Ordinary Products Go High-Tech

Lightbulbs, televisions, toaster ovens - all three inventions changed the way that Americans live and work. Today, scientists still use technologies to improve home products. Appliances have become increasingly efficient. New smart homes will even allow people to lock their house or adjust their thermostat with their cell phones.

But the products that use advanced technology don't always seem like science fiction. For example, painters tape doesn't usually cause excitement. But Frog Tape, which won a Best of What's New award in Popular Science's Home Tech category in 2007, does exactly what old tapes failed to do - create clean edges around paint jobs.

Inspired Technologies, Inc., the makers of Frog Tape, noticed a common complaint. Professional painters, contractors and home designers could only work with leaking blue tape. A painter would line the top of the kitchen wall with crepe tape, then paint the walls. After removing the tape, he would find uneven edges, which he would have to retouch by hand.

So, Inspired Technologies created green-colored Frog Tape, a crepe masking tape with Paintblock technology added to the tape. Paintblock reacts with latex paint, forming an immediate micro barrier, helping to prevent paint from leaking under the tape.

The result? Painters see clean edges the minute they remove the tape from painted walls, meaning less time cleaning up and more time doing the things they want.