By: Caitlin S. Hale*

As law students, it’s likely that we have all been “that person” in a conversation. You know; that one annoying guy (or girl) that tries to come off as smarter than they really are, or even if they really are that intelligent, tries to flaunt intelligence in front of others. Let’s call this person the peacock. The peacock is often charismatic, always confident, and loves to strut his stuff.

I mean, we’re proud of what we’ve learned, so we have a good reason be a peacock, right? Wrong.

We all know how annoying it is to come across a peacock, flaunting knowledge and using big words. But you know what is even more annoying than encountering a peacock? Being called out for being one. Especially if you have built your whole personality around being a peacock, or even worse, your business. Continue reading »

By: Samantha Berner *

On Sunday, February 9, the new hit game for iPhone and android users, Flappy Bird, was removed from the app stores. While ordinarily apps are taken out of commission for compelling reasons, such as legal issues, here, the developer Dong Nguyen appeared to do it voluntarily. Nguyen tweeted on Saturday, February 8, “I am sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now, I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this anymore.” Although the game is still available for use for the 50 million users who downloaded the game prior to its removal, those who are just learning of the game and all of its hype are disappointed they no longer have the opportunity to experience it for themselves.

There has been much speculation as to what lead to the uncommon decision of removing the top-ranked game from the app stores, one that achieved similar levels of popularity compared to the infamous Candy Crush and Angry Birds games. Nguyen has since been pretty tight-lipped about his decision, but in an interview with Forbes, explained that while Flappy Bird started as a fun activity, it became an “addictive product,” which he believed became a problem. To solve the problem, he believed the best decision was to remove the game, a game he says is “gone forever.” Speculators also have trouble accepting this decision since it is estimated that he was receiving $50,000 a day from in-app advertising, and while Nguyen did not confirm that figure, he did admit he was receiving a lot of money through advertising. Continue reading »

By: John Hodnette *

Websites like Hulu, Netflix, and more recently Amazon have made video streaming the new popular way to watch your favorite shows. It’s easy to see just how popular this medium is one looks at the numbers. Hulu announced in 2013 that it had over 4 million paid subscribers and had streamed over a billion videos. Netflix finished 2013 with over 30 million paid subscribers and had over a billion dollars of revenue in the fourth quarter. This success was no doubt due in part to the popular original shows that Netflix has recently offered, including House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. Finally, Amazon has gotten into the streaming game, and boasts an estimated 10 million subscribers to its Prime program.

Though these Titans of the video streaming world are currently free from legal troubles, other video streamers are not so clearly legal. On the more dangerous side are sites like Project Free TV, which is an aggregation site whose mission is to find and post links to streaming videos of everyone’s favorite television programs. And then there are companies like Aereo. Continue reading »

By: Lindsey Chessum*

In January 2014, Cadillac introduced a new version of its “crest” that will appear on new products including the 2014 CTS and 2015 ATS Coupe. The new crest is wider and flatter and no longer has the encircling laurel wreath. The Wall Street Journal labeled it “bolder” with “more edginess.”

When a car drives past you, usually, the first identifying mark you see is the car logo. A pouncing jaguar, then it is a Jaguar. The Spirit of Ecstasy then it is a Rolls Royce. More utilitarian logos include Chevrolet’s “bowtie emblem” or Volkswagen’s encircled “VW.” Because of a logo’s ability to serve as an identifier, it is uncommon for a motor company to makes changes. To serve as an identifier, companies invest time and money in designing and advertising. Consumers must build up an association with the logo through repeated exposure, and for the association to positive, the exposure must be controlled. Whether through media, experience, or hearsay, companies make a significant investment in their logos because they are intended to serve as a symbol of the company. Continue reading »

By: Samantha Berner *

In a time when people are consumed with getting their hands on knowledge and gossip to which others do not have access, various media outlets are in constant competition with one another to provide this kind of material. One of the most popular of these outlets is Gawker, a website designed to capture the “gossip that journalists tell one another privately but won’t put into print.” Since its inception, Gawker has been the subject of much media controversy and many lawsuits filed against them by celebrities. Gawker has been known to release sex tapes, book proposals, and, most recently, movie scripts.

Gawker released a copy of Quentin Tarantino’s “Hateful Eight” script, and despite requests and demands for the script to be taken down, the site has yet to comply. The site has left the script up and available for anonymous download, “promoting itself to the public as the first source to read the entire Screenplay illegally.” Continue reading »

By: Lindsey Chessum*

We have all seen knockoffs. Maybe we were even tempted to buy one. Knockoffs are a special source of concern for the National Football League (“NFL”) leading up to the Super Bowl. As game day approached, tents were lined up only a couple blocks away from the stadium boasted jerseys in all sizes and at a significantly lower price than the shops inside CenturyLink Field. Of course upon closer inspection, the material appeared less than quality and small details, such as coloring or pattern, were inconsistent with the official NFL jerseys. They were knockoffs.

What can be done? Before Super Bowl XLVIII, federal authorities seized $21.6 million in fake jerseys, hats, and the like. This amounted to at least 202,000 items. The U. S. Customs and Border Patrol (“CBP”) monitored international imports, searching for suspicious shipments that may not be what they purported to be. Additionally, Nike, the NFL’s official uniform supplier, joined up with the NFL in two federal court cases to shutdown websites selling counterfeit merchandise. Unsurprisingly, the defendants did not show, giving the victory to Nike and the NFL, but for every site they took down another seems to pop up. Continue reading »

By: John Hodnette *

Despite it being more than 125 years since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle introduced Sherlock Holmes to the world, he is still as fascinating to the public in 2014 as he was back then. And, more to the point, he is as much of a money maker. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, the 2011 film starring Robert Downey Jr. grossed over $500 million. Doyle would be happy to know that Holmes is still so appealing so many years after being written.

Moreover, Holmes lovers currently have two television series running to satiate their love for the great detective. There is CBS’s Elementary, starring Jonny Lee Miller as a modern NYC Holmes and Lucy Liu as Joan Watson, the female analog to John Watson in the original story. Elementary is currently running its second season. And then there is also Sherlock, the BBC version of the modern Holmes, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the detective and Martin Freeman as Watson. This version is currently on its third season if you are watching in America on PBS. Continue reading »

By: Rebeca Echevarria *

The rapidly growing Augmented Reality market boasted revenues of approximately $181 million in 2011, and analysts expect this figure to rise to $5,156 million by 2016. Augmented reality, frequently referred to as “AR”, is a virtual-reality system that enhances the real world with virtual data by superimposing computer-generated text, images, and sounds over real surroundings. AR is most commonly seen during sporting events such as the first-down lines displayed on television during football games, but this technology is quickly evolving. Google Glass and like products use an optical head-mounted display to produce graphics right in front of a user’s eyes rather than on the screen of a smartphone or a television. Businesses offering goods and services have realized the new advertising space available in AR, in which they can market their products and messages alongside the other virtual data displayed to an AR user. Continue reading »

By: Stephen DeGrow*

Life is good for Amazon. The company had over $17 billion in total net sales for the quarter ending on September 30, 2013. (That figure is more than 20% greater than its 2012 third quarter total net sales.) And as of Friday, November 22, Amazon’s stock is near all time highs, the company is rolling out new products like the Kindle Fire HDX, and the site is getting ready for a big holiday shopping season.

Recently, things have not been quite as good at The United States Post Office. Its 2012 fiscal year loss almost reached $16 billion, and earlier this year, it released a plan to stop delivering mail on Saturdays. But this downward spiral recently received a break from one of the world’s biggest corporations. Amazon and the Post Office are now teaming up for Sunday delivery in the New York and Los Angeles markets. Expansion into Dallas, Houston, and New Orleans is planned for next year. Continue reading »

By: Caitlin S. Hale*

All families have Thanksgiving traditions. Maybe yours includes watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, while others enjoy watching some Turkey Day football (this year’s line up included, Packers at Lions, Raiders at Cowboys, and Steelers at Ravens). Other families may fight over who gets to break the turkey’s wishbone for the chance to make a wish. Many instead choose to nap, in order to gear up for the next “big holiday” – Black Friday.

It goes without saying that the safety of both shoppers and employees can quickly become an issue on Black Friday. Crowd related injuries occur much more frequently during the holidays, especially during special sales such as those that take place on Black Friday. Try searching, “stun gun Black Friday shopper.” Shoppers are not the only ones who brave the dangers of Black Friday. The shopping mayhem puts employees at risk, too. Continue reading »