have $20,000. That's right for a mere, $19,921 more than the cost of a regular iPod shuffle, you can have one made from gold (and yes, I said its the iPod shuffle, not the regular iPod or the iPod nano). read more »

Can you say enough to this cake? If not, you may have a deficiency in a hormone prominent in the reward center of the brain that also controls appetite. read more »

ConocoPhillips and Tyson Foods, the two companies partnering in initiative, say fat from pigs, cows, and chickens will offer a cleaner fuel and provide about 3% of ConocoPhillips' diesel requirements. Critics have fears over animal rights, food supply, ethics, and environmental benefits. read more »

The original design. The new design.

Somewhere along the line, the three guys who came up with the "Michael Vick Dog Chew Toy" got busted by copyright law and had to change the design and the name of the toy, because Michael Vick's likeness and name really belongs to the NFL.

Not to worry. The new "Vick's Dog Chew Toy" is on its way. The only thing you'll have to do is decide what price you'll pay for it. read more »

Kameraflage is a new type of display technology that takes advantage of digital cameras' ability to see a broader spectrum of light than the human eye. Objects, designs, words, and pictures that are invisible in the real world may be viewed with a digital camera equipped with kameraflage. read more »

It appears that some of the most creative and inventive advertising is coming from nonprofits these days.

This week,I've been taking a look at the nonprofits and "for a good cause" marketing techniques. Earlier this week, we looked at the Anti-Smoking Campaigns. Today, we turn to the the advertising campaigns being used to Help Save Our Environment:

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buoyBy using buoys to capture energy from the ocean's waves, researchers are developing an alternative energy technology that researchers say could provide 10% of the required power for the US. read more »

Here's super-cool new option for frustrated parents whose obstinate kiddos refuse to sit in a special seat or booster chair during mealtime... read more »

Have you heard of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? No? Well, if you haven't, it's a trivia game from the 1990's that works like this: a group of players tries to connect any film actor in history to Kevin Bacon as quickly as possible and in as few links as possible. Kevin Bacon was smart enough to take advantage of this game and use it for his career in commercials, TV show appearance, etc. This year Kevin has gone a degree further and is using the six degrees concept for a greater good. read more »

In the Human Salivary Proteome Project, researchers are developing saliva tests that will take the place of routine blood tests and even do more, such as detect cancer at early stages. The researchers predict that saliva tests will replace needle pricks and detect multiple types of cancer by 2011. read more »

Body beauty is "everything" in our society. We're caught up more on our body beauty than anything else. But in today's inventive world why get any ordinary facial or go to any ordinary spa when gold facials, wine spas and caviar shampoo can do so much more for you. Below are several of the most extravagant body beauty fixes to rejuvenate your body from head to toe. That is, if you can afford it. read more »