37signals have rounded up some of the coolest inventions of 2006, which include a fun-looking snow scooper, some weird light that appears to be able to wrap around you, and a GPS key-locator.

However, by far the most impressive invention listed is Janjaap Ruijssenaars's floating air mattress, which uses repelling magnets to float. Your's at a snap price of $1.5m. Once I heard about this, it reminded me of an idea I had to reduce the energy needed to run cars.

If cars were to float, then you'd only need maybe one or 2 wheels to power and steer them (mind you, I flunked physics at school). The fact the magnets would repel the bulk of the car would effectively make its weight less, requiring less fuel. You would of course need to line the streets of the world with magnets to make it work, but I thought it was a good idea anyway.



Unfortunately, the cars would probably flip over due to the magnets - as would this bed, if it wasn't for cables at all four corners keeping it in its place.