Low-Tech Inventions – Or “Why didn’t I think of that?”

• Upside Down Ketchup Squeeze Bottle

• Sliced bread – One person I know who spent time in Africa said they don’t have sliced bread there. The most number of slices you can get out of a loaf of fresh bread with a standard sharp knife is about 5 slices. If the bakery slices it with the best invention ever—the bread slicer—you can get a lot more slices out of that fresh loaf, so it’s truly an important low-tech invention.

• Velcro - 'nuf said

• Airborne – A simple herbal formula that many swear by.

• FedEx – Spoke-and-hub distribution made next-day delivery anywhere in the US possible.

• eBay – No fancy web technology here, just an old problem begging for new solutions.

• Baking Soda Toothpaste

• Baking Soda Odor Eater

• Zero (0) – Believe it or not, the number 0 was not made up with the rest of the number system. It was invented independently by many societies to resolve certain mathematical ambiguities. (more info)

• Trivia before movie previews – A great use of unoccupied time and space.

• Atkins Diet - Eat meat, get fit. What could be more elegant?

• Car Audio Cassette Adapter

• Car Audio FM Transmitting Adapter

• Purell antibiotic hand cleaner

• Canned Condensed Soup - Invented by an MIT grad, Dr. John T. Dorrance, co-founder of Campbell's Soup.

• Electric Guitar

• Miniblinds

• Legless high chair

• Child Video & Audio Monitor

• Bagged Lettuce – Nitrogen packaging preserves freshness

• Gatorade – Flavored salty water basically.

• Flowbee

• VW Bug

• Pump basketball shoes

• "Memento" the movie – An innovation in film, where the simple invention is playing the story in reverse.

• Democracy - We have to keep in mind that the US is a 200-year-old experiment in government by the people.

• Ambient Orb™ Stock Market / Weather Monitor

Image credits: http://www.4gourmetfood.net/, http://www.airbornehealth.com/, http://www.armandhammer.com/, http://www.coolusb.ca/, http://www.beijingtraveltips.com/, http://www.art.com/, http://www.physics.ncsu.edu/, http://www.mhrw.com/, http://www.brookstone.com/