Regarding patents: When you apply for a patent, the patent text becomes public. Given that nobody seems to know how Google ranks its results, my guess is that they haven't patented their relevant technology.
This is a fine example of a story that forgets that large part of Slashdot readers don't live in US. For them it's spectacularly irrelevant if Netflix is worth the money or not, since they can't use it anyway.
It's true that it seems possible to exclude stories in the "United states" category, but how many readers bother going through all the prefs options - and not all US stories are uninteresting. Stories should mention it when the product in question is available in US only.
Slashdot Mirror
Regarding patents: When you apply for a patent, the patent text becomes public. Given that nobody seems to know how Google ranks its results, my guess is that they haven't patented their relevant technology.
This is a fine example of a story that forgets that large part of Slashdot readers don't live in US. For them it's spectacularly irrelevant if Netflix is worth the money or not, since they can't use it anyway.
It's true that it seems possible to exclude stories in the "United states" category, but how many readers bother going through all the prefs options - and not all US stories are uninteresting. Stories should mention it when the product in question is available in US only.