As other prior art examples consider Apple's own Hypertext... or Xerox Viewpoint software, which was a document frame embedding executable objects like graphics, tables, spreadsheets, etc... at the very least it would appear Hypertext was a precursor of the browser and of the mechanisms being claimed by these patents... both of these date from the mid 1980's (perhaps even earlier for Viewpoint).
[1] Commoditization. PDA's as organizers have been around as long as calculators. I had a Seiko RC-1000 Data Terminal wristwatch in the early 1980's that had similar functionality as my first Palm. What Palms first offered was easy and reliable synching with functional desktop tools. That commanded a premium, for a while. Now every product has this. The added distinction of one manufacturer's PDA over another is simply glitter -- there is nothing as solidly differentiating as the early synching features of the Palm. Call it a one trick pony, now with many diverse competitors.
[2] Risk of failure. Of the PDA's I have owned (all from Palm) one was stolen; its replacement worked for two years and then abruptly halted when I had not synched for several weeks (at the time the PalmMac synching wasn't working properly); the replacement to that one reset itself repeatedly at age 18 months (= "wiped clean", but no big deal then, I wasn't relying on it any more). I now use a spiral ring notebook. Same size, almost as functional, and more reliable.
Without either of these "features" there is no justification for a PDA's cost. And, as apparently evident to Sony, no sufficient profit margin to remain in the business.
Yes, this is not new technology. Full motion billboards have been all over North America for some time, and no doubt elsewhere, too -- in 1994 these were all over Seoul and even mobile on the sides of vans. The programming mode is not new, either -- five years ago we put a 15-second spot for a charity on new digital boards in downtown Toronto -- and these spots were programmed as to time of day, etc.
But until now the supply of operators has pretty much been limited to niche providers in local markets. Sounds like Clear Channel's "new" angle is to offer advertisers a coordinated media buy across their global market. Now that is news.
Love 'em or hate 'em -- but these displays are proliferating. We are edging ever closer to the urban marketing environment envisioned in Blade Runner.
The question implied by the subject line (a flawed solution in search of a problem) is the fundamental question here: Why do we need e-voting?
Is it just so the news media can report results faster? (um...)
Is it because the candidates and the voters need to know sooner? (well...)
Is it because the process is more reliable than paper? (yeah, right...)
Is it because it costs less? (er...)
In the (proclaimed) pursuit of cost efficiency, democratic efficacy seems to have been abandoned. What Cringely didn't mention about the system in Canada: in the recent Ontario elections, an typical urban paper based polling station employed about 600 people. Those people were all engaged in the democratic process. The people involved as party and candidate scrutineers are on top of that. Those people were all involved in the democratic process, too. There is an excitement of sitting around the tube and watching results come in -- all the people who do that, are also engaged in the democratic process.
With e-voting (presuming that it actually works some day) I vote during some window of time, the poll closes, and instantly I know the result. Not much buildup, very little process.
In a time when fewer and fewer people are bothering to vote, could it be simply because they no longer feel engaged in the democratic process? In terms of democratic efficacy, we need to know how (or whether) e-voting makes this any better!
Geez... this "new" interface reminds me of IBM's old PROFS interface... especially the integrated calendar. Maybe PROFS meets Lotus Symphony... =:-|
This isn't so much reinventing as cluttering up the UI with a calendar box, chat area and message list. At some point with this interface we'd all need 42-inch LCD screens just to read email. Don't even THINK about scaling this for a handheld...
A few good thoughts about authors and groups and graphical threads, but these are just UI tweaks.
What about some powerful archiving features? Tools for automation/scripting of unstructured workflow? Anything for sender integrity (or assurance)? Why must the calendar and messages be separate? Personal interactions are non linear... why must the tools have a linear interface? Why must interruptions be immediate? Why couldn't there be a (user-defined) threshold before new message notification interrupts your day?
-- twenty-plus years on email and still waiting for a great client
Trojan.Qhosts affects Windows users... but I have a similar problem affecting a Mac user (system 9.x) whose attempts to reach google.com are being rerouted in the same way. Any ideas what might be causing this?
--- Problems that go away by themselves also reappear by themselves ---
... and about 20 years late to market. My old Seiko RC-1000 Data Terminal from 1983 did almost as much with 2K memory, 6 buttons and a 2-conductor serial interface to a TRS 100 / Olivetti M10 (software on cassette). No touch screen (thank goodness) but no market then, and no market now... except for collectors...
Slashdot Mirror
As other prior art examples consider Apple's own Hypertext ... or Xerox Viewpoint software, which was a document frame embedding executable objects like graphics, tables, spreadsheets, etc ... at the very least it would appear Hypertext was a precursor of the browser and of the mechanisms being claimed by these patents ... both of these date from the mid 1980's (perhaps even earlier for Viewpoint).
The German company Concentrix Solar is already making a Fresnel-based solar concentrator. How is this different?
[1] Commoditization. PDA's as organizers have been around as long as calculators. I had a Seiko RC-1000 Data Terminal wristwatch in the early 1980's that had similar functionality as my first Palm. What Palms first offered was easy and reliable synching with functional desktop tools. That commanded a premium, for a while. Now every product has this. The added distinction of one manufacturer's PDA over another is simply glitter -- there is nothing as solidly differentiating as the early synching features of the Palm. Call it a one trick pony, now with many diverse competitors.
[2] Risk of failure. Of the PDA's I have owned (all from Palm) one was stolen; its replacement worked for two years and then abruptly halted when I had not synched for several weeks (at the time the PalmMac synching wasn't working properly); the replacement to that one reset itself repeatedly at age 18 months (= "wiped clean", but no big deal then, I wasn't relying on it any more). I now use a spiral ring notebook. Same size, almost as functional, and more reliable.
Without either of these "features" there is no justification for a PDA's cost. And, as apparently evident to Sony, no sufficient profit margin to remain in the business.
Yes, this is not new technology. Full motion billboards have been all over North America for some time, and no doubt elsewhere, too -- in 1994 these were all over Seoul and even mobile on the sides of vans. The programming mode is not new, either -- five years ago we put a 15-second spot for a charity on new digital boards in downtown Toronto -- and these spots were programmed as to time of day, etc.
But until now the supply of operators has pretty much been limited to niche providers in local markets. Sounds like Clear Channel's "new" angle is to offer advertisers a coordinated media buy across their global market. Now that is news.
Love 'em or hate 'em -- but these displays are proliferating. We are edging ever closer to the urban marketing environment envisioned in Blade Runner.
... it's a monolith.
The question implied by the subject line (a flawed solution in search of a problem) is the fundamental question here: Why do we need e-voting?
...)
...)
...)
...)
Is it just so the news media can report results faster? (um
Is it because the candidates and the voters need to know sooner? (well
Is it because the process is more reliable than paper? (yeah, right
Is it because it costs less? (er
In the (proclaimed) pursuit of cost efficiency, democratic efficacy seems to have been abandoned. What Cringely didn't mention about the system in Canada: in the recent Ontario elections, an typical urban paper based polling station employed about 600 people. Those people were all engaged in the democratic process. The people involved as party and candidate scrutineers are on top of that. Those people were all involved in the democratic process, too. There is an excitement of sitting around the tube and watching results come in -- all the people who do that, are also engaged in the democratic process.
With e-voting (presuming that it actually works some day) I vote during some window of time, the poll closes, and instantly I know the result. Not much buildup, very little process.
In a time when fewer and fewer people are bothering to vote, could it be simply because they no longer feel engaged in the democratic process? In terms of democratic efficacy, we need to know how (or whether) e-voting makes this any better!
Geez ... this "new" interface reminds me of IBM's old PROFS interface ... especially the integrated calendar. Maybe PROFS meets Lotus Symphony ... =:-|
...
... why must the tools have a linear interface? Why must interruptions be immediate? Why couldn't there be a (user-defined) threshold before new message notification interrupts your day?
This isn't so much reinventing as cluttering up the UI with a calendar box, chat area and message list. At some point with this interface we'd all need 42-inch LCD screens just to read email. Don't even THINK about scaling this for a handheld
A few good thoughts about authors and groups and graphical threads, but these are just UI tweaks.
What about some powerful archiving features? Tools for automation/scripting of unstructured workflow? Anything for sender integrity (or assurance)? Why must the calendar and messages be separate? Personal interactions are non linear
-- twenty-plus years on email and still waiting for a great client
Trojan.Qhosts affects Windows users ... but I have a similar problem affecting a Mac user (system 9.x) whose attempts to reach google.com are being rerouted in the same way. Any ideas what might be causing this?
---
Problems that go away by themselves
also reappear by themselves
---
... and about 20 years late to market. My old Seiko RC-1000 Data Terminal from 1983 did almost as much with 2K memory, 6 buttons and a 2-conductor serial interface to a TRS 100 / Olivetti M10 (software on cassette). No touch screen (thank goodness) but no market then, and no market now ... except for collectors ...
...
FWIW