A virus has to eventually destroy its host cell to self-replicate. It can't cross the cell membrane; in order for the virus to spread, the cell has to burst. That isn't what they did.
What they did was trigger massive replication of the white blood cells, not the virus. And that was just a natural response to the infection, once the white blood cells had been programmed to detect it.
Nonobviousness means "sufficient difference from what has been used or described before that a person having ordinary skill in the area of technology related to the invention would not find it obvious to make the change". Novelty just means there isn't prior art.
So if a pizza chain decides that instead of calling you 10 minutes before the delivery guy arrives like their competition does, they'll have their delivery guy send you a text message, that isn't nonobvious enough to be patented. Texting is an obvious alternative to calling someone, even if nobody else has used it for that specific purpose.
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is a law passed by the United States Congress in 1986, intended to reduce cracking of computer systems and to address federal computer-related offenses. The Act governs cases with a compelling federal interest, where computers of the federal government or certain financial institutions are involved, where the crime itself is interstate in nature, or where computers are used in interstate and foreign commerce.
Of course, one might wonder what's "interstate" about this, however, one should realize that the "compelling federal interest" in a crime which is "interstate in nature" has been broadly interpreted to mean that the Feds have a compelling interest in any computer-related crime committed by anyone at all, solely because their computer was connected to the internet which automatically makes anything they do with it "interstate".
fafaforza asked if they used a spam bot. I don't know if they used a spam bot to send e-mails, but do know that they hired an auto-dialer to make phone calls.
Michigan Law School consistently ranks among the highest-rated law schools in the United States. It was ranked third in the initial U.S. News & World Reportlaw school rankings in 1987, only below Yale and Harvard, and is one of seven schools never to appear outside the magazine's top 10. Michigan Law is also one of the "T14" law schools, that is, schools that have consistently ranked within the top 14 law schools since U.S. News began publishing rankings.
However, the discovery also led to some further problems, with the agent who had identified the novel use having to be moved from his department after becoming the butt of jokes.
In addition, at least one agent had to be reminded to use only fresh supplies of the 'ink' when correspondents began noticing an unusual smell.
More specifically: it was NTFS that enabled the feature. The flag is set in the file's metadata. FAT does not support file metadata, so if your hard disk is FAT it wouldn't matter if your OS supported the feature or not. Windows XP installs on a FAT partition by default, so generally, yes, SP2 added the feature to Windows, because that's when they made Internet Explorer set the flag and Windows Explorer check it before launching the file.
Specifically of note: even if your hard disk is NTFS, if you download a file to a FAT external hard drive or USB storage device, it can't store the flag, so you won't get the warning when you execute it.
If your disk is NTFS, you can easily see this feature in action. Execute the following from a command prompt:
cd "%userprofile%\desktop" echo [ZoneTransfer] > calc.exe:Zone.Identifier echo ZoneId=3 >> calc.exe:Zone.Identifier more < calc.exe:Zone.Identifier
After that last line, it should have spit out the contents of the Zone.Identifier stream, so we know it's attached to the file properly. Minimize the command prompt window. There should be an executable file named "calc" on your desktop. It won't have the calculator icon, but that's because it's still empty. Right-click it and view its properties. The first thing you might notice is that, despite the fact that the file has an alternate data stream and we even were able to view its contents, the size of the file is reported to be 0 bytes, even its size on disk. Windows only reports the size of the primary data stream; in fact, you could completely fill up your hard disk with an alternate data stream and Windows would still report that the file was 0 bytes. The second thing you should notice is that there's a "Security" section that says the file might be blocked to help protect your computer. So the data stream you created works. Close the Properties window and go back to your command prompt. Execute the following:
type "%windir%\system32\calc.exe" >> calc.exe
Its normal icon should appear and if you hover over it, it should report a size now (but it still isn't counting the size of the alternate data stream you added). Now try running it. You'll get the security warning indicating that the file was downloaded from the internet. If you click Run (leave the box checked for "Always ask before opening this file"), the normal Windows Calculator app will open. Close it again.
Now, if you have one handy, plug in a USB device that is formatted FAT. Move the executable from your desktop onto the USB device (hold Shift and drag it). Double-click it. It opens, no warning - the metadata stream is gone. Drag it back to the desktop. Now, Windows Explorer caches the ZoneId, and if you run it, you'll still get the security warning. However, it no longer has the Zone.Identifier stream, which can be verified by (a) viewing its properties - the "Security" section is gone, (b) moving it into any other folder, such as My Documents, and running it from there - no security warning, (c) clearing Windows' cache by rebooting your computer or killing the "explorer.exe" process from Task Manger and re-starting it, or (d) executing from the command line again:
more < calc.exe:Zone.Identifier
It will respond with "The system cannot find the file specified."
Finally, regardless of whether or not the file has an alternate data stream, deleting the file will also delete any alternate data streams associated with it, so to clean up after this little adventure just delete the "calc" file from your desktop.
There doesn't seem to be much agreement on exactly how tall it will be. Google results vary between 1 kilometer, 1 mile, and "1000-meter-plus... a closely guarded secret".
And for the second time in two days I feel really stupid for posting. Obviously the AC was complaining about the time given in the summary, which of course isn't customized to reflect the time zone I've set.
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A virus has to eventually destroy its host cell to self-replicate. It can't cross the cell membrane; in order for the virus to spread, the cell has to burst. That isn't what they did.
What they did was trigger massive replication of the white blood cells, not the virus. And that was just a natural response to the infection, once the white blood cells had been programmed to detect it.
Not exactly, no.
Nonobviousness means "sufficient difference from what has been used or described before that a person having ordinary skill in the area of technology related to the invention would not find it obvious to make the change". Novelty just means there isn't prior art.
http://smallbusiness.findlaw.com/patent/obtain-patent/useful-novel-nonobvious.html
So if a pizza chain decides that instead of calling you 10 minutes before the delivery guy arrives like their competition does, they'll have their delivery guy send you a text message, that isn't nonobvious enough to be patented. Texting is an obvious alternative to calling someone, even if nobody else has used it for that specific purpose.
perhaps the useful and novel part of the patent was in steps 1-500?
Perhaps. But where's the non-obvious part?
It's the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which is specifically about cracking:
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is a law passed by the United States Congress in 1986, intended to reduce cracking of computer systems and to address federal computer-related offenses. The Act governs cases with a compelling federal interest, where computers of the federal government or certain financial institutions are involved, where the crime itself is interstate in nature, or where computers are used in interstate and foreign commerce.
Of course, one might wonder what's "interstate" about this, however, one should realize that the "compelling federal interest" in a crime which is "interstate in nature" has been broadly interpreted to mean that the Feds have a compelling interest in any computer-related crime committed by anyone at all, solely because their computer was connected to the internet which automatically makes anything they do with it "interstate".
No, auto-dialing = telephone spam.
fafaforza asked if they used a spam bot. I don't know if they used a spam bot to send e-mails, but do know that they hired an auto-dialer to make phone calls.
They hired an auto-dialing service.
No, that one was TWO-and-a-half hours long.
Similarly, if the Avatar isn't working because the car doesn't have power, you should probably get the power issue fixed first.
That sounds like it has some potential. Someone should have it happen in outer space and make an hour-and-a-half long movie out of it.
...car won't tell me what to do.
Burma Shave.
Microsoft Bob
I'm guessing if you've got that much hardware it would be easier to build an actual SNES than to try to interface it via USB with a computer.
They could get these guys to try it. YT
Thanks, I probably should have made that clearer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Michigan_Law_School
Michigan Law School consistently ranks among the highest-rated law schools in the United States. It was ranked third in the initial U.S. News & World Report law school rankings in 1987, only below Yale and Harvard, and is one of seven schools never to appear outside the magazine's top 10. Michigan Law is also one of the "T14" law schools, that is, schools that have consistently ranked within the top 14 law schools since U.S. News began publishing rankings.
The world record for running the 400m is 43.18 seconds. I really hope his Chevy can do better than that...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragstrip#Typical_quarter_mile_times
(1/4 mi. = 402 m)
No, it's 4.98% per year. You have to recalibrate your calculator.
(100% - 4.98%)^10 = 60%
Oh, it gets better... next two paragraphs:
However, the discovery also led to some further problems, with the agent who had identified the novel use having to be moved from his department after becoming the butt of jokes.
In addition, at least one agent had to be reminded to use only fresh supplies of the 'ink' when correspondents began noticing an unusual smell.
You missed the part where it was all an elaborate scheme to get you to suck up several-day-old urine in a straw.
Not if it's a U.S. district court. CA and WA are both in the 9th.
It is not the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. It's the King County Superior Court of King County, WA.
More specifically: it was NTFS that enabled the feature. The flag is set in the file's metadata. FAT does not support file metadata, so if your hard disk is FAT it wouldn't matter if your OS supported the feature or not. Windows XP installs on a FAT partition by default, so generally, yes, SP2 added the feature to Windows, because that's when they made Internet Explorer set the flag and Windows Explorer check it before launching the file.
Specifically of note: even if your hard disk is NTFS, if you download a file to a FAT external hard drive or USB storage device, it can't store the flag, so you won't get the warning when you execute it.
If your disk is NTFS, you can easily see this feature in action. Execute the following from a command prompt:
cd "%userprofile%\desktop"
echo [ZoneTransfer] > calc.exe:Zone.Identifier
echo ZoneId=3 >> calc.exe:Zone.Identifier
more < calc.exe:Zone.Identifier
After that last line, it should have spit out the contents of the Zone.Identifier stream, so we know it's attached to the file properly. Minimize the command prompt window. There should be an executable file named "calc" on your desktop. It won't have the calculator icon, but that's because it's still empty. Right-click it and view its properties. The first thing you might notice is that, despite the fact that the file has an alternate data stream and we even were able to view its contents, the size of the file is reported to be 0 bytes, even its size on disk. Windows only reports the size of the primary data stream; in fact, you could completely fill up your hard disk with an alternate data stream and Windows would still report that the file was 0 bytes. The second thing you should notice is that there's a "Security" section that says the file might be blocked to help protect your computer. So the data stream you created works. Close the Properties window and go back to your command prompt. Execute the following:
type "%windir%\system32\calc.exe" >> calc.exe
Its normal icon should appear and if you hover over it, it should report a size now (but it still isn't counting the size of the alternate data stream you added). Now try running it. You'll get the security warning indicating that the file was downloaded from the internet. If you click Run (leave the box checked for "Always ask before opening this file"), the normal Windows Calculator app will open. Close it again.
Now, if you have one handy, plug in a USB device that is formatted FAT. Move the executable from your desktop onto the USB device (hold Shift and drag it). Double-click it. It opens, no warning - the metadata stream is gone. Drag it back to the desktop. Now, Windows Explorer caches the ZoneId, and if you run it, you'll still get the security warning. However, it no longer has the Zone.Identifier stream, which can be verified by (a) viewing its properties - the "Security" section is gone, (b) moving it into any other folder, such as My Documents, and running it from there - no security warning, (c) clearing Windows' cache by rebooting your computer or killing the "explorer.exe" process from Task Manger and re-starting it, or (d) executing from the command line again:
more < calc.exe:Zone.Identifier
It will respond with "The system cannot find the file specified."
Finally, regardless of whether or not the file has an alternate data stream, deleting the file will also delete any alternate data streams associated with it, so to clean up after this little adventure just delete the "calc" file from your desktop.
There doesn't seem to be much agreement on exactly how tall it will be. Google results vary between 1 kilometer, 1 mile, and "1000-meter-plus ... a closely guarded secret".
Guess we'll just have to wait and find out.
I wonder if martians would be mostly light meat or dark meat.
They'd be red meat, of course.
And for the second time in two days I feel really stupid for posting. Obviously the AC was complaining about the time given in the summary, which of course isn't customized to reflect the time zone I've set.
Even crazier idea: you're an Anonymous Coward. Why don't you register so you can set the date/time format to whatever you want?