http://cache.jezebel.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jezebel.com.png http://jezebel.com/tag/inventions http://jezebel.com/tag/inventions

There's really nothing that could replace the ShamWow in our hearts, but the winners of the "The Next Great Infomercial Inventor" believe rhinestone bra straps have a shot. Jan Lori and Chuck Strube won the competition this week with their idea for "Hott Straps," which are "bra straps that are meant to be seen." Their invention beat out hundreds of other products, including something called the Automatic Doggie Doo Doo Collector, and will be featured in a $50,000 infomercial test — and possibly your TV. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5832405&view=rss&microfeed=true The lingerie company Panache spent three years studying the "battle of the bounce." Their new product, out in October, reduces bounce by 83%. Most important — and this isn't mentioned in the piece at the link — it doesn't appear to cause uniboob. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5824589&view=rss&microfeed=true

The folks at JF Ptak Science Books dug up a few images from U.S. patent reports on brassieres. These designs, created between 1929 and 1930, show how women struggled to support, shape and reduce the bustline. These days, we can sometimes feel self-conscious if our bra or bra straps are showing; manufacturers offer "T-shirt" bras for an smooth look under clothes. But the inventions below — often teetering between medical brace, corset and scaffolding — seem not only highly uncomfortable, but impossible to conceal. Curse your underwire bra all you want — at least you don't have tiny dowels projecting from your girdle and supporting tiny claw-shaped shelves for each breast. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5812976&view=rss&microfeed=true

While other scientists have been wasting their time trying to cure diseases, one Harvard researcher has invented a device that lets you inhale food vapors. Finally, we're free from the burden of shoving delicious food in our faces! More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5744994&view=rss&microfeed=true

According to InventorSpot, "the Kush a device made to support the breasts during sleep," and may prove useful to women who have larger breasts, are nursing or recovering from breast surgery. [InventorSpot] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5590111&view=rss&microfeed=true

Are your nipples constrained and bound by the tyranny of traditional bras? Fear no more, liberator Wang is here with a newfangled boulder-holder, which features special indents for your (centrally placed, he assumes) nips. [InventorSpot] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5535151&view=rss&microfeed=true

In a bid to boost the flagging Japanese birthrates, one company has introduced a practice baby, the "Yotaro robotic baby simulator," that makes it all look easy. And really freaky. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5496673&view=rss&microfeed=true

The £160 Magimix Vision Toaster, which allows a panoramic view of your toast and promises the end of burning, was 15 years in the making. [Telegraph, Image via Telegraph] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5439820&view=rss&microfeed=true

Enter "shoedini" - the really long shoe-horn. Unclear if it's from the same people who brought us the Hairdini. (Best part: the woman handling the regular shoehorn like, "what am I supposed to do with this?!") [YouTube Via BuzzFeed] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5412912&view=rss&microfeed=true

This toy, apparently designed to foster an appreciation of Dario Argento's oeuvre, is not yet made in adult sizes. [ScienceBlogs] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5300100&view=rss&microfeed=true

Meet the world's first wig purifier. It's futuristic and creepy and scored with heroic music and we want one. [Youtube via BoingBoing] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5254170&view=rss&microfeed=true

The Japanese have developed a device to help keep pee-splashing to a minimum: the "Angels Knee Pillow." Perfect for men who can't aim and the women who love them. [InventorSpot] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5249020&view=rss&microfeed=true

Meet Cuchini, "a comfortable, light-weight material that adheres to any undergarment...It smoothes the ridges of a woman's mons pubis area providing a smooth and camouflaged appearance..eliminating what is commonly known as "Camel Toe." [RGS] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5229606&view=rss&microfeed=true

This sweet-but-strange device is intended for long distance couples. It allows partners to project beams of light onto each other's bodies, kind of like a more romantic version of laser-pointer teasing. [BBCNews] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5221538&view=rss&microfeed=true

Do you suspect your spouse is cheating? Are you paranoid about your teen having sex? These are just a few of the suggested uses for the Semen Detection Spy Kit. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5213529&view=rss&microfeed=true

"Creme That Egg," in which a Cadbury Creme Egg is destroyed by an elaborate device, has become a YouTube sensation. "Apply to face" has always worked for us. [YouTube, Telegraph] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5182472&view=rss&microfeed=true

Meet the "Doodle Bra," which "creates positive responses entertaining and engaging young ladies and girls while meeting the needs of essential under garments and providing a way for self expression at the same time." [AdRants] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5164271&view=rss&microfeed=true

An invention filed with the U.S. Patent Office allows pregnant women to partially insert a balloon in the vagina and push it out, in order to practice giving birth. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5160333&view=rss&microfeed=true

Good news for overbearing parents: you can now start educating your child while they are still in the womb! No news on whether this cassette-player belly-strap device actually works though. [InventorSpot] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5158600&view=rss&microfeed=true

New mom? Messy eater? Prone to, um, burping up on yourself? Enter Puke Pets, handy animal pins designed to simultaneously camouflage and advertise stains. Do with this information what you will. [InventorSpot] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5155815&view=rss&microfeed=true

Japanese manufacturers, who keep making products for needs we didn't know we had, are now selling a pocket ash tray. It's available in five colors, but those concerned with the implications of making smoking fashionable can focus the fact that it keeps butts off the ground. [Random Good Stuff] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5129372&view=rss&microfeed=true

Inventor Le Trung, 33, has created a "Fem-bot" named Aiko, who can do math, remember his favorite drink, read in Japanese and English, and has a touch-sensitive face and body. "She doesn’t need holidays, food or rest and she will work almost 24-hours a day," he says. "She is the perfect woman." Le, a former software programmer who had a heart attack last year, has taken out loans and used his life savings to create Aiko, who has cost about $20,000 so far. "I may need to have Aiko look after me one day," he says. She wasn't built as a sexual partner, but she could be tweaked to be one: "Her software could be redesigned to simulate her having an orgasm and reacting to touch as if she is playing hard to get or being straight to the point." If this doesn't creep you out, the video of Aiko in action will. [The Sun] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5106398&view=rss&microfeed=true

Romantic, though rather sidewalk-hoggy: an umbrella built for two. [InventorSpot] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5104174&view=rss&microfeed=true

Betty James, who, with her husband Richard, invented the slinky in 1945, died last week at the age of 90. Although Richard came up with the idea for the iconic coil, Betty named the toy, and the two marketed and demonstrated it together. Moreover, after Richard up and left for a cult in Bolivia in 1959, Betty took over raising their 6 kids and the management of the company. Betty felt strongly about keeping the Slinky affordable, saying, “So many children can’t have expensive toys, and I feel a real obligation to them. I’m appalled when I go Christmas shopping and $60 to $80 for a toy is nothing. With 16 grandchildren you can go into the national debt.” [New York Times, Obit] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5098782&view=rss&microfeed=true

The always innovative Japanese have come up with a device to encourage children to chew their food properly. The Kami Kami Sensor is a plastic bar with an electric counter that hangs off the ears like eyeglasses and straps under a child's chin, rewarding kids by playing a song when the counter reaches one thousand. The Kami Kami sells for 11,550 yen (about $120) and seems like the perfect solution for parents tired of yelling "chew your food," because certainly a child who doesn't respond to nagging won't rip this device off her head and throw it across the room. [Inventor Spot] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5091903&view=rss&microfeed=true

• Has Snow White been given a sexy makeover in recent years? • Meanwhile, why doesn't Disney capitalize on its trove of female villains like it has with its princesses? We know some angsty tweens who would love that. • France's Finance Minister, Christine Lagarde, is cool and collected as she prepares for an emergency summit meeting of world leaders in Washington this weekend. • The family of an 11-year-old boy with Asperger's syndrome is suing their Manhattan co-op, whicih placed strict conditions on letting the boy get a medically necessary dog despite the co-op's no-pets rule. • More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5087539&view=rss&microfeed=true

For those of you not allured by the distinctly grayish-purple hue imparted to the teeth by a fine — or, in our case, cheap — Cotes de Rhone, enter the Wine Wipe, a compact filled with wet naps that for some reason are scented with orange blossom. And, no, they don't conflict with the nose of that $7 Yellow Tail. [Serious Eats] More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5055318&view=rss&microfeed=true