Collection of useful inventions that promise to improve and simplify our lives.
Bladeless Fan
Dyson fans use Air Multiplier technology to draw in air and amplify it. With no blades or grille, they are safe and easy to clean. [buy]
Two Way Toothpaste
Two way toothpaste is ideal for those who get angry with their partner for squeezing the toothpaste from the front.
Collapsible Shipping Container
Made from fiberglass, it folds down to 25% of its expanded size.
Infinite USB
Innovative USB plug designed to act as a USB hub when plugged in.
Retractable Speed Bumps
If a vehicle is following the speed limit, the speed bump stays retracted and allows the car to continue without stopping.
Sixpack Bottle Carrier
It can safely transport up to six beer, soft drink, or water bottles.
Greenbo Rail Planter
Simply place your Greenbo planter on your railing, deck or fence. State of the art unique design assures its secure fit and stability.
Innovative Sewing Needle
With a bit of pressure, the loop eye of Big Eye Needle expands to the size of a button hole – making threading a cinch! [more]
Lace-amatic
Ideal gadget for people that are tired of lacing their shoes every day.
Butter Stick
Butter on a stick from Japan will make a great addition to any kitchen.
Upstanding Toothbrush
When the toothbrush is set down, it will sway momentarily until it reaches a balanced position – just like a tumble doll.
Turn Signal Biking Jacket
Created with LED lights and wrist mounted switches for control.
Also check out: 15 Useful and Creative Inventions
Lizzy
The needle would be grrrreat for my grandmother who is almost blind but still wants to keep sewing.And the retractable speedbump…I need one for my neighborhood pronto!!!
Jun 24th, 2010
jbkilluh
i dont get the point of the usb hub one.. whats the point of a usb hub that is only 1 port…
Jun 24th, 2010
OGaskin
I was considering switching to Velcro but maybe I’ll give the Lace-amatic a shot.
Jun 24th, 2010
JTKirk
A fibreglass shipping container? Might as well be cardboard.
Jun 25th, 2010
Joemcjoe
lol @ jbkilluh.
It’s a usb plug that has a hub incorporated into it – i.e.: when you plug in, say a mouse or a printer, there’s still another usb port available attached to the back of the current plug.
Jun 25th, 2010
MagicPeaceLove
The Lace-amatic seems like a Chindogu (better to go with Speed Laces). The Butter Stick IS a Chindogu:
http://www.chindogu.com/chindogu/CHIN2~1.HTM
Oh, and the Dyson is not a bladeless fan. The blades are just hidden in the handle:
http://gizmodo.com/5385011/how-dysons-blade+less-fan-works
Jun 25th, 2010
Ben
I’m still trying to understand how these fans can really work !…..
Jun 25th, 2010
James Anzalone
I think the toothbrush is neat. I hate putting my toothbrush in the same holder as my family, I’m kind of a germ freak.
Jun 25th, 2010
evie
the Lace-amatic is the stupidest thing ever
Jun 25th, 2010
Mask
To be fair, most of these are stupid. But the fan, I do not understand how it works.
Jun 25th, 2010
Pete
I don’t get how that fiberglass shipping container would hold up. One, it collapses, which means it has weak points to allow collapsing. Two, it’s fiberglass. Not sure if the designer has actually seen shipping containers in use, but they get really beaten up, and are stacked several high on the ship. Three, making it collapsable means there is no solid connection from top to bottom, something I’d be concerned about when the cranes are loading on to ships. It’s not so much of an issue with the forklifts that load on to trains.
@jbkilluh
I actually thought the infinite USB was one of the best things here. Netbooks and laptops have a limited number of USB ports. Some have only one. As long as you don’t need to draw much USB power, the chaining is a great idea.
@evie
Agreed. There’s another invention that solves the same problem: velcro :)
Jun 25th, 2010
Cory
Butter glue stick is awesome!
Jun 25th, 2010
Doug
The fan has blades, but they are hidden inside the base. The blades force air upward into the interior of that circular airfoil “ring,” where the flow then exits along the interior edge of the foil, creating an area of low pressure and inducing more air to be drawn through the foil.
$300 bucks? Not worth it. $100 would be too much, in my opinion. I’ll wait for a year for the inevitable Chinese knock-off for $25 at Wal-Mart…
Jun 26th, 2010
Mary Stanger
These inventions are amazing. I could actually use several of them. I was a bit disappointed though not to see the Mumoocie body pillow which I think is also a cool new invention as well as the Kush Breast Support.Keep those inventions coming and remember to manufacture your products in the USA!!
Jun 26th, 2010
sabar prasetiyo
I think the retractable speed bump very useful in my neighborhood, where I think its to many and very annoying while driving a car
Jun 26th, 2010
Jane
I saw your lace-amatic choice and picked up a set. I only need the heel of my hand to operate them (Arthritic fingers)and my knotted shoes open right up without even having to bend over. I’m now outfitting all my shoes. Thanks for the heads up!
Jun 26th, 2010
malinkin
Upstanding Toothbrush isn’t that cool as it may seem. it’s okay if one or two people use it, but just pretend families with 6 people… there won’t be enough place for all that stuff… or it will create mess everywhere…
No, i don’t like it.
Jun 27th, 2010
Hamad
Nice staff, especially Upstanding Toothbrush (I like it becuase I dentist)
But Retractable Speed Bumps is bad, becuse some time you’r need the speed for emegency cases.
Jun 29th, 2010
Harvey
Shoe lacing systems usually have one or two functions but that lace-amatic seems to do it all.
I like the toothbrush that you can put down anywhere you choose that you think is a clean area where it will air dry.
Jun 29th, 2010
goldenzee
The bike turn signal jacket is not a good idea because most likely, the people around the biker will not notice the lights on their jacket, and therefore not notice that the person is turning. If the idea was really really widespread, maybe it could work, but right now it is just dangerous.
Jul 9th, 2010
Moo
Love the toothbrush and I think the flowerpot is cool, too because I have a little balcony and I want lots of flowers! The speedbump would be too expensive to have everywhere but if some wealthy people would like to have them installed in their neighborhood and willing to pay for it, good for them because it would be nice.
Jul 16th, 2010
blindninja
instead of the butter stick i use spray on butter for like pots and pans and cooking when im lazy
Jul 23rd, 2010
willywonka
butter stick would be awesome to have. reduce dishes (a knife) and enjoy buttering your bread.
Aug 5th, 2010
Bobb
An upstanding toothbrush would be useless in a earthquake-prone area, like Japan.
Sep 8th, 2010
Nicholas
I didn’t get the point of duble toothpaste is really stupid
Jan 3rd, 2011
Sathvika
The idea of double toothpaste is nice but I wish there would be a double toothbrush and greenbo rail planter and also the innovative sewing needle is also useful for my family members and also useful to me. This page was very useful for me . Thank You.
Aug 8th, 2011
I Like Traffic Lights
I don’t think I could use the butter stick. I would feel like i’m gluing my food. hmmm…
Nov 20th, 2011
Karah
wow. is it really that hard to tie your shoes? how lazy has this generation gotten?????
Jan 17th, 2012
Jim
Half of these are shindogu’s – A Japanese spoof on almost useful inventions. REALLY – a doubled ended toothpaste tube actually being produced? Not a chance… the cost of packaging would double let alone, how would you fill/seal it? Retractable speed bump? Completely laughable! It would be destroyed in no time flat and the cost would be entirely prohibitive. The shoe lace thing…what is more simple than tie shoe laces…and the folding shipping container would be garbage after 10 uses…steel containers are scrapped every day and a least they are recyclable…fiberglass is toxic. The bottle holder would be used once and then thrown out after the first bottle slid out. I guess they never tested this while walking half snapped…
I am all for intelligent product design, but please put things into perspective…somethings are just fun to think about. At BEST these products are funny ideas but definitely not worthy of terms like brillient or useful.
Jan 18th, 2012
I like waffles
Pretty much everything here isn’t a real big step forward, except for the retractable speed bump, but there are, as some people have noted, special cases where an emergency takes place and every second counts to save a persons’ life. These range from: Cop rundowns, Medical emergencies, and it would even hurt the Fire Department in some cases, I mean, if it slows down the speed of a Fire truck that has multiple vehicles behind it, that can easily cause a wreck, and since they are going at high speeds in order to respond to a fire, they don’t have any time to waste. Or if in a Cop chase or rundown, the person running might hit the speed bump, and slow down to the point that one of the Cops pursuing him is injured in a crash due to their speed, once again, being more than his. There are several instances where this invention would be nice, but a really large amount of times when it would cause people to get hurt. What one really needs is a smart-system tire de-flation device that is built into the road for the cops, and a submerged bump that is triggered by a speed recognition camera, or something of that sort. Why a camera ? Because if the camera is set in Infrared, a strobe light of a sort could be placed on emergency response vehicles such as police cars, allowing them to pass on by. Just saying !
Feb 24th, 2012
reason
The earthquake concern on the toothbrush cracked me up. I’m sure if there’s an earthquake, my first concern would be clean teeth.
Sep 6th, 2012
Bubba
As a bicyclist the turn signal jacket is interesting but it is not practical, especially not in the dark color jacket. Any serious cyclist wears hi-visibility colors. The lights would only show up well in the dark or at dusk/dawn and again any serious cyclist avoids riding at those times if at all possible.
Sep 19th, 2012
face palm
Wow everyone here is so negative ! these inventions are interesting some usefull some fun, @bob you must be joking with the toothbrush earthquake comment, i grew up in an earthquake prone area and i can asure you when an earthquake starts i dont run in and check my toothbrush is upright, and if you read the description of this tooth brush you would see that it always stands up so if you were worried about it, it would be perfect in an earthquake!
Dec 25th, 2012
Inventing
Actually, the toothbrush isnt really that great. I used to have a toothbrush that has this suction thing on the bottom and it sticks to the bathroom table. It was about the same price as a regular toothbrush, maybe just a few cents more.
Aug 6th, 2014
Amy Cribbet
A lot of cool ideas. I particularly like the butter stick. I currently use the spray butter but the butter stick seems like it would be easier to use.
Aug 28th, 2015
Gabrielle Symington
Really we are lazy. The thing I don’t like most is the bike jacket. What use is it in the summer?? You just wear short sleeves i the summer. In the winter, when you DO need a jacket, you don’t ride bike. I don’t, anyway. Besides, it wastes electricity. I like the flower pots best. Wow we can’t do anything this day and age!!! No tying shoes no properly buttering toast, and Inventing, totally agree with the suction cups. I have two of them and they are all I use.
Dec 2nd, 2016