The lengthy patent battle between TiVo and EchoStar took a decisive turn in TiVo’s favor April 20 when the Federal Circuit ruled that EchoStar continued to infringe on TiVo’s patents for digital video-recording devices. Find the ruling here: http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/images/stories/opinions-orders/09-1374.pdf The court ruled as it did despite EchoStar’s efforts to change the technology in its devices following an earlier court injunction. The court also said EchoStar had acted in contempt of a provision within that injunction that ordered the satellite television company to disable all infringing devices already sold to customers. The decision also affects Dish, a sister company that relies on EchoStar’s devices for its service. The legal battle dates back to 2004, when TiVo accused satellite TV provider EchoStar’s Dish Network of violating TiVo’s patent for software that allows users to record one TV program while watching another. http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2011/04/20/why-is-this-little-television-smiling-click-here/

The law firm Beasley Allen recently dropped its high-profile lawsuit against Taco Bell which claimed that the meat used in Taco Bell’s food was something other than advertised. Taco Bell placed a full-page ad on page A7 of The Wall Street Journal on April 20 ripping the law firm that brought the suit, Montgomery, Alabama-based Beasley Allen. “Would it kill you to say you’re sorry?” reads the ad, in about 50-point type. http://blogs.wsj.com/law/?p=39861?mod=djemlawblog_h

Upcoming Icelandic music festival Aldrei for eg sudur (I never went south), taking place on 22-23 April 2011 in Iceland’s Westfjords, is to be streamed live via the Inspired by Iceland website, giving music lovers across the world a chance to tune in and be a part of one of Iceland’s most celebrated music festivals. Located in Isafjordur, the festival brings together live performances from local bands with the biggest names in the Icelandic music scene, all surrounded by the beautiful mountain slopes and quaint, colourful town houses. Aldrei for eg sudur first began as an idea between Icelandic musician Mugison and his father, both of them Isafjordur natives. Since its inception in 2004, the festival has gone from strength to strength, with festival-goers praising the relaxed atmosphere, unique location and the consistently strong festival line-up.
http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2011/04/18/icelandic-music-festival-to-be-streamed-live-via-inspired-by-iceland-website/

The black paintstick that Richard Serra uses in his drawings rarely produces the same effect: It can thicken like asphalt, pucker delicately like lace or pour down paper like a sheet of rain. Those textures fill the rooms of "Richard Serra Drawing: A Retrospective," an exhibit that opened the week of April 11 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The works span 40 years and include massive floor-to-ceiling pieces that dwarf the viewer, just like the abstract sculptures that have made Mr. Serra an art-world powerhouse. The 71-year-old artist said drawing has been a refuge since he was four years old. "It's a place where I can get lost and a place where I can throw out work and a place where I don't have to worry about what it is I'm up to," he said in an interview. The exhibit, which runs through Aug. 28 before moving to San Francisco and Houston, showcases Mr. Serra's methods, which include pouring molten paintstick—a combination of pigment, oil and wax—onto a flat surface, pressing a mesh screen over the material, covering that with paper and pressing the back of the work with a metal tool before peeling the paper back to reveal the image. Mr. Serra created the technique in 2001 after the terrorist attacks. Then, as now, he lived near the World Trade Center site. "You understand that life has an expectancy, but it could be snuffed out at any minute," he said. "Your lifespan is a nanosecond, and if you have a contribution to make, you better make it now."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116404576262823623292428.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_lifestyle

Florida is one of only three states that require commercial interior designers to become licensed before they hang a single painting in an office building, school or restaurant. A bill making its way through the state legislature, however, would deregulate the occupation, along with more than a dozen others, including yacht brokers and hair braiders. Similar tussles have broken out elsewhere, but Florida, which is considered by many in the industry to have the most strictly enforced licensing law in the country, is ground zero. A host of national interest groups have descended on Tallahassee, including the pro-licensing American Society of Interior Designers and the anti-licensing National Kitchen and Bath Association. Among the auctioneers, travel agents and telemarketers who are also in town lobbying to keep their professions regulated, designers have made the biggest ruckus. Under a state law passed in 1994, anyone who wants to practice commercial interior design in Florida must be licensed. That means completing a combined six years of schooling and apprenticeship and passing a two-day exam. Anyone can perform residential interior design, but until recently, the law prohibited such workers from calling themselves "designers." They had to settle for "decorators." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703551304576260742209315376.html?mod=WSJ_topics_obama

Herbert Marshall McLuhan, (1911 –1980) was a Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar—a professor of English literature, a literary critic, a rhetorician, and a communication theorist. McLuhan's work is viewed as one of the cornerstones of the study of media theory, as well as having practical applications in the advertising and television industries. McLuhan is known for coining the expressions "the medium is the message" and "the global village" and predicted the World Wide Web almost thirty years before it was invented. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_McLuhan
Note: Today the medium is the messenger if you consider the promotion of newscasters as celebrities and the effort to persuade you to watch a particular person rather than listening to content.

The Ohio Historical Society's old-building experts, the Building Doctors, are coming to Toledo May 5-6 for a free Building Doctor Clinic for area old-building owners, cosponsored by United North Community Development Corporation, Toledo Chapter, American Institute of Architects, Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commission, and Toledo Historic District Commission. The clinic includes a free seminar on care and maintenance of older buildings, followed by free on-site consultations to examine old-building problems and prescribe cures. Seminar: Thursday, May 5, 2011, 7:00-9:00 p.m., Casey-Pomeroy House, 802 N. Huron St., Toledo. The Building Doctors are experts on old-building maintenance and repairs, as well as bringing buildings built before 1955 up-to-date while preserving their historic features. If you own an older home or building or are involved in care and maintenance of one, don't miss this informative seminar, including ways to solve common problems like peeling paint or flaking plaster, wet basements, deteriorating masonry, window work, and other old-building topics. The seminar is free, but you must register in advance. To register, visit www.building-doctor.org, or call toll free 1-800-499-2470. Consultations by appointment: Friday, May 6, 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.