March 18th 2009
The UK government wants to remove users’ rights to internet access, including applications and services, for people within the EU. This move comes in the form of amendments to the Telecoms Package being distributed at the EU seat of power in Brussels. The amendment replaces “user’s rights” with the “principle” that users can be told not […]
March 17th 2009
Video distribution sites such as YouTube, Metacafe, and DailyMotion host video files that can infringe the rights of content owners and brand holders. Until now, if you’ve needed to protect video assets, its been tough because video files are easily reformatted, edited, and distributed with changed metatags. Now, a tier of start-ups are competing both to […]
March 16th 2009
The Disney images of the Seven Dwarves are now being associated with the symptoms of menopause. The ghost of Walt Disney can’t be psyched about this.
March 13th 2009
The Associated Press struck back as it countersued Shepard Fairey this week. The AP claims Fairey’s usage of an AP photo was uncredited and uncompensated, and violates copyright law. They added that it’s also a threat to journalism. The AP is seeking profits and damages. Apparently, Fairey used several companies to market the derivative work, […]
March 12th 2009
“The truth is an absolute defense to a claim of defamation.” But perhaps not always in Massachusetts, and that’s a problem. Judge Juan Torruella of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit has allowed Alan Noonan, a sales director fired by Staples, to pursue his libel claim against the company. Staples’s executive vice […]
March 10th 2009
“It’s your right to arrange Chen Xiao’s life, and it’s my obligation to serve you…”. Chen Xiao has had a tough year. Blizzards covered her home town in China, her area was devastated by an earthquake. Her best friends divorced and her clothing store failed. What’s an entrepreneur to do? Rent your life to the […]
March 9th 2009
Wikileaks discovered that NATO’s communications briefs were all encrypted with the same easy-to-guess password: “progress.” Even military-strength encryption is useless if the password can be guessed by anyone reading a campaign poster. One document, “NATO in Afghanistan: Master Narrative,” is a 30-page guide to the “story” NATO representatives are to tell, and what details should […]
March 7th 2009
Documentary filmmaker Rob Spence is planning to outfit his prosthetic eye with a tiny wireless camera. His “EyeBorg Project” is intended to raise awareness of surveillance society in general, and of Toronto specifically, which is infested by 12,000 such cameras. According to his press release: In order for the project to be successful the smallest, […]
March 6th 2009
Over the next few weeks UsefulArts.US will be featuring some exciting new tools you can use to protect your online intellectual property. Anyone can describe the online risks to copyright and trademark holders, but if you read these posts you’ll find some exciting new ways to protect your assets, often with free services. Searching and […]
March 5th 2009
Sokolove Law: Both Entrance and Exit In January the Law Office of James Sokolove turned the media spotlight on itself. It issued a press release that Mr. Sokolove was making media appearances on a local rock station and PBS. Then there was the long-format feature in Boston Magazine, with the tag line “They’ve also created […]
The future of digital experiences will be built by strategists who grasp the full array of emerging business, social, and technical models. Specialties in user experience, branding, application design, and data science are laying the foundation for richer user experiences and business models breakthrough products and revenue based marketing.
UsefulArts is a soapbox to discuss the front line of digital experience, and the agencies and platforms that enable it. Digital business needs a cadre of leaders who can connect c-level enterprise thinking with the ways these new interaction models can help organizations to matter more to their most important stakeholders.