Beginning at NYU in Jan 2013 within the context of a Patents Translation course delivered online, this blog seeks to uncover the patents that rock our daily lives....
Simplehuman® trash cans have also received countless US design patents for their ornamental properties. The following is another impressive list of trash can-only design patents.
Three illustrative patent figures were also extracted. Figures 1, 3 and 1, respectively (left to right) from USD858024S1 titled Trash can, USD435951S1 titled Trash can. and USD631221S1 titled Rectangular trash can
Barbenheimer is a portmanteau term that combines “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer”, in reference to two blockbusters movies, opening on the same day, July 21, 2023. Two unlikely bedfellows brought together on the entertainment market: Barbie, the pink fantasy comedy ITRW*, and Oppenheimer, the dark R-rated historical drama, recounting the story of the scientist who invented the atomic bomb.
Two motion pictures that grossed respectively, $162 million in one weekend for Barbie, and $82.4 million for Oppenheimer. Ticket sales for Barbie were even record-breaking in 2023, and the highest ever for a woman-directed motion picture.
Barbenheimer, a term that resolved the double dilemma of which movie to see first, and which color to wear first: pink or black, on a thrilling entertainment weekend that delivered.
Below, the trailers for the super Summer 2023 treats: Barbie and Oppenhiemer.
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*ITRW - In The Real World
References
Barbie (2023). Motion picture directed by Greta Gerwig, starring Margot Robie as Barbie, and Ryan Gosling as Ken.
Oppenheimer (2023). Motion picture directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Golata, J. (July 24, 2023). Eight memorable moments from Barbenheimer weekend in NYC.
Simplehuman®, founded in 2000 by Frank Yang, set out to bring high performance to the most mundane objects of everyday life. Beginning with stainless steel trash cans that were no more functional than plastic ones, and some 200 patents later, Simplehuman® has brought quantum improvements to one of the most essential tools of day-to-day living.
Voice-activated, coated with antimicrobials, equipped with touchless sensors, liner-filled rims, dual-compartments to facilitate recycling, with or without a composting caddy, small 1.5 L or super large 115L capacity, and everything in-between; round, semi-round, rectangular or slim to fit into tight spaces; built into cabinets, open top, or step cans, made of stainless steel, brushed orpolished, black and white. Simplehuman® trash cans have not only received design patents for the way they look. They have also received numerous utility patents for the innovative ways in which they work.
The following is an impressive list of 36 utility patents, each reciting varying Simplehuman® improvements just to trash cans. Improvements that are so efficient, intuitive, and easy that they are probably already taken for granted.
US6626316B2 - Trash can assembly for toe-kick recess.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdown ordinances ushered in the term “new normal”, partly in connection to everyone coping with the great online migration. Dramatic changes in the weather are now ushering in yet another expression of life-altering changes: “the new abnormal”.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data on US Climate Normals releases updated data every decade, comparing the past 30 years, so that information is provided on weather and precipitation trends on any given day, anywhere in the US.When data was last released, in April 2021, US Climate Normalswere already showing a decade warmer than any of the previous ones, and more precipitations everywhere, except in California and the Southwest with dryer weather than ever before.
Most recently, consider the 490 wildfires that burned across Canada, 110 in the Province of Quebec, devastating a record 30,000 square miles (the size of South Carolina). An extreme weather event with wildfire smoke crossing the border to the Great Lakes, and further east, sending particle-filled air quality to New York City, resulting in never-seen-before orange skies on the East Coast of the United States. Satellite images even showed the Canadian wildfire smoke, crossing the Atlantic Ocean, and blanketing the Iberian peninsula in Europe. At the end of the day, the Canadian wildfires sent 160 million tons of carbon in the air.
Below, a YouTube video of Justin Trudeau, Canada's Prime Minister, briefing the press, early in the Canadian wildfire events, on June 7, 2023.
Indeed warmer weather brings longer and wider fires. On the West Coast, where wildfires happen often, fires burned more than 4 million acres (an area as large as Connecticut) in 2020, also bringing stay-at-home orders to cities like San Francisco, due to the dangerous smoke-filled air quality.On at least one day, smoke particles high in the atmosphere even scattered short blue light waves, only letting longer red-orange waves through to the surface, also resulting in eerie, apocalyptic orange skies, through to midday.
According to EarthJustice—calling urgently for transformative changes from greenhouse-gas-producing energy to clean-energy-production—climate change is playing out just as anticipated in 2006. The year when Al Gore sent out his powerful “Inconvenient Truth” message in an Oscar-winning documentary. Succinctly, in 2023, climate change is already :
Making extreme heat hotter, straining energy and healthcare systems.
Making wildfires burn longer and wilder.
Making hurricanes more intense, as they draw more energy from warmer oceans.
Prolonging and intensifying drought conditions, as water evaporates from water bodies and soil.
Driving increases in precipitation, causing widespread flooding.
Causing rises in sea levels, as oceans warm, and land ice melts, causing more flooding.
Causing stronger winter storms, with heavier snowfall.
Indeed, climate change is already the new abnormal. According to the NOOA, the United States had already been struck with 12, separate, billion-dollar, extreme weather-related disasters, as of June 2023.
ROSH333, aka Raoul Gandolfo, commissioned to paint the 2023 Young Inventor Award sail trophies, on the occasion of the European Inventor Awards Ceremony, on July 4th 2023, in Valencia, Spain, is one of Spain’s most famous street artists (in Spanish, artista callejero).
OKUDA, aka Okuda San Miguel, is a Spanish painter and sculptor, known for his distinctive colorful figurative geometric art.
Below, the YouTube video of a 2014 Okuda + ROSH333 project. The project involves a 300-square-meter mural, decorating the Paco de Lucía Metro Station in Madrid Spain. The mural depicts a portrait of Paco de Lucía, legendary virtuoso flamenco and classical guitar player, and composer (1947-2014).
The winners of the European Inventor Awards receive a trophy in the shape of sail (no puns intended). In other words, a sail-shaped trophy powered by the winds of ingenuity and research, as well as the promise of promotion, considering the increased visibility conferred by such a prestigious award.
The European Inventors Award sail trophy was designed by the German industrial designer Miriam Irle, with the added twist that the sail be manufactured in the city where the European Inventor Awards Ceremony takes place. A local manufacture of the trophy each year, highlighting the iconic craftsmanship of a particular local industry or workshop. For example, the 2015 European Inventor Awards sail trophy, made out of famous venetian murano glass, was blown in Venice, Italy, where the 2015 Awards Ceremony took place. Likewise, the 2016 trophy, made of azulejo ceramic tile, was fired in Lisbon, Portugal, where the 2016 Awards Ceremony took place.
The year 2023 was no exception. The trophies were locally-made of socarrat* red (oxidized iron) and black (manganese) ceramic tile. Each trophy was hand-painted, using different 15th century-stye decorative Valencian designs, one for each of the seven categories of award: Industry, Research, Small and Medium Enterprise, Non-European Country, Lifetime Achievement and Popular Prize. However, in complete contrast, the three trophies awarded to the Young Inventors (<30 years of age), were hand-painted ceramic by Alicante-based ROSH333, currently one of the most famous Street artists in Spain.
Below, images of two of the 2023 traditional, Valencia-ceramic, craft-guild-design trophies, awarded respectively in the Non-European Country and Lifetime Achievement categories, plus one of the contrasting Young Inventor Award trophies, hand-painted by the street artist ROSH333.
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* socarrat, meaning "burnt" in Catalan, refers to the high temperature used to bake the hand-painted pigment into the clay.
The winners of the European Inventor Awards 2023 were announced on July 4th, in a festive ceremony, live-streamed online at 12:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST), from the historic Edificio de Correos y Telegrafos (Post Office Building) in Valencia, Spain.Winners were announced in the four Award categories of Industry, Small and Medium Enterprises, Non-European Countries, and Research, as well as for the three Young Inventor’s cash Prizes, the Life-Time Achievement Award, and the Popular Prize. The list of winners is included below.
Industry
Pia Bergström, Annika Malm, Jukka Myllyoja, Jukka-Pekka Pasanen & Blanka Toukoniitty (FI)
Invention: The transformation of a wide variety of wastes and residues into premium-quality renewable products, such as fuel.
Small and Medium Enterprises
Rhona Togher & Eimear O’Carroll (IE)
Invention: Reducing noise with advanced acoustic material.
Non-European Countries
Kai Wu and team (CN)
Invention: Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries that lower fire and explosion risks due to overcharging.
Research & Popular Prize (both prizes were awarded to the same Center for Scientific Researchteam from France)
Patricia de Rango, Daniel Fruchart, Albin Chaise, Michel Jehan & Nataliya Skryabina (FR)
Invention: This team of scientists from the National Center for Scientific Research (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - CNRS) in France, invented a safe and sustainable way to store hydrogen.
Young Inventors' Prizes
First place 20,000 euros - Richard Turere (Kenya - KE)
Invention: Lion Lights™ - solar-powered LED lights, programmed to flash in randomly selected patterns, both to prevent lions from attacking livestock, and farmers from killing lions in defense of livestock. The invention thus also contributes to saving lions from extinction in Kenya.
Second place 10,000 euros - Filipa de Sousa Rocha (Portugal - PT)
Invention: Block-based Accessible Tangible Programming Systems (BATS) – a programming language for the visually impaired, using legos and cute robots.
Third place $5000 euros - Fionn Fereira (Ireland - IE)
Invention: Method of removing microplastics from water, using a magnetic liquid that binds to particles.
Life-Time Achievement Award Avelino Corma Canós (ES)
Spanish chemist, pioneer in the field of catalysts, and founder of the Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ) de València, Spain (Chemical Technology Institute of Valencia).
Below, the YouTube video of the 2023 Inventor Award Ceremony. Congratulations to all!
Flightmare is what happens on Independence Day weekend (the 4th of July), in the United States, when millions of people have travel plans, 800 flights a day are canceled, bad weather is hitting the east coast, crews are unable to get to the airport, and the signals from new 5G network technology are interfering with aviation radar altimeters.
Flightmare, a portemanteau term blending together “flight” and “nightmare”, means mayhem at the airport and in passenger travel plans. Flightmare, not be confused with FlightAware, the American multinational flight-tracking company, that provides historical, predictive, and real-time flight-tracking data, using 32,000 ground stations, in 200 countries.
Flightmare travel chaos, slightly different from Flightmare, one of the 84 dragons at the Dreamworks School of Dragons, a virtual MMORPG* videogame, based on the animated trilogy How To Train Your Dragon I ,II & III.
Flightmare, perhaps not in 2024, if the H.R.2653 Flightmare Prevention Act of 2023 passes. The bill was introduced in Congress on April 17, 2023, by US Congresswoman Katie Porter, representing Orange County, CA.
Flightmare**
Happy 4th!
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* MMORPG - Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game -- a video game that takes place in a persistent state world (PSW) with thousands, or even millions, of players developing their characters in a role-playing environment.
** Flightmare - A medium-sized dragon with a very ghost-like appearance, whose body is covered in tiny spots that almost resemble the night sky. MMORPG Dreamworks School of Dragons.
