Looking at the new running shoes unveiled by Spanish start-up FBR you would be forgiven for thinking it incomplete, but the missing heel in the sole is actually by design.

Athletic trainer Franc Beneyto came up with the idea for a heelless running shoe five years ago, after reading the book “Running with the Kenyans”, by Adharanand Finn, a journalist and amateur runner who lived for a few months in Kenya with athletes and coaches to investigate why they were able to run more, faster and get injured less frequently than others. In the book, Finn wrote that Kenyans had refined a natural running technique that didn’t require the support of the heel, but instead relied on the Achilles tendon, plantar arch, soleus and calf muscle. That got him thinking, and one day he just cut off the heel of a running shoe to see what running in it would feel like.

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The simplest way to describe Chrom is as a nail polish for your teeth. It lets you color your chompers in 10 various colors, doesn’t smudge and lasts for up to 24 hours.

If you’re bored with your pearly whites, or just want them to match the color of your fingernails or your outfit, you can now use an innovative ‘tooth polish’ to paint them any way you like. The formula for Chrom was reportedly created by dentists and consists of a grain alcohol base and pigments similar to high-quality coloring. It doesn’t stain the teeth, it’s not permanent and it doesn’t have any taste so you can enjoy your favorite foods while looking freaky.

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If you’ve been looking for a way to prevent your pet cat from scratching you whenever you try to bathe or groom it, maybe try these bizarre anti-scratching boots. Don’t expect your beloved pet to thank you, though.

The first time I saw these adjustable anti-scratching boots for cats on Chinese online marketplace Aliexpress, I thought they were a prank, but it turns that they are a real product designed to help pet owners seal off their cats’ paws and prevent scratching completely. They are supposed to be used for certain situations like bathing, nail clipping or visits to the vet, but I know a few people crazy enough to leave these plastic contraptions on for long periods of time just to make sure their cat doesn’t ruin the living room sofa.

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What good is a walking stick if you have to bend over to pick it up whenever it falls down? That was the question that inspired a Greek industrial designer to design Kevdia, a light yet durable walking stick that always stands upright.

The secret of the Kevdia walking stick is a weighted self-balancing base which makes the stick pop right back up whenever it is dropped. This allows the elderly or people with disabilities to confidently let go of the walking stick whenever they need to, without having to hang it on something or bend over to pick it up if it falls down. Made out of lead, the weighted base also promotes a more solid placement of the tip, enhancing the stability and the confidence of the user.

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Ever wish you could play a game of catch at night, without needing a powerful light source? Well, with the new SparkCatch LED-illuminated baseball, now you can.

SparkCatch, aka Meteor Baseball, is the brainchild of two Chinese baseball enthusiasts who spent over four years trying to come up with a solution that would allow like-minded baseball fans play the beautiful game anytime, even in the dead of night, without proper lighting. After years of researching materials and concepts, about 100 tests and three generations of prototypes, the two young entrepreneurs managed to come up with an illuminated baseball that can actually withstand being hit with a baseball bat.

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If you’re a vegetarian who is curious about or misses the taste of smoked ham, you’ll be pleased to learn that there’s an interesting substitute you can try.

Will Horowitz, owner of Ducks Eatery in East Village, NYC, has caused an Internet sensation with his new “smoked ham” which actually consists not of meat, but a whole watermelon. At first glance, Will’s creation looks entirely like meat, complete with scoring and charring. And even when you cut into it, the middle has red “flesh”, reminiscent of a rare steak. But the taste is something different; while the initial taste is a salty, meaty one, it quickly transforms into sweetness, especially as you get closer into the center of the faux ham.

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Japanese company Thanko recently launched a handheld, battery-powered device that allows you to wash the dishes without getting your hands dirty.

Let’s face it, most people hate washing the dishes. And it’s not just the chore itself that’s putting them off, but the fact that they have to touch those disgusting food scraps while they’re doing it. Well, if you’ve been hoping for a solution to this problem, your prayers have been answered. Introducing “Kurasa Wash” a quirky handheld device that does all the dirty work for you. Just take any dirty dish or bowl, grip it with the two crab-like arms of the device and then just push a button. Kurasa Wash will add detergent and start spinning the dish while scrubbing it with brushes and sponges. All you have to do is hold the dish under running water for rinsing and you’re done.

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French car maker Citroën recently unveiled a pair of glassless, liquid-filled eye-glasses that can reportedly treat the symptoms of motion sickness.

Called Seetroën, the ingenious eyeglasses use Boarding Ring technology, which was created by a French start-up of the same name, to treat motion sickness in just a few minutes. According to the official press release, after being worn for 10 to 12 minutes, “the glasses enable the mind to resynchronise with the movement perceived by the inner ear while the eyes were focused on an immobile object such as a smartphone or a book,” and the wearer can just take them off and enjoy the rest of the journey.

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Chinese media recently reported about a new high-tech laser assault rifle that can allegedly fire an energy beam that cannot not be seen by the naked eye, but can cause “instant carbonization” of human tissue from up to half a mile away.

Called ZKZM-500, the laser rifle was developed by scientists at the Xian Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shaanxi province, and is apparently ready for mass production, with the first units scheduled to be given to anti-terrorism squads in the Chinese Armed Police. It has been described as a non-lethal weapon that can be used in various situations, like hostage situations, where police would fire it through windows at targets and temporarily disable them while other teams moved in to free the hostages. It definitely wouldn’t be the first time that a sci-fi technology became reality, but in this particular case, many believe that laser rifles are still impossible in real life.

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Limbo, a spinning top developed by Fearless Toys, was recently recognized by the World Guinness Book of Records as the world’s longest-running mechanical spinning top after spinning continuously for a whopping 27 hours, 9 minutes and 24 seconds.

Limbo may look like an ordinary spinning top, but it actually houses a high-tech mechanism that allows it to spin for hours on end. Hidden inside the metallic toy – if you can even call it that – are a variety of components that work together to make the magic happen – a special asymmetric flywheel motor, a high-end motion sensor, a rechargeable battery and an advanced system-on-a-chip that constantly monitors Limbo’s stability and applies dozens of motion corrections every second to keep it spinning.

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Erik Finman, the world’s youngest Bitcoin millionaire, recently made headlines for creating a real-life, functional version of Dr. Octopus’ iconic four-arm prosthesis for a young Marvel fan who also suffers from hypermobility symptoms.

19-year-old Finman, who got his start in cryptocurrency when he was only 12, by investing  a $1,000 gift from his grandmother in Bitcoin, is now worth around $3 million, and is considered one of the world’s most influential teenagers. He has been involved in several projects over the last few years, from start-ups to an ongoing collaboration with NASA, but his most exciting venture yet has to be transforming a 10-year-old comics fan into a real-life version of Marvel villain Dr. Octopus with the help of an intriguing prosthesis.

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Gregg Miller is living proof that a crazy idea can sometimes turn out to be pure genius. He is the inventor of Neuticles, silicone implants for male dogs to replace testicles after neutering so they don’t lose their manly look, and he is a millionaire.

Miller came up with the idea for a purely cosmetic replacement for animal testicles in the early 90s, when he bought a bloodhound puppy named Buck. He refused to have him neutered simply because he didn’t want to put the dog through surgery, but after Buck went missing for four days after picking up a female’s scent, the witty inventor had a change of heart. He describes those four days as the most hideous of his life, and knew that if he didn’t neuter his dog, he risked losing him again. But he still wanted Buck to maintain his “God-given naural look”, so he asked the vet if someone made testicle implants. The veterinarian told him that it was the dumbest thing he had ever heard of, but Gregg knew he was on to something.

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Having to take a private call in a crowded workplace can be pretty awkward, but thanks to BolxVox, a special mask-like device that muffles speech, you can now talk as loud as you want without worrying about others hearing your conversation.

BloxVox is the brainchild of Greg Umhoefer, a financial technology expert who dedicated the last few years of his life to solving his “favorite” office problem – phone call privacy. Having worked in offices all over the world, Umhoefer constantly experienced this problem first-hand. Whenever he had to make or take a private phone call, he had to get up from his desk, find a quiet place, and often take his laptop and other peripherals with him. He describes the situation as inefficient and “frankly ridiculous”, so after researching the issue and learning that it was common in offices around the globe, he decided to find a practical solution.

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Whether you’re a celebrity or a famous author who spends a lot of time giving autographs, or just a busy businessman who doesn’t have time to sign mountains of documents,  you can now spend $365,000 on a state of the art Signing Machine, and it’ll do it for you.

I bet you didn’t even know portable signing machines existed, did you? Well, technically they didn’t, until recently. Swiss watchmaker Jaquet Droz finally unveiled its impressive Signing Machine last month, at the Baselworld Watch Show, after reportedly working on it for the last four years. It showcases the company’s mechanical clockwork technology, only instead of doing it by accurately telling time, it replicates your signature to perfection.

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If you’ve always dreamed about climbing into a nine-foot-tall mecha suit and actually showing off your sci-fi fantasies to the whole world, now’s your big chance. A Japanese company is actually selling custom mecha suits for only 10 million yen ($93,000).

Skeletonics have been around since 2011, when a group of students at the Okinawa National College of Technology showed off their very first fully-mechanical exoskeleton. It didn’t do much except turn the wearer into a metal giant with increased reach, but it definitely looked cool, so the project made international headlines at the time. But while the team came up with several improved Skeletonics over the years, they were merely showed off online and at special events, so only a few fans ever got to give them a try themselves. However, everything changed last month, when Skeltonics finally announced that it would finally begin producing commercial versions of its popular exoskeleton.

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