Inventor News

Before Schwarzenegger became the governor of California, he was known to don a Terminator costume every now and then and assume super robotic powers in a few movies of the same name. What if humans today could virtually see what Arnold's fictional character saw? 

Tired of giving co-workers a piece of your mind? Next time try sending a slice of life - from your desktop Apple or Pear memo dispenser!

Social media is not a phenomenon exclusive to our current Digital Age. It has a long tradition and distinct parallels with events in the past that seem to run in 100 years cycles. Editorial cartoons, postcards and even the Industrial Revolution were all forebearers to how we communicate today through social media. 

Coming after the innovative yet outrageous Prius Hearse, the Prius Limo stretches the concept of hybrid efficiency to new heights... or should we say, lengths.

Tissue box suddenly empty? It just could be that your dog has been blowing her nose in those tissues and stashing them somewhere. After all, she doesn't want you to alter her lifestyle just because she has the dog flu...

Can online journalism become a social network? With legacy newspapers continuing to look for new ways to reinvent themselves, transforming into online blogs was just the first step. As a result of the Huffington Post's collaboration with Facebook, the next phase in the morphing process appears to be news blog sites melding into social media networks.

How many times do you research online content, and wish you could do a Twitter search to check out what the 'wisdom of crowds' is saying about that same topic? Well, searching by Kutano, with its browser add-on virtually brings those tweets to you without you even leaving those Web pages (sort of like having your digital pie and eating it too!)

Do you hear those 'Sound of Music' lyrics emanating from  the hallowed halls of Socialgraphica sending out our early good-byes to Facebook? The NY Times might be right when it talks about its imminent demise. In an article titled "Facebook Exodus" they refer to things falling apart when the center cannot hold the weight. Is Facebook about to implode at the hands of its own critical mass?

Apparently there's no end to what can be deep-fried.  Just ask state fair concession chefs... or anyone who's ever been to a state fair.  Texas, not just king of barbecue, but ultimate connoisseur of deep fry, has a contest at its state fair, where concessionaires compete every year for best deep-fried concoction.  Stand aside heart valves: here comes deep-fried butter.

Fox TV is the first major network to strike a deal with Twitter to follow tweets while viewing two of their popular dramas. This is an innovative tactic by Fox to attract an audience to watch repeats, programming that tends to draw in low numbers on the Nielsen ratings! Hence the birth of tweet-peats!

You're not alone if you never knew there was an America's Best Restroom contest, but some must of known about it because these winners were voted for by an online public. It may be that you also never heard of the 2009 winner, the Shoji Tabuchi Theatre restroom, or the location of the winner, Branson, Missouri. But now that the theatre has won the America's Best Restroom (ABR) Award, a lot more folks will know about it and may visit it just to use the restroom!

What is the significance of 09/09/09 and why is there this slow simmering buzz about it? Well for one, its the last of the single digit dates for this millennium. Next year, we move to double digits with 10/10/10, and September 09,3009 isn't due for another 1000 years.

While searching for great costumes for pets this Halloween, I ran across a download of a full-size Michael Vick mask.  With it was a recommendation that the "spooky" mask would make a simple Halloween costume when combined with a "bloody old jersey and a dog leash to accompany..."  Not a bad idea, I suppose.  But there are more ways that animal lovers, especially dog lovers, can use this down-loadable mask for Trick or Treat... Here are Lady Bee's 5 top picks.

Twitter, like death and taxes is sort like the "great leveler." Sport figures, celebs and the average Joe's of this world can all co-exist in an environment as equals and communicate with each other in a non-threatening and open way. Well, maybe not at the US Open?

What if Santa Claus' identity was revealed when his cookie trail exposed his exact whereabouts on Christmas Eve? This would not only take all the fun and wonderment out of Christmas, it would be providing too much information for too many inquiring minds.

Did you hare? Japan's Bunny Petting Cafe is the best thing in ears, and that's fur certain!

Labeled A-Hole Foods by some, an army of bloggers have taken to full battle gear ever since John Mackey's op-ed appeared in the Wall Street Journal on August 12, 2009. Triggering significant backlash, Whole Foods may have a hard time overcoming a social media nightmare spurred on by their leader.

Ben Franklins for Freezers? Dollars for Dishwashers? Coin for Central Air? or Cash for Appliances? Whatever you'd like to call it, after the overwhelming success of the "Cash for Clunkers" program, the next government incentive to save consumers money will debut as early as this fall. However on this go around, you will receive rebates for the purchase of new Energy Star-qualified home appliances.

There's lots of talk about the Twitter Effect and how it can make or break a movie. When it came to Bruno & GI Joe- thumbs down! In the case of Inglorious Basterds and District 9 -thumbs up! If Twitter has this effect on improving movie ticket sales, do we even need critics anymore?

You've heard of 'sticky fingers?'  Well, green mussels, aka Perna viridis, have sticky feet!  And that is the secret -- just released by scientists at the University of California Santa Barbara's (UCSB) Marine Science Institute -- of their superior adhesive powers.

It all started in 2008 when Sony rolled out its "Reading Revolution,"  to spark the imaginations of young readers and engage the public in digital reading. However somehow along the way, Sony lost its steam and Amazon's Kindle seized the moment to become the dominant force in the burgeoning e-Reader industry. Now late in 2009, the Sony Reader is re-engaging its marketing prowess to beat down its competitor and regain prominence.

Halloween is my favorite time of year and I love covering the dog costume beat for InventorSpot.  For 2009, we have some new categories of Halloween costume awards for dogs and cats, including Best Looking Witch,  Most Literary, Most Neurotic and our first one out, the Best Swine Flu Worker Pet Costume Awards.  Enjoy them!

Wheelchairs are about to make a great leap forward in form and function. The four-wheeled Rodem electric wheelchair prototype not only looks stylish and sporty, it's designed to make mobility much easier for the disabled and the elderly.

It use to be you learned to crawl, before you could walk and then run. Well today, while tots and teens begin to become mobile, they're also learning how to use a mobile. Kids born after the year 2000 might end up being called the 'Tiny Texters' generation as their passion to text is keen. Parents might not agree, but as we all know peer pressure in our formative years becomes the driving force behind these types of purchases, and Mom and Dad more often than naught usually succumb to the demands of their offspring!

The definition of drinking from the firehose according to the Urban Dictionary is "being overwhelmed with information, to do something intensely, to be inundated." When drinking from the firehose, the glass is not half full - the glass is not half empty - the glass is just too damn big!  We're all drowning in data overload, and need all the help we can get! Guzzle.it is one tool that can cut through the noise.