When does software need to be "certified"?
The FDA reviews and approves software used in critical medical procedures & devices. There are tough standards. A Florida man is
challenging software used in a breathalyser because the source code is not available. Should a new category of software be available for external analysis? Will software escrow agents soon get a new job?
Check out the Economist
Pick up the Oct 20 issue of the
Economist for a special survey on intellectual property. Worth scouring for an old copy, I'm sure.
Once again, Google supports open
After the Summer of Code, Google has announced (
with the Governor of Oregon, no less) an initiative with 2 Oregon universities a big gift ($350,000) for those universities to use to support open source -- infrastructure & curriculum, as well as development. Oregon has not always gotten the attention they deserve for their "Silicon Forest" so it's nice to see some investment.
Teaching entrepreneurship. . .but how much?
Business Week reports that, thanks to 9/11 and support from groups like the
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, more and more students are starting their own businesses, and/or learning how to be entrepreneurs. Echoing remarks made at the
Technology Transfer Society conference in September, evidently national crises make us better problem solvers, and we become bolder in trying new things out.
The question is -- what is in your toolkit? Marketing? Negotiation? Sales? Product development? Depending on your desire, audience, etc. you might need a different mix. Pick the right one for you.
Building Brands
This
Fortune series is all about the "strongest" brands -- what they do, how they've broken the rules. Take Google, "messing" with their trademark look by adding art. Traditional wisdom would tell them (and did) not to alter their brand. But now it's something people like about google. When can you break the rules, and when can't you? Now that's a million (billion) dollar question.
Who can be the author of our favorite works?
This
post in CNN about Lucas continuing to change
Star Wars and Spielberg editing
E.T. to better fit with their current vision is grousing about how these authors/directors change their works over time -- one person is quoted as saying who knows when Lucas will be done. Will Star Wars in 2020 be different from what you originally saw in the 1970s? How available should "earlier" works be when the author/editor changes her/his mind? Moral rights, not an expansive concept here in the U.S., but used internationally (it's in the treaty, folks) could (might?) be used (expanded?) to help authors make the previous work unavailable. Remember, folks, your memory can't be altered. I must admit I pay less attention to "live" events now, knowing I can "rewind" using my Tivo. But what if I didn't watch "e.r." until a week after it aired, and the producers decided to alter all of those stored on Tivo-like devices? We're not there yet, but we could be. So we'd have different experiences of the "same" work. Isn't that inherent in our multi-channel array of choices for communication now, anyway?
You'll never know where research leads you
Take Philip Morris'
latest research results: hey, we've studied how to get people nicotine more effectively for years and years. Hey, we know a lot about inhalation, breathing, etc. Perhaps we can use that for
good instead of
ill. Watch for the new Philip Morris inhaler, or other new health products. My bet is they will use a new brand.
Vote for the next great social venture idea
Rather than sticking her head in the sand, this entrepreneur set up a
venture fund for progressive political groups. People vote for the best ideas. How creative!
Creative branding coming
While traditional tie-ins and marketin efforts are starting to fail,
Memoirs of a Geisha is trying something new --
tie-ins with kimono-style dresses, bath products, etc. It's a great book. Isn't the combination of a great book, and author and actor efforts sufficient? Or will you be one of those who buys a dress and then sees the movie?
Hooray! Criticism of Apple
"Apple Introduces Ho-Hum Player" should have been the headline, according to
Slate magazine. Apple has had duds before, and this might be another one. Now, I admit, I think the concept of downloading TV shows is dang cool. But I liked the Razor, too, on TV -- but can never imagine owning one. Look pretty chintzy in person.
Check those names
Check everywhere, all the places you can think of before picking a mark. Google has learned the hard way that common law rights can be tough to overcome, or it's tough to reach a good settlement, or co-existence agreement. You can "
googlemail" me with comments. .
DVD Standard War
With Microsoft announcing its support for a certain DVD technology, will rivals adopt what MS has chosen, encourage use of both (
as HP did), or run away from MS, afraid of antitrust, anticompetitive, or other behavior? Or are some folks just so invested in their technology that switching will be tough? It's the VHS v Betamax of our time (well, more to come, I'm sure).
Librarian welcomes the video iPod
While the video iPod will welcome all sorts of new podcasts,
one librarian is excited that she will be able to show sexually explicit video to accompany her existing audio casts. Who says librarians are boring?
Student mTV
MTV starts
another revolution, by funding incubators for student-video and creating an online "channel" for the distribution of such content. Sounds like a good way to keep younger audiences tied to their channel and brand. What role will rights management and rights clearances play? Who will help these students through that morass?
Ooh, this might make me a Mac person
A little off-topic, but I must say I'm excited about the
video i-pod. Welcome to the new business model, network television. If folks will pay $1.99 for shows they could see for free (well, after you pay your cable bill), what is the future for network TV, or even pay channels? Individual songs are now downloadable for $.99, but it hasn't killed albums (at least not yet). . .
Get your copyright cleared here!
Has the time come for easy copyright clearance? Now if you use Blackboard you can more easily
clear copyright for works you want to use in your class. There goes the copy centers? Years ago I met with icopyright, who was interested in easy on-line clearances. It has taken awhile to get here.
GPL 3 may tackle "distribution" over the web question
When you "distribute" code licensed under the GPL, you must make the source code available, and distribute it. Web services (and other web distributor) businesses do not have to make the code available because they are not "distributing" the software -- they are only "executing" or "performing" the software, although you'd have to look at the language in the license to further examine it. Stallman is saying that the
new version of the GPL will take care of this loophole. Hopefully the new GPL will be written more clearly as well!
GPL thwarts a company's business model
Nessus decided to close its source code, but still distribute their product freely, because a
"loophole" in the GPL allowed their code to be easily used by their competitors. Companies often open their code after the product is established, but this move is unusual. We've always advised software developers that the GPL does not meet all goals, and this is a good example where "source available" can be good, but the GPL is not necessarily the mechanism to accomplish that.
Music and DNA
Does music have DNA, and if it does, can it really
help you find other music that you like? Would you believe enough in this DNA to pay to get the recommendations?
Pandora Music, Inc. believes you will. It is interesting to note that each song is being "typed" by a human, who spends up to 20 minutes deciphering each song. Will we find music labels "typing" their songs, or applying for those songs to be "typed" in advance of release in the future? Library call numbers allow users to "browse" based on similar call numbers, and book sellers apply for these call numbers in advance. Watch and see.
Merge or be sued?
After merger talks ceased,
Sprint Nextel sued Vonage for patent infringement. The VOIP mareket is now facing the patent battle that other markets have faced. One wonders what the non-disclosure and memorandums of understanding agreements governing the merger talks said regarding patent infringement. Will we hear about what these agreements were in the battle -- did one party learn more about the other during the talks? Or did the parties guarantee immunity during the talks, which now expired?
What will you fab?
MIT sets up
fab labs in South Africa & other countries. The goal is to let individuals solve their problems with easy-to-make technology -- but obviously they would not have had access to it before. Coupled with the announcement that the $100 laptop is here, what a great week for spreading technology (well, at least the useful parts) everywhere.
