121–130 of 156 posts
Anyone know why the "WRONG" example in this diagram is bad? https://i1.wp.com/cdn.makezine.com/uploads/2009/07/cablelaci...
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I had a rodent problem in my garage where rats and mice ate through wiring in my motorcycle and garage door wires. When I had them repaired after eradicating the problem, both my motorcycle mechanic and garage door repairman said that ya the wires they are making in china are made with something especially tasty for rodents.
something especially tasty for rodents Soy-based wiring insulation: https://www.thedrive.com/news/20878/rodents-are-feasting-on-...
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I don't think trademarks can lapse in the US and many other countries (copyright can; which is a huge debate in an of itself: see Disney). I actually use "tissue" and "copy", but those kinda make sense. Personally I hate it when people keep saying "I Googled..." because it reminds me of this bullshit search engine monoculture we have right now (I try to use DuckDuckGo more, but I miss the days of Yahoo, Lycos, Hotbot…
> I don't think trademarks can lapse in the US You can lose your trademark protection if the term becomes genericized and you fail to police its use. It's exceedingly rare for this to happen, the law isn't clear-cut, and different courts have ruled differently in similar cases, but it is technically possible. Velcro doesn't have to rabidly attack everyone trying to genericize its brand, and so long as they are still…
I think you're wrong here.
Genericisation isn't a function of your policing of your mark.
The only other way to lose a mark is not pay your fees, you can police it as loosely as you like.
What being heavy handed does is increase damages and inhibit allowed usage that a company is not in control of.
I think this is one of the greatest misunderstandings about RTMs.
(I'm only really familiar with the USA and UK IP laws, know something of European and EU regulations, not much beyond that.)
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No, "velcro" is genericized. The capitalized word "Velcro" is still a trademark. As such, you can buy "Velcro [BVBA] velcro", or you can call 3M's hook-and-loop fasteners "3M velcro". 3M, naturally, avoids using the term "velcro" in its packaging and marketing, and would never use "Velcro", because even though they could , because the term is genericized, it would still be free advertising for a competitor.
The capitalized word "Velcro" is still a trademark. Capitalization has no bearing on word marks (in the US, at least. I can't speak for other countries). "Velcro", "VELCRO", "velcro" are all the same thing as far as the trademark office is concerned. And yes, there are still active trademarks for the word "VELCRO", but it has still been unquestionably genericized.
In the UK I can go in to shops the length of the country and ask for velcro and get "hook and eye" or "fabric fastener", is a completely generic term now, just no one wants to fight it in court.
* UK trademark record, https://trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tmcase/page/Results/4/EU00...
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I was just poking fun at Velcro's absurdity. I in no way endorse their view of their branding. I just saw someone say Velcro and I never have had an opportunity to share that lovely page. Seemed tangentially relevant.
Examples of alternatives to trademarked names: * "Velcro" -> "hook and loop" * "Kleenex" -> "tissue paper" * "Dumpster" -> "garbage bin" * "Frisbee" -> "flying disc"
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Examples of alternatives to trademarked names: * "Velcro" -> "hook and loop" * "Kleenex" -> "tissue paper" * "Dumpster" -> "garbage bin" * "Frisbee" -> "flying disc"
Wait, dumpster is trademarked? I've never heard of this before, but according to [0] it is definitely a generic trademark. Although this may be a great example of why VELCRO(R) is fighting a losing battle. At this point, it may be too late to change the average consumer's habits, as VELCRO(R) is in almost the same situation. Perhaps if they had started this campaign when the patent expired and generic alternatives ap…
A "dumpster" is thus historically a container that can be emptied by a standard front fork loading garbage truck. Long containers that are towed onto a tilt-bed truck are something else, usually debris boxes. But they now tend to be called "roll-on dumpsters".
Wow never thought I'd see this on HN! I paid $20k to go to tech school for aviation maintenance. After doing that for 3 years I figured it just wasn't for me and I decided to go to university for computer science. But before my last day of being an aircraft mechanic, I "accidentally" brought home a roll of high temp (non-waxed) lacing tape because I was already in the habit of using string to tie cables together (com…
https://www.wirecare.com/category/cable-organization/lacing-...
Aside: I work in med-tech. One of the largest complaints of doctors and nurses, especially in the ICU, is the cables and tubes. There are just SO MANY cables and tubes in a working ICU. Nurses and docs are constantly stepping on them, pulling them out, choking off blood/saline/urine/air in some tube, knocking power off of another, etc. Most of the machines can't do wireless, as some of the machines will 'jam' that pa…
ICU is not trivial as everything is done quickly. At first thought, overhead cable gantries would be the best as you could quickly toss the cable/tube into it, but then the area around the patent would have tubes getting in the way, so some thought would have to be put into how the cables come out of the gantries. Other techniques such as pre-laid cable guards could work (a smaller version of the things cables go thr…
Yeah, overhead cables aren't the best, as a lot of the time, the length of the tubes and cables aren't long enought to do that. Also, yes, you'll end up with a 'beaded curtain' of tubes and stuff going into the patient.
The idea of having everything routed under and then up to the bedside is not bad, though cable length is still an issue.
It is a hard problem for sure.
Aside: I work in med-tech. One of the largest complaints of doctors and nurses, especially in the ICU, is the cables and tubes. There are just SO MANY cables and tubes in a working ICU. Nurses and docs are constantly stepping on them, pulling them out, choking off blood/saline/urine/air in some tube, knocking power off of another, etc. Most of the machines can't do wireless, as some of the machines will 'jam' that pa…
This actually seems like a really interesting problem to me. I don't think there's one pretty solution here. You'd have to break it down a bit. - Do the patients go to the machine, or machine to the patient? Wireless makes sense for the latter, not the former. - What's the failure mode? An alarm/alert to the nurse station, or death? Wireless makes sense for the former, I think. - Are there any machines at every bedsi…
> - Do the patients go to the machine, or machine to the patient?
In an ICU, where these problems are most acute, the machines come to the patient. You can fill a good sized room with these machines if the patient is in an especially dire state. Like, maybe 30 carts if it is really bad.
> What's the failure mode? An alarm/alert to the nurse station, or death?
It's death. Death is the failure mode. There are others, like severe organ damage, but death is one worth talking about.
> Are there any machines at every bedside? Do all of them need to be used at once?
It depends. If the patient is fairly alright, you'll have maybe a few machines for vitals and not much more. If they are not alright, then you can have a LOT of machines in the room. Though you can have machines on stand-by, if they are in there, they are being used generally.
> Are the cables different? Or can you come up with a "standard" cable/connector for most of the gear?
Again, it depends. Some companies will standardize their cables and tubes, but they tend to not do so across companies. Also, cable and tube diameter is pretty much set by the need. Airways need laminar flow, so they tend to be larger, blood is more viscous, so it needs less than an airway, but it's still got to have some girth. Electrical can be very small, but if you need to deliver a lot of amps, then the cables grow. I'm sure you could come up with the optimal size across a lot of different applications and get a list of all the possible sizes, but that matrix would be very large all the same and might as well be continious.
> The audio world solved the "cables being knocked out" problem a long time ago with locking connectors (not screw-ins, so they're still quick connect)...
Yeah, there are a lot of quick connects out there, but the issue is that you have a patient that is in ICU psychosis trying to break out, or a panicked parent thrashing about, or a doc trying to lurch for the right tools or get to the patient. In these types of situations, you have to plan for the totally crazy events, not the calmer ones. Like, imagine trying to do audio mixing in the middle of the mosh pit. You're trying to plan for that event.
Aside: I work in med-tech. One of the largest complaints of doctors and nurses, especially in the ICU, is the cables and tubes. There are just SO MANY cables and tubes in a working ICU. Nurses and docs are constantly stepping on them, pulling them out, choking off blood/saline/urine/air in some tube, knocking power off of another, etc. Most of the machines can't do wireless, as some of the machines will 'jam' that pa…
It kind of sounds like they need a raised floor. Cabling bundles can be fed into ports in the floor tiles and run the length of rooms without being exposed in a way that people would trip on them.
The main issue is that you don't have the time to pull up the flooring and then run the lines. You get the machines into the room and then into the patient ASAP, as they tend to be some of the only things keeping them alive. Think a machine that replaces heart-beat function and that you will have a hard time disconnecting.