How Ovulation Affects Your Creativity (Even If You're a Guy)

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A women's menstrual cycle can affect more than just the way she feels physically and emotionally. The hormone changes might also influence creativity, with research suggesting the phases before and during ovulation can spur creativity—in both women and the men around them.

German researchers tested 34 healthy women (21-31 years old) on creativity assessments during the four different phases of their menstrual cycles. (Half of the women were a control group taking oral contraceptives, which regulate sex hormones.) The study found that:

During the preovulatory phase, creativity was in general improved when serum concentrations of estrogen (E2) and luteinizing hormone (LH) were highest whereas motor perseveration decreased. In control women, there was no preovulatory improvement of divergent thinking and no preovulatory decrease in motor perseveration.

Another study (PDF) of 28 women and 10 men (18-25 years old) found similar results, with "figural creativity" (thinking creatively with pictures, as opposed to words) significantly higher in women during the follicular (that preovulatory phase) and luteal phases (post-ovulation).

Interestingly enough, women near their peak fertility seem to prefer men who display more creativity rather than wealth, at least during that short time. And it's possible that men pick up on those cues and subconsciously respond by displaying more creativity. CNN writes:

A new study suggests that when young men interact with a woman who is in the fertile period of her menstrual cycle, they pick up on subtle changes in her skin tone, voice, and scent - usually subconsciously - and respond by changing their speech patterns.

Specifically, they become less likely to mimic the woman's sentence structure. According to the researchers, this unintentional shift in language may serve to telegraph the man's creativity and nonconformity - qualities that are believed to attract potential mates.

It seems that when the sex fluids are flowing more readily, so too might our creative juices.

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Stop Telling Yourself You're Too Busy

Ever feel like you're overwhelmingly busy? Of course you have. We all do. But chances are, you might not be as busy as you think—and knowing this simple fact can reduce a lot of stress.

It sounds silly—after all, you'd think this "trick" would work with anything—but there's something special about the way we claim business these days. We live in a cult of busy. And chances are, you're not actually as busy as you think. Hanna Rosin over at Slate explains:

[John] Robinson doesn't ask us to meditate, or take more vacations, or breathe, or walk in nature, or do anything that will invariably feel like just another item on the to-do list. The answer to feeling oppressively busy, he says, is to stop telling yourself that you're oppressively busy, because the truth is that we are all much less busy than we think we are.

We've discussed this before, but it helps to have this basic reminder: and the most important thing is that you stop telling yourself how busy you are. If your brain just refuses to accept that, there are things you can do to convince it, like logging your time—but chances are a simple reassurance will help.

You're Not as Busy as You Say You Are | Slate via 99u

Photo by Bark.

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These Aren’t The Patent Trolls You’re Looking For

Editor’s note: Leonid (“Lenny”) Kravets is an IP attorney focusing on corporate development and strategy at InterDigital Communications, which develops technology for mobile devices, networks, and services. Lenny is a member of InterDigital’s Innovation Partners team, helping to create market value through external sourcing and incubation of technologies complementary to InterDigital’s internal innovation.

Over the past few years, the debate over so-called “patent trolls” has risen to a fever pitch. Businesses of all sizes have complained about the “horrible” effects of patent trolls. Legal scholars are performing studies to determine their impact. Every branch of the federal government has become involved in attempts to limit their efficacy: President Obama has issued Executive Orders on the issue; several patent reform bills are being debated in Congress; and the Supreme Court will hear a record number of patent cases in the 2014 term. All this, but no one has yet defined what a patent troll is.

Defining a patent troll

For the most part, the focus has been on the entity enforcing a patent in trying to determine who is and who is not a patent troll, but such definitions simply do not work. Some argue that patent trolls are synonymous with non-practicing entities (“NPEs”), companies that own or license, and sometimes enforce, patents even though they don’t actively manufacture products. This definition would include entities that perform what most of us would consider valuable activities, such as companies and universities who conduct research and development, but do not commercialize their own products.

Whether an entity is practicing a patented invention should not have any bearing in determining whether it is a “patent troll.”

Some have gone so far as to call companies such as IBM and Apple patent trolls simply because they have sometimes chosen to enforce patents that cover technologies that they are not currently practicing. These companies only seek a fair return on their research and development investment. It is precisely the return on investment provided by patents that allows these entities to invest the significant resources required for long-term research and development in a variety of areas.

Whether an entity is practicing a patented invention should not have any bearing in determining whether it is a “patent troll.” As we know, it has become incredibly cheap to start a company based on any idea. Setting up a small business that practices an invention is an insignificant expense compared to the costs of patent enforcement.

How would we require an asserting entity to prove they are an operating company? Would it be enough to have office space? Employees? Customers? Revenue? Regardless of the standard, requiring patents to be asserted only by practicing entities (or entities practicing the invention) would be an insignificant burden for any well-funded asserting entity.

Still others define patent trolls in terms of where their patents come from. Enforce your own patents? Great, go right ahead! Enforce patents you acquired? Patent troll! But the mere fact that the patent being enforced has been acquired from another entity should have no bearing on whether an entity is a “patent troll,” or whether they should be allowed to enforce.

Enforcing patents

Patents, at their core, are property rights, much like homes and cars. Companies maximize efficiency by outsourcing needs that fall outside the scope of their core competencies to third parties. Sometimes, it makes sense to outsource tasks such as technology development and enforcement to third parties. In the case of technology development, the transferability of patent rights is important to the research and development process because it allows companies to share technology in a well-defined and protected manner.

Labeling someone a patent troll immediately makes them appear to be un-innovative, a nuisance or, worse, a drain on the economy.

In the case of enforcement, often the only way to address wrongful conduct is by transferring the patent to an entity with the funding and experience to take on the wrongdoer. Simply transferring the asset to another interested party should not preclude or limit this type of justified enforcement. Furthermore, the transferability of patents helps reduce the risk to banks and investors in investing in certain classes of companies because when a business fails, patents are often the only valuable asset that remains.

A small minority seems to think that any kind of patent assertion is undesirable, and therefore that anyone who asserts a patent is automatically a patent troll. Infringers have been quick to take advantage of this strategic opportunity.

Regardless of the merits of a case, labeling someone a patent troll immediately makes them appear to be un-innovative, a nuisance or, worse, a drain on the economy. The label leads to the so-called patent troll receiving significant negative attention in the press and the public, which can be a disadvantage in front of a jury. It is akin to calling someone a “bully” just because they pushed someone, without knowing anything more about the situation. The result is that anyone daring to assert a patent, no matter how legitimate, risks being labeled a patent troll.

Determining abuse

Instead of worrying about who is asserting a patent, we should focus on whether the asserting entity is abusing the patent system. Analyzing the conduct of an entity rather than just looking at its identity is necessarily more complex. However, such an analysis allows us to focus on eliminating the objectionable activities that we perceive as being detrimental. I propose that there be two main types of objectionable conduct: the enforcement of low quality patents, and the enforcement of patents without a reasonable basis for assertion.

First, assertion of low-quality patents (patents that likely should not have been allowed by the Patent Office in the first place), regardless of the entity doing the enforcing, should be eliminated. Such enforcement results in wasting time and resources by the opposing party in determining the merits of the case. Often, such patents are asserted in the hope of receiving nuisance settlements for less than the cost of litigation.

Instead of worrying about who is asserting a patent, we should focus on whether the asserting entity is abusing the patent system.

While these types of cases are generally only a nuisance to large companies that can quickly determine the merits of such a case, they can be a significant disruption to smaller companies that do not have the same resources. In addition, low-quality patents are generally readily available on the market (often at a low price) because they draw less acquisition attention from large companies and defensive patent aggregators. This allows abusive entities to readily and cheaply acquire and enforce these low-quality patents.

Long term, the best way to deal with the problem of low-quality assets is by improving patent quality. Improving patent quality will require investment on both the part of the USPTO and the patent-filing community at large. Unfortunately, the focus on improving patent quality seems to have been lost in all of the debate regarding patent trolls, as witnessed by the fact that none of the bills at various stages of debate in Congress even mention patent quality.

Second, any enforcement of a patent right (regardless of the quality of the patent) should require some reasonable investigation of whether a defendant is actually practicing the patented invention. The added burden and cost of an investigation will prevent the enforcement of patents against parties that do not have any relationship to the patented technology.

Under the current law, little-to-no investigation is necessary to launch a patent litigation. As a result, some entities have filed frivolous lawsuits in order to attempt to settle for nuisance amounts. Furthermore, this low bar for filing a patent lawsuit has allowed some patent owners to indiscriminately send demand letters to hundreds of recipients, without any investigation of the potential infringement, or any explanation how the patent applies to the recipient.

Demand letters notify the recipient of the sender’s patent rights and request that the recipient take a license to the patent or face a lawsuit. The recipients of such demand letters are typically unsophisticated in patent matters, and the receipt of such a letter can cause a significant disruption. The indiscriminate sending of such letters is not meant to enforce any legitimate patent rights, but only to fund the war chest of the sending entity, and to establish favorable royalty rates for the patent owner.

Requiring a pre-filing investigation of infringement, and raising the available sanctions for parties bringing frivolous patent cases (judges already have the discretion to apply sanctions under the so-called Rule 11, though they rarely exercise it) will help to eliminate this type of conduct, because parties will be more loathe to indiscriminately send demand letters if their access to courts for enforcement is limited.

Focusing on eliminating the enforcement of low-quality patents, and requiring some amount of investigation into infringement before enforcing a patent, will go a long way toward addressing the problem of abusive patent enforcement. Of course, there are many other proposals that attempt to deal with this problem, but such proposals often focus on the wrong issues, such as the identity of the enforcer and the recipient. Any type of entity can enforce a legitimate patent right, and similarly, any type of entity can abuse patent rights. Therefore, proposals that do not focus on the patent being enforced are unlikely to be effective in dealing with the actual problem of abusive patent enforcement.

How to Budget When You’re Broke

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It takes commitment and time, but you can learn to manage your money even when there's not much of it. Follow these steps to set up a budget if you're broke.

We've discussed how to create a basic, real-world budget, but that advice often doesn't apply when you're struggling to make ends meet. The basic ideas are the same, but your breakdown of spending is probably going to look a bit different, and everyone's situation is going to be unique to them. So here's what you need to do to get back on track.

First: Assess Your Financial Situation

If you have more money going out than coming in, here's what your financial plan boils down to: spend less and/or earn more. To figure out how to do this, first take an assessment of your income and expenses. This will help you develop a reasonable and realistic budget.

Categorize Your Expenses

Break down your expenses over the past few months. Categorize and separate them into needs and wants. Separating will help you prioritize your finances. To get a clear idea of your needs and wants, consider creating a hierarchy of spending. Organize your debts, too.

Identify Your Problem Spending Areas

Take note of your spending habits. Are there any specific stores you frequent? Do you have a coffee habit that can be cut? Many times, there are "leaks" in a budget that can be plugged. The first step is figuring out where they are. Identify these categories, and keep them in mind once you start your budget.

Cut Back Your Spending

Find ways to reduce your expenses. The first place to start is the "wants" category.

It's important to allow yourself a little breathing room for fun in your budget. If you don't, you risk busting it—and that can make you want to quit altogether. But remember: the key to managing your money when you're broke is downsizing your lifestyle. If you can't afford to pay your bills, take a close look at what might be luxuries. Here are some examples of unnecessary expenses:

• Cable
• A data-heavy cellphone plan
• Vacations

We once asked Lifehacker readers: "When the financial going gets tough, what are the first amenities you cut back on?" Check out the answers.

Save Money on Bills

Once the wants are out of the way, take a look at your needs—you may find you can save a lot there, particularly on your bills. Check out our bill-by-bill guide to saving money on your monthly expenses for some ideas.

Be Frugal

When you're struggling to make ends meet, frugality is your friend. Make the most out of your money and the things you spend it on. For example, you could:

• Stretch your meals: The New York Daily News rounded up some of the best grocery options when you're broke.
• Do It Yourself: One of the best ways to cut costs is to learn to do things yourself rather than pay for them. For example, you can save some money by learning basic preventive car maintenance, taking on home projects, and making your own cleaning products and toiletries.
• Save on housing: Can you negotiate your rent? Can you move into a cheaper place? Since this is likely one of your biggest expenses, it's one of the best ways to make a dent in your spending.

Your options will vary. The point is to adopt a frugal lifestyle and look for opportunities to trim costs.

Prioritize Your Money Goals

Many people wonder whether they should focus on debt or savings first. The answer depends on your situation. But financial expert Sarah Place recommends at least building an emergency fund before tackling debt. According to Bankrate:

"Place acknowledges that it's difficult to tell people to save 'in an environment where they are earning a fraction of a percent of interest on their savings' while being charged 'usurious loan shark rates of over 30 percent on their credit cards. However, in the given economic circumstances, tough choices have to be made,' she says."

Setbacks are inevitable. If you're not prepared for them, they can devastate your budget and your finances. While it might take some time to build an emergency fund, it will allow you to stick to your budget if a financial setback arises.

Not all experts agree on which is best to focus on first, debt or savings. To see which one works for you, check out Bankrate's full article.

Tackle Your Debt

Whatever you choose to focus on, don't risk your finances unraveling by ignoring your debt. Late fees and interest can turn a small debt into an overwhelming one. Your debt should be a priority.

Pick a Repayment Method

You'll have to come up with a debt repayment plan. To do this, first pick a method:

• The "Debt Snowball" method: Pay your smallest debts first. Seeing your debts paid down will help you build the momentum to keep going. Lifehacker writer Melanie Pinola points out that a recent study found this method to be effective.
• The "Debt Avalanche" method: Pay debts with the highest interest rates first. As finance blog Ready for Zero points out: "proponents of the Debt Avalanche point out that you can lose thousands of dollars by choosing not to tackle your highest interest accounts first."

Reduce Your Credit Card Interest Rate

Yes, it's possible. According to Bankrate, a national survey found that 56 percent of consumers who called credit card companies to ask for a lower interest rate had positive results. Bankrate reports:

"A five-minute phone call to your credit card issuer could save you hundreds, even thousands, of dollars in interest charges. 'There's no incentive for them to lower your rate unless you call. The squeaky wheel gets the oil,' says Brad Dakake, a consumer advocate with Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group."

It's worth a shot. But beware of credit card interest rate scams, too. According to the Federal Trade Commission:

"Voice mail boxes across the nation are being clogged with prerecorded phone calls from companies that claim to be able to negotiate significantly lower interest rates with your credit card issuers if you just pay them a fee first."

Request Extensions or Payment Plans

Let's say you're behind on bills, debt or rent. Investopedia suggests you work something out with your provider, lender or landlord:

"Don't be afraid to request bill extensions or payment plans. These requests are often granted. If your biggest worry is eviction from your apartment, talk to your landlord, but, also, see if you can get extensions on any other expenses to free up money for keeping your home."

Playing catch-up might derail you from your other financial goals. But the most important thing is to keep your debts organized and come up with a plan on how you'll tackle each one.

Draft Your Plan

Every cent will be accounted for, making your budget pretty tight. At this point, a traditional budget strategy may not be suited for you. But don't miss blowing your budget, either. Avoid the following mistakes:

• Not being realistic: Crunch the numbers realistically. Set a reasonable amount aside for each of your expenses. Maybe you plan to eat for $25 a month by taking on some extreme measures. In reality, they're probably not going to work. Don't set yourself up for failure.

• Cutting out all the fun:It's important to give yourself some breathing room. Money in Your 20s explains: "You may have to limit it to twenty dollars a month if your budget is really tight, but...this extra little bit of money can prevent you from feeling deprived, which can lead to overspending."

The amount of breathing room will depend on your situation. But it should only be enough to keep you from blowing your budget. Set aside an appropriate, but modest, amount.

Once your expenses and goals are in place, it's time to draft your plan. J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly shares his advice:

"I began by listing my debts in the order that I wanted to repay them...Next, I listed my expected sources of income. Finally, I brainstormed a possible plan of attack."

Brainstorm your own plan of attack. Once you pick your debt repayment strategy, allocate an amount toward each debt. Calculate how long it will take to eliminate each one, with your budget in place. Breaking up goals into smaller milestones makes them easier to achieve.

Take Advantage of Opportunities

Part of managing money when you're broke is increasing your income. For example, you might be able to:

These options aren't available to everyone. But ultimately, it's about being resourceful. Look for opportunities to earn more and save more money. Then seize those opportunities. Sometimes, they might look more like sacrifices.

Here's a personal example: My mom struggled to make ends meet in her 20s. She was raising me alone and working full-time at a grocery store. Somehow, she was able to save up $10,000 in a few years. I asked her how she did this. Part of it, she said, was taking advantage of every opportunity that came her way. She worked overtime. She took up a job at Stop-N-Go. Any unexpected windfalls went into savings. She called these "lucky breaks." Most people wouldn't see overtime as lucky, but my mom was committed to her financial goal. So she put everything in terms of achieving that goal, and took advantage of anything that would help.

If you're depressed over your lack of funds, keep this in mind: many of the best success stories start with being broke. Come up with a plan. Set small milestones. Seize opportunities. Overall, this will help you take control. Once you do, you might be surprised at what you accomplish.

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Two Cents is a new blog from Lifehacker all about personal finance.Follow us on Twitter here.

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My Spiroo Can Tell Your Doctor When You’re Out Of Breath

Asthma sufferers use a tool called a peak flow meter to see how much air is passing out of their lungs. It is useful to assess when flare-ups are happening and what outside allergens or problems might be causing a bronchial flare-up. Until recently, all that was available to take this measurement was a very basic mechanical device. My Spiroo aims to fix that with a connected, ultraportable peak flow meter that connects to your smartphone.

Created by Dr. Lukasz Koltowski and Peter Bajtala, the product is about as big as a traditional mechanical peak flow meter but has a headphone jack to connect to your phone.

“Spiroo is the answer to the problem of excessive time and repetition a traditional peak flow meter requires,” said Bajtala. “It makes it possible to save the results of the measurement on your phone and share them.” That way, rather than noting flow on a sheet of paper, you can record it on the fly, anywhere.

The founders will create a Pro version for doctors as well as a patient-only version with fewer data collection features. They are working with a Polish pharma company and some venture capitalists but the product has been bootstrapped since creation.

Because of the connected nature of the system, the team is planning to add geolocation and statistic information to the app as well as collect asthma data from users. This would allow them to release warnings to sufferers who may react to certain pollen or pollutant levels and help users manage their inhalers. “We catch all data from our device, anonymously, and visualize this data, helping make a world global asthmatic map,” said Bajtala.

Spiroo won second place in a Polish startup festival last week and looks to be on its way to production this year.

Color Code Your Day to Make Sure You're Spending Your Time Right

Time for some coloring fun, folks. This might be the easiest way to see how you're really spending your time. Color in the "Wheel of Productivity" and (optionally) see how it matches some of the world's most famous creative people.

The Daily Muse offers a template you can color in. Either print it out or open it up in a graphics program and color in each hour block based on the type of activity you normally do each day. Are you spending your time most where it matters?

For comparison's sake, here's an infographic from Info We Trust showing the routines of some super-achievers:

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Head to the Daily Muse for your own visualization.

The Easiest Way to See If You're Spending Your Time Right | The Daily Muse

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If You're Going to Buy a Chromebook, Today's the Day to Do It

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If you're like me, you've been thinking of picking up a Chromebook as a backup laptop for awhile, but $200-$300 is just a little more than you want to spend. If that's the case for you, then today's the time to strike, with Amazon offering a refurb of one of the best models out there for only $150.

While most Chromebooks utilize underpowered ARM processors, the Acer C720 has been lauded for its best-in-class battery life and speedy performance, powered by an honest-to-goodness Intel chip. It's also the Commerce Team's choice for Best Chromebook and Best Cheap Laptop. Even if Chrome OS doesn't check all of your boxes, this laptop is perfectly capable for word processing, web browsing, and the like, and it costs less than your average monthly cable bill. [Amazon]

Update: They also have the C720P available for $220 refurbished. This model adds a touchscreen and double the flash storage. (Thanks Core.2!)

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This post is brought to you by the Commerce Team, a dedicated group of deal hunters and product enthusiasts. We operate independently of Editorial to bring you the best bargains every day, share our favorite products with you, and ask you about yours. When you buy something we recommend, we may also get a small share of the sale. We welcome your questions and want your feedback.

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— Shep McAllister (@shepmcallister) December 10, 2013

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