Inventor Archive

  • Get swyping: Swype for Android available now in English, Spanish and Italian

    Get swyping: Swype for Android available now in English, Spanish and Italian

    Posted on June 16, 2010 | No Comments
    We told you this was coming: Swype has just made it possible for any Android handset owner to download their innovative touch-screen enabled text-input application straight from the website. Which means a whole lot of people can henceforth start challenging that Guinness World Record for speedy textin' using Swype. Up until today, Swype came pre-installed on only a fraction of available Android phones (including the all new Motorola Droid X) due to its licensing business model, although the company did open up to 25,000 eager beta testers a couple of months ago - most of whom seem to have completely fallen in love with it. Well, anyone can download it now, but only for a limited time (a couple of days) and with a somewhat limited feature set. Important: it won't work if you have a phone that came pre-installed with Swype and support will be via Swype's forums only.

    Full Story

  • Heatswell cups – coming to a coffee shop near you?

    Heatswell cups – coming to a coffee shop near you?

    Posted on March 22, 2010 | No Comments
    So this is pretty cool; inventor Scott Amron has come up with a really interesting product for the hot beverage industry. We've told you about another product Scott came up with, the split ring key, which didn't seem quite so useful.

    Full Story

  • New Iron Man 2 trailer is here (and it’s awesome)

    New Iron Man 2 trailer is here (and it’s awesome)

    Posted on March 8, 2010 | No Comments
    We've given you a first look at Iron Man 2 way back in June last year, and two months ago, we reported it will be Marvel’s first IMAX movie when it hits screens on May 7, 2010. It's 2.32 minutes long and very, very cool.

    Full Story

  • Magnetic solder might lead to a new computer age

    Magnetic solder might lead to a new computer age

    Posted on March 5, 2010 | No Comments
    Many countries like Japan and those in the European Union are banning electronics made with lead. This is bad news bears for those companies still using lead-based solder. But there's a new kid in town that seems to have a solution while addressing a few other issues surrounding stacked computer chips. The key is magnets.

    Full Story

  • Ron and Fez’s Twitter party, the world’s first, was a huge success

    Ron and Fez’s Twitter party, the world’s first, was a huge success

    Posted on February 8, 2010 | No Comments
    Last night's Super Bowl was pretty amazing. That seems to be the general reaction, at least. But you know what was just as amazing, if not more amazing? The Ron & Fez Twitter party, which I'm pretty sure was the very first organized Twitter party in history. Is there a FourSquare for that?

    Full Story

  • How Apple kills hardware innovation

    How Apple kills hardware innovation

    Posted on February 1, 2010 | No Comments
    If there are two things you can count on its Death and the propensity of Asian electronics manufacturers to capitalize on a rising trend. In short, what we buy Asia makes and Asia is very happy about the iPad. And this chain of events, in turn, destroys hardware innovation. First we have this AP report about accessories makers. We haven't posted very many iPad accessories since the launch but trust me, we've been inundated. Every accessory and app company worth its salt has tasked its befuddled PR flacks to send us emails with subjects like "Supertech creates first iPad holster for cowboys" complete with rendered images of ridiculous accessories. Why do they do this? Because all they really have to do is make a call to a factory in Shenzhen and have a planeload made in a few weeks. It's that easy. This ties up resources, however, discouraging other manufacturers to try to make accessories for other devices.

    Full Story

  • Double patty breakfast sandwich proves that mankind has officially done it all

    Double patty breakfast sandwich proves that mankind has officially done it all

    Posted on January 26, 2010 | No Comments
    We can all stop innovating now. It’s here. The double patty breakfast sandwich. If you’re an inventor, you can lock up your workshop and go home. There’s officially nothing left to improve upon as a society. Unless someone comes out with a triple patty version, that is. Hardee’s new “Double Sausage, Egg ‘N’ Cheese Biscuit” promises [...]

    Full Story

  • CrunchGear Week in Review: Incoming Edition

    CrunchGear Week in Review: Incoming Edition

    Posted on January 25, 2010 | No Comments
    Here are some stories from the past week: Plug-and-play bomb system for radio-controlled model airplanes Magic wand bomb detector deemed fraudulent, inventor imprisoned The Apple Tablet rumors the other blogs are afraid to publish

    Full Story

  • DIY: Wireless door access using a watch

    DIY: Wireless door access using a watch

    Posted on January 24, 2010 | No Comments
    The TI Chronos has been a bit of a hackers darling recently, but this has to be the coolest application of it I've seen so far. Rather then getting an RFID tag embedded in your hand, program your watch to use a pre-programmed combination of taps to activate the lock.

    Full Story

  • Aliph launches Jawbone ICON bluetooth headset

    Aliph launches Jawbone ICON bluetooth headset

    Posted on January 19, 2010 | No Comments
    Bluetooth headsets usually don't look very exciting, but the Jawbone series is generally a bit more tasteful then a lump of plastic you stick in your ear. Aliph just launched their new ICON line, which adds some extra features to make their headset stand out.

    Full Story

  • JO-ZERO: Super-agile, super-cool mini humanoid (video)

    JO-ZERO: Super-agile, super-cool mini humanoid (video)

    Posted on December 30, 2009 | No Comments
    A big problem almost any robot nowadays has is limited agility. While this isn't an issue for industrial and other "practical" robots, humanoids can only move in a slow, mechanical and chopping motion. Honda's Asimo, for example, is considered super-advanced, but doesn't move too elegantly either. But Japan-based Himeji Softworks raises the bar in that area. Their JO-ZERO robot kit shows we haven't reached that Nureyev level of elegance yet either, but it's pretty impressive, especially since it's the brainchild of a small venture. It can break-dance (sort of) and pull off a number of cool stunts.

    Full Story

  • For men on trains: Japanese company sells anti-groping gloves

    For men on trains: Japanese company sells anti-groping gloves

    Posted on December 29, 2009 | No Comments
    Groping women in trains (or anywhere, really) isn't only happening in Japan, but this country with its big cities with trains that are full of people (=easy bait for gropers) everyday has a particularly big problem with molesters. It's a crime, and it's reported 2,000 times yearly to police stations in Tokyo alone, prompting a big Japanese railway operator to think about installing security cameras within trains in order to catch gropers just recently.

    Full Story

  • Japan’s $2 million rescue robot is a hummingbird

    Japan’s $2 million rescue robot is a hummingbird

    Posted on December 29, 2009 | No Comments
    A Japanese researcher called Hiroshi Liu has developed a robotic hummingbird, which, just a real one, can flutter freely in mid-air by rapidly moving its wings (up to n impressive 30 times per second). Liu, who works for Chiba University just outside Tokyo, says his hummingbird is powered by a small motor and has four wings. It can be remote-controlled through infrared.

    Full Story

  • Whatever you did this holiday, this guy with the robot wife had more fun

    Whatever you did this holiday, this guy with the robot wife had more fun

    Posted on December 26, 2009 | No Comments
    Let’s just start with the lede: Inventor Le Trung spent Christmas Day with the most important woman in his life – his robot Aiko. The science genius enjoyed a festive dinner with his mum, dad and his £30,000 fembot which he designed and built by hand. Le, 34, from Brampton, Ontario, Canada, even bought gifts for his dream [...]

    Full Story

  • Leaked Video: Swyping Versus iPhone Typing. (Swype For Android Is Next).

    Leaked Video: Swyping Versus iPhone Typing. (Swype For Android Is Next).

    Posted on November 23, 2009 | No Comments
    A year ago, Swype launched a new way to type on a touchscreen phone at TechCrunch50. Swype was created by the inventor of the T9 predictive typing system used on most phones today because he felt that new text input methods for small touchscreens are sorely needed. Today, the startup announced the first phone to use the technology will be the Samsung Omnia II on Verizon. As you can see in the video above, which shows a side-by-side comparison of typing on the Omnia II versus on an iPhone, the way you type with Swype is you literally swipe your finger from one letter to the next as fast as you can. In the video, the Swypist beats the iPhone typist hands down, so to speak.

    Full Story

« Older Entries