November is American Diabetes Month, and we at InventHelp are ready to help spread the word!

Chances are you know someone who has diabetes or is affected by diabetes, a serious disease that leads to potentially life-threatening complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and amputation. More than 24 million children and adults in the United States live with diabetes, and 57 million Americans are at risk for type 2 diabetes. Alarmingly, 1 out of every 3 children born today will face a future with diabetes if current trends continue.

While the numbers seem grim, recent inventions make living with diabetes more manageable. Pen injectors, which deliver vital insulin, look more like ball-point pens than scary medical syringes, taking some of the fear out of managing the disease. The OmniPod® is another favorite invention of diabetes patients, because it allows them to wear the small, discreet pod to deliver insulin without shots or tubing.

Looking ahead, the Medingo Medical Solutions Solo™ Insulin Dispensing Patch would feature a miniature patch and remove control that allows users to personalize insulin doses based on their body’s needs.

InventHelp and Gadget Girl invite you to join the American Diabetes Association in launching a national movement to Stop Diabetes^sm. If you’re living with diabetes, share your story on Facebook and Twitter. Other ways to help include reaching out to the American Diabetes Association, where they can provide medical, lifestyle and motivational information for those living with or at risk for diabetes. Volunteering opportunities are available, too!

How has diabetes affected you? InventHelp’s Gadget Girl invites your comments!

In the 1970s, a full Rolodex was the business professional’s best friend. A key item on any bigwig’s desk, this rotating file device was used to store business contact information on specially designed cards. In today’s technology-obsessed business world, these once must-have inventions serve as more of a paperweight than anything!

InventHelp’s Gadget Girl is learning that digital business cards are fast growing in popularity. More than 20 services allow people to exchange electronic business cards. Here’s a few of our favorite digital card inventions:

First, there’s SnapDat, a free iPhone application that enables iPhone addicts to send digital images of their business cards. This mobile contact sharing application keeps the familiar look and feel of a traditional business card, if you’re not quite ready to dive right into the digital trend.

If you’re a fan of Twitter, like many of us at InventHelp are, then TwtBizCard helps you to personalize and share your business card. Twitter fans can instantly start tweeting with the hash tag, #twtbizcard, or add #twtbizcard to an @reply.

If you’re drowning in a sea of business cards that you never use, CloudContacts is for you. Simply send them your paper business cards, and CloudContacts will scan, transcribe and connect your business cards on social networks, email services and CRM systems. Your contacts can be exported and viewed online in a variety of convenient formats.

InventHelp’s Gadget Girl doesn’t expect paper business cards to disappear anytime soon (I’ve got about a thousand in my desk!), but these web-based services make it easier than ever to keep your important contacts current and always accessible.

Welcome to the new age of professional networking!

“Don’t throw stones if you live in a glass house…”

Metaphorical quotes like this use glass as a symbol for fragility. Just think about delicate little Cinderella and her glass slipper if you need any more convincing!

InventHelp’s Gadget Girl has learned that the fragile reputation of glass may get a little beefier with the invention of a new type of blast-resistant glass. This blast-resistant glass could prove to be an effective and inexpensive way to better protect Federal buildings and other vulnerable structures.

In testing, the glass resisted a hand grenade-strength bomb explosion that originates close to the window panel. Although the glass cracked due to the impact of the explosion, it didn’t puncture the composite layer. This means that injuries caused by broken glass could be reduced or eliminated in the event of an explosion or attack. More tests are planned for larger-scale explosions and researchers are optimistic about the results.

What makes this glass particularly useful from a building standpoint is that it’s lighter and thinner (it measures only one-half inch thick), making it less expensive to manufacture. The inventors of this new glass replaced a layer of plastic found in conventional blast-resistant glass with a transparent composite material made of glass fibers embedded in plastic. These microthin fibers leave less room for defects in the glass that can lead to breakage.

Thanks for stopping by the blog at InventHelp, where our glass is always half-full!

Hair restoration has come a long way since those “Hair Club for Men” commercials dominated the airwaves years ago. Feared and dreaded “hair plugs” have been replaced by high-tech, precise hair-replacement inventions that allow individuals to have hair transplanted just about anywhere!

Thanks to these new technology inventions, unusual hair transplants are sprouting up all over the country and all over the body. While the scalp is still by far the most popular hair-transplant area on the body, eyebrows are making strides as well. The face (beards and mustaches), chest and other more, ahem, delicate areas can also receive transplants.

InventHelp’s Gadget Girl has heard horror stories about eyebrow loss due to overzealous plucking and permanent makeup procedures. In one case, a woman had eyebrows permanently tattooed on her face, only to have them fade to an awful “salmon orange” color over time. She had the eyebrow tattoo removed with a laser and discovered that the laser destroyed her hair follicles. After doing some research, she decided to have hair transplanted from her scalp to her eyebrows.

There are two types of procedures that are most common. “Strip harvesting” involves taking out a strip of scalp skin, usually from the back of the head, and then microscopically separating that strip into hundreds (or thousands) of follicular units. “Follicular unit extraction” (FUE) is a newer process in which the clusters are harvested individually.

Doctors note that both procedures, like any surgery, should be carefully considered because there are health risks involved. If you’re considering the procedure, InventHelp’s Gadget Girl recommends doing your homework and finding a reputable, experienced doctor. Prices for the process can range into the thousands of dollars.

As for the woman with the eyebrow transplant, she told MSNBC that she has to constantly trim her eyebrows and that they’re a bit coarser than normal. Still, she’s happy with the results. “You would never think to look at me that my eyebrows came from the back of my head,” she said.

These days, it’s easier to find a WiFi hotspot than a pay phone! That’s great for those of us that love technology and gadgets, but it makes life tricky for the “unplugged population.”

InventHelp’s Gadget Girl knows plenty of grandmas and grandpas who love to email and Facebook with the best of ‘em, but there are still many elderly folks who are not wired in. Aside from bills and solicitations in the mailbox, our Golden Generation may be feeling left out of modern communications. People just don’t write letters much anymore! Rather than leave older individuals facing an empty mailbox, you could use one invention to keep everyone connected.

Sunnygram is a service that sends Grandpa a letter once a week, delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. Family members and friends simply email the company correspondence and photos, and Sunnygram prints it out, formats it like a newsletter and pops it in the mail.

Sunnygram includes a self-addressed stamped envelope that Pap can use to handwrite a reply; these replies are scanned by Sunnygram and emailed to the right people. Or, users can call a toll-free number and leave a reply message, and Sunnygram will transcribe it and send it along. The service costs $9.95 a month.

Communication is one of the best gifts you can give an elderly friend or family member. And even though we at InventHelp love technology, we understand that not everyone is a fan.

Inventions that help to keep loved ones connected are always welcome!

As many of you reading this have probably heard, the direct response television industry lost a true pioneer last weekend, with the untimely and sudden death of TV Pitchman Billy Mays. Billy, well known for his thumbs-up pitches and larger-than-life personality, was born in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, just minutes away from our InventHelp and INPEX headquarters, here in Pittsburgh.

Over the years, Billy had been seen hawking everything from Orange Glo to Oxiclean, and most recently was featured alongside Anthony Sullivan in the Discovery Channel reality show, Pitchmen. Like many consumers, I was also a big fan of Billy Mays and had the opportunity to meet him at the Inventors Corner back in March at the Home & Housewares Show. It was a true pleasure to meet the man who made selling products on television look like a fine art and whose zest for life was infectious.

On behalf of the entire InventHelp and INPEX staff, our condolences go out to the Mays family. He will be greatly missed.

We at InventHelp remember Billy Mays as a passionate pitchman with a booming personality and voice to match. Always donning his trademark blue shirt as the face of products like OxiClean and Orange Glo, Billy’s “everyman” appeal drove consumers to buy millions of the products he pitched.

Sadly, Billy passed away this Sunday at his Tampa home. Autopsy reports showed that Billy suffered from heart disease. His sudden and untimely death at only age 50 shocked those of us who were lucky enough to meet Billy and experience his larger-than-life personality.

Born just minutes from InventHelp’s headquarters, Billy Mays grew up in McKees Rocks, Pa. He developed his unique pitching style on the boardwalk in Atlantic City before moving on to home show circuits, where crowds were drawn to Billy’s infectious spirit and genial manner. In the mid-1990s, Billy met Orange Glo International founder Max Appel at a home show in Pittsburgh and soon found himself hawking the environmentally friendly line on the Home Shopping Network.

InventHelp’s Gadget Girl recalls seeing Billy Mays pitch OxiClean and I instantly liked his jovial style and “thumbs-up” exuberance. Recently, I religiously watched his Discovery Channel show Pitchmen on Wednesday nights. Billy’s natural charisma was on full display in the show, and it was clear that he genuinely wanted to make people’s dreams come true. “I enjoy what I do,” he told The Associated Press in a 2002 interview. “I think it shows.”

InventHelp and Gadget Girl extend our deepest sympathies to the Mays family and Billy’s friends and colleagues. With Billy’s tragic passing, the invention community lost a great advocate and his one-of-a-kind style will be missed by all.

My friendly InventHelp coworkers will be the first to tell you that I’m a little crazy about my teeth. Brushing and flossing come as naturally to me as breathing and blinking. But even for a seasoned dental-health advocate like InventHelp’s Gadget Girl, a visit to the dentist can be a little scary – especially when the feared and dreaded drill is involved.

I know plenty of adults who are terrified of the dentist’s drill. I can’t imagine what their parents went through during those childhood checkups! Today, both parents and kids could have an easy (and dare I say fun) time at the dentist’s office or hospital thanks to an invention called PediSedate.

PediSedate is a medical device consisting of a colorful, toy-like headset that connects to a game component such as the Nintendo Game Boy system or a portable CD player. While the child is entertained, the invention monitors the child’s respiratory function and distributes nitrous oxide, a common anesthetic. The child can drift off to sleep while enjoying a fun activity, reducing stress for the child, parent and the doctor.

Geoffrey Hart, M.D., the company’s founder, recognized the need to reduce the anxiety and fear in children undergoing medical treatment. Dr. Hart invented the PediSedate because he believed by making the hospital or dental treatment “fun,” appointments could go quicker and more smoothly.

To ensure patient safety, the PediSedate’s headset features a pulse-oximeter that monitors oxygenation, as well as a capnometer to monitor second-to-second respiratory rate. The anesthesia is delivered via a patented delivery/scavenging mask situated in the headset’s snorkel.

And let’s not forget that the device can hook up to a Nintendo Game Boy. Kids these days get all the breaks, right?

Even with medical inventions like the PediSedate, there’s no substitute for brushing and flossing after every meal. There – that should make my dentist proud!

InventHelp’s Gadget Girl was flipping through the channels this week when I heard a familiar voice. Billy Mays – famous for his booming voice (and Pittsburgh accent) on infomercials for Oxi-Clean, Orange Glo and a slew of other products – has transformed from spokesman to invention hunter on his show Pitchmen, now airing Wednesdays at 10 pm on The Discovery Channel.

Mays, who grew up in the Pittsburgh suburb of McKees Rocks just minutes from InventHelp headquarters, and fellow pitchman Anthony Sullivan scour the world for inventions they believe they can pitch to the masses. The show can be an emotional rollercoaster as Mays and Sullivan make or break the dreams of these dedicated inventors.

I had the pleasure of seeing Mays just recently at the 2009 International Home & Housewares Show at McCormick Place in Chicago. Michael Tsang, the winner of our 2009 Inventors’ Corner Direct Response Panel Review, was thrilled to have his prize presented to him by Mays and Sullivan. His invention, the Plate Topper, is a cover that keeps food fresh by sealing itself over the top of a dinner plate.

Coincidentally, Tsang had met Billy Mays before. As a student at Princeton four years ago, Mays gave Tsang some feedback on an earlier model of the Plate Topper. Tsang incorporated Mays’ suggestions, and today he feels the feedback helped to advance the invention to where it is today.

“I’ve done everything I wanted,” Mays, who today lives in Florida with his wife and children, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Now I want to give back with this new show and help other people take their product to the next level. It’s the American dream, and I’m helping them achieve it. I’m proud of that.”

It seems, at least to those of us here at InventHelp, that Billy Mays was born for the job of helping inventors. Gadget Girl is sure to stay glued to The Discovery Channel’s Pitchmen and watch our hometown pitchman in action!

InventHelp’s Gadget Girl knows better than to mock someone else’s invention ideas. I knew one inventor who always said that inventions are like family. “No one is allowed to make fun of my family but me!” he joked. But, not everyone feels the invention camaraderie like InventHelp and Gadget Girl.

Fox News compiled a list of what it considers to be the 10 Worst Inventions in History. Sure, opinion is subjective, but it’s hard for even an invention lover like myself to disagree with some of these! Click on the product name to learn more and read the full text of the article here.

1. The Detachable Dog Sack – Animal safety alert! This sack holds the dog on the outside of the vehicle so Rover can’t shed hair in the cab. Yikes!
2. Kitty Wig – The name says it all. Truth be told, I find animal clothing and accessories to be pretty hilarious. Nothing gets me going around Halloween like a Daschund in a lobster costume. But, a blue wig? That’s pushing it.
3. iPhone Fingers – Smudges be gone!
4. The Pedal-Powered Wheelchair – Why not pedal… if it’s an option.
5. The Inflatable Dartboard – Thankfully, a puncture repair kit included.
6. iFlyz Portable Media Player Airline Holder – Billed as “Your in-flight personal media solution”, this iPhone, iTouch and iPod compatible device clips to an airline tray in the stowed and locked position. Come on, Fox News, that isn’t so bad!
7. Motorola’s P970 – It’s a battery-powered battery charger. Maybe not the most efficient product but it did make it to market!
8. Method for Collision Recognition With a Pedestrian – This device determines if you’ve hit a person or an object. To those of us at InventHelp, wouldn’t it make more sense to just stop?
9. Anti-Eating Face Mask – Why exercise when you can strap a metal cage to your face?
10. The Prankster Fire Alarm Trap – This invention cuffs mischievous pranksters who falsely pull a fire alarm. But, what if there’s really a fire? InventHelp’s Gadget Girl has to concur with Fox on this one!

While some of these ideas don’t compare with world-changing inventions like the Internet or antibiotics, each one was invented as a solution to a problem. For that, we at InventHelp salute these inventors. That being said… I’d have to agree with Fox News on some of these. Call me crazy, but I still see a market for the Kitty Wig!