Unicode Character “𝕏” (U+1D54F) • Hacker News Board

Re: Unicode Character “𝕏” (U+1D54F)

#281

Post by KingShabibo » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 7:52 PM UTC

tiborsaas wrote: post #58

samwillis wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. They can probably trade mark it for social media (unless someone already has), but are highly unlikely to be able to trademark it broadly, which clearly is the intention.

I don't see a problem with this, it's a generic character used in mathematics. If nobody trademarked it before, it shouldn't cause any issues. If using greek letters like λ in brands is not a problem, then this should fly too. They could also apply for multiple trademarks with small additions if they launch a new product: 𝕏ₚₐᵧ

It is a problem, because if theoretically Musk were to trademark that character (improbable), Unicode would likely be forced to remove that character and break every instance of it across the internet. Not to mention that anybody using that symbol, which already has an established meaning in mathematics, would be infringing on that trademark.

Re: Unicode Character “𝕏” (U+1D54F)

#282

Post by tiltowait » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 7:52 PM UTC

hcarvalhoalves wrote: post #239

> X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine. Audio, Video, Messaging, Payments and AI, all in a single product pitch. I guess then "X" is an appropriate brand for something that even the owner doesn't…

An "everything app" sounds a lot like what I understand WeChat to be. Can't say I want it, but it's not without precedent, apparently.

Re: Unicode Character “𝕏” (U+1D54F)

#283

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 7:59 PM UTC

depereo wrote: post #278

creativeembassy wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasn't familiar with BQN. Clicked through, reminded me of APL. "OH", I thought, "I see how you came up with the name." There was a (disproven) urban legend about Arthur C. Clarke's 2001, where "HAL" was secretly a reference to "IBM", where you transpose each letter by one. H + 1 = I A + 1 = B L + 1 = M Man, BQN is a clever name. Because, A + 1 = B P + 1 = Q L + 1 = M... ...well crap. That theory didn't pan out at a…

Off by Fibonacci, rather than off by 1, I guess.

[deleted]

Re: Unicode Character “𝕏” (U+1D54F)

#284

Post by bsuvc » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 8:12 PM UTC

asveikau wrote: post #238

bsuvc wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, Musk is the one doing the trolling. Just look at the attention he is getting. If you think Musk is somehow upset about this, you are wrong.

Right, it may look like he's making dumb decisions left and right and doesn't have anyone telling him how stupid he is to get him to stop, but he's really playing 4d chess. /s

I didn't say any of that.

Re: Unicode Character “𝕏” (U+1D54F)

#285

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 8:16 PM UTC

coffeebeqn wrote: post #169

bsuvc wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, Musk is the one doing the trolling. Just look at the attention he is getting. If you think Musk is somehow upset about this, you are wrong.

Wow I feel so trolled that he’s lighting more of his money on fire. Buy an extremely well known brand for 44 billion and replace it with something you spend 5 minutes of effort on.

[deleted]

Re: Unicode Character “𝕏” (U+1D54F)

#286

Post by astrange » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 8:34 PM UTC

ChrisArchitect wrote: post #266

astrange wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's strange they think computers don't have the ability to read text just because it looks fancier.

Not computers - humans with accessibility needs, screen readers and such. Someone posting "I'm trying to Tweet on the new 𝕏" will read in audio as "I'm trying to Tweet on the new mathematical symbol x".... think of how any of those fun tweet texts with fancy italicized words made from math symbols read like.... it's brutal

Sure, but they should just fix the screen reader instead of working around it.

Re: Unicode Character “𝕏” (U+1D54F)

#287

Post by Delk » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 8:42 PM UTC

AlexandrB wrote: post #220

simplicio wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, kinda feels like X.org would have a decent trademark case if they wanted to pursue it. Both the name and logo are really similar, and it seems like both companies are operating in similar enough categories that its not too hard to imagine there being confusion between the two.

Musk has the deeper pockets. I'm more worried about him suing x.org and winning.

My first thought when simplicio mentioned trademark was that The Open Group -- which would seem to own the X Window System logo -- might need to try and protect their trademark. If they don't, it's easy to foresee how down the road the similarity could become their problem, not Musk's.

The X.Org Foundation might need to do the same for their X logo even though it's a bit different (and I'm not sure if it's trademarked in the first place).

IANAL, but you do need to defend a trademark in order to maintain it after all.

Of course fighting to protect it would probably be costly and financially risky even if they did have a case.

Re: Unicode Character “𝕏” (U+1D54F)

#288

Post by nerdbert » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 9:03 PM UTC

yurodivuie wrote: post #219

dietrichepp wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bird is a lot more recognizable, no? Maybe even beautiful?

It sounds like Elon had the domain and it was burning a hole in his pocket. That's the only explanation, honestly. Twitter as a brand becomes less valuable the more he alters it, since he's such a polarizing figure, so changing the brand to break continuity seems pretty counterproductive. It just reminds people that Elon is still fiddling with it.

> It sounds like Elon had the domain and it was burning a hole in his pocket.

Yeah I wonder if he "sold" it to Twitter, and if so, for how much.

Re: Unicode Character “𝕏” (U+1D54F)

#289

Post by outsidetheparty » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 9:17 PM UTC

nancyhn wrote: post #237

WinstonSmith84 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He’s taking an underperforming social network and trying to make it work. Few would argue that it works better now than before > Perhaps its just that people don’t like his personality, I suppose it's more complicated: - he promised "freedom of speech" and Twitter has rather become "freedom of hate" - he is taking constantly controversial political positions, usually favoring dictators, and this doesn't resonate ve…

It is better for favoring free speech over censorship. Dictators don't favor free speech whatsoever. You've been gaslight into believing the opposite. Tyrants censor people with any justification they can get their hands on, including "hate speech". We accept speech we don't like to avoid this very trap.

Oh, bosh. Don’t be absurd. Elon demonstrably isn’t “favoring free speech over censorship.” He’s just choosing different speech to favor and to censor.

Oddly enough, he tends to favor hate groups and dictators: “Twitter’s compliance with government demands for censorship or surveillance has risen [during Musk’s tenure] to over 80%, from around 50%.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/04/elon-musk-...

https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/rcna81961

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/06/elon-musk-free-speec...

https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7zm9q/elon-musk-twitter-naz...

Re: Unicode Character “𝕏” (U+1D54F)

#290

Post by enriquto » Mon, Jul 24, 2023, 9:33 PM UTC

computerfriend wrote: post #233

enriquto wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is for math. Heh. The "tabs vs spaces" debate of mathematical typography is whether these symbols should be used at all in printing, or reserved for actual blackboards. In LaTeX you can have actual boldface letters, so you should write a boldface letter R to represent the real numbers and so on. Using "blackboard bold" in print looks terribly off to some (many?) people.

Do you have a source for this? I have never come across this debate and personally find the blackboard bold convention to be useful, as well as very visually elegant.

It seems to me that it is part of the folklore. Note: not the folklore of math! The folklore of mathematical typesetting, which is a tiny community.

You can find many old and new math texts using either convention. Most often readers won't even notice. There are authors who are adamant against blackboard bold, most famously Donald Knuth and Jean-Pierre Serre. Others simply use regular boldface because of tradition, or because it's the default style of the journal. Most people don't care too much. But I have also heard people expressing strong opinions on each side, that's why I made the analogy with tabs-vs-spaces. Nothing too serious.

Elegance is entirely subjective. I have the opposite opinion: if we can do real boldface in print, which is the original usage, what's the point of using a black-board version? We have the real thing! But I also understand the opposite opinion, voiced elsewhere in this thread, that open bold lettering is a new case, like italics or fraktur, and we can use it freely in print.