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Top Inventions of 2007

Gibbs-Duhem writes "Time Magazine is reporting on the best inventions of the year. The top invention is the somewhat well-known iPhone, but there are some extremely cool projects included that I had certainly never heard of, including a device for capturing waste heat from car engines to increase efficiency up to 40%, a novel car designed to run entirely on compressed air claiming to have a range of 2000km with zero pollution, a James Bond style GPS tracking device that police can use to avoid high-speed chases, a small-scale printing press capable of printing and binding a paperback book in 3 minutes for under $3/book (and $50k per machine), a microbe-based technology for turning soft sand into sandstone, a water-based display which uses computer controlled nozzles to produce coherent gaps in the water, and a way to convert type A, B, and AB-negative blood into type O."

10 of 293 comments (clear)

  1. Hey! by suso · · Score: 1, Funny

    2007 isn't over yet. :-) Sheesh, you're as bad as retailers mentioning Christmas in August.

  2. Soft sand into sandstone... by lpangelrob · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...microbe-based technology for turning soft sand into sandstone...

    The triple jump just got a lot more entertaining. :-D

  3. Re:I'm sorry but no by Diss+Champ · · Score: 2, Funny

    Given the actual choice for this year, giving the Nobel Prize to the iPhone would have been an improvement.

  4. hey, screw you guys! by binarybum · · Score: 5, Funny

    i was going to release my teleportation prototype next week, but now I have to wait to Jan. so I can make the best of 2008 list. Either that or complete my time-machine project so I can go back and get my teleporter finished before the deadline for this award.

    --
    ôó
  5. Prize money by Relden · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe this will inspire the people who invented the blood converter to buy iPhones with their Nobel prize money.

  6. Tabbed Browsing? by franoculator · · Score: 2, Funny

    I've dreamed of tabbed browsing for years and finally Microsoft made my dreams come true... oh wait, that was 2006, wasn't it.

  7. My vote by jay-be-em · · Score: 2, Funny

    Clearly we are in the middle of an energy crises; any innovation that can reduce our reliance on
    fossil fuels could prove to be the most important of our time. My vote is for this fellow:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rA-zhTJuFU

    --
    "Orthodoxy means not thinking--not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness." --Eric Blair
  8. Re:Some more enlightning stuff... by onthefenceman · · Score: 2, Funny

    Making the Car Chase Obsolete

    This will also open up about 22 hours a day of programming on the Fox network...

    --
    Have you seen my stapler?
  9. Re:I'm sorry but no by AndersOSU · · Score: 2, Funny

    the little cardboard cup holders (cardboard and glue . . .) used at Starbucks (and another local coffee shop when I looked at theirs) were protected by TWO patents

    That's only because those bastards are skirting my patented two cup method, were two paper cups are stacked together in such a way as to leave a small air gap which provides modest thermal protection for the holder of the hot beverage.

    If you have any conscious you'll join me in my boycott of all coffee establishments using the inferior cardboard sleeve, until they agree to pay the licensing fee for my method.
  10. Re:I'm sorry but no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...stupid Americans who need everything so dumbed down it's insulting to anyone who can actually read.
    Wait. What is he saying? I get the feeling I am being insulted. Can somebody please explain to me what these words mean?