A couple of years ago a freelance footwear designer on the Core77 design forums suggested to an aspiring designer that they download some pirated software. I was tempted at that time to copy this designer’s Core portfolio, repost it under a new name and then alert everyone that what goes ’round most certainly will come round. Especially for designers who are, just like software developers and anyone else creating something of value, vulnerable to intellectual property theft.

I didn’t do it, though it still seemed like a good idea… still good because I’ve not seen anyone directly steal another designer’s portfolio piece. Until now, that is. I just caught a post on the Core77 forum (Link) by South Korean designer Changduk Kim (Link to Core profile) who claims that an entry into a Core77 design competition (Link) was his work; apparently stolen by a Columbian designer named Margarita Valdes (Link to Core profile). I’m not sure that’s the same Margarita Valdes or even if she did any ripping off, but I expect the folks at Core might have some means to straighten this out. If they do, I’ll update this entry. Whether it’s resolved or not, I suspect at least some designers are going to be considering how they intend to deal with bad karma.

{Update: As I thought it might be, this has turned out to be nothing more than a clerical error. But I wonder if the possibility that it might have been for real has opened a few designer eyes. I know that when I see the portfolios of some firms (especially those overseas), I sometimes wonder if I’m seeing their work or the work of some uncredited individual who was just an intern for a couple of months… and the piece itself was just the student project they submitted to get that position. It happens.}

{Image Copyright © Changduk Kim}

Back in November I wrote an entry about Nissan entering Second Life (reLink) and how they were being compared to a virtual world competitor… and effectively getting their butt kicked. I wrote a long draft for that entry but it was taking too much time to finish off; there were lots of things to discuss and I was too busy to do it justice. The gist of that draft, before I stripped it to nothing and posted the result, was that it appeared Nissan was trying to use Second Life as a marketing platform (for their real world Sentra) and not as a brand-building platform (and the article I read yesterday about Nissan’s real world situation {Sorry… link has died.} suggests they could use some help in that department). In any event, I thought theirs was a mostly worthless idea because, as some of you know, I’ve been arguing for some time that SL isn’t ready for marketing primetime and shouldn’t be treated like other media. Furthermore, people – most especially people immersed in these virtual environments – don’t aspire to own an “average Joe” car; they aspire to own luxury cars, tricked out street racers, customized hot rods… and the concept cars that the automotive manufacturers show but almost never mass produce.
Continue reading →

C|Net posted an article yesterday (Link) discussing efforts to create an open source framework for the sharing of hardware designs. For those of you interested, a draft proposal for what’s called the “TAPR Open Hardware License” is available for review (Link to PDF).

I’ve just read the current draft (version 0.9) and I confess to wondering if author John Ackerman has given sufficient thought to how this thing will be used/abused in the tangible world. I’ve not given this sufficient thought, but it seems to me that software receives significantly more protection than hardware from the simpler and less expensive Copyright system. I could be wrong, but if that’s the case, then basing an open source framework for hardware on a similar system used for software might not be appropriate; assuming that’s what they’re doing here (and based on the main player, Bruce Perens, I am making that assumption).
Continue reading →

Earlier this week like a lot of people I’d heard about the Doritos “Crash the Superbowl” competition (link) which asked aspiring filmmakers to make a 30-second commercial, submit it to Jumpcut for judging, and then have the “crowd” vote on the best entry (you can see all the entries here – Link). Anyway, I looked through the submissions and as it happens my favorite, “Checkout Girl”, just aired.
Continue reading →

Interesting if not entirely unexpected news courtesy of the Second Life Insider (link) that CafePress is establishing a presence inside the Second Life virtual world. I’m unsure of their source, but I got a chuckle out of a comment apparently attributed to whoever is talking this up:

Until a Real Life teleportation system is developed, however, product fulfillment will continue to rely on traditional shipping methods.

I guess the people at CafePress or whoever is working with them aren’t paying much attention to the kinds of things going on in the world of manufacturing. Considering their rather limited product catalogue, I’d say CafePress stands a good chance of being either an early adopter or an early casualty. Time will tell.