Nothing (and I repeat – nothing) is more disgusting than an overflowing port-a-potty at a hot summer concert. InventHelp’s Invention Girl is willing to bet that you could find new forms of life in some of those stinky things.

Inevitably, the ladies have it worse than the men, due to certain anatomical differences. To put it simply, guys have it easy because they can stand up to pee, while women have to squat, balance or (heaven forbid) sit on those filthy restroom seats.

One invention aims to level the playing field. The GoGirl is a funnel-like invention that makes it easier for women to stand and go “number one.”

The GoGirl is made of medical-grade, germ-resistant silicon that can be reused or discarded. Originally invented by a doctor for women who have hip or knee discomfort, the Minnetonka-based company is now expanding its reach to the general germaphobic public.

Sarah Dillon of Go-Girl.com even drives a custom-designed pink Mini Cooper to drive the GoGirl message along. She says business is booming since the GoGirl premiered at the Minneapolis Women’s Expo on Jan. 16. “We sold three times the product we had anticipated and sold completely out of GoGirl gear,” said Dillon.

I’m sure this product would take some getting used to, but as one of many women who enjoys world travel, outdoor activities and camping, I’m thrilled to see that someone is working to solve the great restroom debacle!

GoGirl sells for $4.99 for a single and $11.99 for a 3-pack, and is available online at Go-Girl.com.

Ladies – do you want to start 2009 in style? Forget designer handbags, diamond bracelets or $300 pairs of jeans. When it comes to trend-setting accessories, girls need gadgets!

InventHelp’s Invention Girl knows as well as anyone that gadgets aren’t just for boys anymore. Just consider the plethora of pink iPods, BlackBerrys and digital cameras on the market if you have any doubt. If you need more proof, check out Gizmine – world’s largest Japanese gadgets and lifestyle shop.

Gizmine.com is easy to navigate, with sidebar controls that allow Tech Divas to search for gadgets by price, brand and theme. The colorful assortment of gadgets displayed on their home page kept me entertained for hours!

The site is updated with new, fun gadgets every day (InventHelp’s Invention Girl is bookmarking this one). A few of my favorites include the design-oriented Middle Colors Humidifier and the Robot Toilet Paper Holder. I may be technologically advanced, but that doesn’t mean I’m above a little bathroom humor!

One of the more original ideas on the website is the USB Mirrorwebcam, perfect for you MySpace and Facebook addicts. Here’s a great way to make sure that you look as lovely on the webcam as you do in the mirror!

Gizmine offers free, unlimited email support on all of their products, and you can sign up for daily and weekly new gadget email alerts on their homepage. One thing to keep in mind – Gizmine notes that some products that ship directly from Tokyo may have product literature in Japanese. Hmm…how does learning Japanese sound for a New Year’s resolution?

One wonderful year of inventing has come to an end and another one has begun! 2008 was full of exciting new gadgets – some of our favorites at InventHelp include the SwiMP3 player and the Flip Ultra – and we’re sure that 2009 has even more dazzling innovations in store.

InventHelp’s Invention Girl has many holiday traditions, but none are quite as important as keeping tabs on the ever-changing world of technology.

Picked by InventHelp and Invention Girl, here’s a sneak peak at the technology innovations in store for you this year:

1. Dell Notebooks — We’ve seen them everywhere from coffee shops to conference rooms: those boring, ubiquitous gray Dell notebooks that serve as a third limb for business professionals. This year, Dell is splashing a little color into the business world with its new line of fashionable, artist-created laptop lids. For those of you with a creative streak, the Art House laptops can even be designed by the customer.
2. Transparent Toaster — Sure, it’s just toast. But eliminating burnt toast forever would be a welcome innovation in InventHelp’s world! Although the glass does not currently get hot enough to toast bread, some R&D could make this concept a reality. Developed by the Inventables Concept Studio, the kitchen gadget could hit shelves in 2009.
3. Hitachi Blu-ray Disc Camcorder — Films are going Blu-ray, so why not your home movies? The Hitachi DZ-BD7H, the world’s first Blu-ray camcorder, features a 30GB hard disk that allows you to record 4 hours of full HD video.

As more and more new invovations break onto the scene this year, InventHelp and Invention Girl will be here to keep you informed on the latest in tech happenings. In fact, I was so busy researching these new inventions that I forgot to make a New Year’s resolution this year!

InventHelp’s Invention Girl has a steady residence these days, but during my freer college years I’d move to a new neighborhood as nonchalantly as some folks change passwords. Navigating furniture around any odd angle is my specialty, but my least favorite part of moving is lifting boxes of heavy books.

In my collections are some of my favorite paperbacks, old classics that I inherited from my grandmother, and some terribly bulky college textbooks. After moving my books more times than I can count, I decided to donate most of them to charity and join the library.

Luckily for college students and nomads today, there’s Amazon.com’s Kindle Electronic Reader. Released last year amidst much fanfare, the Kindle was invented to make reading more convenient and eco-friendly. Just one compact, handheld Kindle can hold up to 200 books!

More than a quarter million units have been sold to date. Its texts account for a shocking 10 percent of Amazon.com’s book sales, suggesting that people are becoming more and more accustomed to the idea of reading text on a screen thanks to inventions like the Blackberry and iPhone.

Although InventHelp’s Invention Girl loves the clutter-killing idea of the Kindle, I think I’ll keep my account at the library for now. The Kindle retails for about $360, while my library membership is free. Plus, call me a traditionalist, but I like the feeling of accomplishment that I get when I finally reach the back cover of a long, heavy novel!

InventHelp’s Invention Girl has a bad habit of occasionally forgetting to lock the door, both at home and here at my InventHelp office. It’s something I’m working on! But, in case my door re-training doesn’t go as planned, there’s a new gadget that will help forgetful folks like me to be more secure!

A lock company recently invented an internet remote control option for people who forget to bolt the door when they leave the house. At the CEDIA Expo in Denver recently, Ingersoll-Rand Co.’s Schlage LiNK unit showed how doors can be locked remotely by logging onto the internet from a mobile phone or computer.

The locks are battery operated and include a keypad with a 4-digit access code. The codes are password protected and encrypted for security, the company says. When a user forgets to lock the bolt, she can enter the code into a web portal or an application that’s added to a mobile phone. The door can also be accessed with regular keys when the user is at home.

The kit includes the locks and the wireless bridge to communicate with the locks. The kit retails for $299, and there’s a $13 monthly maintenance fee to use the applications that allow for the wireless communication. The system is expected to be released later this fall.

InventHelp’s Invention Girl will do her best to keep her doors locked in the meantime!

InventHelp’s Invention Girl loves Halloween so much it’s scary. Every year, the skeletons (and witches and goblins) come out of the closet and up onto the walls. I spend months planning my costumes and relish in throwing the spookiest Halloween party in town (in my humble opinion).

What could possibly make Halloween here at InventHelp any more fun? Ghoulish gadgets, of course! Here are three inventions that help make any Halloween party a scream:

1. Wireless Fog Machine: Halloween without fog is like Christmas without mistletoe. The Fog Storm 1200 is a 1,200W high-output professional fog machine with Electronic Thermo Sensing (ETS), which means the electronic heater stays hot at all times with no warm-up time between fog blasts. It’s a little spendy, but it’ll certainly keep the party atmosphere spooky!
2. Ankle Blaster Air Cannon: Let’s be honest, here – half the fun of Halloween is scaring the bejeezus out of innocent bystanders! The Ankle Blaster Air Cannon is a simple yet smart way to spook your guests. The idea is to set up the cannon in a hidden area where your guests won’t notice it. The cannon then fires a blast of air at ankle length for 1 second. Although it doesn’t sound like much, a cold blast when you’re not expecting it can be very frightening!
3. USB Skull Drive: Even though it’s not party material, this is Invention Girl’s and InventHelp’s favorite Halloween invention. Plus, it’s a great way to share your Halloween party picks with friends and family! This bewitching gadget comes with 2GB of storage and works on both PC and MAC, meaning than any techie need not fear compatibility.

Happy Halloween from Invention Girl and InventHelp!

It’s good to be the king, and the iPhone has been reaping the luxury of royalty ever since its debut. Now, the new Google-powered T-Mobile G1 could finally challenge the reigning champion.

InventHelp’s Invention Girl is highly anticipating the release of the G1 on Oct. 22. Retailing for $179 – $20 less than that other smart phone – the G1 could target users who aren’t entirely drawn in by Apple’s space-age touchscreen design. Plus, the G1 packs a full-size keyboard, making it look very attractive to chronic texters (InventHelp’s Invention Girl is not included in these ranks!).

The G1 is well designed, but it’s what’s inside that really matters. The G1 is the first phone powered by Android – Google’s open source mobile phone software platform that gives innovative third-party developers the opportunity to create new applications. On the day of its release, the phone should have about 100 applications already available.

One application, ShopSavvy, allows G1 owners to scan the bar code of any product to comparatively shop. If this kind of technology is embraced by cell phone numbers, the number and type of available applications could balloon.

InventHelp’s Invention Girl predicted that the iPhone would make other cell phone companies work hard to impress their customer base, and from the looks of things, there’s going to be a plenty of competition! And that’s always a good thing for consumers.

Google may not knock Apple out, but we at InventHelp are excited to see another contender in the ring!

One thing that InventHelp’s Invention Girl loved about growing up in Western Pennsylvania was playing in the woods, which naturally involved a lot of dirt. Fun for me – but not so fun for my mom, who was stuck with the task of washing and drying my canvas shoes nearly every other day. Even from my bedroom I could hear the “Bang! Bang!” of the shoes in the dryer around the clock.

Fast forward X number of years (you didn’t really think you’d get that number out of me, did you?), when I grew from Little Invention Girl to InventHelp’s Invention Girl. Imagine my surprise when I found an invention that would have saved poor Mom lots of headaches. The No-Bang, offered by InventHelp’s sister company Intromark, Inc., is an invention that keeps shoes from slamming around in the dryer.

Not only is the clanging of the shoes in the dryer annoying, but it can actually damage your dryer. The No-Bang’s easy-to-use system of suction cups and a strap holds the shoes to the dryer, preventing that noisy racket. And, it sure beats sitting the shoes out to dry for days.

Don’t take my word for it. WTAE-TV, a news station here in InventHelp’s hometown of Pittsburgh, recently put the No-Bang to the test on their segment Test It Tuesday. The invention earned a 4-star rating! To see the invention in action for yourself, check out WTAE-TV’s No-Bang video and read their No-Bang blog entry.

The No-Bang retails for $5.99 and is available through the InventHelp Store.

It’s been a while since InventHelp’s Invention Girl went back to-school shopping, but that doesn’t mean I can’t dream! I’ll be the first one to admit that my mouth starts watering as soon as those back-to-school sales kick in.

My dream cart filled with back-to-school gadgets would look something like this:

• Apple’s Macbook, $999. This slick laptop is stylish, lightweight and packs a punch. As anyone who lives in an off-campus apartment knows, lugging books and computers uphill (both ways!) while trying to finish your math homework is no picnic. Lightweight and compact is the way to go. Plus, you get a free iPod with purchase. Your trek to campus just got way more enjoyable.
• Crammer Study and Sound System, $60. This new study aid is meant to replace those pesky handwritten study cards. Students can enter data for each side of virtual cards to be displayed on a 2.5-inch screen. It also boasts great language-learning features and the capacity to download up to 1 GB worth of study aids. Sure beats filling out index cards. This is one invention that your favorite InventHelp employee wishes was around when she was still in school!
• The North Face Yavapai Daypack, $75. A padded Airmesh back panel, roomy main compartment with padded laptop sleeve and plenty of pockets for organizing make this daypack a well-rounded choice. And, it comes in plenty of colors to help students show their school spirit!

Good luck to all the students returning to school this year. Be sure to pay special attention in math and science classes – those tactics might come in handy if you decide to be an inventor!

Texas Hold ‘Em exploded in popularity in the past few years, with millions flocking to online gaming sites and live tournaments. Even InventHelp’s InventHelp Girl loves getting in on a friendly poker game here and there!

Poker involves a series of forced bets, or blinds, that keep the game’s pace on track. Without them, a game of poker could go on all day! Between chips, card tables, timers and position buttons, gathering and transporting all the necessary poker supplies can be trickier than you’d think.

Despite their usefulness, blinds can also be the bane of a poker player’s existence. Keeping track of the times on cell phones or kitchen timers can be distracting for the player doomed with the task. One Portland, Ore.-based inventor took a gamble on a poker invention that he believed solved this logistical problem.

Jeff Klein invented the DB Dealer Button, which includes an adjustable blind timer and a 30-second bet clock for slow (or “thoughtful,” so says InventHelp’s Invention Girl) players. Compact enough to fit in a poker chips case, the invention helps players to focus on their strategy and not on the supplies.

So, is the invention catching on among hardcore poker players? You can bet on it – the patented token has already been licensed by the World Poker Tour. The DB Dealer Button retails for between $13.95 and $23.95. Poker enthusiasts can find it online at dbdealer.com.