A pretty neat solution? Fruitwash labels.

They’re fruit stickers that turn to fruit soap when rubbed under running water. Aside from eliminating the need to go out and buy some fruit and produce soap, you can just go rub-a-dub and wash off water-resistant wax, fungicides, and pesticides off of your fruit.

Scott Amron came up with the concept for these Fruitwash labels just recently, and I’m surprised why someone hasn’t already done so earlier. Scott is currently selling off a 10% stake in the Fruitwash label intellectual property (in other words, patents) for anyone who wants to participate in this unique invention.

[via Inhabitat via Dvice]

Red Bull Creation is an upcoming event in which teams of builders will be challenged to create cool stuff. 16 teams of highly-skilled makers, hackers and inventors will be given a general theme to work with, and then 72 hours to build something really cool. Check out the video below for more on the competition:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Red Bull has already selected the first 10 teams of finalists, and will be announcing the remaining six teams shortly. The finalists in the competition will start building their creations on July 7th, then meet at McCarren Park in Brooklyn, NY on July 10th, 2011 to show off their creations to the world. More info on the competition can be found here.

Instead of just playing like a regular harmonica, the ELX has an array of electronic sensors surrounding each of its acoustic reeds. These photosensors measure the motion of the reeds, then converts those into an electronic signal.

The TurboHarp then outputs its sound to a standard 1/4″ jack you can connect to a guitar amp or through an effects box. Since the pickups are optical instead of magnetic, you can crank the volume to 11 without feedback. Each reed can even be separated into its own channel, so you could create some pretty cool effects with that.

Here’s a video from TurboHarp inventor Jim Antaki, showing off his prized creation:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Jim’s goal is to do for the harmonica what the electric guitar did for the guitar, and you can be part of making that dream come true. TurboHarp is working on raising $15,000 for production of the ELX, and has raised over $3,000 of that so far with about a month to go. A pledge of $150 or more will get you one of the first production ELX harmonicas, ready to plug into a guitar amp. Higher pledges will net you extras like an effects unit or even one of the original prototypes.

Head on over to Kickstarter to show your support, or if you want to get your hands on your very own electronic harmonica.

Patented by Ann Margaret Zaleski way back in 1973, this dog-shaped vacuum was supposed to help your scaredy pup cope with the stress of you vacuuming up their hair when being groomed by hiding a Suck-o-Lux inside a doggie doppelganger. Yep. Brilliant. Of course, most dogs would look at this thing and cower in the corner, bark at the thing, or immediately start humping it. Maybe that’s why it never made it to market. Or maybe it was just ahead of its time, and we’ll be able to buy one in 2011.

According to its inventor, “It will be readily obvious that other shapes of dogs, not shown, may be used instead, preferably one to correspond to the particular type dog to be groomed so that he will feel more friendly toward it. Of course, cats or other pets may be similarly simulated in the toy animal configuration. Thus it will be seen that I have provided a novel combination and arrangement of a toy animal, such as a dog, and vacuum cleaner and blower for completely concealing and muffling the noises of a vacuum cleaner and blower within the confines of the body of a toy animal.”

Damn, and I was going to patent a cat-shaped vacuum and an iguana-shaped one too. Stupid patent trolls. I swear.

[via Nag on the Lake]

Created by Jim Sellers, the machine just gradually shifts said Slinky from side to side without need for such pesky annoyances as a pair of human hands or a staircase to walk down.

According to Sellers, it actually does serve one other purpose. “(The Slink-O-Matic is)…useful in determining whether one is in the northern or the southern hemisphere. Due to Coriolis forces it will “slink” from right to left in the northern hemisphere and from left to right in the southern hemisphere.”

[via Make: via OhGizmo! via Neatorama]

The person who designed the USB port we all know and love/hate today clearly had a bit of a mean streak. Why couldn’t the thing be designed to plug in either way? Thankfully, a new USB port has surfaced called Flipper USB.

Flipper USB isn’t a dolphin that squeaks and saves those in trouble. It’s a USB port that will take that flash drive of yours anyway you want to give it. It’s sort of like the porn star of the USB port world. Bell Biv DeVoe would be proud; you can smack it up, flip it, and rub it down.

Built by tinkerer Jake Easton, this mechanical marvel that catches mice with a complex series of solenoids, electronic control circuitry and a heavy-duty pneumatic actuator – all loaded into a shiny polished aluminum case.

After all, why not catch your mice in style?

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

While you might think the 40 to 60 PSI of compressed air that power the strike hammer with up to 102 lbs. of force is overkill for catching your fine furry friends, you clearly haven’t seen the mice in my neighborhood.

[via Telovation]

That’s a cigarette lighter, a simple hack made of a battery, duct tape, and a piece of wire. The picture is from temporaryservices.org. We already featured their book before, which is also about prison inventions. Next up we have a tattoo gun (image from TownNews). Obviously a portion of inmates don’t acquire their tats before or after their time in jail, but I doubt if prison officers would let them have real tattoo guns.

The tattoo gun pictured above is made of batteries, a small motor (perhaps the one that’s found in toy cars?), a needle, a pen casing, and some ink. I don’t have a tattoo and I’ve never seen a real tattoo gun, so I don’t know if this one inflicts more pain than the real thing. Anyone have an opinion on that?

And finally we have these inventions featured in Marc Steinmetz Photography, the necessity of which I don’t want to think about. The one on the left is a knuckleduster, made using a rasp (coarser version of a file, usually used in woodworking), some cloth and strings. It was found in a prison cell in Wolfenbüttel, Germany in 1993. The one on the right is from the ‘Santa Fu’ jail in Hamburg, Germany. It is what it is – a whip, and I don’t think I need to elaborate on what it’s made of and what it’s made for. Although I do agree with the sloshpot article writer that it’s more of a psych-out weapon, compared to the knuckleduster, which is more of a skin, flesh and bone-out weapon.

There are a few more inventions featured in the original article. What would you invent if you were in prison?

[via The Presurfer]

Of course the device is useless against cameras with no flash, but it’s a start. It’s about time someone stood up for those poor Celebrities. Harvey wants to make miniature versions of his invention, but at the same time now that his baby is itself getting some attention, he’s working on obtaining a patent for it. If Harvey’s invention catches on, we might eventually see him cavorting with the stars – like Dame Jane Goodall and her chimpanzee friends – and bravely fighting for their right to party privacy.

Check out Adam Harvey’s website for more pics and info.

[via pdn gear guide via CrunchGear]

Johns Hopkins materials scientist Michaely Yu and his team claim to have invented a material which could allow for piezoelectic sound devices to be placed in areas previously thought to be too challenging.

The invention provides for a resin polymer which possesses piezoelectric properties usually found only in very heavy, brittle materials. If the early findings hold up, the flexible material and could be used to produce a coating which could create speakers embedded into wallpaper or even speakers that could be folded in two.

[Patent Application via New Scientist]

Philips recently filed a patent application for a video game system which uses a monitor that you can actually toss. The patent describes a durable, monitor which which can show images as it’s thrown around the room. A stationary sensor tracks the position of the ball as it moves, while player positions are tracked using ultrasound. The display can then display images that respond to its movements and position within the space. The patent, entitled simply “Gaming System with Movable Display,” begins:

An electronic gaming system comprising: a robust, movable display (101); a game controller(103), arranged to generate a game scenario, comprising generation of pictures to be displayed on the robust movable display (101); and – a trajectory mapping unit (105), arranged to map a virtual trajectory in space- time of a virtual world in the game scenario, with at least two of the pictures with unequal picture content corresponding to different locations of the virtual space-time trajectory, to a real trajectory of the robust movable display (101) in real space, so that at an appropriate moment the two of the pictures are displayed on the robust movable display (101)…

At this point, plans for an actual implementation are sketchy, but one could envision games in which the images on the moving screen could react to the players in the room. Imagine hitting the ball hard, and the display showing an image of a screaming face, or one mocking your opponent when it flies past an imaginary goal line.

The concept is still a little strange, and it seems to me that most of what’s described could be achieved with a combination of accelerometers and infrared sensors (like Nintendo’s Wii-mote). Still, I’m always intrigued by new and different ways to interact with games.

Can you guys think of some other good game ideas for a system like this one?

[via New Scientist Invention Blog]

Simply fill the cup with coffee, then plug it into your USB port (or is it the other way around?) and you can sip your Maxwell House between mouse clicks.

Under no circumstances, should you attempt to use the Mug Mouse while surfing for porn.

[via Ubergizmo]

The project, entitled Prisoners’ Inventions, resulted in this fascinating 119-page book of detailed drawings that explain exactly how prisoners build contrivances from all sorts of found materials.

The book documents everything from how to build an electric cigarette lighter out of paper clips, ice cream spoons and parts from a hot-pot, to an electric tattoo gun made from a bic pen, a walkman cassette player and a battery, to how to use your toilet to chill your soda.

This book, above all things, proves that necessity is truly the mother of invention. Maybe the best way to really get the most creative solution to technical problems would be to lock up engineers during the design phase of their projects.

The book can be ordered from the Giant Robot store for $12.00. is now out of print, but you might be able to get your hands on a used copy over on Amazon.