Slashdot Mirror
Online Greeting Cards Patented
Trailer Trash writes "According to this story at bizreport.com, Hallmark has given in and licensed Tumbleweed Communication Corp's patent for delivery of online documents with e-mail notification. Will the idiots at the patent office never stop? Jeff Smith of Tumbleweed claims to have been granted three patents last year."
frist psot
/* Linus is The One
all this patent whining is really starting
to sound like jealousy...
i've got 13 patents, heh! and more in the pipe!
Thank you.
--Patrick Bateman, Esq.
This is an outrage!!!
Oh well, back to surfing...
You know all those messages that say "Come see me and my sister fsck when dad is asleep" lined to a pr0n site? Maybe those messages will stop.. I pray they won't [errgghhh will]
ok, this is embarrassing...
Last night I ate some mexican food. Kept me up all night. This morning I was a little gassy. Today in symbolic calculus class, I had to fart bad. I thought I could muffle the sound, but I couldn't. Also, it wasn't a fart, my ass exploded with diarrhea. On the first day of class I shit my pants! I'm sitting in a chair in a puddle of my own excrement, and everyone is looking at me. How fucking embarrassing.
I patented fucking your mom up the ass. If 1% of the sailors that ride her like a muslim boy pay license fees I'll be richer than Bill Gates!
Sometimes I feel that I've wasted parts of my life...
...then I read posts like your's, and I realize that the only time I've wasted in my life are the 30 seconds or so it takes to type this message, and you spent so much time making that stupid message.
Thank you.
Argh can't slashdot start caching pages so we don't have to deal with the ever-present slashdot effect.
Any find a google cached page of this? I couldn't but I don't have mad-uberGoogle skillz.
Bastard, you got me! :-(
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
Maybe this will help get rid of all those emails.
From: Jennifer
Subject: Hiya!
I just turned 18 and posted my pictures on the web. Click here to see them.
Online Greeting Cards Patented
.Com Crash
.coms to use the free software but..."
/.ers, it's worth a look. The Washington Post has acquired documents showing how a Monsanto Corp. PCB plant polluted a small town in Alabama with full knowledge of what it was doing. Their own tests showed that when fish were placed into a local stream, "Their skin would literally slough off." They showed no concern for the residents, only about potential expensive regulations or bad publicity. Why is this relevant? Well, Monsanto is currently one of biggest proponents of GM (genetically modified) foods." Very thorough investigative article about how a corporation reacts when a profitable business line is threatened, or a cautionary tale about wonder technologies, take your pick.
Posted by chrisd on Thursday January 03, @11:06PM
from the what-is-the-wheel-next dept.
Trailer Trash writes "According to this story at bizreport.com, Hallmark has given in and licensed Tumbleweed Communication Corp's patent for delivery of online documents with e-mail notification. Will the idiots at the patent office never stop? Jeff Smith of Tumbleweed claims to have been granted three patents last year."
( Read More... | 56 of 95 comments )
Tribute to Nien Nunb and other Star Wars Bit Parts
Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday January 03, @09:56PM
from the stuff-to-laugh-at dept.
Nien Nunb writes "This Star Wars feature tries to give the little guys a leg up, like the aforementioned Nien Nunb, who only shows up for one action sequence, but he was copilot of the ship that destroyed the second Death Star. Star Wars is full of forgotten faces like his and you can see all their wretchedness here."
( Read More... | 34 of 86 comments )
Your Rights Online: Canadian Company Claims RDF Patent
Posted by timothy on Thursday January 03, @08:29PM
from the patenting dept.
quinticent writes: "Looks like they are at it again. Companies seem to like to let a standard become, well, standard before pulling out the lawyers to claim they own a patent on it. Now some Canadian company is claiming they own a US patent on RDF (doesn't Slashdot use RDF?). When will the US government realize that allowing patents on common ideas is just wrong? The CNet article is here."
( Read More... | 77 of 129 comments | Your Rights Online )
Slashback: Streamend, Stego, Patches
Posted by timothy on Thursday January 03, @06:59PM
from the secnarf dept.
The first Slashback of 2002 brings you updates on Ogg streaming (listen in while it lasts, and send feedback if you like it!), Qwest and your privacy, holes and patches for products from the MS-AOL-Time Warner Industrial Complex, and even more steganographic images failing to appear.
( Read More... | 5153 bytes in body | 72 of 111 comments )
Science: Age A Byproduct of Cancer Defense?
Posted by Hemos on Thursday January 03, @05:41PM
from the vectors-of-prevention dept.
A reader writes "The International Herald Tribune has an article which says, in brief: they have discovered that aging in mice seems to be a byproduct of the chemicals that prevent cancer" If true, that's quite a double edged sword - avoid death, to cause it later.
( Read More... | 157 of 224 comments | Science )
Ethernet Over Assorted Materials
Posted by timothy on Thursday January 03, @05:38PM
from the as-long-as-the-bits-are-bits dept.
saridder writes: "Cisco has demonstrated their latest last mile technology, and not only can you now have 10 MB Ethernet over Cat3, Cat2, Cat1, try lamp power cord, battery jumper terminals, barbed wire, etc. This may have solved the last mile problem, and at 10 MB, it blows DSL out of the water."
( Read More... | 193 of 261 comments )
The New Body Art - Wearable Wireless Devices
Posted by Hemos on Thursday January 03, @04:50PM
from the better-then-henna dept.
Freddie writes: "This article discusses the status of wearable computers; the challenges faced by software and hardware manufacturers in developing effective and widely accepted wearable devices; and the commencement of a new paradigm for how wearable technology can create value for consumers and enterprises."
( Read More... | 86 of 114 comments )
U.S. Penalizes Ukraine for Abetting 'Piracy'
Posted by michael on Thursday January 03, @03:24PM
from the communists-a-little-too-free-for-us dept.
The Politech mailing list has a note and follow-up on new trade restrictions levied against Ukraine, since they haven't complied with the U.S.'s demand for 'an optical media licensing regime.' John Gilmore's response puts the issue in perspective. Update: 01/03 23:08 GMT by M: The RIAA has a press release about the trade penalties and response to Gilmore.
( Read More... | 347 of 575 comments )
Your Rights Online: CA Appeals Court Upholds Spam Law
Posted by timothy on Thursday January 03, @02:43PM
from the little-piggies-need-some-discipline dept.
Joe Wagner writes: "Criminal penalties for spam, yeah baby! It has just been announced that California State's spam law has been ruled constitutional and valid by California Court of Appeal for the First District: '...we hold that section 17538.4 does not violate the dormant Commerce Clause [of the United States Constitution].' The actual ruling is here. Congratulations to Mark Ferguson and his lawyers (1, 2) for fighting it out for the rest of us..."
( Read More... | 243 of 317 comments | Your Rights Online )
Open Source And The Obligation To Recycle
Posted by Hemos on Thursday January 03, @01:40PM
from the making-the-world-a-better-place dept.
Lisa writes "Tim O'Reilly has a piece called "Open Source and the Obligation to Recycle" in his weblog, where he urges every company whose products are "obsolete" to consider making them available under an open source license, or putting them in the public domain, thereby enriching the soil of our collective commons. (Interestingly, the first posting on the weblog disagrees, saying "...Giving away the software of failed companies could turn every corporate failure into a disaster for everyone else.)""
( Read More... | 203 of 281 comments )
Developers: Looking Ahead at GNOME 2
Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday January 03, @01:20PM
from the one-for-the-hackers dept.
Able writes "This is a good article that will teach you how to use the new and improved libraries available with GNOME 2 so that you can write your own Nautilus view, and panel applets. It also provides you with the understanding to compile a few sample GTK+ 2 programs that will give you a good understanding of GTK+ 2's many improvements over GTK+ 1."
( Read More... | 131 of 228 comments | Developers )
Linux During The
Posted by Hemos on Thursday January 03, @12:13PM
from the following-the-path dept.
freakboy303 writes "ZDNet has a short article that can be found here , It basically talks about what the last couple of year of gloom and doom mean for the linux world in general. It seems to me it would make it more appealing to
( Read More... | 159 of 228 comments )
Ask Slashdot: Can OO Programming Solve Engineering Problems?
Posted by Cliff on Thursday January 03, @11:32AM
from the stuff-to-think-about dept.
ThChalm asks: "I am the first one to admit that my programming experience is somewhat limited. The majority of it has been obtained writing FORTRAN code to solve problems in mechanical engineering. I have written some smaller (you might say toy) codes using C. I have read a lot of books on C++ (and OOP), but always get frustrated with the following question: Why can't anyone show me an engineering application that is solved with an object oriented program?"
( Read More... | 1003 bytes in body | 376 of 502 comments | Ask Slashdot )
Bush Lightens Supercomputer Export Restrictions
Posted by Hemos on Thursday January 03, @10:43AM
from the gettinghte-power-out-there dept.
MrZeebo writes "According to a story on Yahoo! News, Bush has finally decided to lift the Cold War-era restrictions on how fast an exported computer can be. Now, computers as fast as 195,000 MTOPS (up from 85,000 MTOPS) can be exported to countries such as Russia, China, and Pakistan."
( Read More... | 113 of 160 comments )
Power Water Cooling Kits
Posted by michael on Thursday January 03, @09:29AM
from the sultry-summer-days dept.
msolnik writes: "Toms Hardware has but together a head to head comparison of 4 different water cooling kits. Instead of buying each part seperately these kits come with everything needed. I would love to use water cooling but there is just something about having water inside of my case that makes me very uneasy. But for all you hardcore overclockers out there this may help you out a lot."
( Read More... | 105 of 180 comments )
Apple PDA?
Posted by michael on Thursday January 03, @08:14AM
from the we-love-the-leader dept.
An Anonymous Coward writes: "Pictures of what would appear to be Apple's forthcoming PDA, the "iWalk" have slipped onto the net, and this time they don't seem fake, as evidenced by the quicktime movies also included. Those interested can check out the pictures here, apparently courtesy of SpyMac."
( Read More... | 317 of 453 comments )
64-bit Computing: Looking Forward to 2002
Posted by michael on Thursday January 03, @05:07AM
from the double-the-pleasure-double-the-fun dept.
msolnik writes: "Over at RealWorldTech they've published an article on the future of 64-bit performance. This article covers the different technology from Sparc to Hammer. Its a great read if you are looking for information on up-and-coming products from Intel, AMD, Sun, and Compaq."
( Read More... | 141 of 219 comments )
Science: Monsanto and PCBs
Posted by michael on Thursday January 03, @01:32AM
from the three-eyed-fish dept.
blamanj writes: "While this story isn't about the gadgetry that typically appeals to
( Read More... | 403 of 558 comments | Science )
Attack of the Clones
Posted by michael on Wednesday January 02, @10:35PM
from the stars-wars-loyalty-fighting-with-disgust dept.
ramakant writes: "It looks like George Lucas has really sold out this time. If you thought Jar-Jar Binks was bad, MTV.com is running a story that a few members of 'NSYNC will be making cameos in Episode II. I think the target demographic for these films has changed a little since the original trilogy. Oh well, at least LOTR rocked." The MTV article says that NSYNC asked for the part; an article in a UK tabloid says Lucas asked them.
( Read More... | 454 of 666 comments )
Basically I decided to test the current mod structure of slashdot..
For some reason /. users have the right to mod as editors have the right to mod. Except editors seem to only mod down.
Not a new trend by any means and this is a website that has no reason to comply with users, but slashdot _IS_ a popular site and has quite a few users that use comments on slashdot to not only get opinions but gain further knowledge into the subject of the article. The Mod +1 Funny is entertaining, but a mod +5 funny is completely useless. I personally know this because the main parent comment was a 5 for a while as was the other one. Funny comments, while entertaining, are not good for learning purposes and actually get in the way of serious discussion.
Personally I think the modding down should be regulated alot more than it is. AC posts should be banned ... there's no reason to have them ... creating an account is very easy to do and if you don't want to stand behind your comments then you shouldn't post them. I run a site with PHP-Nuke and non-verified accounts are prohibited from posting as are annonymous comments ...
I think slashdot is a great idea and a great site and a few changes should be made to make a better surfing experience. Modding down should be reserved for Editors only and a mod history should also be available ... also no reason not to stand behind your moderations.
Slashdot rocks and I will continue to post ... and continue to visit.
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
United States Patent 5,679,075
Interactive multi-media game system and method
Abstract
An interactive, multi-media game system and method is provided. In a preferred embodiment, an audio and/or visual playback system contains portions of a prerecorded narrative stored therein. Teams of players cooperatively solve puzzles, obtain information fragments and directional clues, and ultimately solve an overall meta-puzzle that can be in the context of the narrative. The players move between the portions of the prerecorded narrative and the puzzles that are positioned at selected locations in a defined space. The players solve threshold puzzles to permit them to access, or reaccess, selected portions of the narrative on the audio and/or visual playback device. The players gather sets of information fragments to solve a global meta-puzzle.