San Francisco has always been favorable turf for women working in and around the life. A landlord kicked out one of the few strippers’ cooperatives recently. Does this business make sense in the age of the internet? The Lusty Lady Closes
Before abolishing software patents we should try to limit their scope.
One problem is in defining what constitutes a software patent. There are inventions in which software is employed. As long as some non-software product or process is affected and so long as the claims are limited to use on the product or process, the invention should be patentable.
A well-known patent attorney is skeptical about the value to the economy of a patent on software where the claims are not so limited; that is limited to affecting a defined product or process. This scope problem is one that applies to all patents. It was dealt with in 1852 or 1853 by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Samuel F. B. Morse case on the teletype.
The purpose of the patent system is to encourage investment;
investment in inventing; in development and in marketing. The greater the cost of those three matters, the greater the need for a patent. Outside of software, the Patent Office is too tough on allowing patents.. But these “close” cases should have claims narrow in scope; scope appropriate to the degree of novelty. Should We Abolish Software Patents
David Isenberg has written a fascinating book on entrepreneurs. Interestingly, he does not limit an entrepreneur to the innovation of an idea, but rather to the discovery of some unexplored niche that might satisfy human needs and desires. He also shows us why the entrepreneurial temperament is necessary for startups. We will synopsize the book in four articles over the next week. But ii is a great read if you have the time. Entrepreneurs
Jobs is notorious for his gruff style, but he made Apple into a fantastically successful company. It was no accident. Adam Toren suggests four reasons why: His vision helped individual creativity. He didn’t hire dumb people. He brought an artist’s philosophy to technology. He snubbed the status quo. Try it. You might succeed beyond your wildest dreams. Jobs the Movie
Women in the Middle East want to start up businesses three times more frequently than men in the region do. What stops them? The challenges of the surrounding environment. Think Egypt! An excellent analysis. Why it’s not as bad as it seems for women entrepreneurs
What does this mean for individuals, for the state, for companies, large and small. Will the trend continue? We are only beginning to look at the impact of reduced budgets on citizens’ lives across the world. Part Time Employment on the Rise
The New York Fed has long collected market information from its primary dealer trading counterparts and released these data in aggregated form to the public. Until recently, such data have only been available for broad categories of securities (for example, Treasury bills as a group) and not for specific securities. Starting with data covering the week ending April 3, 2013, the Fed now also releases aggregated primary dealer data on specific Treasury issues. In particular, the data cover dealer activity in the most recently issued Treasury notes and bonds, including both nominal securities as well as Treasury inflation-protected securities; specific issue data are not collected for bills. As with the broad security category data, the released data are aggregated across dealers and reported weekly as of the week ending Wednesday. Michael Fleming of the New York Fed suggests what this might mean. New Ways of Looking at Federal Reserve Data
The calamity of 1991 led to liberalising reforms that ended decades of stagnation and allowed a spurt of fast growth in Inda. This latest brush with disaster could produce a positive legacy, too, but only if it persuades voters and the next government of the importance of a new round of reforms that deal with the economy’s flaws and unleash its mighty potential. Corruption is rampant. Global markets are jittery and this is an election year. India’s Problems
Competing to go a millesecond faster than the rest of the pack may be a thing of the past. Established technology giants are now selling big data on home pries and social media. Are we edging back to more conventional investing? The Wall Street Journal report. Have Hedgefunds Gone As Far as They Can with Speed?
Two reports in Chinese media highlight different aspects of China’s unfolding demographic crunch. The Ministry of Education reported Aug. 21 that more than 13,600 primary schools closed nationwide in 2012. The ministry looked to China’s dramatically shifting demographic profile to explain the widespread closures, noting that between 2011 and 2012 the number of elementary-aged students fell from nearly 200 million to 145 million. It also confirmed that between 2002 and 2012, the number of students enrolled in primary schools dropped by nearly 20 percent. The ministry’s report comes one day after an article in People’s Daily, the government newspaper, warned of China’s impending social security crisis as the number of elderly is expected to rise from 194million in 2012 to 300 million by 2025. China’s Demographic Problem
