Last Updated on July 28, 2023 10:51 am by Jeffrey Powers

Who Owns the Trademark to X? We look at Elon Musk’s impulsive rebrand move, why he did it, and who could ultimately hurt the brand.

A Microsoft survey shows that 49% of US workers fear being replaced by Artificial Intelligence. This can be anything from writing copy, to drawing, to having a device react to multiple situations, making it safer than having a line worker do the same thing.

But it’s not AI that will ultimately take your job. It’s the person that knows how to program AI that will.

A customer service representative easily can be replaced with an automated voice. If it’s over the phone, you might not even know it’s automated, unless you stray off topic and they don’t know how to respond.

But keep in mind, AI is learning how to respond back.

I built a WordPress plugin using AI. This is something I would normally outsource to a programmer. And while I still had to tweak the code for the plugin to work, it still saved me a few bucks and only a 1/2 hour of my time.

Uber has played with automated drivers for years. Imagine getting picked up to go to the airport with no driver in the seat. Or a public bus transit that can react to when someone is pounding on the door because they just ran that last half block to make this transport?

And there are jobs you might not think will get replaced by AI. Surgical assistant, for one. Anesthegiologists, raiology technicians, nurses, and more could be changed out for robots that could react faster – and in synchronicity – to save a life.

Houses and cars can be built by the same AI program that also sells you that house or car. It could then turn around and get you the best deal on your insurance, run yearly inspections, then fix what could be breaking down.

I know – this is something a few years out. But not impossible.

Soon, we’ll all have an “Andrew” in our home, and Robin Williams will live on to make a hanky dance.

You know how to make the hankey dance, right? Put a little boogie in it.

If you have a concern that AI could replace you (and spoiler alert – it most likely can), then the best course of action would be to learn how to program that AI so you can still do the job you might love.

It might not be the first time in your life your job has been replaced by automation. I can think of jobs that were done in the 80’s and 90’s that have done that.

Do you have a couple? Let me know in the comments below.

Samsung announced new phones and tablets this week at their “Unpacked 2023” event in Seoul, South Korea. The Galaxy Flip 5 took center stage, with a new hinge, improved scratch resistance screens, double the internal storage, and a front screen that is 2x larger than the Z Flip4.

Inside is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile platform, with improved processing. Along with the improved 3700 mAh battery, you could see up to 24 hours of battery life.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy Tab S9 – their larger flip phone turning it into tablet mode – also got a new hinge and improved screen. The hinge allows the phone to fully close, keeping the screen better protected from sand, dirt, and other debris.

The Galaxy Watch 6 brought back a slightly thinner rotating bezel into their “Classic” model. The aluminum model will not have that feature.

Both watches will have better screens and battery life. Four options available, you can choose the 40 or 43mm watch with 1.3 inch display, or the 44 and 47mm models with 1.5 inch displays

A couple cons in the new flip phones – the camera is still similar to the Flip 4 in the other specs. Some report better low-light photos in the camera, but that might be a software processing feature that could easily FLIP over to the 4.

The Fold4’s S Pen also doesn’t have Bluetooth, so you cannot use it as a camera shutter. You would have to upgrade to the S Pen Pro to do that. Personally, I would rather have that functionality on the watch then the pen.

The other concern is while the flip and fold close tighter, the hinge still doesn’t open to give you a flat surface. The seam in the middle of the screen won’t change too much (because it needs to crease for the fold), as well as the firmness of the plastic screen. But not having the phone truely flat can be offputting, especially if you’re gaming or trying to make precise taps.

The Flip4 is on pre-order at $1000 for the 256 GB model, with a pre-order special of the 512 GB model at the same price.

The Fold 5 is a little more expensive. $1,799 for 256GB, with the same $200 off deal for 512 GB. 1TB model will set you back $2009.99

So you save a penny…

This comes at a time where Samsung profits have been down 95%. Experts are expecting recovery in the 2nd half of the fiscal year, but if you are planning to purchase any of these devices, I would guess production will be limited at first so they don’t over-extend their stock. You might have to wait longer if you don’t get in the pre-order line soon.

Did you see the Millennium Falcon shaped comet yet? Don’t worry – you’ll have chances up until it passes the Sun, which will be a few weeks after the Total Solar Eclipse we’ll see on April 8, 2024. Experts say you’ll have until June 2nd to observe it.

But don’t worry. 144 million miles will be the closest it gets to Earth. In comparison, the moon is 238,900 Miles.

The comet is called 12P/Pons-Brooks, and it became visible around July 20th. I’ll be pulling out the telescope to try and catch the Star Wars themed comet.

And hopefully we won’t see any lawsuits from Disney for the likeness.

BTW – the reason why it looks like the Falcon is because of how the light is reflecting off the comet. As a comet moves, it gains, and sheds mass. It’s very possible the shape will change to not look like the iconic YT-1300 light freighter by next year.

And there is no mention as to if it actually did the Kessel run and how many parsecs it took.

All this talk on AI is something NVIDIA is enjoying. It’s going through a change in the company – the last 10 years they saw a surge in desktop GPU because people were mining bitcoin. When that bubble burst, NVIDIA had the new challenge of AI to move to.

Now, the company is on track to make the roaring 2020’s their decade.

Alaska has invested in the company back in June for $142 million. They have been investing in the company since 2017.

I didn’t even know a state revenue department can do that.

Since AI is in it’s infancy, companies are working on plans to enter the market. NVIDIA is simply one company that took that baton and is running hard to the finish line.

Keep in mind, AMD and Intel have been working hard at their own AI compute, but it’s like competing against Usain Bolt right now.

Doesn’t mean Usain couldn’t get a leg cramp halfway through.

Companies like ServiceNow are going all in on NVIDIA for AI adoption. Along with Accenture’s AI Lighthouse, they plan to empower customers and partners for deploying LLM AI
– or Large Language Model AI.

ITM, the desktop GPU could get a shift. Their latest video card – the 4090 Ti – which was still in development, was reported to be discontinued, as NVIDIA is shifting to it’s next generation.

And shops like MicroCenter are selling their 4070, 4080, and 4090 desktop cards at %15 off. Compared to 2 years ago, when a card was not on those shelves, and eBay was selling cards for 2-3x the price, you can see there is definitely a shift.

And this shift is to “Home AI”.

If you were to download and install AI on a high-end desktop, you’ll be able to run the programs without issue, but as the AI grows, you’ll most likely run into major bottlenecks and hanging.

Making a GPU farm, especially for graphic based AI like Midjourney does, will require multiple cards and NVLink to make them work together.

And this shift will also help gamers. If the next generation (we’ll just call it the 50 series for now) and it can at least double what the 40 series can do, NVIDIA would be on track to building your fully home automated computer.

Which is where this is going.

Here is what you would see: A central computer that connects to personal assistants and IoT throughout the house.

That is where a group like MATTR comes in – M-A-T-T-R. They are helping create an ecosystem with digital trust. More important, their API system will allow you to program your house the way you want.

For example: have you ever had the internet go out, so you say “Alle”, and it replies “I’m having trouble connecting to the Internet”. You cannot turn off lights, or run routines until that connection gets restored.

So what if the Internet goes out, and you go “Hey Bob! What just happened”?

And it responds “Looks like the Internet went down, Jeff. I’ll let you know whe it comes back up. BTW – you have to pick up the kids in 30 minutes.”

So you say “Thanks, Bob. Turn off the hallway light, please”

AND IT DOES IT!

Then you say “Play Jeff is Awful”, and it makes up a 30 minute program where you can watch as the Internet goes down, you ask Fred what happened, and go through that same routine…

Except you’re played by George Clooney.

A stretch on what this can do, but at this point, not impossible.

Holodecks are coming!

OK – I went on a tangent there. Bottom line is NVIDIA is a hot commodity right now in an AI infused future. Of course, I just got done talking about how it can take away your job, so maybe right now is a good time to learn how to be an AV installer for a fully automated home?

I Heard it, I heard it, I heard it on the X – Who owns the X?

Is it Microsoft? Is it Meta? Is it Charles Xavier? Is it the ALPHABET

And just to be clear on that last one, I meant the actual alphabet, not the Google parent company.

Last week, in what feels like a very impulsive move, Elon Musk changed Twitter to X. I say it was an impulsive nove because branding is still blue birds and “Tweets”.

By the way, what should we call “Tweets” now? Exes? Do all my Exes live in Twitter. Let me know in the comments.

This is actually not the first time Musk tried to do this. When he was CEO at Paypal, the X.com domain was acquired and was one of the first federally insured online banks.

Co-founder Max Levchin apparently didn’t like his idea, and wanted to be called Paypal. Therefore, he made a plan, and ultimately ousted Musk in 2000.

Musk purchased the domain back, in 2017. In 2022, he formed the company “X Corp” – once again, Charles Xavier – why didn’t you see that coming?

Musk said he will accellerate X to the factor of 3 to 5 (years, but I liked the mathmatical reference there).

There are other companies that hold “X” as a trademark, and I would guess there are companies overseas that will not allow him to use X – Similar to when GMail started and Germany, who already had GMail, made them use “GoogleMail” for many years.

It might simply be as what META did this last week with “Threads, an Instagram app”. So maybe X is really X Corp?

I don’t know. I’m still no TV lawyer.

I also don’t know who owns y.com. i.com is owned by iNet solutions, q.com is Quest Communications, and X.org is owned by the Open group, who created the X Window System.

So who owns the trademark? Well that depends on what the description of the trademark holds.

For example, Microsoft holds “X” to refer to video games. You know – XBOX?

META owns X as a social media site. You would think this has a chance at legal issues, but Zuckerberg is already in different legal entanglements with the company “META X”.

Single letter entities seem to become a harder thing to hold onto. Especially if someone skirts the system and makes something that buts up to the edge of legal issues.

Think about it – I could form a social media site called “X Enterprises” and make an X based URL. Does that mean Musk would have the right to sue me? How about META?

Keep in mind, Twitter.com will not go away. If it did, the company will lose too many API calls and connections.

You can still use “Hotmail.com” instead of “Outlook.com”. You can still use “TheFacebook.com”, although you get an “Unsafe” page when you do.

The WWF changed to WWE, but that was because they wanted to give the World Wildlife Foundation it’s due credit. So no, you won’t see any “Tables, ladders, and chairs cage matches” at WWF.com.

But will you see them on WWE.com?

The Drama with X continues, as the person who held Twitter.com/X was unceremoniously relieved of their handle so that @twitter could become @X. Now to be fair, Twitter had a reporting system that could take over accounts if you held the brand. Joseph Liu went through the process, which included:
1. Secure the corresponding Top Level Domain (TLD)
2. List that URL as the primary site in your account
3. Ensure the target username’s profile is inactive.
4. File an impersonation claim with Twitter.
– Wait for an email from Twitter. …
5. Email Twitter back with your desired option.

He mentions within 10 minutes he got a response.

So here’s what happened to Gene X Hwang, the (previous) owner of @X
1. Gets an email they will be taking over his handle
2. They take over his handle.

No negotiation. He could get free swag, but whereas some Twitter accounts can get sold for top dollar, especially 1 character names, he got nothing. Didn’t even get @y, which is inactive.

I went through several lists, which auctioned handles to see what was the going price for a Twitter handle, and didn’t find anything over $5K. I wonder if those prices were 5-10 times that before the Twitter crossover.

And apparently the handle takeover is not done. As of this morning, it was reported Musk ripped @xAI out of the hands of a Japanese Land Yen Specialist.

“Before I knew it, my account had changed on it’s own” he writes on his new handle. “I thought it was stolen from Elon Musk”.

While they own X.com, they don’t own Xai.com. That is a URL that has been registered since 1994. X.ai is the AI handle.

So that begs the question: what type of precidence does this set?

And coming back to the original topic, if a court rules to the trademark over the company, what happens to X? Does it go back to being Twitter?

Do we have an expired and gone to see it’s maker?
You know – an X Twitter?

BTW – I had to stop there, because new news seems to be coming out by the minute. But I do want to say that Musk’s plans for X are more than the social app Twitter used to be. Keep in mind: X.com was the first online banks. This could easily have some sort of banking feature to it. Maybe even a crypto wallet for your Dogecoin? If that happens, it will be a lot harder for Elon to take away your handle. And that, you heard it on the X.

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