It would be really cool to have a pet door that responded to a collar on your pet's neck only. If another cat or dog tried to get in, the door wouldn't budge. If your pet couldn't stay inside because of the heat or simply wanted to do its business in the yard, it would be easy to get out and return.

Did you hear about that great new alternative for disaster housing? They offer a prefabricated and flat-pack shelter that can be assembled quickly with just minimal tools or skill. The design is based on identical aluminum panels that can clip together with needing any tools. The design also features a narrow room with an arched roof covered in solar panels that collects and channels rainwater to a collection tank. The unit can be placed on uneven surfaces with the use of...

FlipFold is a simple device for folding clothes. It represents three cardboard pieces tied with a rope. It is five years since the FlipFold device has been patented. It is sold around the world through the site and major retailers such as Target and Eckerd Drug Store. The gadget is heavily oriented to shops and clothing manufacturers. It is already used by such famous brands as Nike, Sports Authority, Federated Department Stores, Bass Pro Shops, and even FBI.

It seems to be a great idea to combine furniture with exercise equipment. For getting a quick workout while you're at home such Fitness Furniture makes the most sense, allowing you to have functional home fixtures that you can also use to work up a sweat. Three items come with the Fitness Furniture set - a multi-function closet, a table that can double as equipment for dips and an attractive mat for performing floor exercises. Most notable of the objects is the storage...

The Sunflower is the first heliostat created for residential use, designed to allow homeowners to focus the sun into a gloomy room on onto a solar panel. The Sunflower uses a solar powered microprocessor, motion servos and sun sensors to track the sun and reflect its light to a location selected by the user. It can redirect up to 50,000 lumens of sunlight and can be installed on an existing post or optional PVC stand. Beyond feeding solar panels and dark rooms, other...

I am sure that those people, who are always losing their keys, will find this idea interesting. It would be awesome to have a fingerprint scanner right on a doorknob where a key hole was. You'd need to register your fingerprint on a microcomputer and then you would lock / unlock the door just putting your finger on the scanner.

My idea is to use piezoelectricity to generate energy. Piezoelectricity is the charge that accumulates in response to applied mechanical strain, such as the vibrations of vehicles driving on roads. The piezoelectric sensors are inexpensive and can be installed during regular repaving. When utilized on a single lane, two mile stretch of road, the sensors could produce up to 44 megawatts of electricity each year, which is enough to power 30,800 homes for a year.

Why not use sunlight and ethanol to create hydrogen at ambient temperature and pressure? This could make production less expensive while delivering higher yields. The process will involve mixing a powdered form of a photocatalyst and ethanol in a container and then agitating the substances while they are exposed to ultraviolet light. A semiconductor inside the container will generate electrons, which will be captured by gold nanoparticles in the catalyst and react with the alcohol...

The paper thin, mercury free OLED lights will be the most energy efficient kitchen lights. It is difficult to perfect white lights that are powerful enough to be suitable for kitchen use, but the OLED lights are supposed to be as bright as the typical compact fluorescent. They will also be incredibly thin and have a life span of more than 12,000 hours. The system efficiency of 71 lumens per watt will be greater than the standard requirement for undercabinet lighting, and the lights...

The idea is to create solar window shade that will harvest the sun during the day and use it to power its OLEDs at night. The shades will be made of a semi-translucent, flexible fabric that will allow the sunlight to gently seep in. The integrated solar cells will block the sun while harnessing its energy, which will power the leaf-shaped OLED's. A central cord will control the blind, allowing it to be opened, and the whole shade can be easily rolled up for storage.