Tag Archives: inventions

Are You An Inventive Wife?

The other day a PR rep contacted me about an upcoming contest geared towards moms (or any woman): the Whirlpool brand Mother of Invention Grant Program. She thought it might be of interest to Families.com readers, since they are primarily women. Smart PR rep! After all, how many times have I (or perhaps even yourself) heard married women friends say things like, “I wish there was an X to help me deal with my husband (kids, job, life) better/faster/with less muss and fuss.” Heck, even I’ve said something like that when I wished I could create a PMS pill for … Continue reading →

The Cube Challenge

Remember the Rubik’s Cube? If you grew up in the 1980s you likely were as addicted to the mechanical puzzle as I was. The colorful 3×3 cube invented in 1974 by engineer Erno Rubik ignited a pop culture craze in the decade made famous by Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and plastic jelly shoes. Today, those same jelly shoes have gone out of fashion, but the popularity of the Rubik’s cube lives on. In fact, this weekend, hundreds of puzzle junkies are in Budapest for the fourth annual Rubik’s Cube world championship–a three-day event offering big prizes to people who can solve … Continue reading →

A Challenge for Your Kids This Summer

I was channel surfing this morning, when I came across the Montel Williams Show, and he was talking to child inventors. One 17-year-old girl had a line of greeting cards, and accessories in hundreds of stores in 13 states. Another kid had created a popcorn butter blaster that he was marketing to movie theatres that would spread the butter all the way through the popcorn instead off just getting a soggy top. There was a 12-year-old artist whose designs are now on retail carpets. In addition, a young girl created a better bike locking system for the library. For years, … Continue reading →

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989)

Rick Moranis stars as Wayne Szalinksi, an off-the-wall inventor in “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.” Wayne is just sure that at some point, his inventions will sell, and he’ll be famous. Unfortunately, his inventions are unpredictable, and he has not yet been able to attract the attention of a corporation to take interest in his work. But now he has something he’s just sure will do the trick – a shrink ray. His kids, Amy and Nick, have different opinions about their dad. Amy is a teenaged girl, and wishes her family could be a little more normal. Nick wants … Continue reading →

Life Changing Inventions Make History

What does the MRI, the LP record, and a popular weed killer have in common? Their inventors have just been picked for induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. The creators of those life-changing inventions join 15 other inventors to make up the 2007 class of inductees. The honorees are in good (make that great) company joining history-making inventors such as Thomas Edison, Velcro inventor George de Mestral and Charles Goodyear, developer of vulcanized rubber. Despite the fact that some of the inventors have created products that have literally changed the way we live our lives, most are not … Continue reading →

Interesting Innovations

There’s the anti-spill water bowl for dogs that is designed for traveling, the e-Lation electric bike conversion kit, which turns a standard bicycle into an electric one while maintaining all the bike’s gears, and the Universal Tile Ventilator, a new type of roof tile that allows ventilation and heat to exit the roof space when there is no breeze through natural convection flow… interesting innovations are born everyday, but only a very small fraction of the creative (and sometimes crazy) creations go on to become household names. YouTube, the video-sharing website, happens to be one of them. Believe it or … Continue reading →

Neat Gadgets: Where Are My Keys?

I tend to misplace my car keys at least once a week. No matter how hard I try to keep track of my keys, or my purse for that matter it seems like I am always running around my house when its time to leave looking for a missing item. I came across two items on the web this week that are pretty nifty and will definitely help with that problem. The Loc8tor This little device requires you to “tag” the items that you lose with an electronic transmitter. One the item is tagged however you can track it electronically … Continue reading →