March 6

YOUTUBE-Designing light bulbs to fail sooner
Starts off with customer trying to fix a printer but it will cost triple instead of just buying a new one. Planned obsolescence is where products are designed to fail at a certain point so you have to buy more.
Shows the light bulb was in Livermore fire department has been burning since 1901, and when they discovered started paying attention to it. Through it a birthday party for the light bulb with 900 people. Begins where the bulb came from the ladies putting it together Adolf invented his filament to last long. Begins a discussion of the lightbulb conspiracy and what companies were in on it and how they divided up the areas to sell and how many hours the light bulbs were allowed to last. How patents for for light bulbs to last longer were not allowed. How members of cartel were fined if they lasted too long.

The idea of this cartel is still present. Now they are relating this back to the ink jet printer, and how it uses ink to clean the heads then once the sponge gets full it decides to quit working and is designed to fail. Goes through the idea of how all this began with individuals making something newer and newer all the time. London says we should have planned obsolescence where there would always be a market for new good thus always job. However, his idea was ignored. Now in 1950's marketing created planned obsolescence Stephens said the consumer would push for something new although it wasn't needed. Approach was to make a American unhappy with the older product. Students are taught to design for business for frequent purchases. Chemists invents ever lasting thread how everyone gets upset workers for fear of job.How designer would set a life span Dupont made nylon stockings that lasted too long. They tried to make them where they would fail sooner. How the engineers felt about making a inferior product. While ink jet printers are designed to fail at a certain point using a chip. How planned obsolescence didn't occur in Germany in Communists economy how the fridges lasted 25 years. 1981 German company created a life long light bulb, and took it to a fair to see if westerners would buy it.

Consumers start to fight back with the internet and how the first movie is about Apple got sued for having the battery in the ipod only last 18 months, and tried to make people buy new ipods. How the scraps all go to third world countries and pollute and it is terrible and causing trash. The russian website to fight ink jet printers is also available to fight back against planned obsolescence. Phillips 25 year LED is discussed. Nature is also discussed as to how it produces abundantly but also uses the waste to be efficient.

The current situation is terrible, I think planned obsolescence is bad but I see how it can produce economic growth. I think it is terrible that too much goes to waste. We live on a finite planet and we will run out of resources and places to put trash. However, planned obsolescence with people wanting to buy newer and newer stuff isn't bad, they need self-control, but if they are planned to die 18 months later I think that is wrong.




US first patent press release: #:X0000001

http://patimg1.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=X0000001&idkey=NONE

Had to go to http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.htm search for X1and view image. One page long, Samuel Hopkins of Philadelphia  quote "discovered an Improvement, not known or used before, such Discovery, in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Procefs"

Patent Application
Tiny size wireless power transfer

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_Q2XBn22IaxPjILyBef-MB2CGJMC7p_Px7Z17XbD-Lw/edit