Related:

China’s AI-powered laser mosquito zapper goes viral after crowdfunding success - https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3358508/c... - June 27th, 2026

(Photo Matrix Lab is building a device based off of the concept previously patented by Intellectual Ventures)

This bug-zapper has laser-guided precision - https://www.wired.com/story/intellectual-ventures-bug-zapper... - June 23rd, 2017

This is great to see but also reveals some failures around patents: Intellectual Ventures patented the idea a couple decades ago, did a TED Talk, decided it wasn’t as cost-effective for malaria prevention as bednets and apparently sat on it.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123680870885500701

I wanted to buy one back then and still do, and it always seemed short-sighted that they didn’t sell them here for quality of life improvements and use that to get volume and R&D to drive down the cost to use them in public health campaigns. It feels like we lost a lot by not having patents be a “use, license, or lose it” situatio