johndlafayette

I KNOW!!

Poor people can afford it!

depends on where you are. buffalo wild wings is the fastest growing franchise (ever maybe?). red robin is cool. 5 guys.

i tried to convince my mother to spend her college funds for my brother on starting one of those franchises and having my brother manage it as a college edu but she said no.... and then they opened in our town. Big money makers those three.

Basically, stuff I've seen in the midwest 5-10 years ago is now coming into the northeast. and probably the west too (but I wouldn't know).

if anything... i'd say spend the money to travel to OH/MI and see what people like before you make a decisions. 1-2k for a vacation and you get to see what people like around the country. see where the chains are spreading. that small amount of travel expense will make or save you more than i can say.

ps.. ohio's where they do all their food testing i think.

http://www.jimmyjohns.com/ is always good. everyone INSISTED we stop there when we were near one. they're midwestern too

Don't quit just because you have disagreements. Some studies have shown that disagreement is actually healthy and encourages learning, as long as it isn't bitter tit for tat disagreements (as long as it's not personal).

Don't quit before you have discussed the issue with management. If the managers are good, they will be open to your point of view and try to come to a common understanding. They should explain their point well enough that you can come to that common understanding as well, whether or not there is common agreement on the issue.

If you still wholeheartedly disagree with their viewpoint and can't come to a common understanding, then it may be time to move on. If they dismiss your point of view out of hand, it's definitely time to move on.

Thanks. I am worried about noise, and this is definitely sound advice. I know I need to maintain focus, especially over the next few weeks, so I'll definitely do what you suggest. I was conflicted because at my last internship, my ignorance in certain areas was sometimes of great benefit. By not having any built-in biases or frames of reference I could ask simple questions and come up with simple solutions that were overlooked because nobody had ever thought to ask.

Thanks again.

I apologize for being unclear. You are correct on the clock starting, but the clock can also be adjusted by the PTO if your patent is delayed in approval if I am understanding what is below correctly. If all patents granted to 'small business/inventors' are delayed to a great extent due to larger companies paying more for earlier patent approval, I assume that smaller inventor's patents will be adjusted, allowing them a longer term of protection, as they can start their business as soon as they file.

See #3 here (also great info on patents in general): http://www.bpmlegal.com/howtoterm.html

"Patents based on applications filed on or after May 29, 2000 (actual filing date, not priority date), might have had their terms extended for Patent Office delays beyond certain limits. Such extensions, called "patent term adjustments", are automatically given when the patent is issued, and they are usually marked on the face of the patent, flagged with "()". For example, see patent 7,613,700 - "() Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 USC 154(b) by 291 days." These adjustments are calculated mathematically based on a formula which takes into account when each office action was sent by the USPTO as compared with a standard for such actions, and subtracts any delays caused by the applicant's delay, and so on."

However, if the standard is now different because of the new law, or if it is segmented by pricing, I have no clue what may happen.

From my limited understanding, if you simply submit a application, you are protected until it is reviewed plus the time granted with a patent. So if you pay the new smaller amount, and it takes the PO 5 years to review your patent instead of the normal 1 for corporations, you'll have an extra 4 years of protection over the life of the patent. Clock starts once it's reviewed and accepted, but protection starts once it's filed. Depending on how much cheaper this is for small businesses, it could potentially help them out by offering longer protection for less money, if only because it takes longer for their patents to be reviewed.

But I think I agree with asnyder for the most part. Most people don't even know where to start, and may lose protection simply because they didn't know what to do before the idea spread and someone else with the know-how made the product and patented it.

I disagree, but I think it depends on the person as well. You can use facebook to do whatever you desire with it. While people try to 'censor' themselves in many social situations, I think society as a whole is moving towards more acceptance. Thanks to the internet, you can always find someone else 'out there' who has the same outlook on life as you. You are also able to see people from every different background and way of thinking, opening yourself up to better understanding and acceptance of them. You can be who you are wherever you are in the world and find acceptance online, even if in your hometown you may be ostracized. Interesting film concerning this: http://www.weliveinpublicthemovie.com/

Eh, I agree somewhat, but I think it depends on the idea. Don't forget about the multi-year monopoly patents give you, and that business methods patents are still around (http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/app-security/sh...). Someone else could potentially patent your 'million dollar idea' if they take it from idea to patentable item before you, possibly only because they are able execute the idea more quickly than you are able to. Execution doesn't necessarily need to be too good in order to get patent protection.

This should be pretty successful in the right markets. We started doing a somewhat similar idea at a hotel a year or two ago (though not slick): http://wellsbeachmaine.com/roomphotos.html

We've found it's absolutely great, and both reduced complaints and helped sales. (How do you describe a view over the phone? There have been times when a person thinks you described it wrong over the phone and is upset) People enjoy knowing exactly what to expect, and not having to worry about surprises.

Depends what you're looking for. Industry information is covered by the NAICS. http://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics/ Since that's put out by the govt, it should be recognized as accurate by anyone you're working with.

If it's a smaller industry or industry subset, I'd recommend doing a Fermi estimate of the industry size: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Fermi_problem

You can also do this by looking at a company in the market and estimate up from there. You can often find press releases from companies that say things like 'we've captured 35% of x market'- then if you compare that to their sales you can quickly figure out the size of the market. Alternatively, add up the sales of the biggest companies in the market and assume that they account for a set % of the total, and figure it out that way.

You are selling your site to potential users. If you have a specific target user, write your message so that it'll sell directly to them.

Also check out pinyadda. They may give you some ideas for posting.

Interning at the Eureka Ranch this past summer (eurekaranch.com), one of the key things they taught us was that through quantity you can often find quality. By coming up with as many descriptions of your company in as many ways as you can, you'll eventually focus in on what really hits you as right, even if you write down 10000 wrong ones on the way there.

Personally, I particularly like the concept of Kaizen (continuous improvement) when reading this post- this seems like essentially what your company is allowing people to do for their knowledge/brain. You could go for the whole stay competitive/stay ahead of the competition/professional-personal development deal, but eh. When everyone says the same thing it sorta loses its appeal.

I'd been toying with a somewhat similar idea in the past and wish you the best of luck with it. Knowledge transfer should be one of the most important industries in the future. When I was looking into it I'd found some that offer a similar idea, but for professors to post research articles about the areas they're interested in. The name escapes me, but if you poke around and are able to find them that may give you some ideas as well.

These are all more tagline type things, but maybe they'll spark some ideas: 'User generated Kaizen for your brain' 'Community created continuous knowledge improvement' 'User generated continuous skill improvement' 'Professionally generated Kaizen for your brain' 'A professional community designed to allow you to continuously improve your (programming/designing?) knowledge /skills'

Do you know if there were any legal cases regarding these issues, or if that's simply the way things worked out?

I'm sure I can find the cases if there were some, so please don't search for them if you don't know them off hand.

Thanks again Dan

Also, if I do buy a new engine that needs to specially fit into my awesome Mercedes, I do pay my mechanic a small fee, but the mechanic is the one that makes it work in my Mercedes (the programmer that makes the program work on an Apple OS). I also pay the manufacturer of the engine (the programmer that manufactures the program).

Just to be clear, I LOVE Apple for almost everything, and have owned an Iphone for years. Have used Apples for work and will readily admit that they're the absolute best you can buy for design work. Also, sorry if I use incorrect terminology at any point (I'm a business student). I'm just trying to wrap my head around how this situation became legal.

I sincerely appreciate all of the feedback about this subject, and I hope nobody takes offense if I argue points back. I'm simply trying to learn more about the situation, and arguing a point and being proven wrong is the best way I've found that I can learn more about the current issues in tech.

I'm not arguing that a Honda Civic alternator won't work in my Mercedes and that's a bad thing. That's like saying I'm upset that apps built for the Google OS don't work for an Apple OS. I'm wondering why I can't buy an 'aftermarket' part for my Mercedes without Mercedes taking a cut.

Last time I checked, I could buy a new sound system for my car without paying the original manufacturer. Buy new tires for my car without paying the original manufacturer. I can buy a new engine that's not built by Mercedes as long as it fits in the engine compartment, can't I?

Or am I wrong and Mercedes does get a cut of my new tires, even if they aren't tires that Mercedes builds itself?

If the state I lived in only had one supermarket chain, and the only way I could shop somewhere else was if I moved to another state, that supermarket chain would be called a monopoly, yes? Just because I can move to another state doesn't mean that the sole supermarket chain in my current state isn't a monopoly.

I guess I'm asking more if Microsoft was allowed to charge anyone that built/builds a program for Windows. By your logic, they should be allowed to, because Apple OS/Linux exist.

Now that Apple OS for desktops/laptops is more widely used and Microsoft doesn't have complete control of the OS market, could Microsoft start charging software makers that wanted to provide content on a Windows machine?