Projected 2019 growth for the SaaS (software as a service) market, according to global advisory firm Gartner. The market’s total worth would be $85.1 billion. SaaS makes up the largest segment of the cloud market.

Percent

IoT Corner

Intel recently announced its new Intel® Connected Logistics Platform. Developed with the Google Cloud platform, it can provide near-real time conditions of a shipment and can create an alert if there is a sudden change to the shipment.

The system can sense temperature, humidity and shock, and can even tell if a shipment has been stolen. Freight is tracked with low-cost, single-use sensors; data are transmitted via a proprietary wireless protocol that is backed up by gateways installed in cargo containers and freight trailers. In areas of a shipment journey with poor cellular network coverage, the gateways have enough edge computing power to create alerts without having to send the data to the cloud for analysis.

Connected Logistics aims to help increase profits for logistics firms and help purchasers ensure that their products arrive safely without costly returns.—Jeremy Losaw

What IS That?

It’s a wearable robot for runners called the Tomatan, from Japanese inventor Maiwa Denki. The runner pulls on a lever in the robot’s foot, which causes a tomato to pass from the dispensing chute into the robot’s hands. Its arms then rotate forward, bringing the fruit to the runner’s mouth. The good news is that this is a good nutrient boost; the bad news is that the device weighs about 17.5 lbs. and can only carry six tomatoes.

Wunderkinds

At 14, Katherine Wu was too young to have a driver’s license in 2015. But when her family drove home to Maryland from a vacation in Florida, she noticed her dad had trouble staying alert behind the wheel. Her “Driver’s Companion” uses EEG waves and eye blinks to determine driver drowsiness, then provides audio and visual signals to warn the driver if he or she is too tired to be on the road. The user wears a mindwave mobile headset, which sends data about the driver’s brainwaves to a device about the size of a credit card that the driver can place on the vehicle dashboard.

What Do You Know?

1. From an IP perspective, what do Mariah Carey, Paul Simon, Queen and Johnny Rivers have in common?

A) All have been accused in plagiarism suits

B) All have their names as copyright owner on their recordings
C) All have sued bootleg copiers
D) None of the above

True or false: You must create a prototype for your invention before filing a patent.

3. Which uplifting invention was patented first: the electric elevator, or the electric escalator?

4. True or false: Ben Franklin is a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

5. Which former star NFL wide receiver invented a water-free toilet?

A) Isaac Bruce
B) Fred Biletnikoff
C) Paul Warfield
D) Calvin Johnson

Click Below For The
ANSWERS
  1. B. They are among a small number of performers with this distinction; most records list the recording company as the owner of the recording. 2. False. It is not legally required but often strongly suggested. 3. The elevator was first patented by Alexander Miles in 1887, the escalator in 1892 by Jesse Wilford Reno. 4. True. He was a proponent of swimming instruction. 5. D. Johnson invented his toilet while attending Georgia Tech. It was designed for South American populations that didn’t have access to clean water or sanitation.