News For The Inventor In All Of US

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We write daily on creative new ideas. noteworthy and interesting new products and innovations, and recent discoveries and breakthroughs. Plus, we focus on news that would be interesting to inventors.

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Panda on a Plane Eats Shoots and Leaves

by China.new

Did a Giant Panda and his carer recently enjoy their flight to the United States comfortably seated side by side on a China Airlines jet, or are we just being (ahem) bamboozled?

Saddle Leather Computer Mouse for Skin to Skin Luxury

by Steve Levenstein

Desktop computer users tired of caressing a bland, boring, cold plastic mouse all day can click up to some luxury thanks to Japanese specialty retailer Atelier Wazakura. The so-called Kawanezumi (Leather Mouse) features our favorite handy peripheral swathed in soft, supple Saddle Leather. Giddyup!

Heat Conducting Designer Ice Cream Spoon Softens the Hardest Häagen-Dazs

by Steve Levenstein

So your ice cream's too hard but waiting for it to soften at room temperature can be agonizing. “If you wait, you might wait too long and it turns into liquid,” explains Japanese architect and designer Naoki Terada. “All this frustration, all this calculating. It had to stop somewhere!” Now thanks to Terada, our long national nightmare is over.

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Anti-Psychotic Drugs Overused In Nursing Homes

by Boomer Babe

....The Globe study found that more than one in five U.S. nursing homes are using anti-psychotic drugs for those suffering from Alzheimer's disease or other ailments associated with dementia - approximately 185,000 people who have not been diagnosed with a psychosis.

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KFC Japan Serves Beer & Booze Beside the Bucket

by Steve Levenstein

Forget that Happy Meal, at KFC Japan it's Happy Hour! Want a double with that Double Down? Perhaps a cocktail with your cock-a-doodle-doo? Tokyo's newly opened KFC Route 25 restaurant has begun serving beer & booze by (or at least, beside) the bucket.

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From "This Land Is Your Land" To "99 Percenter Song" OWS Guitarists March On NYC (Music Video)

by Ron Callari

Legions of guitarists, string players, troubadours, and DIY-shaker makers will converge on Bryant Park May 1, 2012 for Occupy Guitarmy, as part of the Occupy Wall Street May Day initiatives for social and economic justice. And you're all invited. Just show up at the Gertrude Stein statue at 12 Noon on that date and get ready to jam all the way down to Union Square.

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China's Taobao Internet Mall Offers Beautiful Girl Delivery Service

by China.new

Special delivery indeed: China's Taobao internet mall is boosting their business with the aid of “beautiful girls” who personally deliver customers' orders for a small extra fee.

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Singapore Coke Machines Give Out Cold Drinks for Warm Hugs

by China.new

If you think machines have no compassion, you've either been watching too many Terminator movies or you haven't visited Singapore lately. The Southeast Asian city-state is where you'll find The Coca-Cola Hug Machine: you supply the hugs, it provides the Coke.

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Tsunami Soccer Ball and Volleyball Kicked 3,100 Miles to Alaska

by Steve Levenstein

Now ain't that a kick: signed soccer and volleyballs found washed up on an island off Alaska several weeks apart are to be returned to their surprised but grateful owners. The balls may be the first identifiable pieces of debris from Japan's devastating March 11th, 2011 earthquake and tsunami to reach North American shores.

Starbucks To Phase Out Crushed Bugs From Pink Drinks & Pastries

by Toby

Just as I was introduced to Starbucks coffee-free Strawberries and Creme Frappachino, I learn that its lovely ballet pink color is not from the mix of deep ripe strawberries and luscious thick cream. Darn that I had to find out that a cactus feeding bug found in Central and South America is the mother of the color in Starbuck's pink drinks and desserts. Yum. Chopped cochineals.

Helen Keller Sunglasses: Insensitive Insult or Respectful Tribute?

by China.new

When you wear Helen Keller sunglasses, “You see the world, the world sees you.” One wonders what the real Helen Keller, blinded by illness at an early age, would think of the Chinese company who came up with that jarringly inappropriate motto.

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Burger King Japan's Bakin' Up a Big Bacon Bargain

by Steve Levenstein

Got a yen for bacon? Got a hundred yen? Then get your appetite to Burger King Japan! For a limited time only, the popular fast food chain is offering customers a whopper of a deal: 15 strips of bacon on almost any Burger King Whopper for just 100 yen.

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Bioengineered Stem Cells Produce Hair On Bald Mice

by T Goodman

A recent experiment by the department of organ technologies at the Tokyo University of Science was successful at bioengineering hair follicle growth in bald mice. Though these images may look small in the scheme of bioengineering organs, the development is very important, both for those who would like to replace their 'rugs' with something more credible, and for the future of other bioengineered organ replacements.

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Music Keeps "Occupy" Movement Humming Along (Videos)

by Ron Callari

On March 17th, the 6th month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, hundreds of 99 Percenters chose to return to their original stomping grounds on Wall Street. But this time they were pushed back by NY City cops, and as tensions rose, one activist was actually punched in the head by officers several times, while others were subdued and arrested.

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Dice Dumpling Soup Gives Good Luck to Hungry Chinese Gamers

by China.new

Eat a bowl of dice? You bet! Chinese gamers are said to enjoy this lucky snack served at an unnamed casino. From the looks of it, though, I'd say it tastes like craps.

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Social Media's Dark Side "Is Anyone Up" Is No Longer Up!

Social Media Exposes Its Dark Side With IsAnyOneUp.com

by Ron Callari

The number of followers who had joined "Is Anyone Up" might not have been in the hundreds of millions like some of the more popular social networks, but it sure was capitalizing on the profiles that were registered on Facebook and Twitter, nonetheless. Entrepreneur Hunter Moore had taken Chatroulette to a whole 'nother level to what some were defining as "revenge" or "identity" porn.

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Japanese Robot Rings Redefine the Face Palm

by Steve Levenstein

A bizarre set of robotic rings developed by Japanese researchers puts the concept of wearable robots in – actually, “on” – the palm of your hand. Consisting of spherical, movable, electrically-powered eyes and mouth, the rings could someday enhance communication through non-verbal means.

FDA Approves Radioactive Dye In Brain Scan For Alzheimer's

by T Goodman

It was a great Friday for those folks waiting for the radioactive dye Amyvid to be approved. The dye, which allows doctors to see the toxic protein amyloid plague in the brain via a PET scan, has been waiting for approval since it was turned down by the FDA one year ago. On Friday, April 6, 2012 the FDA approved the use of Eli Lilly's Amyvid, and Lilly announced that the dye will be available for use this summer, in small supply.

An Old Simple Gadget Made New By Biomimicry

by Must Love Gadgets

The thumbtack, or 'drawing pin' as it was first named by the British, was invented more than a century ago. It is so simply designed, it's hard to think of how it could be improved... unless you happen to stick a few fingers into a box of these pins to try to pick one out just one from the pack. Ouch!

Social Media's Court Of Public Opinion: Zimmerman vs Martin Blurs Vigilantism & Censorship

Social Media's Court Of Public Opinion: Zimmerman vs Martin Blur Vigilantism & Censorship

by Ron Callari

When a neighborhood watch group escalates from its watchdog origins to outright vigilantism, is nothing to be done to protect the lives innocent citizens? So is the question asked by the Trayvon Martin camp. However, in their fervor to prove their point, they have assumed the same extreme behavior online as that which they are condemning on the streets.

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“Fat Guy” Underwear from China Pounds Home the Message

by China.new

Stout men considering moving to China should be prepared some very direct critiques from the country's ad agencies. You may think you're just slightly overweight but that package of “Fat Guy Briefs” in your shopping cart dares to accuse otherwise by pulling no punches.

Proof: Weight Loss Surgery Can Reverse Type 2 Diabetes

by T Goodman

Two studies released this week reported that weight loss surgery has helped persons with Type 2 diabetes throw away their injection needles and medicine bottles! Patients in these two studies truly experienced remarkable, some would say miraculous, results.

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Don't Kill Gambian Pouch Rats! Recruit Them

by Lady Bee

Annihilation by man or beast is not called for. The giant African pouch rat, with its pouchy cheeks resembling a hamster, is easily trained. So easily trained with food as treats that in its native Africa, the giant rat is used to detect land mines and tuberculosis. In Belgium, one of the countries where they are trained, the African giant pouched rat is called "heroRAT!"

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China's Next Manned Space Mission May Include Women

by China.new

China's next “manned” space mission may be a bit of a misnomer as a portion of the 3-person crew may be female. Seven Taikonauts have been announced for Shenzhou 9, scheduled to lift off for China's Tiangong 1 orbiting space station in June of 2012, and two of the candidates are female. Heavenly bodies indeed!

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Solid Gold C-3PO and Solid Silver R2-D2 Celebrate Star Wars' 35th Anniversary

by Steve Levenstein

Bite my shiny metal... actually you don't have to bite these officially licensed, limited edition Solid Gold C-3PO and Solid Silver R2-D2 figurines to know they're real: they are, and they're spectacular!