Slashdot Mirror
Flickr Patenting "Interestingness"
tjcrowder noted that Boing Boing is reporting that Flickr has filed for a patent on a system for determining "interestingness". From the patent application abstract:
"Media objects, such as images or soundtracks, may be ranked according to a new class of metrics known as "interestingness." These rankings may be based at least in part on the quantity of user-entered metadata concerning the media object, the number of users who have assigned metadata to the media object, access patterns related to the media object, and/or a lapse of time related to the media object." So basically, nobody else can use tags to label files. Totally original thinking from the folks at flickr. *cough*
At last we have the perfect /. article, since the vast majority of posters never RTFA anyway: an article that's completely summed up in the title of the /. post.
/. post, either! I'd call that real progress. Congrats, BoingBoing on a job well done!
Think of it, guys. Not only don't you have to read the article, but you don't need the
"My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right." --Senator Carl Schurz (1872)
Slashdot is great if you like watching people comically oversimplifying the feats of others.
It's an interesting hobby. maybe I should give it a go.
Edward Jenner invents vaccination, thus erradicating smallpox, and paving the way to the elimination of many other fatal diseases.. Slashdot commment: Well, any idiot knows you'll catch something if you touch diseased cows.
James Watt invents steam engine. Slashdot comment: My kettles been boiling over for decades!
Newton realises that gravity is responsible for the motion of the planets, and derives formulae that will send men to the moon. Slashdot comment: Objects fall. Big deal.