The Zippo, that stalwart status symbol of the smoky second half of the 20th century, was born in 1932 in the most inauspicious of settings: a rented room over the Rickerson and Pryde auto shop in tiny Bradford, Penn. Equipped with a kitchen hotplate for soldering, a used welding kit, and a punch press, founder George Blaisdell and two employees went to work. In the first month of production, January 1933, they produced 82 lighters. In February, output jumped to 367. By 2006, the total number of Zippo lighters surpassed 425 million lighters. And now, there’s a Zippo app for the iPhone and the Droid phone that allows users to recreate the Zippo moment–when a concert audience raises its lighters in the air. The digital Zippo operates just like the real thing, opening with a flick of the wrist, lighting with a swipe of the flint wheel and mimicking real flame movement as the user waves his phone in the air.

When ownership of this gadget crept past 1 million in 2002, TV and advertising execs worried aloud that DVRs, by enabling viewers to skip commercials, were surefire TV killers. “There’s no Santa Claus,” one CEO said. “If you don’t watch the commercials, someone’s going to have to pay for television and it’s going to be you.” Fast forward to today: 40 percent of households have a DVR; whether out of habit or laziness almost 50 percent of DVR users still watch ads; and the networks have, on average, seen ratings jump 10 percent, thanks to playback.

As the American populace went forth after World War II into the woods to camp, onto the lakes to fish, and into the parking lots to tailgate, it required a gadget capable of keeping beer cool and food from spoiling. The portable cooler, patented in 1953 by Richard Laramy and popularized by the Coleman Company, was that obvious, but essential device.

As a publishing luminary of the expatriate bohemian scene in late-’20s Paris, Caresse Crosby helped launch the careers of D.H. Lawrence, Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce. Years earlier, as a 19-year-old Manhattan socialite, she laid the groundwork for a fashion revolution when she and the family maid used two silk handkerchiefs, pink ribbon, and a cord to produce a forerunner to the modern bra. She patented her “backless brassiere” in 1914 and then sold the patent to the Warner Bros. Corset Co. the following year for $1500. Writing later in life, she said: “I can’t say the brassiere will ever take as great a place in history as the steamboat, but I did invent it.”

Stephen Poplawski invented the blender in 1922, but his name is not the one most often associated with the gadget. That honor belongs to Fred Waring–an orchestra leader in Pennsylvania who, in 1936, offered financial backing to a tinkerer named Frederick Osius who was developing a similar invention. One reason for Waring’s interest: He could use Osius’s widget to puree raw vegetables for the ulcer diet his doctors prescribed. The Waring Blender debuted in 1937 and cost $29.75; by 1954 one million of the devices had been sold.

Originally dubbed the Power Drencher when it debuted in 1989, the Super Soaker was the brainchild of NASA engineer Lonnie Johnson. The idea for the world’s greatest squirt gun grew out of Johnson’s lab work on a heat pump. He told the AP in 1992, “I was watching the stream of water come out of the nozzle and stream across the bathroom and strike a towel. The curtains were swirling around the bathroom. It was pretty impressive. I thought, ‘That would make a pretty neat water gun.’” Since, no fewer than two dozen Super Soaker models have contributed to backyard mayhem–and none is more coveted than the CPS 2000 Mk1. The most powerful water gun ever manufactured, it shoots nearly 1 liter of water per second up to 50 feet. The Mk1 was discontinued soon after its release, but it’s available on eBay for a cool $350.



Prior to the introduction of this gadget, the ski hill could be an unforgiving place. Strapped to two planks, the skier was always one tough tumble away from catastrophic injury. It was one such break–a severe spinal fracture–that motivated Norweigan-American skiing champion Hjalmar Hvam to conceive the first safety binding in 1937. “When I came out of the ether I called the nurse for a pencil and paper,” he once wrote. “I had awakened with the complete principle of a release toe iron.” Subsequent developments in safety bindings changed the perception of skiing from a high-risk endeavor to a leisurely pursuit, and the sport boomed.

In 1941, the USDA’s Lyle Goodhue and William Sullivan used the newly discovered refrigerant, Freon, to enable the deployment of a lethal (to critters, anyway) mist by American troops fighting on insect-infested fronts. The “bug bomb” cocktail, held in a 16-ounce steel canister, consisted of Freon-12, sesame oil and pyrethrum (the last is a natural insecticide derived from chrysanthemum blooms).

98. Roomba

Before it unveiled the Roomba Floorvac for the home market in 2002, iRobot built land-mine-clearing robots, which used the so-called crop circle algorithm. This very same technology was adapted to make the Roomba circle and sweep autonomously. Within a year of its launch, iRobot’s Roomba Floorvac was the top gift request on American wedding registries, and sales of the revolutionary vacuum cleaner surpassed the combined total number of all mobile robots previously sold.

99. Stapler

No office supply has enjoyed a star turn quite like that of the stapler, which had its breakthrough role in the comedy Office Space. Much of the movie’s plot revolved around Milton Waddams’s beloved red Swingline, but it was only in 2002, three years after the film’s release–and in response to demand from fans–that Swingline went to market with a red stapler.

99. Stapler

No office supply has enjoyed a star turn quite like that of the stapler, which had its breakthrough role in the comedy Office Space. Much of the movie’s plot revolved around Milton Waddams’s beloved red Swingline, but it was only in 2002, three years after the film’s release–and in response to demand from fans–that Swingline went to market with a red stapler.

100. Fiberglass Fishing Rod

When hostilities in Asia curtailed bamboo imports, rod producers like Shakespeare, Phillipson, and Montague needed a new material to keep anglers equipped with low-cost, quality tackle in the ’50s and ’60s. Fiberglass fit the bill.

101. Duct Tape

NASA astronauts have used it to make repairs on the moon and in space. The MythBusters built a boat and held a car together with the stuff. Brookhaven National Laboratory fixed their particle accelerator with it. And enthusiasts have used it to make prom dresses and wallets. You might say it’s a material, not a gadget, but trust us: Duct tape is the ultimate multitool.

Brad Pitt took to the streets of Los Angeles, California

There’s no doubt about it, Jennifer Aniston loves a man who rides motorcycles!
Jen’s new beau – funnyman Justin Theroux – was spotted riding a motorcycle in New York City on Wednesday, June 22. Justin’s hog habit won’t come as a surprise to Jen fans as her ex-husband Brad Pitt has a well-established love of motorcycles. Hm, maybe Jen has a type?
Justin rode his motorcycle to meet up with controversial fashion photographer Terry Richardson.

Wednesday night bike night, had a great turnout. CyclePath Magazine showed up to give support. Look for CyclePath Magazine at a Bike Night near you. See you at the next one.

The DUB Magazine Project is an eight-part, half-hour, weekly magazine and variety show that will bring viewers under the hood with some of the biggest celebrities out there to understand their lifestyle, cars and events that continue to make car culture vibrant and entertaining. Intimate interviews will be featured each week with everyone from Wiz Khalifa to Shaquille O’neal, Lil Wayne, Sean Kingston, The Game, Tyreke Evans and Nick Cannon, among others.

From the entertainers who are looking to show off their new toys, to the events that showcase the latest vehicles and the pressure of meeting A-List demands of prized possessions, DUB will bring viewers into the driver’s seat of car culture.