Cutlery the term "tableware" has come into use to avoid the implication that they are made of silver. The major items of cutlery in Western culture are the knife, fork and spoon. In recent times, hybrid versions of cutlery have been made combining the functionality of different eating implements, including the spork (spoon / fork), spife (spoon / knife), and knork (knife / fork) or the sporf which combines all three. The word cutler derives from the Middle English word 'cuteler' and this in turn derives from Old French 'coutelier' which comes from 'coutel'; meaning knife (modern French: couteau). The word's
Stephen Messer (entrepreneur) these patents, which covered a cookie-less way of tracking commission information, was covered in the NY Times. In 2008, Messer co-founded Cross Commerce Media with his sister Heidi Messer and Tad Martin. He currently serves on its board of directors as the company's Vice Chairman. In 2014, Messer was awarded three patents in conjunction with Collective[i]'s data analytics network. He is noted as a co-inventor for patent #8,713,076 and patent #8,825,716, "Providing a Multi-Tenant Knowledge Network", as well as patent #8,825,618, "Methods and Systems for Enhanced Data Unification, Access, and Analysis". Messer is also co-founder of World Evolved, a platform