to talk with the guys from the us patent and trademark office: after 1-click e-commerce they gave jeff bezos, founder and ceo of amazon.com, the exclusive right for a 'method and system for conducting a discussion relating to an item. filed 1999. if and how it threatens ¿e-mail discussion groups? or 'any other web-based, bulletin-board type discussions about items offered for sale or items being sought after for purchase' (internetnews) needs still to be watched, but the question is out there. i am faszinated. someone has to give them a roasting, i guess.

'If peanut butter sandwiches were in the public domain and jelly sandwiches were in the public domain, you could still patent peanut butter and jelly sandwiches if you're the first person to make one' (e. kahn on us patent law)

so what's next? wireless networking with pringles was famous some years back. peter cochrane, ex british telecom (and btw someone i don't really like, but ...) was suggesting to bt, that instead of putting money in digging in the earth for some wires, they should make use of private enthusiasm: local area networks. pringle or pizza boxes in every window, so to say. howard rheingold recently published a book on that matter: 'smart mobs. the next social revolution'.

As he sees it, the crowds who surround us every day constitute a huge waste of social capital. If you live in a city for instance, there are many who pass within a few yards of you each day who could give you a ride home, buy an item you're trying to sell, or consider you as dating material. Dynamic networking makes it possible to tap those resources through a momentary alliance among transient interest groups, "like people working in a given neighborhood, staying overnight in a certain district, or taking the 10:15 flight to Chicago," Kortuem explains.( via roland piquepaille)

btw. 'pringle box workshop' or in other words: 'facilitar el acceso a la tecnología' hoy y este semana en barcelona in connection with the exhibition at la virreina: 'baquete metabolsime i comunicació'. just read: in there also zkm - coproduïda per zkm.