innovations

(Mike Mozart)

3D, Smell-O-Vision & Indoor Weather: Rating The Best & Worst Movie Theater Innovations

Summer blockbuster season is almost upon us. The months of kicking back in the full-blast air conditioning and watching digitally-created stuff blow up will begin in just a couple of weeks, and at this point, it’s an annual ritual. [More]

Verizon To Offer "Turbo" Button To Users To Speed Up Apps, For A Price

Verizon To Offer "Turbo" Button To Users To Speed Up Apps, For A Price

App on your Verizon phone going too slow? Just press the “turbo” button and get a temporary speed boost for $.99. That’s the idea behind a new feature Verizon will be releasing to software developers in 2012. [More]

The iPad Vending Machine At Macy's

The iPad Vending Machine At Macy's

I know iPad and iPod and gizmo-disgorging vending machines are nothing new, but it was still unnerving to see one as I passed through a Macy’s men’s department this weekend. I kind of hate it, and I kind of love it. [More]

Triple Double Oreo Hits Shelves, Crushes Them

Triple Double Oreo Hits Shelves, Crushes Them

The new Triple Double Oreo is now on the market, bringing one layer of vanilla and one layer of chocolate creme sandwiched between three cookie layers straight to your face. [More]

Buy Groceries From Giant QR Code Wall In Subway Station

Buy Groceries From Giant QR Code Wall In Subway Station

As you wait for the subway to arrive, thoughts of errands drift through your head. Pick up medicine from the pharmacist, get package from the post office, and go get the groceries. In South Korea, Tesco has been experimenting with a system that lets you take care of that last one, right while you’re on the subway platform. It’s a wall-length billboard with photorealistic images of essential supermarket supplies. You take a picture of each item you want, grabbing its QR code, place your order, and Tesco will deliver it to your door. [More]

Behold, The $100,000 Iridium Razor

Behold, The $100,000 Iridium Razor

What do you get for the man who has everything? How about the Zaffiro, a $100,000 razor made out of iridium? [More]

ATM Can Tell If You're Lying

ATM Can Tell If You're Lying

Leave it to the Russians. Their biggest retail bank, Sberbank, is testing out a new kind of ATM that has a built-in lie detector. [More]

Gizmo Eliminates Supermarket Checkout Lines, Lets Shoppers Scan Their Own Stuff

Gizmo Eliminates Supermarket Checkout Lines, Lets Shoppers Scan Their Own Stuff

In the future, there might be no checkout clerks at the supermarket. WSJ reports on how a device at Stop & Shops and Giant supermarkets in the northeast is eliminating checkout lanes and increasing store sales. It’s a “ScanIt!” and it’s a handheld device that shoppers use to scan their own groceries as they put them in their shopping cart. When they want to pay, they just plug it into self checkout station at the end and settle the bill. [More]

The Candwich Is Finally On Sale

The Candwich Is Finally On Sale

Since I first wrote about this in July, 2010, I doubted that the Candwich, the sandwich in a can, would ever make it to market, but now I am forced to eat my words. [More]

There's A New Kind Of Oreo, And It's Coming For Your Face

There's A New Kind Of Oreo, And It's Coming For Your Face

Hear that? That was another one of the seven seals breaking. Nabisco is set to unleash a brand new kind of Oreo this summer, the “Triple Double Oreo.” [More]

Visa Developing "One-Click" Payment System

Visa Developing "One-Click" Payment System

Visa announced that they’re working on a “one-click” payment system that would make it easier for consumers to shop online without having to enter their credit card and billing information over and over again. [More]

Consider The Mighty Coffee Cup Lid

Consider The Mighty Coffee Cup Lid

For an item so ubiquitous, tossed without a care, and that costs only pennies to make, a ton of engineering and thought has poured into the design of the plastic coffee cup lid. Take a moment to look down the next time you grab a cup of Joe and see which sort you have before you, as there are all manner of species for all manner of purposes. [More]

Bank Of America Testing Letting You Choose To Overdraft Via Text Message

Bank Of America Testing Letting You Choose To Overdraft Via Text Message

Bank of America currently rejects debit card items that would make your balance go below zero, but Finextra reports they’re going to test out a new system that sends you a text message when you’re about to overdraft. The message will give you the option to let the transaction go through and incur an overdraft fee. [More]

White Castle Now Taking Online Orders

White Castle Now Taking Online Orders

Ever in the technological vanguard — witness the science behind their square burgers and those drop-down ketchup hose thingies — White Castle yesterday announced they are taking online orders. Call it the iCrave? [More]

Make A Grilled Cheese Sandwich In A Toaster

Make A Grilled Cheese Sandwich In A Toaster

It is possible to make a grilled cheese sandwich using just a toaster and not fill it with cheese goo. All you have to do, says the kitchn, is just put the toaster on its side. Place the cheese on top of the bread, slide it in, and the force of gravity keeps it on the bread. Paradigm shift! [More]

Amazon Patents Tech That Returns And Exchanges Bad Gifts Before You Get Them

Amazon Patents Tech That Returns And Exchanges Bad Gifts Before You Get Them

Call it “The Bad Gift Filter.” Amazon has patented a system that could intercept the yet another sweater Aunt Janice has sent you and automatically return it and exchange it for something you actually want. [More]

Gold Pills Makes You Poop Gold

Gold Pills Makes You Poop Gold

Now you can make your own Golden Poo trophies at home with the line of Gold Pills by Citizen:Citizen. For just $425, these 24k gold leaf filled capsules will “turn your innermost parts into chambers of wealth.” [More]

Hide Lunch From Office Thieves In Healthy Meal Boxes

Hide Lunch From Office Thieves In Healthy Meal Boxes

Here’s a potentially even better idea for protecting your lunch from thieves in the office than the fake moldy ziploc bags. Commenter Snaptastic suggests that you stash it inside a box of “healthy,” i.e. “gross,” food like a Weight Watchers, or, as commenter Murph1908 recommended, a Hot Pockets. [More]