Industrial conglomerate Honeywell International snapped up the rights to produce, advertise and sell Long Beach-based Dimer's anti-viral UV-C light machine, the GermFalcon, in a licensing partnership agreement announced on Wednesday.
Created by Elliot Kreitenberg and his father, orthopedic surgeon Arthur Kreitnberg, in their garage seven years ago, the GermFalcon can sanitize a midsize airplane cabin full of germs in about 10 minutes and is being billed as an antidote in the age of COVID-19.
The GermFalcon will be renamed the Honeywell UV Cabin System.
"This offering is a big win for our airline customers, which are seeking affordable ways to clean their cabins effectively and quickly between flights," said Mike Madsen, Honeywell Aerospace president and chief executive. "Honeywell is working on a range of solutions to help make passengers more comfortable about flying."
Courtesy of GermFalcon
Honeywell, a major supplier to Airbus and Boeing among others, is in discussions with several major airlines and service providers for the cabin system. The company has been hurt by the grounding of Boeing's 737 and further struck by plummeting airplane passenger traffic.
Honeywell is accepting orders and expects the first shipments in July. Pricing will vary, but Honeywell estimates that for midsize to large airlines with hundreds or more aircraft, the cost will break down to about $10 per use.
The North Carolina company has been bolstering their offerings of products aimed at making flying safer for passengers loathe to go in confined spaces where a virus might easily spread.
The size of a drink cart, Kreitenberg sees the GermFalcon as the antidote to the spread of viruses.
"Airlines play a direct role in the way that disease spreads around the world," Elliot Kreitenberg told dot.LA last month. "We see that here with coronavirus. It flew here on airplane."
Dimer is also continuing to further commercialize and deploy its germicidal UV technology platform known as UVHammer for healthcare. The UVHammer product will target public transportation, education, hospitality, buildings, theaters, arenas and small businesses alike. It's expected to be brought to market in July.
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Snap’s parental controls.
Courtesy of Watchful.
Snapchat is planning to introduce Family Center, which would allow parents to see who their children are friends with on the app and who they’ve messaged within the last seven days, according to screenshots provided by Watchful, a product intelligence company. Parents would also be able help their kids report abuse or harassment.
The parental controls are still subject to change before finally launching publicly, as the Family Center screenshots—which were first reported by TechCrunch—reflect features that are still under development.
Santa Monica-based Snap and other social media giants have faced mounting criticism for not doing more to protect their younger users—some of whom have been bullied, sold deadly drugs and sexually exploited on their platforms. State attorneys general have urged Snap and Culver City-based TikTok to strengthen their parental controls, with both companies’ apps especially popular among teens.
A Snap spokesperson declined to comment on Friday. Previously, Snap representatives have told dot.LA that the company is developing tools that will provide parents with more insight into how their children are engaging on Snapchat and allow them to report troubling content.
Yet Snap’s approach to parental controls could still give teens some privacy, as parents wouldn’t be able to read the actual content of their kids’ conversations, according to TechCrunch. (The Family Center screenshots seen by dot.LA do not detail whether parents can see those conversations).
In addition, teenage users would first have to accept an invitation from their parents to join the in-app Family Center before those parents can begin monitoring their social media activity, TechCrunch reported.