The process of invention may be intrinsic to human nature and almost entirely unique to humankind, but the process of attributing credit to individual inventors and empowering those inventors to earn a living from the fruits of their ideas has been a long and often arduous one. The changing landscape of inventions and patents Today patent law is incredibly nuanced and complex, but back in 500 BC when the Greeks first held forth that whosoever invented something which improved quality of life should be guaranteed the ability to profit from that invention for a period of no less than one year, laws…

Anyone here familiar with chindōgu? Translated as ‘unusual tool’, chindōgu is the Japanese art of inventing devices which, while technically solving everyday problems, are so ridiculous and awkward, they really have no reason to exist. Seriously, I’m not making this up. Anyway, check this action out. The Potechi Chip Gripper is half-robotic arm, half-dining etiquette taken too far, and all-Japan. Designed to replace the obviously barbaric task of eating potato chips with one’s hand, the Chip Gripper acts as a middleman between you and that ocean of grease that typically pervades your…

Hewlett-Packard has just rolled out its newest design in the way of flexible display screens, or “digital paper,” as they are sometimes called. This is part of a collaboration with Arizona State University, and it began quite a while ago but no one has seen or heard anything about it for a couple years at this point. This week, however, a Dutch blog called Hardware.info got a short video of their latest prototype. Fortunately, the presenter was speaking in English….