Since it isn't unknown for some people to sue restaurants when they spill hot coffee on themselves, and it isn't unknown for some juries to award them insane amounts of money, some ass-covering inventors got themselves working on a way to better alert fans of hot beverages when their drinks are too hot. The product of their efforts is the Smart Lid, a plastic lid for a coffee cup that changes color from brown to red to warn you when the contents have some potentially skin-burning amounts of kinetic energy. The color of the rim stays brown, though, unless the lid is sealed improperly, in which case its uniform color will be broken, alerting you that you need to reseal it pronto.

Can't really complain about this innovation, except to lament about the 0.001% of people who are both careless and stupid enough to inspire the Smart Lid in the first place. If your business is interested in the lids, be aware that they'll "be more expensive than lids currently on the market but substantially cheaper than resealable disposable lids," according to Smart Lid Systems' website. I guess you may as well, Starbucks.

More pictures of the Smart Lid after the jump. — Peter Pachal

Smart Lid Systems, via Shiny Shiny