fluttza.com Blog

Yesterday, I wrote about the Electrolux Design Lab concept for 2050, Heart of the Home .  To give you an idea of how out there Heart of the Home is (and I mean that lovingly), the kitchen’s pots and pans are traced into existence with an index finger, and they don’t need to be washed or stored, just erased!  Now, wait until you see what Philips Design has cooked up for 2050! 

Remember James Peret? He’s pictured here, eating fried fish cooked in the oil that Peret recycles to heat his fish restaurant.  Peret and his invention, the Vegawatt was one of the 10 top winners of the 2009 Popular Science Invention Awards.  Well, now Popular Science is looking for the best 2010 inventions; that’s right, PopSci is looking for you !

The Internet as the ecosystem of our lives is expanding beyond the confines of desktops and mobile devices to connect with actual things that take up space in our world. Back in February, 2009, I predicted that by 2020 appliances, vehicles, buildings and smart homes will be able to start talking with one another. Well that Internet of Things’ timetable might have just been moved up a decade as a result of what  one company is doing with this new technology.

Without having to jump through the usual hoops required by the US Food and Drug Administration for approval, the medical device company, Medtronic, gained approval of its Melody transcatheter pulmonary valve through a “Humanitarian Device Exemption.”  This device could save those with pulmonary valve failure many open heart surgeries… and Medtronic has other heart valve devices lined up.

I never thought that dogs and drivers might have “issues” with dog sleds.  But inventor Mark Schuette from Bend, Oregon says mushing can create steering battles because the dogs are in front of the riders and, therefore, have the ultimate steering control.  That’s why Schuette invented the first dog-behind-the-wheel Dog Powered Scooter, Dog Powered Trike, TrikeBike, and Dog Powered Skateboard, that put the dog behind the wheel instead of in front of it.  Read on and see how you can urban mush your dogs.