Talking With Angels (or something like that)

Donna Wentworth shares discussions with three IM bots about patent prospects. IM not an animal...

(r)Evolution

Margaret Heffernan has a good article in the August edition of Fast Company: The Female CEO ca. 2002. A taste:

The Legally Blond generation is not interested in compromise or assimilation. It wears its femininity with pride and seeks success on its own terms. If that success can't be found within traditional businesses or business schools, then these young women simply won't go there. "If I don't fit into GE or Ford or IBM," one bright young woman told me, "that's not my problem. That's their problem." Rather than fight the system, this next generation of women simply dismisses the system. Instead, these women seek places to work that value individuals -- whether as customers or as employees. They seek places that are transparent and collaborative, that respect relationships as the bedrock of all good businesses. What women want are companies that look a lot more like a network than a pyramid, companies where fairness is a given, companies that value what's ethical above what's expedient. [Para.] At the same time, this next generation of women is too practical, pragmatic, and tough-minded to be dismissed as ideologues. If they can't find these kinds of companies, then they'll simply build them.

The same issue also has a piece about how Nike seeks to connect with women through its Nike Goddess campaign: Nike's Women's Movement. (Nike, by the way, is the Greek goddess of victory.) More on Nike's "Goddess" stores, now in Newport Beach (Fashion Island) and Los Angeles (The Grove), is here [from VisualStore]. (Note: both these malls have Apple stores; coincidence?) Marginally related: I recently was clued in to the fact that Sports Illustrated has a separate women's magazine, Sports Illustrated Women, published eight times annually. Closing this loop: soccer goddess Heather Mitts, a Defender for the Philadelphia Charge, put in an appearance yesterday on NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly that resonated well with Ms. Heffernan's article.

"Godzilla vs. the blog thing"

Paul Festa has this story at c | net News.com about Davezilla and Godzilla, in which Marquette University Law School's Eric Goldman (that's a slinky he's holding; see here, Prof. Goldman's personal site, with cyberlaw and copyright resources) explains why he thinks Toho's definition of trademark confusion is "very aggressive." [Via ILN]
--Later: Martin Schwimmer has more on dilution.

Add Chili Peppers; mix well...

I don't know if it's because file sharing is less prevalent in the post-Napster world (or if that's even true), or because CD burning has become less complicated than dialing the typical phone, but these days the streets around me are running with mix CDs: from the quick fix scrawled with Magic Marker (if you're lucky), to the imaginatively labeled and presented tour de force. The RIAA's position on this is no surprise,

1. Pirate recordings are the unauthorized duplication of only the sound of legitimate recordings, as opposed to all the packaging, i.e. the original art, label, title, sequencing, combination of titles etc. This includes mixed tapes and compilation CDs featuring one or more artists.

2. Counterfeit recordings are unauthorized recordings of the prerecorded sound as well as the unauthorized duplication of original artwork, label, trademark and packaging.

and careful DJs also take heed. The EFF observes that "[c]opying a couple of tracks for a mix CD for a friend might also be considered fair use, or copyright infringement, depending on all the facts," but that doesn't provide much assurance, does it? (More from the EFF's Robin Gross on this subject is in this Macworld article.) All I can say from anecdotal observation is that more people today honor the speed limits on L.A. freeways than the RIAA's "piracy" definition when it comes to limited, free distribution of mix CDs. California decriminalized 65 MPH highway speeds several years ago. A similar response from our local and national lawmakers is needed here.

Trich(k?)ology

So, who else thinks the Laser Hair Care 3000 looks a lot like something Dr. Tristan Adams would prescribe?