We came, we thaw: Congratulations, intrepid innovators! You’ve survived the iciest Long Island workweek in a dog’s age and kindled another well-earned winter weekend.
That’s got to toast your toesies – but if your cockles require further warming, here’s a red-hot week-in-socioeconomics review, sure to light a fire under your inner innovator (and melt your heart).
Book smarts: Today is Jan. 24, known best as the United Nations’ International Day of Education, an annual homage to global educators and proper schooling, focused this year on preserving “human agency” amidst the rise of artificial intelligence.
Tall tail: Decadent and delicious lobster thermidor tops today’s menu.
Also worth reading is Beer Can Appreciation Day, a self-explanatory salute to mostly aluminum, sometimes tin-plated steel containers – and a favorite of the EGC Group, the Melville-based communications cornerstone where they’re busily gearing up for this Spring’s 2025 Craft Beer Marketing Awards, the sixth-annual multinational celebration of cool cans, brilliant bottles, laudable labels and other standout staples of craft-beverage promotions.
What the shell: If you’re hungry (and you’ve got the time), take a crack at National Lobster Thermidor Day, celebrating a fairly complex dish that removes the lobster meat from its shell, boils it in a cream sauce, sprinkles it with cheese and re-shells it – not easy, but totally worth the effort.
Too involved? Then grab yourself a spoon and a jar of Jif – it’s also National Peanut Butter Day, celebrating the smooth and cheering the chunky every Jan. 24.
Constitutional Connecticut: Also smoothing things out was the “first Western constitution” – the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, which were ratified on this date in 1639, outlining the civil government of the Colony of Connecticut (with no reference to the British crown).
There’s gold in them thar hills: Way over on the other side of the continent, the California Gold Rush unofficially kicked off on Jan. 24, 1848, when a builder hired to construct a saw mill along the American River in Coloma discovered gold on property owned by Johann Sutter.
Field guide: The circa-1908 Scouting handbook that started it all.
Scouting ahead: Way over on the other side of the Atlantic, the international Scouting movement became a thing 117 years ago today, when Robert Baden-Powell’s “Scouting for Boys” handbook was first published in Britain.
Pie chart: Back in the States, Iowa-based inventor Christian Nelson patented his new dessert concoction (covering an ice cream center with a chocolate shell) on Jan. 24, 1922 – official birthdate of the “Eskimo Pie.” (Flesh-and-blood birthdays below.)
Father figures: And it was this date in 1948 when IBM’s Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator, known internally as “Poppa,” was officially dedicated in New York City.
Featuring 13,500 vacuum tubes and more than 21,000 relays, Poppa – which filled an 1,800-square-foot room – was the first computer to combine electronic computation with stored instruction.
On her toes: Native American ballerina Maria Tallchief (1925-2013) – an Osage Tribe member and America’s first prima ballerina, credited with revolutionizing American ballet – would be 100 years old today.
Let’s get physical: Big-brained Michio Kaku is a huge fan of science and science fiction.
Also born on Jan. 24 were English lawyer and social reformer Sir Edwin Chadwick (1800-1890), a champion of urban sanitation and public health; American writer and designer Edith Wharton (1862-1937), a Pulitzer Prize-winner who was no fan of the Gilded Age aristocracy; American actor Ernest Borgnine (born Ermes Effron Borgnino, 1917-2012), a gruff, gap-toothed everyman hailed for his wide range; American Pentecostal evangelist, writer and university namesake Granville Oral Roberts (1918-2009), who leveraged marching orders direct from God (to faith-heal the masses) into enormous wealth, but still endured several personal tragedies; and American theoretical physicist, science communicator, professor and futurist Michio Kaku (born 1947), the best-selling author who co-founded string theory.
I am, he said: And take a bow, Neil Leslie Diamond! The American singer/songwriter – among the most accomplished pop songwriters in history and the unmistakable voice behind 130 million-plus global record sales – turns 84 today.
Say Hello Again to the multiple Grammy Award-winner at editor@innovateli.com, where our Songs of Life always begin with your news tips – and your calendar events are the Cherry, Cherry on top (If You Know What I We Mean).
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Australopithecus: Can I get an impossible burger?
Where’s the beef? Turns out our ancient human ancestors were vegetarians – at least, that’s the case with Australopithecus, a genus of early hominins that existed in Africa millions of years ago.
That’s among the primary conclusions of an international group of scientists – including Stony Brook University adjunct lecturer Dominic Stratford, along with colleagues from Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and South Africa’s University of Witwatersrand – studying fossilized remains of the “Southern Ape” discovered in South Africa’s Sterkfontein Caves. Australopithecus, which thrived during the prehistoric Pliocene and Early Pleistocene epochs, primarily ate plant-based foods, according to stable nitrogen-isotope data the team used to analyze tooth enamel from seven Australopithecus fossils.
This discovery is significant, as it seemingly confirms theories that meat eating was a key driver of considerable brain-size increases in later hominins. “This work provides clear evidence that Australopithecus in South Africa did not eat significant amounts of meat 3 million years ago,” Stratford noted. “It represents a huge step in extending our ability to better understand diets and trophic level of all animals back into the scale of millions of years.”
Brand standing: Put down that iPhone and pay attention – Apple was not only America’s most valuable tech brand in 2024, but the world’s most valuable brand, period.
So say our friends over at TradingPedia, an educational platform designed to school investors on the nuances of stocks, commodities and the foreign exchange market. In its annual global brand valuation report, the London-based resource details a 73.6 percent jump in the Apple brand’s annual value, which increased from $297.51 billion in 2023 to $516.58 billion in 2024 – hurtling past Microsoft ($340.44 billion in 2024), Google ($333.44 billion) and Amazon ($308.93 billion).
Although its brand value actually increased by 3.2 percent over its 2023 value, Amazon fell from first to fourth on TradingPedia’s annual brand-valuation list (which was dominated by U.S.-based brands, which comprised 53 percent of the world’s 500 largest brands, 52 percent of the top 100 and 60 percent of the top 10). For the record, Europe’s most valuable brands hailed from Germany – Deutsche Telekom ($73.32 billion) and Mercedes-Benz ($59.44 billion) – with UK-based oil giant Shell finishing third ($50.3 billion).
TOP OF THE SITE
Never alone: United Way of Long Island’s COVID-era Safe at Home for Seniors project continues to provide essential services for isolated Long Island residents.
Forward momentum: Thank you in advance for forwarding this engaging and entertaining newsletter to your entire innovation team … keep up the forward thinking by creating their own individual newsletter subscriptions. Always easy, always free!
ICYMI
Sagaponack-based WePower Technologies made some new friends at CES 2025 with its tiny, energy-harvesting generators – a batteries-not-required breakthrough that could help unlock the future of sustainable energy.
Something to say? Welcome to The Entrepreneur’s Edge, Innovate Long Island’s new promoted-content news feature platform – a direct link from you to our innovation-focused audience. Progressive product to promote? Singular service to sell? Sociopolitical position to push? Shine a bright light on the big picture, the little details and everything in between with The Entrepreneur’s Edge. Living on the edge.
BEST OF THE WEST (AND SOMETIMES NORTH/SOUTH)
Innovate LI’s inbox overrunneth with inspirational innovations from all North American corners. This week’s brightest out-of-towners:
From Florida: Ponte Vedra-based “experiential pickleball marketing” ace Pickleball in the Sun teams with portable-court provider PickleRoll to elevate pickleball play.
From Utah: American Fork-based enterprise resource planning pioneer Springbrook Software transforms local-government invoice processing with advanced AI platform.
From Pennsylvania: Smithton-based noise-management maestro Behrens & Associates/Environmental Noise Control focuses noise-mitigation tech on geothermal drilling.
ON THE MOVE
Gail Prudenti
+ Gail Prudenti has been appointed chairwoman of the Suffolk County Bar Association’s Judicial Screening Committee. The former New York chief administrator of the courts and dean of the Maurice A. Deane School of Law is a partner at East Setauket-based Burner Prudenti Law.
+ The Old Westbury-based New York Institute of Technology has elected three new members to its Board of Trustees:
- Humayun Chaudhry, president and chief executive officer of the Washington-based Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States
- Angela Iannacci, an associate justice of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department
- Deborah Verderame, principal of New York City-based Verderame | Cale architecture
+ Julie Alberti has been hired as executive director of CMM Cares, the charitable foundation of Ronkonkoma-based Campolo, Middleton & McCormick. She is director of investor relations for the Ronkonkoma-based Strata Alliance.
+ The Melville-based Long Island Association has elected two new members to its Board of Directors:
- Mike Narula, founder and CEO of Hauppauge-based Orbic North America
- Alan Petrilli, managing director, Long Island regional manager and apparel industry executive at New York City-based JPMorgan Chase & Co.
+ Judi Lach Veeck has been hired as executive director of the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. She was the administrator for the Education Foundation for Suffolk County Extension.
+ Bohemia-based Cerini & Associates has announced several promotions:
- Jacob Lutz has been promoted to tax director.
- James Laino has been promoted to supervisor.
- BriAnna Loeven has been promoted to supervisor.
- Kelly Mehr has been promoted to supervisor.
- Tyler Clehane has been promoted to senior auditor.
+ Kiyoshi Oka has been promoted to senior vice president of the Business Innovation Group at Melville-based Canon USA. He was executive vice president and general manager of the Marketing Strategy Unit.
+ Garden City-based Moritt Hock & Hamroff has announced two new hires:
- Ira Zaroff has joined the firm as a partner. He was a founding partner of Zaroff & Zaroff in New York City.
- Richard Zaroff has joined the firm as senior counsel. He was a founding partner of Zaroff & Zaroff in New York City.
+ Lauren Stoerger has been hired as vice president of nursing and patient care services at NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island in Mineola. She was executive director of clinical operations and perioperative services at Yale-New Haven Health System in Connecticut.
+ Arun Chopra has been appointed chairman of pediatrics at NYU’s Grossman Long Island School of Medicine in Mineola. He was service chief of pediatrics at Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital in Manhattan.
+ Kevin Wood has been appointed president of the New York State Parking and Transportation Association’s Board of Directors. He is president of Shoreham-based Parking and Mobility Consultants.
+ Brandon Check has joined Ronkonkoma-based Campolo, Middleton & McCormick as a legal assistant. He was a legal assistant at Bohemia-based Walker & Mackenzie.
Like this newsletter? Innovate Long Island newsletter, website and podcast sponsorships are a prime opportunity to reach the inventors, investors, entrepreneurs and executives you need to know (just ask Nixon Peabody). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Chicken Soup For The Soul Edition)
Just like Mom used to make: Does chicken soup actually possess magical healing properties? The answer may surprise you.
Healthy respect: Can it really make you better when you’re sick? Opinions vary.
Chicken run: Demand soars for Progresso’s chicken soup-flavored hard candy.
Souped up: Yes, that’s Korean chicken soup in your new favorite cocktail.
Sophisticated services in every pot: Please continue supporting the fantastic firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Nixon Peabody, where they’re always cooking up a steaming smorgasbord of legal expertise and entrepreneurial collaboration. Check them out.
