The agenda items are:

1) Meeting Tweeter Upgrade (Version 2.0) — (10 min)

2) Finalization of SIDA 10 years roadmap — (30 min)

3) SAN (Sida Advisors Network) Membership/Survey form — (1 hr)

4) SIAP (Sida Inventor Assistance Programme) revision (Version 3.0) — (1 hr)

5) Invention Gossip — (1 hr)

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With best regards,

Sida Webmaster

PS: For Sida members who are interested to join in the meeting, please drop me a message at http://sida.org.sg/contact-us/

Topics for Invention Gossip

• Anti-Gravity Treadmill
  http://sida.org.sg/2012/03/27/anti-gravity-treadmill/
• Inventor of ‘sea snake’ wave-energy machine wins Saltire medal
  http://sida.org.sg/2012/03/28/inventor-of-sea-snake-wave-energy-machine-wins-saltire-medal/
• Inventor wins $1m in patent scrap over clever champagne opener
  http://sida.org.sg/2012/03/31/inventor-wins-1m-in-patent-scrap-over-clever-champagne-opener/
• Danville inventor’s small idea has big possibilities
  http://sida.org.sg/2012/04/02/danville-inventors-small-idea-has-big-possibilities/
• NUS Students invent touchscreen sensitive ISGLOVES
  http://sida.org.sg/2012/04/09/nus-students-invent-touchscreen-sensitive-isgloves/

• For starters, join a local inventor club. This will help you with networking and resources, but most importantly, it will temper your enthusiasm and excitement.
• …impulsive and emotional decision-making is the number one reason first-time inventors fall prey to sweet-sounding promises by invention promotion firms and lose an estimated $300 million annually.

• …eyeglass repair kit created by Clearwater inventor Nancy Tedeschi.
• She has sold 5 million of her SnapIt eyeglass repair kits elsewhere.

• …at $4.88. That includes a tiny screwdriver and five screws.

• Haptic technology allows users to “feel” buttons on a touch-screen device by providing localized feedback when users’ fingers touch button or control areas.

• A new patent application, uncovered by Patently Apple, shows that Apple is taking its haptic inquiry a step further.
• This multitiered haptic system would allow for an even smoother user experience, especially for users who are visually impaired.
• …ability to flex and bend to the point of creating multilevel topographical maps, a series of buttons, or a control pad for gaming or navigation.
• Clearly this technology is incredibly advanced and is unlikely to make its way to an Apple device in the next couple years…

• “This is a technology that has yet to be matured and perfected both in manufacturing process and application development,” Peker said
• “Liquidmetal is super strong, scratch and corrosion resistant, resilient and can be precision cast into complex shapes,” Peker said.
• …while plastics are cheap to manufacture in complex shapes, they aren’t strong enough.Glass can be made into complex shapes and looks great, but is fragile, and metal is hard to mould into such shapes. Liquidmetal combines advantages from all these elements, while also being extremely robust.

• …14-year-old Riley Lewis and a few of his eighth grade friends…The boys can pretty much fabricate anything they can dream up on a machine called the RapMan.

• The RapMan is a crude approximation of far more expensive and sophisticated prototyping machines used by corporations
• …RapMan melts plastic (similar to that used in Legos) and then squirts it out of a movable nozzle in a controlled fashion.
• For $1,299, anyone can now buy a 3D printer, hook it up to a Wi-Fi network, and begin downloading files that will turn into real objects.

• …a US$35 (S$43) computer the size of a credit card…
• …help nurture programming skills at an extremely low cost.

• The device looks like a computer motherboard with a variety of USB, HDMI and audio-visual ports attached.
• It boots up from an SD storage card running a customisable Linux-based operating system.
• RS Components…hopes it will also be a hit in Singapore when the company starts shipping the product here.
• It has slightly less computing power than Apple’s iPhone4.
• A website, Design Spark (http://www.designspark.com/theme/raspberrypi), has been set up to allow Raspberry Pi users to share ideas…

• A unique program to connect low-income inventors with patent attorneys to pursue patents before the US Patent and Trademark Office…
• “It is the first time ever in the world that a group of patent attorneys have gotten together – organized – to set up a program by which inventors who have great ideas but don’t have financial resources can get matched up with practicing patent attorneys who will research their inventions, counsel them, write patent applications, and file those patent applications in the US patent office,” said Kappos.use

Above is the meeting tweeter log for SIDA meeting held on 7 April 2012
(http://sida.org.sg/2012/03/06/sida-meeting-on-7-april-2012/)

• Special mechanical pencil that write without the need to “eject” the pencil lead. It has a mechanism that eject the lead automatically when you write.

• The pencils are sold in a pack of two and the lead are sold in a box with six containers (each containers consist of 12 leads).
• The marketing company that bring in this is  GTI Marketing Pte Ltd.
• There will be a promotion of the special mechanical pencil at the Popular Fair at Bukit Panjang Plaza (Singapore) from 16 till 22 April 2012

(Recommended by George)