Harvard is a brand, and a powerful one at that. Regardless of whether the styles pique your interest (and some have critiqued the line for its insistence on all things patterned), Harvard is testing the reach of its brand name in an interesting way: they're launching a new clothing line. In terms of whether starting a clothing line is a mistake for the university, I think that by the time your name brand is as strong as Harvard’s, you might be in the clear to put your name on just about anything. What might save the project is that Harvard intends to direct the profits toward financial aid for students. How nice.

What’s funnier, however, is that the line seems to have hit the big times in the fashion world. Prada used the Harvard Yard look as inspiration for their men’s fashion line:

—Stephanie Martin

It's no secret that the print business has some tough times ahead. From newspapers to magazines to the good ol' trashy paperback romance, the internet has undermined the print media's ability to give people what they want, when they want it.

However, if there's one genre of literature that stands a fighting chance, it's the cookbook. After all, these books are easier to carry around than the individual lists you get off allrecipes.com, never mind the fact that you probably don't want that $2000 MacBook Pro of yours anywhere near the frying pan.

So cookbooks are safe, right? Apparently, not anymore.

Say "bye-bye Kindle" and "hello Vook." The Vook is a new innovation that combines books with videos and social media platforms. Vooks blend text and video into a single reading/viewing experience and exist for anything from thrillers to romances to fitness manuals to, yes, you guessed it, cookbooks that can now be read-watched. Each Vook, which typically features between 13 and 17 videos, is priced at around $6.99. They are available on the iPhone and the iPod Touch, enabling users constant access to the content whenever they want it.

So it all comes down to two options:

1. Reading "Cut the beef into thin slices and set it in the pan." 
2. Watching your favorite Naked Chef sizzling some meat in the saucepan.

....Vook, please.

—Lynn Wang

Ever feel that URL’s are rather monotonous with their generic “.com,” “.org,” and “.net” endings? Well, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is making vast changes that will spice Internet addresses up to a whole new level. Currently, there are 21 generic top-level domain endings and 280 national/regional suffixes (e.g. .eu for European Union). However, come 2011, look forward to a massive expansion.

Starting in the spring of this year, ICANN will begin accepting bids from anyone who wants to create a new generic suffix (including suffixes with non-Latin scripts such as Chinese and Arabic). Successful bidders will be required to pay ICANN a one-time fee of $185,000 and demonstrate the ability to run a registry that manages the sale of addresses with the new suffix. With the number of corporations, entities, and individuals that exist in the world, the possibilities for new creations are infinite. For all we know, people could begin to domain-ize their own last names and put them up for sale. Imagine owning the “smith” domain and selling it to the 2.5 million Americans who have the same last name. For a $185,000 start-up fee, the business opportunity seems to be an incredibly lucrative one.

—Lynn Wang