the patent system is too lax, and the criteria for offering patents is flawed, but the system does not hurt innovation. Not at all.
The system is what is hurting innovation. It allows for companies like NTP to buy patents for the sole purpose of sueing people/companies that are actually innovating on the patent. My 2 cents is that patent law should require that any patents owned by individuals or corporation must be utilized for some product in the marketplace within an agreed upon timeframe. If it isn't, then it should go up for bid so that a person that wants to innovate using it can. If no one bids, it should just go into the public domain. Of course, there are lots of things that have to be worked out (timeframe, bid values, etc.), but you get the general idea.
Most of the comments seem to be along the lines of: "What use is it to mine wishlists?" You're missing the point of the article. His main idea is from this section of the article:
This is what's possible with publicly available information, but imagine if one had access to Amazon's entire database - which still contains every sale dating back to 1999 by the way. Under Section 251 of the Patriot Act, the FBI can require Amazon to turn over its records, without probable cause, for an "authorized investigation . . . to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities." Amazon is forbidden to disclose that they have turned over any records, so that you would never know that the government is keeping records of your book purchases. And obviously it is quite simple to crossreference this info with data available in other databases.
On a final note, the FBI is now hiring computer scientists to implement a project that sounds very similar to what I just did.
Those things have been going down 6th Avenue here in new york for the past year. There are regular rentals from Central park but only tourists use them. They are bright red and quite funny to look at. I don't think most new yorkers would be caught dead riding on one of those things... More than likely one of these tourist groups is going to get run over one day since they ride straight through traffic...
I own this laptop and aside from the many double-takes I get at the office, the system is a powerhouse:
AMD Athlon XP-M 2500 512M Ram 4 USB 2 DVD+-RW IR, Bluetooth, and 802.11b/g 15" screen 1400x1050 resolution 4in1 media reader
to name a few things...
Also of note is that even though the website quotes a mono headphone jack and I've seen some message boards that are complaining about it, I can say that it is definitely a stereo headphone jack. You'll have a lot of fun with this system.
Actually... The image they have on their page of the fractal google image is hosted off google australia... so in reality they are actually trying to slashdot google... Revenge is sweet... If one day google puts slashdot on the front page, would we have a grudge match between google and slashdot for world dominance?:)
And it has a built-in slot for small flash-memory cards to transfer photos from digital cameras to its hard drive, a feat the iPod can match only with a Belkin add-on. This feature isn't fully operational on prototype Aireos but is scheduled to be available with finished devices for sale.
I find this to be the most interesting feature it lists. I do digital photography as a hobby and I've always thought this feature would be awesome for an mp3 device. I personally have a hard drive based storage device (the MindStor - discontinued) for offloading my media but it's still rather large and bulky. There are also a bunch of portable storage devices with video screens out that play mp3s but the mp3 functionality is an afterthought.
I would love to be able to replace my ipod with a device that can function as both which still being compact. I would buy that in a second.
Well... I can't say that I like Lotus Notes, but it has had a "discussion thread" mode for viewing e-mails for a long time... It's pretty useful for keeping track of team conversations.
Cool...that article explains how the IO2 display works:
IO2 Technology's Heliodisplay, the size of a breadbox, projects images onto a cloud of water vapor diffused into the air rather than on a screen. Observers can control the virtual characters as they would on a computer screen, but instead of using a mouse, they use their hands. No special glove is needed, said Chad Dyner, founder and CEO of the company.
The site actually links most of its information from [H]ard|OCP. Search for "[H]ardNews 8th Edition" to find the relevent article with pictures.
Mirror Below
I have just received some more information about Corsair his new line of memory. The XMS ProSeries memory is basically the same as their XMS series memory, with a better heatsink and an integrated memory activity meter.
Corsair Memory, today announced the ProSeries, a new series of ultra-performance modules in their highly awarded XMS module family. XMS ProSeries modules offer the same extreme performance XMS modules are known for, but also incorporate two essential new features: an all-new heatsink designed for optimum thermal efficiency, and memory activity LED's.
Corsair's new high-efficiency heatsink was custom designed especially for the XMS ProSeries. It is crafted from cast aluminum to offer excellent thermal qualities. Its mini fins maximize air surface contact area to draw heat away from the memory chips and dissipate it more quickly. The heatsink, which is bonded to the memory chips with a unique thermal adhesive, is embossed with bold "XMS" lettering on both sides of the module. On the top edge of the heatsink are windows to the activity LED's.
XMS ProSeries modules feature a row of LED's on the top edge that display real-time memory activity level. Corsair is the first company to ever offer an activity meter on the module itself. Corsair invented this feature for the growing legions of enthusiasts and gamers who use windowed chassis, so they can tell at a glance the current level of memory activity. Each memory bank has a row of nine dedicated activity LED's that alight as the level of memory activity increases. 512 Mbyte XMS ProSeries modules, with two banks, have a total of 18 activity LED's in green, yellow and red.
According to Corsair President Andy Paul, "The XMS ProSeries further extends Corsair's leadership in high performance module design. We combined the most efficient and stylish heatsink in the industry with never-before-seen activity monitoring features and XMS's legendary performance to deliver what will soon become the de facto standard memory module for gamers and enthusiasts."
The following XMS Pro Series modules and module pairs are available immediately from resellers worldwide:
- TwinX1024-4000PRO - matched pair of 512MB, DDR500 modules
- TwinX1024-3200C2PRO - matched pair of 512MB, DDR400 modules
- CMX512-4000PRO - 512MB, DDR500 module
- CMX512-3200C2PRO - 512MB, DDR400 module
Looks pretty cool I think, but on the other side I do not really think that many users will really have any benefit from memory acitivity LEDs on their memory modules. But it sure looks cool..
Also, whoever's downloading, you're only getting partials because he hadn't finished uploading the port before this got posted (Thanks kerneljacobo & CmdrTaco). You are all downloading partials so it won't work anyway!
"The Jukebox Multimedia camera module offered middling results with its 1.3 pixel resolution"
Read a bit more carefully... 1.3M pixels was for the original addon module for the old video player. The new one has a 3.3 megapixel camera with 3x optical 10x digital zoom capabilities. The review author wasn't able to test the performance of this module though.
What short memories we have... This concept was created many years ago in the form of Project Entropia. I played it for a time but it took way too long to figure out the game. Without transferring a lot of real money into their credits you really couldn't get off the ground in the game. It may have gotten better since I last played a year or so ago but I doubt it.
i just figured out a flaw to this system for any types of item cd/dvd/software... given that you are giving up ownership of your cd to another party, what's the stop a member of the RIAA/MPAA/individual/etc to just collect on their ownership rights to the item in question. They could pay whatever nominal fee is associated with this system and then just request everything and decide not to share it back out. Given that in order for this system to be legal, full ownership must be transferred to the current user, they should be within their rights to force you to give back "their" cd.
I can't understand how something like that can't have a tracking device... At least you should be able to pick it up on radar (or is it too small)? Well in any case, they said it would deflate in a week or so and as long as it isn't over water and knows enough about how to land it should be fine... Unless it decides it wants to land on a highway or something...
Slashdot Mirror
the patent system is too lax, and the criteria for offering patents is flawed, but the system does not hurt innovation. Not at all.
The system is what is hurting innovation. It allows for companies like NTP to buy patents for the sole purpose of sueing people/companies that are actually innovating on the patent. My 2 cents is that patent law should require that any patents owned by individuals or corporation must be utilized for some product in the marketplace within an agreed upon timeframe. If it isn't, then it should go up for bid so that a person that wants to innovate using it can. If no one bids, it should just go into the public domain. Of course, there are lots of things that have to be worked out (timeframe, bid values, etc.), but you get the general idea.
If it's that simple, sign me up for a six-pack. Thanks!
now who else read that as "Underwear Robots for Everyone"?
Those things have been going down 6th Avenue here in new york for the past year. There are regular rentals from Central park but only tourists use them. They are bright red and quite funny to look at. I don't think most new yorkers would be caught dead riding on one of those things... More than likely one of these tourist groups is going to get run over one day since they ride straight through traffic...
Damn... so you're telling me that actually clicking on a link on slashdot could have made me 50 grand.
Who knew???
I own this laptop and aside from the many double-takes I get at the office, the system is a powerhouse:
AMD Athlon XP-M 2500
512M Ram
4 USB 2
DVD+-RW
IR, Bluetooth, and 802.11b/g
15" screen 1400x1050 resolution
4in1 media reader
to name a few things...
Also of note is that even though the website quotes a mono headphone jack and I've seen some message boards that are complaining about it, I can say that it is definitely a stereo headphone jack. You'll have a lot of fun with this system.
Actually... The image they have on their page of the fractal google image is hosted off google australia... so in reality they are actually trying to slashdot google... Revenge is sweet... If one day google puts slashdot on the front page, would we have a grudge match between google and slashdot for world dominance? :)
And it has a built-in slot for small flash-memory cards to transfer photos from digital cameras to its hard drive, a feat the iPod can match only with a Belkin add-on. This feature isn't fully operational on prototype Aireos but is scheduled to be available with finished devices for sale.
I find this to be the most interesting feature it lists. I do digital photography as a hobby and I've always thought this feature would be awesome for an mp3 device. I personally have a hard drive based storage device (the MindStor - discontinued) for offloading my media but it's still rather large and bulky. There are also a bunch of portable storage devices with video screens out that play mp3s but the mp3 functionality is an afterthought.
I would love to be able to replace my ipod with a device that can function as both which still being compact. I would buy that in a second.
Well... I can't say that I like Lotus Notes, but it has had a "discussion thread" mode for viewing e-mails for a long time... It's pretty useful for keeping track of team conversations.
So I guess slashdot has gotten to the point where they don't even bother linking to an article since no one actually visits the sites anyway.
Cool...that article explains how the IO2 display works:
IO2 Technology's Heliodisplay, the size of a breadbox, projects images onto a cloud of water vapor diffused into the air rather than on a screen. Observers can control the virtual characters as they would on a computer screen, but instead of using a mouse, they use their hands. No special glove is needed, said Chad Dyner, founder and CEO of the company.
The site actually links most of its information from [H]ard|OCP. Search for "[H]ardNews 8th Edition" to find the relevent article with pictures.
Mirror Below
I have just received some more information about Corsair his new line of memory. The XMS ProSeries memory is basically the same as their XMS series memory, with a better heatsink and an integrated memory activity meter.
Corsair Memory, today announced the ProSeries, a new series of ultra-performance modules in their highly awarded XMS module family. XMS ProSeries modules offer the same extreme performance XMS modules are known for, but also incorporate two essential new features: an all-new heatsink designed for optimum thermal efficiency, and memory activity LED's.
Corsair's new high-efficiency heatsink was custom designed especially for the XMS ProSeries. It is crafted from cast aluminum to offer excellent thermal qualities. Its mini fins maximize air surface contact area to draw heat away from the memory chips and dissipate it more quickly. The heatsink, which is bonded to the memory chips with a unique thermal adhesive, is embossed with bold "XMS" lettering on both sides of the module. On the top edge of the heatsink are windows to the activity LED's.
XMS ProSeries modules feature a row of LED's on the top edge that display real-time memory activity level. Corsair is the first company to ever offer an activity meter on the module itself. Corsair invented this feature for the growing legions of enthusiasts and gamers who use windowed chassis, so they can tell at a glance the current level of memory activity. Each memory bank has a row of nine dedicated activity LED's that alight as the level of memory activity increases. 512 Mbyte XMS ProSeries modules, with two banks, have a total of 18 activity LED's in green, yellow and red.
According to Corsair President Andy Paul, "The XMS ProSeries further extends Corsair's leadership in high performance module design. We combined the most efficient and stylish heatsink in the industry with never-before-seen activity monitoring features and XMS's legendary performance to deliver what will soon become the de facto standard memory module for gamers and enthusiasts."
The following XMS Pro Series modules and module pairs are available immediately from resellers worldwide: - TwinX1024-4000PRO - matched pair of 512MB, DDR500 modules - TwinX1024-3200C2PRO - matched pair of 512MB, DDR400 modules - CMX512-4000PRO - 512MB, DDR500 module - CMX512-3200C2PRO - 512MB, DDR400 module
Looks pretty cool I think, but on the other side I do not really think that many users will really have any benefit from memory acitivity LEDs on their memory modules. But it sure looks cool..
Also, whoever's downloading, you're only getting partials because he hadn't finished uploading the port before this got posted (Thanks kerneljacobo & CmdrTaco). You are all downloading partials so it won't work anyway!
My friend/co-worker is the one who did this port... He's trying to upload a fix right now and this /.ing is making it hard for him to do that!
sigh...i can see this is gonna fall on deaf ears.
You made us suffer through Jar Jar; this will work towards your restitution.
1. Buy song for 99 cent.
2. Post on ebay.
3. Media blitz (tell slashdot money is going to EFF).
4. ???
5. Profit!
In order for 5 to work, guess what he has to do in 4.
"The Jukebox Multimedia camera module offered middling results with its 1.3 pixel resolution"
Read a bit more carefully... 1.3M pixels was for the original addon module for the old video player. The new one has a 3.3 megapixel camera with 3x optical 10x digital zoom capabilities. The review author wasn't able to test the performance of this module though.
If you like tech comedy this site is hilarious. It's got audio and video clips as well as stories.
What short memories we have... This concept was created many years ago in the form of Project Entropia. I played it for a time but it took way too long to figure out the game. Without transferring a lot of real money into their credits you really couldn't get off the ground in the game. It may have gotten better since I last played a year or so ago but I doubt it.
i just figured out a flaw to this system for any types of item cd/dvd/software... given that you are giving up ownership of your cd to another party, what's the stop a member of the RIAA/MPAA/individual/etc to just collect on their ownership rights to the item in question. They could pay whatever nominal fee is associated with this system and then just request everything and decide not to share it back out. Given that in order for this system to be legal, full ownership must be transferred to the current user, they should be within their rights to force you to give back "their" cd.
Broadcast Message: "Flyborg phone home." ...
Flyborg: "I'm sorry Dave; I can't do that."
I can't understand how something like that can't have a tracking device... At least you should be able to pick it up on radar (or is it too small)? Well in any case, they said it would deflate in a week or so and as long as it isn't over water and knows enough about how to land it should be fine... Unless it decides it wants to land on a highway or something...
Slashdot should make a pay service that gives out links a few hours ahead of the main pack.
Yeah, and they should make it only for subscribers.
which would you rather have sticking together: a few pages of a $5 magazine, or the edges of a $500 folding LCD? Sheesh!
That's what protection is for.