(FORTUNE Magazine) – Patent Woes: Legal minds are still debating the impact of a package of patent laws passed by Congress late last year. The legislation was pushed by FORTUNE 500 giants such as AT&T and GE, who wanted to synchronize the U.S. patent system with those of other countries and beef up protection from infringement suits brought by independent inventors. But many inventors and small companies argued that the law would weaken a system that for decades has kept the playing field level for innovators big and small. With the new laws comes one big, worrying change: In the past all the vital information in an application stayed under wraps until a patent was issued, often years later. Now, if you apply for U.S. and foreign patent protection, the material will be made public worldwide in 18 months. Watch out: Those big-company R&D departments will be ready to jump on any bandwagon....

Attention, PC Shoppers: For a briefing on the latest hardware, check out AnandTech (www.anandtech.com). It's run by Anand Lal Shimpi, who started the site more than two years ago, when he was 14. It has grown on word-of-mouth recommendations and draws more than 1.5 million visitors monthly. The company is approaching $1 million in ad sales within the year, and Anand can now afford to drive a late-model, electric-blue BMW convertible to Raleigh's Enloe High School. Although AnandTech is competing against other personal sites and major players such as C/NET (www.cnet.com), Chuck Mulloy, a spokesman for Intel, says, "AnandTech is as good as any other Website out there. What's unique is Anand's age." But the whiz kid has proven he is seasoned enough to play. A year ago Anand scooped everyone in reporting on a new processor from AMD well before its release. The incident drew considerable attention. "I don't care about being first," says Anand. "The thing I get the most kick out of is taking technical information and weeding out all the PR stuff, and taking it down to 'buy this, don't buy that, and here's why.' " Of course, the site isn't all motherboards and microchips. Just for fun, log on to the personal information, where there are pictures of the author at school, his girlfriend, his lunch group, and his ogrelike computer science teacher....

Number Crunching: For some businesses, 51 has been a magic number: the minimum percentage of equity in a company that ethnic minorities must hold for it to qualify as a minority business enterprise, or MBE. Now the group that helps MBEs connect with firms wants to change the math. The National Minority Supplier Development Council argues that a 30% rule would allow more investment by white-owned venture funds. Folks like Jesse Jackson, who has pushed Wall Street to invest more in minority companies, are applauding. But opponents, such as the NAACP and Black Enterprise publisher Earl Graves, call the plan a disaster that would allow unscrupulous investors to transform legitimate MBEs into non-minority-controlled "fronts." ...

An Old, Old Thing: Who says Silicon Valley is void of tradition? Road shows are a basic part of every IPO, and CEOs had better be ready to get their message across. Enter Toastmasters International, a 76-year-old public-speaking club that has made its way into the new economy with a number of chapters in e-community outposts. The nonprofit Toastmasters (www.toastmasters.org) was founded in 1924 by Ralph Smedley, director of education at the YMCA in Santa Ana, Calif., who decided that young men needed to learn how to deliver after-dinner remarks. Since then, Toastmasters has helped more than four million people conquer their fear of public speaking. Today it has 8,800 clubs in 68 countries, with a total of 175,000 active members whose average age ranges between 35 and 40. Roughly half the clubs are sponsored by corporations, which provide meeting rooms, amenities, and encouragement. While State Farm is the biggest corporate sponsor, there are 23 Toastmasters clubs at AT&T, 14 at Hewlett-Packard, ten at Intel, four at Dell, three at Apple Computer, and two at Microsoft....

How Not to Do It Yourself: Why dig through the shoebox of curling snapshots when someone else can assemble the photo album? Time-starved people are outsourcing their lives with a vengeance, and Todd Rosenthal is capitalizing on the trend. Rosenthal is known as the "Car Guy" to Hollywood, a town of legendarily spoiled brats who have the money and moxie to ask for anything. There are other car brokers in town, but Rosenthal's company, Spin Doctors, will suss out your automotive personality, get you the right price, and deliver it. He's always on call to get your baby cleaned or serviced. And, of course, he'll bring a loaner (Jag for you, Acura for your kid).

WITH REPORTING BY Lawrence A. Armour, Stephen Banker, Edward Robinson, and Jolie Solomon