crowdSPRING is the world’s largest marketplace for creative services. After starting with a mere 25 designers, crowdSPRING has grown into a community of over 75,000 designers and writers in 150+ countries who have submitted over one million entries to projects for clients around the world. Whether you need a new logo, website, tagline, marketing materials or other creative content, you simply post what you need, when you need it and how much you’d like to pay. Once posted, creatives from around the world will work on your project and you’ll begin to receive actual work – not bids or proposals – to review. In fact, the average project receives over 100 different entries to choose from. And, as the entries come in, you’ll be able to review, sort, rate, give feedback and collaborate with creatives until you find “the one”. The company has helped over 15,000 small businesses run their creative projects and have been flooded as of late with projects for large well-known companies and global ad agencies.

Bus Tracker

With CTA’s Bus Tracker system, a CTA commuter can go online and set up email or text alerts for specific times of the day and have bus arrival predictions automatically sent on a daily basis. Transit users looking to go to a specific destination can plan their CTA trip using real- time information at ctabustracker.com and eliminate their wait-time because they know exactly when the bus will arrive at their stop. People can easily walk up to a bus stop, send a text message using a number provided on the bus stop sign and find out how long they will have to wait before the bus will come.

No matter what type of technology you have, Bus Tracker is available. Developers have embraced the Bus Tracker API and new third party applications pop up everyday. CTA’s philosophy is that the data behind Bus Tracker should be accessible to everyone, helping make the decision to take public transportation in Chicago a no-brainer. Not only are they working on providing displays for their customers to view Bus Tracker, they have also taken their API and developed a DIY (do-it-yourself) display package and partnered up with different community organizations and schools so that they can provide easy access to Bus Tracker in building lobbies and storefronts.

ARCHITECT HIV Ag/Ab Combination Test

1 in 4 people infected with HIV don’t know it, and up to 50 percent of ongoing transmissions come from people who were recently infected. Early detection is critical and life-saving since people are most infectious to others immediately after infection.

Abbott’s ARCHITECT HIV Ag/Ab Combination test, is now available to help people find out their status sooner. Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in June and developed based on innovative science and technology, this novel test can help stem the spread of the infection by detecting the virus earlier than ever before. Clinical trials demonstrated earlier detection by up to twenty days earlier than today’s antibody-only tests that are currently available in the U.S.

The Abbott ARCHITECT HIV Ag/Ab Combo test is important because it detects both antigens and antibodies, and as a result, it can detect the virus during both acute and chronic stages of infection – from newly infected to people living with HIV for years who don’t know it. The earlier someone is tested, counseled and potentially treated for HIV, the better the chance of stopping the virus from infecting others. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that a person who knows they are infected is 3.5 times less likely to transmit HIV than a person who’s infected and doesn’t know it.

Liftaem Patient Transfer System

Lateral patient transfers pose a significant safety challenge for health care workers today. Nurses, clinicians, and hospital staff face a diverse and difficult population of patients in need of lateral transfer. These range from the transfer of bariatric patients weighing upwards of 800 pounds to the transfer of patients with very delicate wound and skin care issues. Once a team of healthcare workers are assembled, they surround the patient to manually lift and drag the patient from one surface to another using a hospital sheet. With this method of transfer the patient is exposed to the potential of being injured or dropped, and the health care workers are exposed to potential musculoskeletal injuries.

Smart Medical Technology’s patented Liftaem™ patient transfer system significantly reduces the time and number of health care workers needed for lateral transfer or repositioning of patients and the associated costs and risks. The Liftaem™ is designed to safely and effectively move a patient from one lateral surface to another using a cushion of air. An example would be moving a patient from the stretcher to the operating table. The Liftaem Mats are latex free and can move patients up to a 1,000 pound weight capacity.

Speed Dial

The patented Speed Dial combination lock offers increased strength and security, customizable functionality and new technology that targets users’ unique learning styles. This revolutionary padlock is the world’s first that opens on up, down, left, and right directional movements. Its innovative technology makes it faster, easier and more secure than a traditional rotary dial combination lock. Users can create their own easy-to-remember, resettable combination consisting of any number of movements in any sequence. For users who prefer more traditional methods of recalling their combination, the lock includes adhesive letters, numbers, colors, shapes and symbols that can be applied over the lock’s directional arrows. The Speed Dial Set- Your-Own Combination lock can be opened one-handed without looking for ease of use, making it ideal for visually impaired consumers and those with limited dexterity.

The SunLock and Solar Rental Service

The SunLock is a ballasted and portable solar mounting solution designed for flat-roof commercial buildings. The tool-less approach of the SunLock makes installation easy and cost effective. Solar panels and micro-inverters are pre-assembled, tested and approved by
an engineer before they arrive at a customers’ facility. Assembled SunLock units stack up for convenient shipping and transport. Integrating micro-inverter technology at the panel-level allows for unprecedented system flexibility not seen before in the solar industry. This allows roof access for cleaning or repairs without shutting down an entire array. If for any reason disassembly or reconfiguration of a portion of an installation is needed, the SunLock can be stacked up and transported with ease. The SunLock also reduces the need for roughly 30% of the labor expense commonly associated with a commercial solar installation.

Coupled with the SunLock, SoCore Energy introduced a process whereby commercial customers could rent solar energy installations for the first time. Typical financing structures in the energy industry allow companies to pay down an asset over 20 years, but this lengthy duration is not realistic for many companies who only have eight years remaining on a lease or ten years remaining on a roof warranty. Combining SoCore’s proprietary and portable installation system, the SunLock, with a financial mechanism specifically created to allow for optimal system flexibility, companies can now rent solar for the first time ever with terms that are less than 10 years. Many Fortune 500 companies have already adopted SoCore’s Solar Rental Service, including well known retailers Walgreens and JC Penney.

Sheetrock Brand Ultralight Panels

USG Corporation unveils a milestone achievement in wallboard history with the introduction of SHEETROCK® Brand UltraLight Panels. The new lightweight gypsum panels are up to 30 percent lighter (15 to 24 pounds per panel lighter depending on length), stronger pound for pound than competitive wallboard products, and make installation faster and easier for contractors, DIYers and remodelers. This is an engineered panel not like any other composite panel in the marketplace today.

SHEETROCK® Brand UltraLight Panels translate into a variety of sustainability improvements all verified by UL Environment™. This product contains 95% recycled content; offer up to a 20 percent reduction in transportation energy, saving millions of gallons of diesel fuel through reduced shipping weight (fewer trucks on the road); conserves raw materials by up to 15 percent, reducing that need for natural gypsum, extending the life of gypsum mines; and qualify as a low VOC product.

iRa C3

iRa C3 is a one of a kind video command center that allows the user to command, control and communicate with an unlimited number of live camera feeds through the web, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Blackberry devices. No other solution spans all of these platforms with consistency, security and optimized video delivery.

With iRa C3, organizations can leverage their existing video assets for a level of situational awareness never before experienced. Users can manipulate camera positioning (pan, tilt, zoom) and view up to 20 live view feeds on the iPad, 12 on the web interface, 6 on the iPhone and 4 on the Blackberry.

iRa C3 from Lextech Labs is extending back room systems into the hands of new users and those users are inventing ways to use video for both security and business operations. Existing video infrastructure can be put into more hands, driving even larger returns on investment.

In the past, video has been used primarily for the purposes of providing historical evidence. iRa C3 empowers the user to make decisions in realtime, preventing or stopping crime or other incidents as they are happening.

Circular MT Expanded Beam Interconnect

A potential problem during robotic surgery occurs with the cables connecting the robotic equipment to the controls used by the surgeon. The distance required to operate the robotic equipment requires reliable cables with very high bandwidth that allow for high resolution video, high speed and high signal reliability.

Molex’s Circular MT Expanded Beam Interconnect offers a high density optical interconnect requiring minimal cleaning while delivering repeatable optical performance. To prevent degradation of these life-saving cables, traditional optical interconnects require cleaning between each use. The Circular MT Expanded Beam Interconnect has an advantage in that it can be used in excess of 5,000 times and requires cleaning only every 250 uses.

3D Virtual Store Research

InContext Solutions’ unique, online 3D virtual store experience is eerily close to reality. It can be customized to simulate any retail environment. Once designed, customers start by entering their height to get a more accurate view of the store. Then they can walk around, pick a product off the shelf, read the complete label and put it in their basket. Just like a trip to the store. Upon checkout, shoppers are asked to take a brief survey to test attitudinal responses. This way, InContext Solutions can provide their clients with a host of deep analytical data to help them make decisions on product placement, pricing, promotion, branding, display design and store layout. And all in a quarter of the time and third of the cost of traditional in-store marketing tests.

Touchlife Interactive Tables

People’s Choice Award:

TouchLife was createTd to allow customers incredibly fast tap and taste service in bars, cubs,
and restaurants. YouchLife is a comprehensive, customer-facing retail/service application
delivered on Touchscreen Tables, Mobile phones, and iWalls for a growing number of markets,
including hospitality, nightlife, concessions, gaming, education, and medical.

TouchLife dramatically reduces customer wait time, merges social media and entertainment,
tracks consumer preferences, and propels the overall consumer experience to a level that the
wired generation often demands, but rarely gets. And, TouchLife merges that interactive service
with entertainment directly into the point of sale… brands become destinations, not disruptions,
embedded directly into the user experience.

HydroRight

The HydroRight drop-in converter for toilets, features a Quick Flush setting that uses
significantly less water. The second Full Flush button uses the normal amount of water for
solids. In independent tests, installation of the HydroRight has reduced water usage by 30% in
1.6 gallon per flush toilets. Unlike expensive dual flush toilets that retail for $200 or more, the
HydroRight is available nationally for under $25, making water conservation an easy and rapid
ROI for consumers.

The HydroRight drop-in dual flush converter was one of the first on the market and is
distinguished from its competitors by its patent pending drop-in, allowing it to install in ten
minutes without tools. All other converters in the market require that the toilet tank be
removed – a labor intensive, dirty job.