Welcome to 10 Minutes of Brilliance. Today’s blog covers 10 really cool, revolutionary inventions. Many are available now. Some are still on the drawing board. We looked for the coolest, boldest, most unique inventions we could find. Life Changing inventions that will revolutionize life as we know it on Earth. You know, like Segway did.

Segway was supposed to changed the world. It didn't. The woman in the photodemonstrates the WRONG WAY to use SEGWAY

Segway was supposed to change the world. It didn’t. The woman in the photo demonstrates the WRONG WAY to use SEGWAY

All right, maybe Segway was a bad example! But we did find a host of inventions that will shake things up, change our Fate and alter our lifestyle in such a way that the fabric of the Universe will have a wardrobe malfunction.

The List of the 10 Most Incredible Inventions You’ve Never Heard Of includes:

  • A bicycle that flies 
  •  A test-tube hamburger
  • A surgeon’s knife with a brain that can smell cancer
  • An app that can read your mind and do things for you even before you ask it to
  • A foolproof system for finding whatever you’ve lost
  • Google’s new TV hookup that brings Internet entertainment to your TV for only $35
  • A High Speed “train” that will travel from LA to SF in half an hour 
  • Ikea can project virtual furniture to your house
  • Changing memories: Downloading a computer to a human brain

Here’s how we scooped some of the world’s largest online, broadcast and cable sources to bring these inventions to the attention of 10 Minutes of Brilliance audience. A few months ago, we sent four of our veteran reporters to…

STAN: He’s lying. Goldberg’s lying. This blog doesn’t have any veteran reporters. It doesn’t have any reporters at all.
HARRIET: His name is Goldenberg, Stan. Jack Goldenberg. You should know that. He created you. And Jack’s not lying. He’s just using some creative license. Now stop interrupting and let him talk!

Where was I? Where was I? Oh yeah, we were going to feed the animals, right?

STAN: I think Goldberg’s ADD just drowned in his stream of consciousness.
HARRIET: That’s actually pretty clever Stan, especially for you.
STAN: I hired a new writer to make me sound more intelligent. Hah! As if that were possible!

Oh no, I was telling you that we sent four of our veteran reporters to the far corners of the Earth to dig up new products, new inventions really.

Of the four reporters we dispatched to cover the story, two reported the Earth doesn’t have any corners. One fell off the Edge of the Earth. And the fourth filed a report on “The 10 Most Incredible Inventions You’ve Never Heard Of.”

The 10 Most Incredible Inventions You’ve Never Heard Of
by R. U. There

The Paravelo: The Flying Bike

Frequent fliers take note. There’s a new way to fly the Friendly Skies. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a …flying bicycle. The flying bike, the Paravelo, can cruise city streets and country paths just like your good ol’ Schwinn at 15 m.p.h.. But with its flexible wing and biofuel-powered fan, it can take to the sky flying at speeds up to 25 m.p.h. for up to three hours

The Paravelo, the world's first flying bike, takes off, ET-like, to the skies, in its first official flight

The Paravelo, the world’s first flying bike, takes off, ET-like, to the skies, in its first official flight. Wonder who will be its first spokes-person?

The bike’s designers, Yannick Read and John Foden, from London-based Xplore Air, have launched a campaign on Kickstarter to raise 50,000 British Pounds (about $74,000) to get their flying bike off the ground. Here’s a two and a half minute video of this wonderfully incredible invention.

Test Tube Burger. Want a beaker of fries with that?

At $350,000, it may be the most expensive burger ever. But the new in-vitro beef burger could eventually reduce the cost of beef over time. Without it, there’s every reason to believe that one day there may be a huge beef shortage.

STAN: Now, what kind of lunatic would spend $350,000 on a burger?
HARRIET: Shut up, Stan. Let Jack finish.

In case you’re wondering what kind of lunatic would spend $350,000 on a burger, that lunatic is, uh, uh, oh sorry, he’s no lunatic at all. It’s Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google.

The burger was made in a test tube with stem cells from a cow after the bovine refused to get into the test tube peaceably.

Cattle Call: Yumm. A hamburger made in a test tube. What win goes with bovine?

Cattle Call: Yumm. A hamburger made in a test tube.What wine goes with bovine?

The synthetic meat is made up of tiny strips of artificial beef, each the size of a grain of rice, Besides solving the world’s ever-growing desire for beef, the test tube burger could preserve ecologically valued forest land from being destroyed to make more pastures for grazing cattle. Let’s mooooove on.

The iKnife Can Sniff Out Cancer

Surgeons may think they are God and even act like God, but when they operate on a cancer patient they can’t always determine how much tissue to cut and how much to leave behind.

Cut too much, and the surgeon risks hurting his patient. Cut too little, and he’s leaving dangerous cancer cells that can pcause potential harm.. That’s why Dr. Zoltan Takats invented the iKnife, or intelligent knife.

The iKnife sniffs out cancer.

It’s based on electrosurgery, a technology over 90 years old. In this process, an electrical current rapidly heats tissue to make incisions with minimal blood loss. But it’s the vapors from the heated tissue that ultimately are analyzed.

Instead of sucking away the smoke into an extraction system, Dr. Takats connected the knife to a mass spectrometer to analyze the chemicals in the biological sample. That way, it can be determined where the cancer starts and ends.

The iKnife, or intelligent knife, sniffs out cancer

The iKnife, or intelligent knife, sniffs out cancer

The iKnike has the potential to be a major weapon against cancer. In initial tests, the iKnife produced conclusive results in both malignant and benign tissue taken from brains, lungs, breasts, stomachs, colons, and livers.

Google Now: An App That Can Read Your Mind

Many tech companies are working on apps that will help you do things even when you haven’t asked them to. It’s a branch of technology called predictive search.

Suppose you look at your phone in the morning and it flashes a message that you have to hurry because you’ll be late for an 8 a.m. meeting. But wait. You don’t remember telling anyone about your meeting. And you certainly didn’t discuss it with your smartphone!

Apparently while you were sleeping, the incredible, mind-reading app Google Now:

  • Read your email
  • Scanned your calendar
  • Tracked your location
  • Compared it to your daily trip to work,
  • Then looked at live traffic reports to come up with the shortest distance between you and your office.

Damn, and you haven’t even had your first cup of coffee yet!

What can Google Now do for you?
Before you get out of bed, Google Now can tell you how to dress for the day. (It checks the weather.)
Before you leave for work, Google Now can give you live traffic reports that will help you avoid accidents and traffic jams on your way to work.
Did you forget about evening plans for dinner out? Google Now will remind you.

Google Now is the coolest, most revolutionary app that Google released in 2012. See for yourself. Then get Google Now, NOW!

 

But Google Now does have much competition. There are similar apps out there that handle some of those functions and more. Many, like Google Now are voice activated. Check out: Cue, reQall, Donna, Tempo AI, and MindMeld.

Mr. Spock has hired a top Vulcan lawyer to get an injunction against Google for usimng th Mind Meld

Mr. Spock has hired a top Vulcan lawyer to get an injunction against Google for using the term Mind Meld

Dr. Spock

 Dr. Spock is suing Leonard Nimoy
for using the name Spock.

“Tile” Can Help You Find Whatever You’ve Lost

Are you tired of losing things and expecting St. Anthony to find them for you? I am. I’ve been misplacing things all my life. And St. Anthony never seems to come a calling.

Now that I’m a senior citizen and a Senior Copywriter, I carry a lot more wherever I go (and I’m not talking about my weight).

These days, if I return home with my phone, Bluetooth, iPad, glasses, wallet, car keys, smart phone and my pants, well, I’ve had a good day.

STAN: Jeez, Goldberg, don’t be such a wuss. It’s pretty damn careless of him to lose so many things.
HARRIET: Leave Jack alone, Stan. Everybody loses things. Since I’ve known you, you’ve lost your keys, cell phone and your brains.
STAN: Yeah, but I got my keys and phone back.
HARRIET: Well, two out of three isn’t bad.
STAN: How do you figure?

Where was I? Oh yeah, I was telling you about the app that finds your lost items. It’s called tile. Tile is “the world’s largest Lost and Found.” Tiles are matchbook-sized, Bluetooth-enabled stickies that attach to your most essential belongings: phone, iPad, wallet, laptop, keys, afikomen, etc. Or drop a tile in your purse or attache case.

When something is lost, you can turn on the tile app to find it. Tile will track distances to your lost item and let you know when you’re getting closer. You can log into tile on anyone’s smartphone. And activate a tile to ring so you can find what you’ve lost by sound.

Let’s say someone “borrows” your bike and doesn’t plan to return it. Or if anything else of yours that you’ve attached a tile to is missing.

You can mark your bike as a lost item on the app. This puts all other tile apps on the lookout for your item. If any tile user gets close to your lost item, it will discreetly tell you, but no one else where to find it. You’ll be sent a notice where to locate where your lost bike can be found.

Here’s a short video that shows you how this unique app works:

So what’s the downside on Tile. It’s not cheap.

  • One tile cost $18.75
  • Four tiles cost $56.85
  • Eight tiles cost $113.70
  • Twelve tiles cost $170.55

At that price, it might be worth it to buy four tiles, and just don’t lose any other items!

Chromecast: A New Way to Watch TV from the Internet

It is with some reluctance that 10 Minutes of Brilliance is naming Google Chromecast as one of the “10 Most Incredible Inventions You’ve Never Heard Of.” The Good News is that Chromecast will “somewhat effortlessly” allow you to watch Netflix, YouTube and other digital media on your TV. But it’s not perfect. Not Yet.

Here’s why. You need a robust WiFi network for it to work properly. It also doesn’t come with a remote, so when you want to pause, rewind or mute the video, you’ll have to wake up your phone or tablet (Apple or Android), enter the required password and reopen the app. All that’s a hassle.

Plus, Plus Apple TV (and Roku) have been doing an excellent job bringing programs from the Internet to TV. Even if Apple TV cost almost three times the price ($100) of Chromecast ($35).

But when David Poque, technology expert from the NY Times, said Chromecast is something very special because it is “the smallest, cheapest, simplest way to add Internet to your TV,” he’s one tech guru it pays to listen to.

 

At only $35, Chromecast is as small in price as it is in size. But it's potential for delivering streaming movies,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Chromecast brings Netflix, YouTube and GooglePlay, Google's new movie and TV store, to your TV                                                                                                                                                                    music and Web sites from the Internet to your TV

Chromecast brings digital media (movies, TV shows, and You Tube, etc) from the computer to TV for only $35

At only $35, Chromecast is as small in price as it is in size. But it has great potential for delivering movies, TV and other digital media from the computer to TV. Will it succeed? Maybe, maybe not. Google may be a master at turning algorithms into cash, but there’s a lot on the line with Chromecast because Google has had many failures.

The Search Giant has invested millions on failed projects like Google Lively, Cha Cha and Ask Jeeves (remember him?), Dodgeball, and Jaiku.

What? You’ve never heard about the microblogging site, Jaiku? Maybe you’ve heard of their competition. Twitter!

STAN: He does this, Harriet. He drives me crazy. Goldberg never tells a story or answers a question in a straight line. He’s always all over the place.
HARRIET: Jack’s Readers don’t seem to mind, Stan. They’re pretty smart. Bordering on brilliant. They can follow him.

Chromecast does have a lot going for it:

  • It works with Android and iOS phones and tablets, Chromebooks, and the Chrome browser for Mac and Windows
  • It brings Netflix, YouTube and Google Play, Google’s new Internet store for movies, TV and digital media, to TV from computers and tablets
  • It is primed for accepting the developing field of Web-based entertainment
  • It does a great job broadcasting Web sites on TV
  • And then there’s that one-time, low $35 price!

For a complete guide on all the ways you can watch Internet video on your TV, and the pros and cons of each, check out Wall Street Journal Editor Walter Mossberg’s column and video on the ever evolving subject.

Take the Hyperloop From LA to San Francisco at speeds of around 800 mph!

Elon Musk has been a busy billionaire. First he founded the electronic e-commerce juggernaut PayPal. Then he created the electric Motor Company Tesla and SpaceX, the first commercial company to take a vehicle into space. Never one to sit on his billions, he’s at it again with an imaginative way to travel on land at speeds up to almost 800 mph.

The Hyperloop is a high speed train operating within a tube that will whisk passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in about half an hour. Currently, it is optimized for travel between cities that are fewer than 1,000 miles apart, although building a Hyperloop for travel from coast to coast is theoretically possible.

Billionaire Musk came up with the idea because California is considering a super high-speed rail system between LA and SF that would cost $70-100 billion. The Hyperloop might cost between $6-10 billion.

Here is one report on the Hyperloop that has travelers buzzing with excitement, even if the project is 7 years (or more) or more years away from taking on passengers.

Ikea App Projects Furniture Right Into Your Home

How many times have you bought furniture in a store, took it home, unpacked it, assembled it, placed it where you wanted it and then thought, “What the Hell was I thinking?” Well now, Ikea has a way around that dilemma. Virtual furniture.

It’s not actually virtual, it’s real furniture, but instead of lugging it home you just use the handy Ikea app to take a photo of what a specific piece of furniture will look like in your house. It doesn’t work on everything Ikea sells. You can’t use it to see what Swedish meatballs will look like in your home. But it’s still a pretty neat idea.

Here’s a video that explains it:

Downloading a Computer To A Human Brain

Scientists have moved one step closer to the often mentioned science fiction fantasy of downloading computer instructions to a human brain. Granted, they did it with mice. But still, the accomplishment holds great promise for humans.

Researchers at the Riken-M.I.T. Center for Neural Circuit Genetics were able to download instructions from a computer to create a false memory in a mouse. Oh sure, you might think, that’s not so groundbreaking. We already have 535 mice with false memories in Congress. But this is different and here’s why.

The researchers weren’t able to create entirely new memories in the test mice, but they were able to apply good and bad feelings to an already existing memory. If perfected in humans, and that’s a long way off, it might help in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PSD). Instead of war or other traumatic events triggering bad memories and nightmares, it might be possible to gives sufferers a more positive view of the horrors they’ve been through. It could apply to other mental disorders, as well.

That’s not to teach our brave men and women in the armed forces that killing is good, but along with therapy, it might help them so their past actions shouldn’t evoke depressions fears and shame. You can read the complete article here on the New York Times.

Well, that’s all for today, readers. Thanks for stopping by and staying so long. If you’ve noticed, I only gave you nine Incredible Inventions, not the 10 I promised…

STAN: A**hole, Goldman can’t even count.
HARRIET: Stan, watch your language!

It’s not that I can’t count, but I wanted to hear from my Readers what invention or apps they think should make 10 Minutes of Brilliance’s Top 10 List of Incredible Inventions.

Are there any apps you’ve come across that are game changers? Let me know and the winning entry will win $27 (Hey, we’re a small company) and the suggestion and winner’s name will be published in an upcoming blog.

Also, please leave a comment to let me know if you enjoyed this blog or even if you didn’t.

We now return you to regular programming.

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