19 Tuesday May 2009
Posted in Just for Fun, Patent
Quick facts: Between 2003 and 2007, IU research generated 777 new invention disclosures, 390 new patent applications and 128 new patents issued.
Source: IU News Room
Anybody have Purdue‘s numbers?
14 Thursday May 2009
Posted in Just for Fun, Tech Developments
Musicians have a powerful new tool to enhance communication with their audience. Seattle-based iLike promises to synchronize many popular social networks to provide bands with maximum exposure. iLike’s tagline is “Post Once, Publish Everywhere.”
The new iLike Artist Dashboard lets an artist manage the content for all of his social networks in one place. From the iLike interface, an artist will be able to post content on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Youtube, Ticketmaster, and many more… reaching over 45 million music fans and 500,000 more every week. Artists will be able to upload songs, videos and concerts to several platforms simultaneously.
iLike will even build an iPhone app for the artist. The app will be populated with any videos, photos, blogs, and concerts the artist posts to iLike.
For the stat-minded musician or manager, the iLike Dashboard allows users to track fan growth, “add to profile” and “dedications” stats. It can be helpful to see where your audience is located, what they’re talking about, and get immediate feedback on new work.
I’ll be interested to see if this business model can support other types of artists, other than musicians. Or other fields entirely.
Whether iLike’s Artist Dashboard will be helpful and take off is yet to be seen. But seriously, if you’re a musician, at least go check it out and see how it MIGHT help.
30 Thursday Apr 2009
Posted in Just for Fun, Tech Developments
Get those applications ready for the 2009 Indiana Robotics Invitational. It’s the 10th annual Indiana Robotics Invitational, and promises to be the “biggest and best ever.” Applications will be accepted starting tomorrow, May 1.
The event takes place July 31 – August 1, 2009, at Lawrence North High School (Indianapolis, IN). 72 teams will compete for a handful of prestigious awards and $1000 scholarships.
Here are your 2009 Robot requirements:
A. Robots must meet the design and safety requirements of the 2009 “Lunacy” Game
B. Teams have an honorary 5 pound allowance in total robot weight. Bring your Gracious Professionalism. There will be no weigh in or technical inspection.
C. The Referees reserve the right to Disqualify or require Repair or Modification to any robot that appears to be unsafe or is operating outside of the “Lunacy” rules and guidelines.
D. Robots may be highly modified from their official FIRST competition configuration provided they meet rule A.
Visit www.indianaroboticsinvitational.org and www.chiefdelphi.com for updates.
Please leave a comment if you plan to participate or have a story from a past event.
16 Thursday Apr 2009
Posted in Just for Fun, Trademark
Tags
The big (okay, most talked about) story in trademark news today is that controversial mother-of-eight (fourteen really) Nadya Suleman has filed a trademark application for OCTOMOM. Well, it turns out somebody beat her to it!
An earlier OCTOMOM trademark application, Serial # 77/689,864, has been filed by Super Happy Fun Fun, Inc. However, it’s an intent-to-use (“ITU”) application. An ITU application allows someone to obtain clearance and approval for federal registration of a trademark before committing to all of the costs of marketing and promoting the mark. That is, an ITU application permits one to go through the examination and clearance procedure of federal registration without having to show actual use in commerce.
So who has the priority rights to the OCTOMOM trademark, Nadya or Super Happy Fun Fun? (Of course, this question assumes that either have rights.) Generally, the first to use a mark in commerce is the owner of that mark. The primary exception is when an ITU application for a similar mark is filed prior to the adoption and use of the mark by another. The Super Happy Fun Fun application was filed on March 12, 2009. But I can recall mentions of Nadya as “Octomom” at least as far back as January. Therefore, the ITU application may not qualify for the exception, as it wasn’t filed prior to adoption and use by Nadya. She’ll have to show that there was use in commerce prior to March 12, 2009, but seeing that she was everywhere for awhile, that may be easy enough.
On a related note, why would she want to be called Octomom? I never saw it as a particularly complimentary moniker. And doesn’t she have fourteen children? Quatorzemom?!? I’m off to file a trademark application. 🙂
14 Saturday Mar 2009
Posted in Just for Fun
3/14…it’s International Pi Day! As you know, Pi or π is a mathematical constant whose value is the ratio of any circle’s circumference to its diameter in Euclidean space; this is the same value as the ratio of a circle’s area to the square of its radius. Today is the day that we celebrate this most irrational and transcendental number.
Fun Pi facts:
– There is no zero in the first 31 digits of pi.
– The Egyptians and the Babylonians are the first cultures that discovered about 4,000 years ago.
– The pi memory champion is Hiroyoki Gotu, who memorized an amazing 42,000 digits.
– William Jones, a self-taught English mathematician born in Wales, is the one who selected the Greek letter for the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter in 1706.
Also…Happy 130th birthday Albert Einstein!
“A human being is a part of a whole, called by us “universe”, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest… a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” – Albert Einstein
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