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Figma Sent a Cease-and-Desist Letter To Lovable Over the Term 'Dev Mode'

2 months 2 weeks ago
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Figma has sent a cease-and-desist letter to popular no-code AI startup Lovable, Figma confirmed to TechCrunch. The letter tells Lovable to stop using the term "Dev Mode" for a new product feature. Figma, which also has a feature called Dev Mode, successfully trademarked that term last year, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark office. What's wild is that "dev mode" is a common term used in many products that cater to software programmers. It's like an edit mode. Software products from giant companies like Apple's iOS, Google's Chrome, Microsoft's Xbox have features formally called "developer mode" that then get nicknamed "dev mode" in reference materials. Even "dev mode" itself is commonly used. For instance Atlassian used it in products that pre-date Figma's copyright by years. And it's a common feature name in countless open source software projects. Figma tells TechCrunch that its trademark refers only to the shortcut "Dev Mode" -- not the full term "developer mode." Still, it's a bit like trademarking the term "bug" to refer to "debugging." Since Figma wants to own the term, it has little choice but send cease-and-desist letters. (The letter, as many on X pointed out, was very polite, too.) If Figma doesn't defend the term, it could be absorbed as a generic term and the trademarked becomes unenforceable.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

BeauHD

EU gives staff 'burner phones, laptops' for US visits

2 months 2 weeks ago
That would put America on the same level as China for espionage

The European Commission is giving staffers visiting the US on official business burner laptops and phones to avoid espionage attempts, according to the Financial Times.…

Iain Thomson

Uber Cofounder Kalanick Says AI Means Some Consultants Are in 'Big Trouble'

2 months 2 weeks ago
Uber cofounder Travis Kalanick thinks AI is about to shake up consulting -- and for "traditional" professionals, not in a good way. From a report: The former Uber CEO said consultants who mostly follow instructions or do repetitive tasks are at risk of being replaced by AI. "If you're a traditional consultant and you're just doing the thing, you're executing the thing, you're probably in some big trouble," he said. He joked about what that future of consultancy might look like: "Push a button. Get a consultant." However, Kalanick said the professionals who would come out ahead would be the ones who build tools rather than just use them. "If you are the consultant that puts the things together that replaces the consultant, maybe you got some stuff," he said. "You're going to profitable companies with competitive moats, making that moat bigger," he explained. "Making their profit bigger is probably pretty interesting from a financial point of view."

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msmash

Why Did Silver Lake Buy A Majority Stake In Intel’s Altera FPGA Business?

2 months 2 weeks ago

Beleaguered chip maker Intel has been looking for ways to capitalize on non-core, not large, but profitable parts of its business to raise funds for its ambitious plans to revitalize Intel Foundry and to also invest heavily in the Intel Products group. …

Why Did Silver Lake Buy A Majority Stake In Intel’s Altera FPGA Business? was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

Timothy Prickett Morgan