In through the outfield

5 March 2009

India moves to patent yoga poses

On first inspection this would be filed under ‘Friday fun’, although it was drawn to my attention by an email from a customer who wanted the official British Library view on the Daily Telegraph story.

Needles to say, we don’t have a view, but I have to say I was amazed to to discover that yoga positions could be protected:

“Copyrights over yoga postures and trademarks on yoga tools have become rampant in the West. Till now, we have traced 130 yoga-related patents in the US. We hope to finish putting on record at least 1500 yoga postures by the end of 2009,” said Dr V.P Gupta, of the CSIR, who created the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library.

And even more surprised to hear how the Indian government has reacted:

So far a team of yoga gurus from nine schools have worked with government officials and 200 scientists from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to scan 35 ancient texts including the Hindu epics, the Mahabharata and the Bhagwad Gita, and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras to register each native pose.

The topic even has its own Wikipedia page entitled Yoga Piracy.

18 February 2009

Facebook backs down over controversial privacy policy

facebook_175x125 Intellectual Property topics can come from all sorts of unexpected places. The headline above was the lead story facing me as I picked up my local free Metro newspaper this morning.

Firstly, I was surprised to see the social networking phenomenon making it to the forefront of ‘old media’, and secondly, surprised to see Facebook backing down in the face of user complaints so quickly.

The last major U-Turn from Facebook I am aware of was in November 2007 when they removed their online tracking of purchases after more than 50,000 Facebook members signed a petition objecting to the program. Facebook Retreats on Online Tracking.

This time the response from the company has been much more swift, and this evening when I logged into Facebook I was confronted with the message below:

Terms of Use Update: Over the past few days, we have received a lot of feedback about the new terms we posted two weeks ago. Because of this response, we have decided to return to our previous Terms of Use while we resolve the issues that people have raised. For more information, visit the Facebook Blog. If you want to share your thoughts on what should be in the new terms, check out our group Facebook Bill of Rights and Responsibilities.

Bobbie Johnson in the Guardian explains the background to this latest crisis facing Facebook:

Facebook has backed down on controversial changes to its terms of service that angered users and caused protests across the social networking site.

Two weeks ago the site altered its terms of service so that it continued to retain a copy of all a user’s messages, actions and updates – even if they left the network. Until the change, Facebook’s policy was to delete all traces of a user if they chose to quit the site.

After the potential scope of the new legal wording became clear, thousands of outraged Facebook users and privacy campaigners lobbied for the world’s largest social network to revert to its old terms of service.

On Monday it seemed these calls were falling on deaf ears after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg defended the changes in a blogpost, and suggested that users should trust the site with their data.

However, just 24 hours later the company decided to back down. In a message to users last night, Facebook said it would be reverting to its previous terms and conditions for the time being.

15 February 2009

The Gift of Inner Success book launch

Tuesday evening in the Business & IP Centre was the launch of The Gift of Inner Success the latest book from the British Library’s partner business coach, Rasheed Ogunlaru.

The fact that the event had been hastily re-scheduled from the snow hit previous Tuesday and yet was a full house, indicates just how popular the charismatic Rasheed is becoming.

As he says on his blog of the evening, “The event was an evening of inspiration, celebration, connection and was attended by a rich range of spirit souls. “

Rasheed kindly gave a copy to the Centre, and using my recently acquired speed reading technique (of which, more in a later blog post) I managed to whistle through it on the way into work the next day.

The theme of the book is about how we need to give ourselves the mental space (a difficult challenge given the daily demands on ourselves) in order to listen to our hearts. Rasheed is a great believer in allowing yourself to trust yourself to let your heart rule your head.

1 February 2009

Airport Havens for frequent flyers

As a regular traveller to the United States I often spend many hours waiting for connecting flights at hub airports. My record to date was seven hours in Huston.

But now thanks to Springwise I have discovered AiportHavens, where I can find (thanks to fellow travellers) a nice quiet spot for a some work, a read or even a nap, away from the hustle and bustle.

However, it may not quite be up to the standard required for setting up permanent residence as exemplified by Mehran Karimi Nasseri an Iranian refugee, who lived in the departure lounge of Terminal One in Charles de Gaulle Airport from 8 August 1988 until July 2006. Merhan Karimi Nasseri at Charles de Gaulle airport, France, since 1988.

17 January 2009

Visit Camden libraries for books and therapy

camden_therapy This weeks edition of the Camden New Journal has a story headlined Free therapy for all to help kick recession depression.

In a first for the UK, Camden are addressing an expected significant increase in cases of depression and anxiety disorders caused by the economic gloom.

“While other areas in the country have piloted the idea of self-referrals, Camden is the first place where the scheme is up and running. Ms Leibowitz added: “We would encourage anyone who feels that their life is badly affected by these problems to contact us to find out what is available to meet their needs.”
Thirty extra therapists have been hired and will be stationed in surgeries, libraries and employment advice centres across Camden.”

What with the British Library offering business advisors, Birmingham City Library record deals for aspiring musicians and Camden libraries therapists, who knows what limits there could be to library services.

16 January 2009

Finally my mobile works on the Underground

ss_tubemap No, it’s not some magic piece of mobile communication technology, instead it’s a free little widget downloaded from the Transport for London website.

It’s a zoomable map for a wide range of mobile phones covering the whole of the underground network. Very handy for those moments when you realise you are on the wrong line, or heading in the wrong direction, or you have to find a new route due to ‘severe delays’.

8 January 2009

The ultimate feel good movie for depressing times

mammamiateaserposter I was amazed to see from the latest edition of 10 things you didn’t know last week, that we Brits have spent £69 million so far on tickets to see Mamma Mia!

This film version of the musical based on Abba music is now Britain’s biggest ever grossing film, overtaking the previous holder Titanic. To add to this impressive feat, over 1 million copies of the DVD were purchased on its release day, another UK record.

Having reluctantly watched said DVD on Christmas day, I have to agree that it has a remarkable feel-good factor. A combination of those annoyingly catchy Abba songs and a cheesy love story for young and old alike. The smile factor wasn’t even badly dented by Pierce Brosnan’s shouted version of SOS and a couple of other songs.

So this could be the next big market for those in creative world for our recessionary times.

4 January 2009

From redundancy to reinvention

Last February I wrote about Rasheed Ogunlaru and his Zest for Business. During 2008 he regularly ran his Making it as an Entrepreneur sessions which proved very popular.

Given our current economic straights and the rise of redundancies during 2008 with more predicted for 2009, Rasheed (who’s redundancy during the last downturn ten years ago, led to his current vocation) has written a blog post From redundancy to reinvention with his top ten tips. Having been made redundant myself over three years ago, I remember what a traumatic experience it was. But also how it was the springboard to a much more satisfying job.

1. Give yourself time and space to be, breathe, reflect and even grieve.

2. Find out exactly what the redundancy will mean: and your options / entitlements.

3. Seek support: from friends and loved ones – and professionals in / beyond work who can help you.

4. Take time: to consider what you really want to do next in your life and career and follow your heart.

5. Practicals: Brush up your CV and your interview skills, identify all your strengths and skills. Ensure you stand out. Include a powerful personal statement at the top.

6. Get hold of my ‘Moving ahead in your career free guide – visit my resources page it will help you focus on what you want in a job

7. Write a list of all the people you know who can help you (inc contacts, friends, former colleagues and who they know) Call or make appointments to meet and chat with anyone who may be able to help you.

8. When applying for jobs: keep your spoken/ written correspondence clear, crisp, concise and captivating.

9. Spread the net: include internet, networking, agencies, contacts as well as newspapers for your job search.

10. Tell people: You probably know 200 people or more tell them what you’re looking for…together you may find it… It’s a small world.

www.rasaru.com

26 November 2008

Christmas sells – Christmas sales

During a spot of television watching the other evening I couldn’t help noticing how many times the word Christmas was used during the advert breaks. I know that Christmas starts earlier every year in the hope that business will reap the benefit. But this was almost as though the word was being thrown at the viewer as some kind of mantra. The irony is that almost all of these pleas to worship at the cult of Christmas commercial consumption ended with a hastily tacked on half price offer.

By chance, on the same day I read about a character who has well and truly bought into the ‘Christmas spirit’, by celebrating Christmas day every day since 1994. His name is Andy Park (aka Mr Christmas) and he estimates to have consumed 117,600 brussel sprouts, 5,110 bottles of Champagne, and opened more than 230,000 Christmas cards. He has also worn out 37 electric ovens, and 23 video recorders by watching the Queen’s Speech every day.

However, this year the electrician from Melksham, Wiltshire, is being having to cut back due to the credit crisis.

Divorced Mr Park said that this year the postage is so dear he is having to deliver his cards to himself by himself, instead of relying on the Royal Mail. Also he is being forced to downsize his turkey from 14lb to 9lb.