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http://www.thechar1ottepost.com
7C
MICROSOFT
Software
giant reaches
out to U.S.
students
SPECIAL TV THE PO^
Microsoft Coip. and Blacks @ Microsoft
hosted the 15th annual BAM Minority
Student Day in six U.S. cities, includii^
Charlotte.
Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman and chief
software architect, was the featured keynote
speaker at Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash.,
headquarters on Feb. 10. His remarks to stu
dents from the Microsoft campus were broad
cast live to hi^ schools across the country
“Activities such as the BAM Minority
Student Day are paii, of a lai^^ Microsoft
efibrt to provide urban hi^ school students
with exposure to the real-life experience of
working in the high technology industry” said
Jeff Raikes, president of the Microsoft
Business Division at Microsoft. “Throu^ the
event, we also hope to inspire young minority
students to become the information technolo
gy leaders of tomorrow.”
During the BAM Minority Student Day,
participating Microsoft campuses provided
area hi^ school students from underrepre
sented ethnic backgrounds an opportunity to
tour Microsoft facilities and learn about the
high-technology tools, resources and career
opportunities. Students were given an inside
look at technology throu^ games, projects,
tours, hands-on technology labs, information
sessions and Microsoft product demonstra
tions. Microsoft employees also serve as men
tors, helping students learn about career
options in the tecdinology industry
“The BAM Minority Student Day is a
tremendous opportunity for students to learn
about exciting internships and career oppor
tunities in the computer science industry, as
well as engage with a BAM mentor,” said
Claudette Whiting, general manager of
Global Diversity and Inclusion at Microsoft.
Blacks @ Microsoft was founded in 1989
and serves as a company-sponsored diversity
organization dedicated to supporting the con
tinued growth and development of African-
American employees at Microsoft Corp.
OLD SCHOOL COMEBACK
Today’s digital
shutterbugs look
beyond the usual
4x6-ineh prints
By Ben Dobbin
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - In the brave new dig-
ital-photc^aphy age, cherished pictures of
pots, landscapos and loved ones are showing
up in unusual places — on swimming pool
tiles, furniture and, even tombstones.
As digital cameras find their way into more
than half of America’s homes, one old habit
has taken hold again: Most p)eople now send
their digital pictures out to be developjed
rather than print them at home. And they
don’t just order 4-by-6-inch snapshots at the
COTTier pharmacy
In the lucrative print business, the number
of digital and film images converted into con
ventional prints has been sUpiping since 2000
and could dip another 5 p)ercent to 25 billion
this year, according to Photo Marketing
Association International, a trade group
whose annual convention opjens Feb. 26 in
Oriando, Fla.
Overall revenues are rising, however, as
alternatives blossom, fix>m putting computer
reproductions of images onto posters, px)stage
stamps and postcards to T-shirts, chairs,
wallpap)er and bronze plaques.
“Images are no longer good enou^ in a
frame on the wall." said Mitch Robison, 46,
See SHUTTERBUGS8C
• #Ol
Cliarlotte $oiE(t
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 23. 2006
BUSINESS
BofA vendor forum brings small
companies, corporations together
By Herbert L. White
herb.white& thecharlotiepostrom
Earlier this month. Bank
of America hosted about
1,000 representatives of its
vendor community for its
first Supply Chain
Management Forum.
Representatives fiom corpo
rations like IBM, Microsoft,
Compass and Pitney Bowes
met entrepreneurs from
minority and women-owned
businesses who are also
bank vendors.
CHARLOTTE BOBCATS
The forum had two goals:
provide a platform for BofA
to connect small and large
companies with each other
and explain today’s I'egula-
tory terrain.
‘It was important for all
om* vendors to get their
information at one time,”
said Greg Tajior, BofA’s sup>-
ply chain management
executive said. ‘We’re mak
ing sure everyone under
stands why we do business
the way we do.”
Tlie two-day forum was
the biggest sponsored by
Charlotte-based Bank of
America for vendors, Taylor
said. Unlike previous gath
erings, this year’s fonuu
combined smaller meetings
into a more comprehensive
information session. The
response was good enough
to convince bank officials to
replicate the pn^ani.
“It was a long effort, it
took 6-8 months to put
together,” Tajdor said. ‘We
think we had 900-1,000 peo-
p)le there and had them in
for two days. Tlie feedback
was so strong and px)sitive,
we’re looking forward to
going forwaiTl with this
again next year.”
Bank of America 3p)ends
more than $12 billion a year
with suppliei*s across the
country and more than 10
percent of tliat spend is with
minority and women-owned
businesses. The bank’s goal
See BOFAySC
Taylor
PHOTO:URTIS WILSON
Charlotte Bobcats Arena WOW ambassador John Jackson (right, with Charlotte Sting head coach
Muggsy Bogues) sports the new outfit for arena personnel. The shirts were designed by Cary
Mitchell, a Johnson C. Smith University graduate.
Designer outfits arena corps
^By Ellison Clary
^ FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
About 450 Charlotte
Bobcats Arena staffers
1 are stjdin’ these days,
1 thanks to uniform shirts
designed by suit-maker to
(the stars Cary Mitchell.
“I was going for a
■'relaxed look, one that
would be attractive on any body type and for
both sexes and a
grange of ages,” said
Mitchell, the
^Charlotte cus-
k tom-tailor
Iwho help)ed
I design the
I Bobcats uni-
If o r m 8 .
Im i t c h e 11
Mitchell
counts Emeka Okafor of the Charlotte Bobcats
among his custom clothing clients
along with Alonzo Mourning of the
Miami Heat. He’s also done trousers
for golf superstar Hger Woods.
Arena greeters, hosts and ticket-
takers have worn their new
pullovers in both long- and short-
sleeves for a couple of weeks and
most eryoy them, said Charlotte
Bobcats spx)kesp)erson Jamie Banks.
One stjde features blue and white
vertical strip)es and another is solid blue with a
black vertical strip)e down each side. Each incorpo
rates only a bit of Bobcat blue and orange, since
staffers work all arena events, not just NBA games.
Mitchell credits Barry Silberman, chief op)erating
officer for Charlotte Bobcats Arena, for deciding the
staff* should have uniform shirts to go with their
khaki pants. “It’s my design, but Barry's idea,”
Mitchell said.
‘We tweaked Cary’s design concept a little our
selves,” Silberman said.
Debra Lee takes charge at BET
By Janice Rhoshalle Littejohn
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES ^Debra Lee
never expected it would come to
this.
Twenty years
after she decided
to leave an elite
. Washington D.C.
law firm to man
age contract
n^otiations and
legal affairs fcr a
Lee little-known,
black-owned
cable * company, Lee is now
chairman and CEO of Black
Entertainment Tfelevision - the
most prosperous Afirican-
American business in the coun
try
“I felt like I was getting off*the
fast track," she says of joining
the company in 1986, “but it
was for something I bdieved
Last month, the 51-year-old
Lee succeeded Black
Entertainipent Television
founder Robert Johnson as
head of file multibilHon dollar
media empire, becoming the
highest ranking Afiican-
American female executive at
BETs parent company, Viacom,
Inc.
Lee sat down for a breakfast
interview recently at the ele
gant Four Seasons Hotel, end
ing a hectic week of press con
ferences and ccmporate meet
ings. Dressed s^dishly but sim
ply in Hack slacks, white cottm
shirt and a leather jacket, the
divorced mother of two sounded
almost matter-of-fact when dis
cussing her new BETT role.
“Well, Tve been doing it for
the past 10 years as diief oper
ating officer," said Lee, who has
guided much of the channel’s
growth in ratings, viewership
and revenue, even while over
seeing the construction of BETs
new corporate headquartere in
Washington D.C.
Lee was instrumental in tak
ing BET public ctti the New York
Stock Exchange in 1991 and
again in 2000, when Viacom
purchased the netwoik for $3
billion.
While the channel’s primary
focus continues to be music pro
gramming, Lee also has pushed
for BET original movies, docu
mentaries, standup comedy
shows, concerts, special events,
and news and information
shows.
And she’s led the company in
its franchise development,
which now consists of BET
Event Producticais, BET.com,
and music channel spinoff's
See DEBRA.8C
Blackberry
patent feud
may be at
an end
By Stephanie Stoughton
IHEASSOCIATm PRESS
RICHMOND, Va. - Say
what you want about
patent infringement suits,
but at least the BlackBerry
case has drama.
A federal judge, clearly
impatient with the long-
running case, could issue
an iiyunction soon on U.S.
sales and service of the
wireless e-mail device.
Most patent suits are dis
missed or settled long
before they reach this
stage. Remarkably, neither
BlackBerry maker
Research In Motion Ltd.
nor tiny patent holder NTP
Inc. have shown signs of
backing down. In effect,
they’re daring each other to
blink first and settle.
Governments, businesses
and individual users are
growing unnerved by the
standoff*. Although the odds
of an actual shutdown are
low, conflicting opinions
about the possible outcomes
and the spin from both
sides have created a confus
ing picture.
James R. Spencer, a no-
nonsense U.S. district judge
widely respected in the
legal community, now finds
himself in the unusual posi
tion of weighing an injunc
tion against RIM even as
the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office is expect
ed to finally rescind NTP’s
patents.
“These patents are ...
guaranteed to go in the
garbage,” James Balsillic,
co-chief executive of
Canada’s RIM, said in
December. “At the end of
the day, our position is real
simple: Let the system
work.”
Unfortunately for
Balsillie, the system doesn’t
necessarily work in a time
ly fashion. Spencer has sig
naled that he is imwilling
to delay his proceedings
while awaiting final word
from the patent office,
which lags far behind the
court system. A case that
could change the practice of
granting iryunctions in
patent cases, eBay Inc. v.
MercExchange, will be
taken up by the Supreme
Court, but no decision is
expected until the spring at
the earliest. Spencer, mean
while, has scheduled a
hearing for Feb. 24 on the
injunction and damages.
Because patent infringe
ment cases don’t often rise
to this level of importance
and even fewer make it this
far in the courts, it’s hard to
tell how Spencer will rule.
An injunction he once
issued on a sediment-con
trol device, for instance,
interested few people out
side the construction indus
try.