STMC Products EZ-POP Beverage Openers Nine-year-old Marlinette Pacheco was tired of fumbling around when trying to open flip-top soda cans. She was determined to do something to help people with short nails, manicures, or arthritis. She came up with the ez-pop™ beverage opener design, then entered her invention and won first place in the 1999 Connecticut Invention Convention - a statewide contest aimed at nurturing young inventors. Marlinette now holds a patent for this beverage opener - at age 11!