What this needs is a cheap "dumb" terminal that folds up like a laptop (keyboard and diplay). Then you'd have a travel machine (DVD,MP3,etc.). But -- I agree -- why not a laptop at that point. Someone should take something like this and glom it onto a cheap projector, then add a wireless keyboard. That would be a cool travel package -- watch 6'x4' DVD on your hotel wall.
Having been through a few patent actions, here are some of my lay-person's "reads" on patents. Patents can be awarded for devices and methods. The system is supposed to encourage the sharing of technical ideas in a public way -- while protecting the rights of the inventor. Patents need to go through a defense before they really have any validity. When you apply for a patent a search is done to try and locate prior art. They use the citations you provide and try and find other references that could disallow one or more of your claims. The process is not exhaustive and any prior mention of an invention or a test, etc. can be used to show that someone else had an idea earlier. You can protect your ideas by filing disclosures on them -- this doesn't give you the right to be able to assert the idea economically, but it would disallow someone else from exercising an awarded patent if your disclosure proceeded the... (I think) date of application, not award -- lots of date issues in patents that you have to watch out for. We tend to file a lot of disclosures with our lawyers (this costs zip) and keep them in our back pockets to prevent someone from asserting a later patent on us. One other comment -- the real cost comes in trying to defend the patent in court and this is carried out in a normal court room with a normal judge or jury that may not grasp all the technical finery of the topics -- it becomes a teaching show, where the best (most expensive) exhibits can sway the process -- not that we ever went very far through it, we settled -- which most people end up doing rather than give years worth of profits to the lawyers. Disclaimer: these are my opionions, I'm no patent expert...
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Another option is the Boondog card - very inexpensive and lots of examples in the included manual. The site is at:
Boondog
That is exactly what I was thinking ... great book ... if you want the 'people side' of the bomb, read John Hersey's 'Hiroshima'.
What this needs is a cheap "dumb" terminal that folds up like a laptop (keyboard and diplay). Then you'd have a travel machine (DVD,MP3,etc.). But -- I agree -- why not a laptop at that point. Someone should take something like this and glom it onto a cheap projector, then add a wireless keyboard. That would be a cool travel package -- watch 6'x4' DVD on your hotel wall.
Having been through a few patent actions, here are some of my lay-person's "reads" on patents. Patents can be awarded for devices and methods. The system is supposed to encourage the sharing of technical ideas in a public way -- while protecting the rights of the inventor. Patents need to go through a defense before they really have any validity. When you apply for a patent a search is done to try and locate prior art. They use the citations you provide and try and find other references that could disallow one or more of your claims. The process is not exhaustive and any prior mention of an invention or a test, etc. can be used to show that someone else had an idea earlier. You can protect your ideas by filing disclosures on them -- this doesn't give you the right to be able to assert the idea economically, but it would disallow someone else from exercising an awarded patent if your disclosure proceeded the ... (I think) date of application, not award -- lots of date issues in patents that you have to watch out for. We tend to file a lot of disclosures with our lawyers (this costs zip) and keep them in our back pockets to prevent someone from asserting a later patent on us. One other comment -- the real cost comes in trying to defend the patent in court and this is carried out in a normal court room with a normal judge or jury that may not grasp all the technical finery of the topics -- it becomes a teaching show, where the best (most expensive) exhibits can sway the process -- not that we ever went very far through it, we settled -- which most people end up doing rather than give years worth of profits to the lawyers. Disclaimer: these are my opionions, I'm no patent expert ...