Tech & Innovation

Finding the right grant There are literally hundreds of grant funding programs available supporting an enormous range of activities. The challenge is to find the...

It's probably fair to assume that when Lionel Richie sang "Dancing on the ceiling", he was on an altogether different trip to William A. Calderwood of Peoria, Arizona, author of US patent 4888836 (1989) - "Lighter-than-air furniture".

< Check out Cool Mobility's the YouTube video MOVING AND GROOVING COMPANY NAME: COOL Mobility Pty Ltd FOUNDERS: Colin Johanson & Moira McEwan ORIGINS: Company set up 2007 after five...

BI-GOODNESS is a bi-monthly column dedicated to the quirky, generally funny and often dangerously impractical inventions and business concepts that occasionally come our way....

BI-GOODNESS is a bi-monthly column dedicated to the quirky, generally funny and often dangerously impractical inventions and business concepts that occasionally come our way....

It's time to reach beyond the wayward solitary invention of a wayward solitary inventor to embrace an entire conceptual school of wayward invention: the artful Japanese science of Chindogu.

Inventors are lone wolf types, too often misunderstood and under-appreciated. So is it any wonder that their inventions sometimes reflect their sense of isolation and defiant self-reliance? It speaks to the credo: ingenuity conquers all (love is overrated).

Illustration: Sam Griffin BI-GOODNESS is a bi-monthly column dedicated to the quirky, generally funny and often dangerously impractical inventions and business concepts that occasionally come...

With much of Australia in the grip of the most serious drought in modern memory, technology promoting the efficient consumption of our most essential resource is most welcome. A key part of any water management strategy includes a precise and consistent method of monitoring water consumption.

"Innovation" is a woolly beast. It has many disguises and aliases. To get face-to-face and down and dirty with innovation is no mean feat.

James Tuckerman reviews THE GOOGLE STORY and HOW TO TURN YOUR MILLION-DOLLAR IDEA INTO A REALITY

Newsflash! Virtual Reality has arrived. If you think it's still the domain of pasty-faced geeks in bulky black goggles slaying digital dragons or bedding impossibly voluptuous sprites, brace yourself.

First off, let's be clear. We have to kill the phrase 'online classifieds'. At best, it has the weary note of strained metaphors, like moving staircases and horseless carriages. At worst, it's symptomatic of a dated way of thinking about the world. These days, winning in classifieds really means winning in markets. And that, dear readers, is a much tougher job.

It seems like every bus shelter you pass features a back-lit silhouette of a dancing girl or boy with wires coming out of their ears. You don't have to read the logo to know that it's another ad for iPod. But did you know that the ad is doing wonders for Apple PCs?

It's been a tough ride for the online crowd, but things are finally moving again, thanks to broadband uptake, new technologies and a bootstrapping ethos that never really died. We chatted to four of our leading internet entrepreneurs about the state of web 2.0 in Australia.

It's been a tough ride for the online crowd, but things are finally moving again, thanks to broadband uptake, new technologies and a bootstrapping ethos that never really died. We chatted to four of our leading internet entrepreneurs about the state of web 2.0 in Australia.

Some companies are built to be sold. The intellectual property and business processes are bedded down and bundled into a transferable package. Find a market gap, identify potential buyers, build it, drive home the value and make the trade sale. And then, if you enjoyed the ride, do it again.

The path from start-up to success story can be a challenging journey. These two Victorian innovators are taking the path less travelled, turning good ideas into profitable international businesses, and they're not looking back!

One of the great misconceptions about patents is that they can only be obtained on an invention of a tangible item. However, patents can also be obtained for how a business function is performed, provided certain criteria are met. These patents are known as "business method patents".

Illustration by Sam Griffin Are you under the pump at work? A soothing massage could be just the ticket, if only you could find the...