The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled in the 15-year dispute between Coca-Cola and Royal Crown Cola over exclusivity rights to trademark the term ‘zero’. Coke had wanted to trademark the term ‘zero’ for exclusive use of its no-calorie soft and sports drinks. RC Cola, part of the Dr Pepper group, argued that zero is too generic to trademark, but Coke countered by arguing that the general public thinks of Coke products when it comes to the term zero. The trademark was granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Trademark Trial and Appeal Board,…
Author: Loknath Das
Facebook has updated its advertising policy to prohibit ads for weapon accessories to users under the age of 18, the media reported. The social network currently bans ads for the sale of weapons and modifications, like magazines. But Facebook has taken an additional step of adding an age requirement for ads selling things like holsters, belt accessories or mounted flashlights, CNET reported on Friday. Facebook updated its advertising policy page with examples of what kinds of firearm ads are and aren’t allowed on the platform under the changed policy, which will come into effect from June 21. For example, ads for gun cases,…
Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp is reportedly working with Microsoft to deliver a proper desktop app. WhatsApp is one of the few developers that consistently delivered updates to its Windows Phone app, but a report by Windows Central suggests WhatsApp is actually getting ready to deliver a proper desktop app as well, The Next Web reported on Friday. Concept art for a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) version of WhatsApp showed up on Behance before being promptly removed. It appeared to be a native Windows app with UWP design tenets like acrylic transparency, the report said. Furthermore, a description of the project suggested Microsoft and WhatsApp were working closely on the project. Rewinding a…
A California judge has refused to throw out a lawsuit that accuses Twitter of violating the free speech rights of a leading white nationalist figure by banning his social media account. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harold Kahn ruled in Jared Taylor’s favor during a hearing Thursday on Twitter’s request to dismiss the suit, court records show. Taylor claims Twitter permanently suspended accounts belonging to him and hundreds of other far-right users in December based solely on their political views and affiliations. The judge described Taylor’s case as a “classic public interest lawsuit” and said it “goes to the heart of free…
The controversial proposal to merge K-12, higher education and workforce development into one big cabinet level state agency won’t go forward any time soon. The plan was backed by some Republican lawmakers and Gov. John Kasich, but had lots of opposition. The bill would bring the departments of Education, Higher Education and the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation into one agency essentially controlled by the governor. Rep. Lou Blessing III (R-Cincinnati) chairs the committee looking at the bill, and said he’s planning no more hearings on it in its current form. “After we have had four or five hearings, and…
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated that from the 2018/19 academic year, which begins in September 2018, all Colleges of Education in the country will be upgraded to University Colleges. Additionally, from September, President Akufo-Addo indicated that a 4-year Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) degree will be introduced in the University Colleges. “These Colleges will, initially, be affiliated with the University of Cape Coast, and, subsequently, to other public universities. This means that, eventually, a first degree will be the minimum requirement for teaching at any level of our education system”, he said. Currently, many teachers who complete the three-year…
Virginia Commonwealth University has a new head of faculty affairs. Gypsy Denzine has been named the senior vice provost for faculty affairs at VCU, effective Aug. 6. Denzine comes to the Richmond school from West Virginia University, where she served as dean of the College of Education and Human Services. Denzine is an alumna of St. Cloud State University, the University of Texas at El Paso and the University of Northern Colorado. 3 professors get funds for James River work RICHMOND — Three professors have received funding for their research on the James River. University of Richmond biology professor Kristine…
Working in a Brockton elementary school, Kathleen Smith tried to hold the attention of large classes — as many as 35 grade-schoolers in one big room. And conditions were deteriorating. At Brockton High School, she remembered, “you truly had kids that would come in and sit on the radiators,” she said. “You had books falling apart. You didn’t have materials. You didn’t have supplies.” That was 25 years ago. Conditions like those led students in Brockton and 15 other cities and towns to sue Massachusetts. They argued that the state, by failing to provide thousands of students the opportunity to receive an “adequate education,”…
Education these days isn’t just about reading, writing and arithmetic — it’s also about learning how to learn. And Microsoft wants to be the go-to option for teaching these abilities. It’s buying Flipgrid, the creator of an educational platform that fosters social-emotional skills like communication and bouncing back from failure. The tech giant hasn’t said how it will integrate Flipgrid with the rest of its lineup, but it’s starting by making the platform free to schools (they can get prorated refunds if they’ve subscribed). Microsoft has promised that Flipgrid’s offerings will still work with other “partner ecosystems,” so Google-centric classrooms won’t suddenly lose a…
More than 100 international delegates will visit Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) on June 21 and 22, 2018 for the European Conference on Social Media. For the first time in its five year history, the conference will be held in Ireland attracting speakers from South Africa, Mexico, USA, Russia, New Zealand, Canada, India, China, Australia, the Middle East, and from all across Europe. The prestigious event allows for experts in social media come together to discuss research and share and develop ideas on this relatively new, but extremely significant form of communication. Having previously been held in England, Portugal, France…