Jeremy Gutsche
1,700 Trends
12.1 MM Views
2,768 Comments

Rockstar

Pink cigarettes, levitating furniture and keyboard pants are just a few of the unique inventions that topped our list of the top 30 unique inventions. 

The list is based on traffic to our unique discoveries in the first half of 2008. 

This is one of many features in our new FREE Micro Trend Reports section.

Top 30 Unique Inventions in 2008

1. Ice Sauna - The Snow Room Anti-Sauna

The Snow Room was showcased at a recent Hotel Equipment Fair in the ever-sunny resort of Antalya, Turkey and will be on sale in all luxury hotels and spas in 2008. The room will be offered to those hotel… [More]

2. Brass Knuckle Cups (Part II) - Thabto MUG

Not a morning person? Would you rather avoid conversation with anyone while you try to enjoy your coffee? Well it looks like your alone time with just you and your brew is about to become a reality. Thabto’s… [More]

3. Transparent Apple Displays - MacBook Touch (GALLERY)

In what could be the holy grail of tablet computing, Apple’s latest applied patent (see image below, right) showcases using a transparent multi-touch display that can work as a control surface on two sides,… [More]

4. Levitation Furniture - Hoverit Floating Lounger (GALLERY)

This is not a prop from “Future MD” or the classic “Barbarella.” It’s a Hoverit magnetic lounger. The chair levitates because of the magnets in the base and on the lounger. You know - the magic of Perez… [More]

5. Keyboard Pants - Beauty and the Geek Jeans (GALLERY)

Designer Erik De Nijs stitched up this techno-geeky pair of jeans so that wherever he went, he wouldnt be far connecting to technology. Built in to the knees are speakers for rocking while you run, and… [More]

6. Multi-Sensory Remote Communication - Nokia Scentsory Phone (GALLERY)

Finally - a phone that offers a really unique design instead of just more diamonds. This is a concept phone by Nokia called the Scentsory and it is fascinating. It evokes the human senses of sight, sound,… [More]

7. Light Tattoos & Skin Embossing - Temporary Body Mods by Kye Ok Kim (GALLERY)

This series of incredible temporary body modifcation devices was designed by Kye Ok Kim and showcased at Seoul Design Week 2007. They allow those who want to express themselves through artistic body work… [More]

8. Bionic Contact Lenses - Real Holographic Displays for the Eye (VIDEO)

Bionic eyes! For the first time, researchers have developed a safe contact lens that can give humans vision like Superman. The lens has an imprinted circuit and lights which would display graphics similar… [More]

9. Tailgate Dining - The Exhaust Cooked Burger

A team of Iranian designers came up with this brilliant cooking idea which actually isn’t as disgusting as it first looks. Your car’s exhaust is used as a barbecue to grill your food! That still sounds… [More]

10. Top 31 Unique Beds (SUPER GALLERY)

Sure you only use it for sleeping, relaxing and yes, that, but the truth is, a basic mattress and box spring just don’t cut it for most people today. Most of those who can afford it have been accustomed… [More]

11. Washing Machine Toilets - WashUp (GALLERY)

The newest and most innovative washing machine is now here. Sevin Coskun developed the WashUP concept that positioned a washing machine on top of your toilet. The water that’s used to clean your clothes… [More]

12. Touch-Screen Menus - Restaurants & Bars with Interactive Tabletops (VIDEO)

A wave of ubiquitous computing is sweeping the world, with incredible inventions like touch-screen tabletops hitting restaurants and bars, allowing for waiterless ordering with interactive menus, or sheer… [More]

13. Outdoor Air Conditioning - Intelli Cool

Do you hate going outside on summer days? Is it because you can’t bare the heat of the sun? You won’t have to stay cooped up indoors with you air conditioning blasted anymore thanks to a remarkable invention!… [More]

14. Beds on Ceilings - Bedup by Decadrages (GALLERY)

As more people than ever are moving to the cities, they’re having to deal with small space living. If you keep your mind open to creativity, you can come up with some really ingenious uses of space. French… [More]

15. Floating 3D Graffiti - “Tagged in Motion” by DAIM (VIDEO)

“Tagged in Motion” is a project created by graffiti artist DAIM, that eliminates a graffer canvas of a solid matter and unveils the ability to be able to tag in mid air, creating a virtual world of… [More]

16. Hi-Tech Fashion Has Lungs - Smoking Jacket

This remarkably high-tech jacket is designed for the polite smoker who doesn’t want to fumigate non-smokers in the area. When exhaling, the wearer of the Smoker Jacket can blow down the side of the collar… [More]

17. Girlfriend Simulators - Accessories For Lonely Men (GALLERY)

When she’s there, she does little things that irritate the heck out of you, like hogging the blankets on cold nights. But when she’s gone, you miss her horribly, quirks and all. If you can relate, you’ll… [More]

18. Three-Wheeled Green Machine - TREV Concept Car (GALLERY)

Trev! What makes this little guy unique is that it was designed by the students at the University of South Australia. After spending several years in development, out spawn Trev, a three-wheeled green… [More]

19. Folding Flat-Pack Footwear - EIN/Tritt Origami Shoes (GALLERY)

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto one might say when opening the shoe box to find these folding shoes from EIN/Tritt shoe concepts. Designer Catherine Meuter has shown how shoe manufacturing can turn flat shoe… [More]

20. Dump Truck of the Future? - The Super Tipper (GALLERY)

Current tipper trucks can only unload their cargo one way which usually requires the driver to maneuver the truck ever so carefully. Designer Haishan Deng solves this problem with his new creation, the… [More]

21. Bum Covers Hide Your Thongs - Hip-T (GALLERY)

Ladies, how many times have you released your thong was poking out of your low rise jeans? Or that your tummy or lower back was suddenly getting a draft because those stupid designers couldn’t create a… [More]

22. Magical Glass Concept - Tablet Tells You About What You See (GALLERY)

I instantly fell in love with this concept. Imagine having a magical glass with you that you can use to obtain information about anything you see. The thin ultra-connected tablet device by Japanese Mac… [More]

23. Video Handbag - Louis Vuitton LCD Screen Mini Trunk (VIDEO)

Cartoon characters have been a big influence on the s/s 08 catwalk. Designers are inspiring us to be playful and less serious with our fashion preferences. There were Bambi, Batman and Tinkerbell references… [More]

24. Tunnel Telescope From NYC to London - Telectroscope (GALLERY)

Completion of a 100 year old engineering project finally happened a few days ago. The tunnel between New York and London, called the Telectroscope, allows residents of both cities to peer down the giant… [More]

25. Phone, Computer & More Under Your Skin - Digital Tattoo Interface

The Greener Gadgets Conference had some really ‘interesting’ concepts. Take this concept by Jim Mielke for example; a gadget that is ‘tattooed’ under your skin and runs on blood by turning glucose and… [More]

26. Wrap-Around LED Touch Screen - P-Per Concept Phone (GALLERY)

If your job was to sit a dream of better things with today’s products, could you come up with a cooler phone than the P-per? The Chocolate Agency released a concept for a mobile phone that is composed… [More]

27. Disappearing Nail Polish - Red Nails Look Clear Indoors

Some students at Albion High School in Salford, England invented a “vanishing” nail polish as part of a project with Salford University’s school of art and design. In addition, their new invention was… [More]

28. Transforming Self-Cleaning Phone - Nokia Morph Concept (VIDEO)

Super cool! The cutting-edge Nokia Morph concept phone uses nanotechnology based flexible materials, transparent electronics and self-cleaning surfaces to produce a mobile device that is “… stretchable… [More]

29. Turn Your iPhone Into a Desktop - Mac Funamizu’s Gadget Hacks (GALLERY)

This awesome concept by talented designer Mac Funamizu takes inspiration from Microsoft’s Play Anywhere for a stand system that turns your iPhone into a desktop PC. The system works by mounting the… [More]

30. Pink Cigarettes - Birthday Colored Cigs from Heupink & Bloemen

For years Heupink and Bloemen Tobacco Company, Netherlands, has strived to change the otherwise generic taste and appearance of everybody’s favourite carcinogen.  The Dutch company has rolled out a series… [More]