Move over ShamWow, yesterday the next big Infomercial thing was found, right here in Manhattah. Z100 hosted their Next Great Infomercial Inventor contest in TriBeCa, where a Hoboken duo took home the top prize for their fancy bra straps. Jan Lori and Chuck Strube won $50,000 for their Hott Straps, which replace your boring old bra straps with rhinestones. (A thing that already exists... in more than one place.) Anyway, it seems like something we'll be seeing a lot of on upcoming seasons of The Real Housewives! more ›

City Room's Jennifer 8. Lee filed a report from the TED Conference about the Rescue Reel. It's a $2,000 device where "people strap themselves into the harness, lock the reel to a stationary point like a door frame and gently propel themselves backward down the outside of a building," and investor Dr. Kevin R. Stone was inspired by the wrenching footage of people jumping from the burning World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. He told her, "I was appalled that those people can’t get out. My immediate thought was, ‘I can reel in a 400-pound fish. Why can’t I reel out a 400-pound person?’" more ›

One positive addition to Coney Island recently took place, as Councilman Domenic M. Recchia Jr. dedicated the corner of Stillwell and Mermaid Avenues to Granville T. Woods Way. Woods not only invented some of the technology that keeps the subways running, but he also helped bring us the roller coaster -- an invention he debuted at Coney Island in the summer of 1909. A little bit more about the man:

In 1887, he patented the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph, which allowed communications between train stations from moving trains. Granville T. Woods' invention made it possible for trains to communicate with the station and with other trains so they knew exactly where they were at all times. more ›

With all this talk about futuristic transportation, we have yet seen a new vehicle to fit in with the aerotropolis or belt train...until now! There's one day left on an eBay auction for "The last Concept Sky Commuter aircraft in Existence," and it can all be yours for $49,000 (though that price will likely go up as the bidding nears an end). more ›

The other day we visited the past's future by looking at the aero-tropolis, now let's see what how the future of mass transit was envisioned back in the day. The future, straphangers, is all about endless belt trains! Modern Mechanix takes a look at the November 1932 debut of the vision:

Transporation of city inhabitants through subway or overhead tubes on endlessly moving belts, providing more speed and comfort than our present systems of passenger service, loom as a possibility, according to Norman W. Storer, engineer of the Westinghouse Electrical Co., who has developed the idea. more ›