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From the Sony Walkman to the humble zip: The past century’s top 100 inventions that changed our lives (yet most of us take for granted) Does it make you feel old to know that Dyson’s dustbag-free vacuum is 20 this year? Or that the much-loved Sony Walkman and the world’s first ever laptop, the Epson HX-30, are both over 30 years old?These are just a few of the gadgets that have made it onto the 100 gadgets of the past century that we can’t live without, with technologies ranging from humble zip to the Playstation 4.

One of the most common words attached to technology these days is "disruption." The very term conjures up something uncomfortable, but while technology unquestionably impacts and disrupts established methods of doing things, it also delivers enormous value to our lives. The global research firm McKinsey has spents years quantifying this value in concrete dollar terms. They've released a new, wide-ranging report that identifies 12 potentially game-changing technological developments that will deliver significant economic impacts to the global economy by 2025. To make the cut, the technology had to have a broad scope with the potential for massive economic impact. What's...

With gas prices rising and the massive drought making ethanol a tough sell as a gas alternative, India's Tata Motors has hit on the perfect time to debut the Airpod, a small urban vehicle that, as its name suggests, runs on air. If you don't know much about how regular cars use fuel, natural gas or, alternatively, hydrogen is compressed in a pressurized tank, hence the 'pssf' sound when you unscrew the gas cap. Now think about air rifles. If you had the bad luck to grow up with an older brother obsessed with using you as a target (or...

Modern corporate culture is in L-O-V-E, love with meetings (and any opportunity to engage in groupthink). But if you look back, history's real intellectual heavyweights weren't "team players." Intellectual giants like DaVinci, Einstein, and even Steve Wozniak, all developed their best works in near solitude. Quiet, by Susan Cain, examines why the world's best thinkers have usually been lone wolves. March 5, 1975. A cold and drizzly evening in Menlo Park, California. Thirty unprepossessing-looking engineers gather in the garage of an unemployed colleague named Gordon French. They call themselves the Homebrew Computer Club, and this is their first meeting. Their...

FULL TITLE: Voice of Thomas Edison's talking doll is heard again after 123 years as scientists crack the code of mysterious metal ring For decades it lay in the bottom of a secretary's desk drawer, its purpose unknown. But now, 123 year after it was made, the secret of this bent metal ring, which was found in Thomas Edison's laboratory, has finally been uncovered. Scientists have found that the microscopic grooves on the ring make up the tune of 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' and mark the world's first attempt at a talking doll and the dawn of America's recording industry...

A study of 4,000 consumers also placed the Apple smart phone - which has sold 42 million units since its launch in 2007 - ahead of the car, camera and flushing toilet. The wheel was voted as the most important invention in history, with the aeroplane in second place, the lightbulb third, the worldwide web fourth and computers fifth.

FAIRBORN — Though Ohio’s unemployment rate has almost reached 11 percent, one man recently laid off — on his birthday, no less — did not let his situation keep him from pursuing his passions. “It was either that or give up. I just had to apply myself,” said Mike Deal of Fairborn. Deal said that he tried to get his first patent when he was nine years old for a remote-controlled camera. “I couldn’t get the funding for a patent, though. No one would give a 9-year-old the funding for a patent,” said Deal, laughing. Deal’s latest patent idea, however,...

Inventor Raphial Morgado has been invited as a guest speaker a the Oregon chapter of SAE to discuss and demonstrate his Massive Yet Tiny (MYT) engine. Also working on building 5.5-inch versions to demonstrate this 40x power-to-weight ratio engine.Inventor Raphial Morgado has been invited as a guest speaker a the Oregon chapter of SAE to discuss and demonstrate his Massive Yet Tiny (MYT) engine. Also working on building 5.5-inch versions to demonstrate this 40x power-to-weight ratio engine. We've got several updates to report on Angel Lab's Massive Yet Tiny (MYT) engine -- the internal combustion engine with multiple firings in...

I guess no one has ever thought of this before. This guy is gonna make a mint selling these things. Buy while you can!!!

A glove that works as a cell phone, a vest that senses danger and a tank top that measures heart rate. It seems that the hi-tech textiles by Swedish School of Textiles researcher Lena Berglin could turn anyone into a superhero.

The Obama administration says that economic prosperity will depend on the United States becoming an “innovation economy.” But innovation success rates in the Unites States have plunged. The USA National Innovation Marketplace – which launches on April 20th through a partnership between The US Department of Commerce NIST/MEP Network and Merwyn Research, Inc. - aims to address the critical challenge of matching inventions from America’s most talented minds with buyers, investors, distributors and manufacturers in desperate need of innovations in order to survive in this economic climate. As more people are laid off from their jobs and dreaming that their...

1. The Detachable Dog Sack. Enjoy a drive with man's best friend, but hate the hair he leaves behind? Then the detachable dog sack is for you. Now your pet can ride outside the car in a pouch attached with rubber-padded hooks to the open window of your vehicle. Because, let's face it, who needs safety when you have a sack? Click here for more. Not to mention the added benefit of deflecting blows from other people's car doors in busy parking lots. 2. The Cat Wig. It's pretty difficult to decorate a cat, but with a kitty wig, it's...

Pardon the vanity, but I need to tap into the vast knowledge and experience of the FReepers. I have a patent on a garden item, and I need a manufacturer. Any FReepers who might be in the plastics molding business, or know someone reputable who is, please list any information here or feel free to FReepmail me.I have no idea how the manufacturing process works, so any input is helpful. I know there will be several FReepers who can help me out with this. I do have a prototype and the drawings that were submitted with my patent paperwork that...

Growing up in Dallas, Alison Schuback was the kind of young woman yearbooks were created to enshrine. At 23, she was beautiful, popular, working on her master's degree in family therapy, and envisioning a life spent helping others. Then, on October 17, 1997, a Chevy Suburban ran a red light and plowed into the side of her gray Mitsubishi Eclipse, which was waiting to make a left-hand turn at an intersection. As Schuback's car whipsawed into other vehicles, the fibers of her brain twisted and tore, wreaking havoc on the delicate network that keeps humans sentient and mobile. ... Then,...

To Timbuktu by flying car: it sounds the most unlikely journey on earth; a sci-fi voyage from the pages of Jules Verne. But this is no fantasy. The car really flies. And the journey will become reality early in the new year when two explorers set off from London in a propeller-powered dune buggy heading for the Sahara. The seed of this improbable adventure was sown four years ago when Gilo Cardozo, a paramotor manufacturer, had a eureka moment. For those not familiar with paramotors, picture a parachutist with a giant industrial fan strapped to his back, which provides...

Humans are thoughtless and cruel. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but did you know their thoughtlessness goes back many, many years? Check out this invention by some innovator type from back in the thirties. I like how this article from the June, 1936 issue of Popular Mechanics starts out… (When you take your dog along for a ride, but prefer not having it inside the car…

In the past few months a number of technologies and products that invoke the Star Trek name have been rolled out. MIT was the latest with a tractor beam-like device, but all manner of other new stuff from Star Trek funeral products to healthcare items are also out there. We've gathered up some of the more recent products so you can have a quick look-see. MIT's Tractor Beam The U of Washington TricorderStar Trek Line of funeral productsThe Air Force's transparent armor The CommunicatorThe Phaser GunPurdue's Cloaking DeviceHyperdriveThe HyposprayTelepresence   Slideshow

The origins of ice-skating have been traced by scientists to the frozen lakes of Finland about 5,000 years ago, when people used skates made from animal bone. Researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University have calculated that skating on the primitive blades would have reduced the energy cost of travelling by 10 per cent, suggesting that it emerged as a practical method of transport and not as recreation. Southern Finland has been identified as the most likely home of skating through an analysis of the shape and distribution of lakes in central and northern Europe, which shows that the early Finns would...

Hollywood socialite Nicole Richie has lent her voice to a campaign to stop dogs peeing on lamp posts. When Paris Hilton's dog-loving pal learned of Swedish inventor Lennart Järlebro's plans to design a urinal for dogs, she immediately vowed to spread the word in the United States. "This invention is just so clever. It's a cute rubber cup attached to the post and a hose that pipes urine into the gutter," Richie, 26, told the Daily Star. Lennart Järlebro began designing a toilet for dogs after reading a newspaper report about the corrosive effects of dogs' urine on lamp posts....