inventors

For the most part, keyboards just aren't very exciting. They sit there and go clickety-clack. What if you want a keyboard that goes squish-squash or splish-splash? Then you turn to the MaKey MaKey Invention Kit.

MaKey MaKey is a kit that turns just about any object into a touchpad. It consists of a circuit board and a set of alligator clips.

Clip those clips onto fruit, people, or pieces of bread. Even pencil markings can work. Open up a Web site or a program, plug the board into your computer's USB port, and you're good to go.… Read more

The inventors of the digital camera, the industrial robot, public-key cryptography, and the barcode are just some of those being inducted into this year's National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Today, the National Inventors Hall of Fame announced its latest selections of the people responsible for some of the key technologies that we use and rely on today.

In 1975, a Kodak engineer named Steve Sasson built a device that was able to capture an image, convert it to an electronic signal, and then digitize and store that image, leading to the world's first digital camera, according to the … Read more

Anyone can now be an Android app designer.

Google's App Inventor, which was previously available to people only on request, is now free for anyone who wants to create their own Android smartphone apps. Part of the Google Labs playground, App Inventor offers you a programming environment to create those apps but doesn't require that you have any programming skills.

By following online tutorials and visually building an app step by step, early adopters of App Inventor have already been able to create some clever programs, according to a Google blog, including vocabulary apps for kids, a bus … Read more

It's a fact that Google is stuffed to the brim with really, really smart people. You might think you're a bit of a brainbox, but compared to those dudes at Google, we're all idiots. So to help us feel better about ourselves, the search and mobile OS giant has created Google App Inventor, a simple way for us to make our own Android apps.

And by simple, we mean probably not as hard as learning a programming language from scratch, but still not the sort of thing most people would find easy. It does make it possible, … Read more

The new Droid X is released...with a kill switch, anyone can create apps for an Android device, and special guest Darren Kitchen of Hak5.org shows us how to root an Android phone. Plus, we cover how to packet-sniff with your rooted droid, and share a tip on how to make that stock touch-screen keyboard more useful!

The Motorola Droid X could brick itself if tampered with

Motorola spells out its reasons why...in February

...and it's all potentially a non-issue anyway… Read more

I remember watching in the early '90s a profusion of basic games flood the Windows world, spurred by the success of Windows 3.1 and Visual Basic and shared freely over the young Internet.

Later that decade came a profusion of Web pages as developers got their start with the burgeoning Internet, often beginning by copying and pasting code from another Web site.

Windows and the Web clearly showed how making a programming foundation approachable and easy to use can help lure a new generation of developers--and how developer interest and activity were instrumental in that foundation's later commercial … Read more

If you play video games, use a GPS in your car, or go scuba diving, you can thank some of the people inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame this year.

To honor those whose inventions and discoveries have changed the world for the better, the National Inventors Hall of Fame inducts key scientists and inventors into its ranks each year. Announced at Wednesday's induction ceremony in Washington, D.C., some of this year's honorees designed or paved the way for several of the technologies we use today.

As an early pioneer in video games, Ralph Baer invented … Read more

Last week, I received an e-mail asking if I had ever taken a look at sites and services for inventors. I hadn't. And judging by the size of those sites' communities, I'm guessing that most other folks haven't, either. Below are some of the neatest resources, both on the Web and on your iPhone, designed specifically for inventors.

Incuby Incuby is an online community designed for inventors who want to get the word out about their inventions. Once you sign up, the site asks you to input information about yourself. After that, it asks for pertinent information about your invention. You can give it a title, describe it, choose a category, and let the community know if your invention is patented yet.

You can then start searching for other inventions. The site's listings include some good information on the creations, including product photos, videos, and prices. Soon, Incuby will enable users to buy those products on the site. Incuby is designed well, and its community, while small, is quite active. It's worth joining.

InventBay InventBay enables inventors to list their products to target investors who might want to bring those products to store shelves. InventBay itself even does some investing.

When you sign up for InventBay and list your product, the company requires a seven-day period to review your invention before it's placed on the site. In that time, InventBay decides if it wants to invest in your creation. If it does, you'll receive notice and work out an investment plan with the company. If not, it's listed on the site for other investors to check out. It's a neat idea. And since it's free to list a product, it's worth trying out.… Read more

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--At a star-studded event in Mountain View, Calif., Saturday night, former Intel CEO Andrew Grove criticized the current state of the patent system in Silicon Valley, comparing it to the financial instruments that led to the collapse of Wall Street.

"As we celebrate the accomplishments of the last 50 years, I can't help but wonder if the next 50 years will be equally productive," Grove told a crowd at the Computer History Museum. "I'm dubious."

Grove spoke after receiving a lifetime achievement award at the 37th annual National Inventors Hall of Fame … Read more