Category: Time Tested
Purposeful Repurposing
Innovator and designer Charles Harrison improved the trash can and hundreds of other everyday items.
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Tops of the Flops
The anticipation of failure and having a healthy attitude about it are essential traits for anyone trying to bring a new idea or product to the masses. However, it’s true that some inventing failures get added notoriety—whether due to their unconventional nature, excess hype, or number of dollars invested.
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New Coke’s Old Debate
Although blind taste tests showed the revised formula was preferred to Pepsi, public reaction to New Coke was even more bitter than the original drink’s taste.
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Icon for All Seasons
Antonio Pasin’s marketing gamble at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair helped cement the Red Flyer’s place in American history.
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Sci-Fi Movie Inventions
Here’s a fun look back at some memorable movie gadgets and their chances of becoming real-world reality.
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Cheers for Fears
Since their commercial debut 100 years ago, haunted houses’ popularity is scary. Learn more about technology and innovation in haunted houses.
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Gaming Greatness
One day in the late 1970s during his train commute, Nintendo employee Gunpei Yokoi saw a man playing with an LCD calculator. Gaming history soon changed forever.
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Fortunate Misstep
It was 1943. Richard James, a naval engineer, was trying to develop a meter for measuring horsepower on naval battleships. During his work with tension springs, one of them fell from a shelf to the floor. The spring didn’t stop moving when it landed, briefly “walking” along the floor. An idea for a children’s toy was soon put into motion.
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A Last Will for Peace
When Alfred Nobel read his obituary, it could have killed him.
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Short Song: The Rise and Fall of Napster
Despite its meteoric rise and fall, Napster has a permanent place in innovation and internet history. It has often been called the fastest-growing business of all time; perhaps more important, it revolutionized the music industry and forced it to adjust to the commercial realities of the internet age.
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The 45 at 70
The 45 RPM single reflects a simpler time in technology and the world. The 70th anniversary of its release reveals some detailed and surprising origins.
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