Lumpy (I think was his name) has posted a link to dpie who have a device devloped for Budweiser (of USA) to use in promotions... if you read the linked article (which I posted an excerpt of elsewhere) then you'd find answers to many of the questions you have.
Won't I just be able to find the can using a "bug catcher"?
No, the transmitter is activated on opening the can.
The batteries will be flat real quick!?
See above
They can't fit a GPS receiver and a UMTS/GSM transceiver in a coke can, can they?
The GPS coordinates (or possibly raw data?) will be sent via GSM (mobile phone carrier) signal, alerting some marketing hoodlums to come and rough you up!
Wow, what a cool item!?
Yeah, they can even respond to the 'coke can' and query it for more details.
Isn't that a waste of technology/resources?
Undoubtedly. What a twisted society we live in. Next thing we know we'll all be buying PCs instead of sending food and medical aid to the starving and downtrodden of the world....
DIAMOND POINT TECHNOLOGY TRACKS DOWN THE PRIZE BEER
April 16 2002 06045
Diamond Point has developed and manufactured a customised sub-miniature GPS receiver and GSM cellular transceiver for installation into beer cans and bottles for a high profile promotional campaign now being run by Budweiser.
When the can or bottle is opened, the GPS receiver is activated, automatically acquires data from GPS navigation satellites, computes its location and outputs a position to an on-board GSM cellular module. The GSM transceiver then sends an SMS text message to a pre-programmed central control number for logging and response. In addition to the telephone number, the text message contains latitude and longitude parameters, date and time, and security identification code. The system monitors the SMS text transmission to verify successful completion, and initiates a resend transmission if necessary.
Quoted from the http://www.dpie.com/news/gpscan.html website that Lumpy cited
'Bionic' pertains to a man-machine interface. Surely then, bionic here simply means that the level of synergy between the office and it's human occupants is high. That is, this guy thinks that the technical aspects of the building are working together in synchronism with the living flesh to improve peoples abilities (eg to work long hours or produce superhuman code!
"While the 'literary expression' of computer code clearly comes under the Berne Convention, it is a rare program where the codes are the valuable aspect. It is usually the idea and not the expression which is valuable for computer software, that is the exact opposite of what copyright protects."
from http://elj.warwick.ac.uk/jilt/wip/3redding/7.htm He does go on to say that copyright has been distorted and that it is now applied for other than literary expressions... but interesting nonetheless.
[The later part of section 5 of the same essay is quite informative here too]
The FT article reports only functional structures have been appropriated... where do you get this "but legal opinion appears to be that substantially similar functionality OR interface are likely to be considered derivatives" from?
When items are similar in functional substance (or 'function' as we like to call it:0) they are not copies (but _may_ be derivatives). Also the article says that they studied the system and "produced a system that operated in the same way".
As no mention is made of copying sourcecode (or deriving one set of sourcecode from the other) presumably you're assuming that the visual look-and-feel has been copied?
From what you say it sounds like Ford (or Benz, or whoever) can sue other car manufacturers for making cars because they copied their general idea even though the internals are different?
As you note, this point hasn't been tested so the judges are going to look at the intention of the law drafters... I'd be very suprised if they find that copyright is intended to create a monopoly on function of technological items as this is what patents are for.
Also from the www.itma.org.uk (itma = institute of trademark agents, ie IP lawyers) at http://www.itma.org.uk/pdf_downloads/publications/ fs-uk-copyright.pdf: "It is important to note that, because copyright is an unregistered right, it is necessary to prove copying in order to pursue a claim for copyright infringement." [for other examples google for "prove copying"]
My comment may have been lacking but "bullshit" seems a bit strong.
What about computer programs and material stored in computers?
Computer programs are protected on the same basis as literary works. Conversion of a program into or between computer languages and codes corresponds to "adapting" a work and storing any work in a computer amounts to "copying" the work. Also, running a computer program or displaying a work on a VDU will usually involve copying and thus require the consent of the copyright owner.
See http://www.patent.gov.uk/copy/indetail/morecopy.ht m
In UK law the plaintiff needs to show there has been actual copying... not just that a substantially similar work has been produced after their own work was produced. Of course if they give a reasonable "it had to have been copied because..." argument then the burden of proof shifts a little.
However, unless a patent is currently in force on a technology (such as streamlining of an object for reduced friction interstitial penetration !!) then it's my understanding that you are free (and indeed encouraged to) copy the idea.
The patent deal is an exchange between the state and the applicant for disclosure of an idea (and of at least one example of its implementation (in UK)) in exchange for a limited monopoly. The point being if the monopoly expires you are free to copy the idea - but not the precise implementation which may be protected by registered design rights or whatever.
Someone has already mentioned that it refers to "derivative works" not originals. That means you can't modify the thing and sell it on. And again, as someone else said: the Service is iTunes, not the works (the songs) you have bought.
I think that the slashdot community has the knowledge but passing on knowledge is not simply about reproducing it. A textbook (or the chapters - depending on the content) have to be a unified rounded whole that allow a student to learn the material in a way that meets their needs. The book needs to present the same material in several ways that show off different facets of a subject. It needs to be challenging, readable, entertaining, rewarding and inspiring whilst still providing the requisite knowledge.
OTOH, I'm sure we have a lot of teachers too. So hey, why not?
I propose you talk to a stuttering absent-minded Japanese lawyer as I don't think a plain ol' Japanese lawyer will be confusing enough. Sure Japanese law is just like US law... and you understand that perfectly.
Authors of literary or artistic [ie copyrighted] works shall enjoy the exclusive right of authorizing adaptations, arrangements and other alterations of their works.
By removing a part of the 'work' you are making an adaption, you need authorisation from the owner of the copyright for that.
Incidentally, I think protection of computer programs by current types of Intellectual Property Rights sucks.
My computing dream for the next 10 years is a pda type device with the resolution of pencil-and-paper that rolls up (from maybe A4 size... though if it ever happens I expect it will be non-standard size so they can sell cases easier!). It will have a 24hour battery life (and in the next 10 years will have a flexible solar panel on the rear and the backup power will be gathered from some type of e-m wave produced by a remote battery pack or it will gather stray radio/microwaves).
The device will be usable rolled up via wireless connection to seemingly everything (so it can play music to my in-ear Bluetooth device and video to my home entertainment system) and the rear of the device will incorporate a fractal antenna (Von Koch probably, but see http://www.fractenna.com/). The device itself will have a touch screen area which can display a keyboard or gamepad and of course will run all the usual apps.
It will probably come with Slackware 20.2 (kernel 8.2).
I think that part of the secret (ie of a passionate debator getting along with those who see them as aggressive) lies in the tone taken and the manner of the conversation.
I had a few problems with this when I was first married. Previously I'd been in a house with all men (at Uni) where we enjoyed a good argument and didn't lose any sleep over it. My wife doesn't argue like that and an aggressive tone can quash her contribution... this then becomes anti-socratic (to coin a phrase) as the discussion is one sided. If you look back at some of Plato's writing, he shows the socratic method working but the tone is always reasonable (IIRC, if not well reasoned, see eg http://plato.evansville.edu/texts/jowett/phaedrus1 2.htm) and open to the others point of view - that might of course be poor writing style.
Reductio [ad absurdum] is usually used in these arguments - "if what you say is true then the world is a fudge brownie dipped in caramel, you ignorant clod". I think it's better to say something like "I'm not sure about that, wouldn't that mean the world wasn't made of rock". Then instead of going off in a huff because you're a know-it-all the other person has opportunity to make the brownie realisation or to state why their theory is still consistent in brownie-world or to say why that conclusion doesn't follow and clear up the premises made or...
I suppose it's negotiation with a recognition that you may not be entirely correct:0)>
Why 'Great' Britain rather than Britain?
There are in fact two britains: the island of Britain in the British Isles and the land of Britain in France. In French these are known as Grande Bretagne and Bretagne, in English as Great Britain and Brittany. The word "Great" in this context has its old meaning of "big" as in "she was great with child" or "Greater London." Likewise, the ending "-y" on the end of "Brittany" has the meaning "Little," as in "doggy," meaning "small dog," or "Jimmy," meaning "little Jim."
From about the 16th century to the 20th century, the political and/or military control of Great Britain and the United Kingdom extended over a large number of territories all around the world, and all those entities together were known as "the British Empire."
Looks like a hoax to me - they report several sightings but have the worst photographic skills ever - these being scientists for which photography skills are pretty key to their research... the image given on the CNN page doesn't even define a recognisable outline and there are no features to provide scale.
Picture the scene as you decide to sacrifice one of your staff by making them imitate an injured gazelle. You get out your 3000 UKPound (cost not weight!) camera and switch off the near perfect autofocus. As the apes approach you decide to remove your glasses as you are sure astigmatic eyes are better for focussing. Finally, ensuring lots of foliage is in the way you sit and randomly click the shutter release... whoops, forgot to point the camera. Still never mind.
You look round for another guide, hoping to get more stunning photos. Suddenly you realise you're alone.
I'm a relative newbie but when I start an application, either from a desktop icon or from alt-f2 (in KDE on Slack 9) and the app fails to start there is no feedback.
After a couple of attempts I have to open a (k|c)onsole and open the binary there to get the feedback. Like last night doing an install and needed to put a couple of soft links in to actually start the app.
This is a great fallacy. The monetary cost of electricity may be low. The cost to the world is as high (assuming the power isn't from renewable sources) as anywhere else in the world.
Perhaps when KDE first started up you could have a newb option - "are you a new linux user?". This would then give a reduced menu of programs with some informative tooltips that describe any analogues (ie if it's equivalent to an MS product)and the function of the program.
I know this is a bit picky - but this is slashdot right?!
FYI, there is no "British patent office" - it's the UK Patent Office... that UK bit means the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.:0)>
Small [head]torch for dimly lit aread and when the light source gets shadowed by your head... and a magnetic screw lifter for locating lost screws (but make sure to keep it away from any magnetic storage media).
Exactly what I was thinking. If a site is country specific it should use a country specific domain. And yes, if slashdot is mainly concerned with commerce it should be a.com. However, I think there's a strong argument for being.org.
McCain is a UK firm which among other things makes oven chips... I'm assuming that is what the post is referring to (working in a processed food factory) and I'm also assuming you're not just being 'funny' in your claim to ignorance.
Slashdot Mirror
Scans of travel documents ... don't you just send them to your free web-based e-mail account so you can access them anywhere without dolling out cash?
Lumpy (I think was his name) has posted a link to dpie who have a device devloped for Budweiser (of USA) to use in promotions ... if you read the linked article (which I posted an excerpt of elsewhere) then you'd find answers to many of the questions you have.
Won't I just be able to find the can using a "bug catcher"?No, the transmitter is activated on opening the can.
The batteries will be flat real quick!?See above
They can't fit a GPS receiver and a UMTS/GSM transceiver in a coke can, can they?Yup sure looks like it www.dpie.com/news/gpscan.html (<-- that link again).
GPS is reception system, how'll they find me?The GPS coordinates (or possibly raw data?) will be sent via GSM (mobile phone carrier) signal, alerting some marketing hoodlums to come and rough you up!
Wow, what a cool item!?Yeah, they can even respond to the 'coke can' and query it for more details.
Isn't that a waste of technology/resources?Undoubtedly. What a twisted society we live in. Next thing we know we'll all be buying PCs instead of sending food and medical aid to the starving and downtrodden of the world ....
Quoted from the http://www.dpie.com/news/gpscan.html website that Lumpy cited
'Bionic' pertains to a man-machine interface. Surely then, bionic here simply means that the level of synergy between the office and it's human occupants is high. That is, this guy thinks that the technical aspects of the building are working together in synchronism with the living flesh to improve peoples abilities (eg to work long hours or produce superhuman code!
"While the 'literary expression' of computer code clearly comes under the Berne Convention, it is a rare program where the codes are the valuable aspect. It is usually the idea and not the expression which is valuable for computer software, that is the exact opposite of what copyright protects."
... but interesting nonetheless.
from http://elj.warwick.ac.uk/jilt/wip/3redding/7.htm
He does go on to say that copyright has been distorted and that it is now applied for other than literary expressions
[The later part of section 5 of the same essay is quite informative here too]
The FT article reports only functional structures have been appropriated ... where do you get this "but legal opinion appears to be that substantially similar functionality OR interface are likely to be considered derivatives" from?
:0) they are not copies (but _may_ be derivatives). Also the article says that they studied the system and "produced a system that operated in the same way".
... I'd be very suprised if they find that copyright is intended to create a monopoly on function of technological items as this is what patents are for.
/ fs-uk-copyright.pdf :
When items are similar in functional substance (or 'function' as we like to call it
As no mention is made of copying sourcecode (or deriving one set of sourcecode from the other) presumably you're assuming that the visual look-and-feel has been copied?
From what you say it sounds like Ford (or Benz, or whoever) can sue other car manufacturers for making cars because they copied their general idea even though the internals are different?
As you note, this point hasn't been tested so the judges are going to look at the intention of the law drafters
Also from the www.itma.org.uk (itma = institute of trademark agents, ie IP lawyers) at http://www.itma.org.uk/pdf_downloads/publications
"It is important to note that, because copyright is an unregistered right, it is necessary to prove copying in order to pursue a claim for copyright infringement."
[for other examples google for "prove copying"]
My comment may have been lacking but "bullshit" seems a bit strong.
In UK law the plaintiff needs to show there has been actual copying ... not just that a substantially similar work has been produced after their own work was produced. Of course if they give a reasonable "it had to have been copied because ..." argument then the burden of proof shifts a little.
However, unless a patent is currently in force on a technology (such as streamlining of an object for reduced friction interstitial penetration !!) then it's my understanding that you are free (and indeed encouraged to) copy the idea.
The patent deal is an exchange between the state and the applicant for disclosure of an idea (and of at least one example of its implementation (in UK)) in exchange for a limited monopoly. The point being if the monopoly expires you are free to copy the idea - but not the precise implementation which may be protected by registered design rights or whatever.
Someone has already mentioned that it refers to "derivative works" not originals. That means you can't modify the thing and sell it on. And again, as someone else said: the Service is iTunes, not the works (the songs) you have bought.
I think that the slashdot community has the knowledge but passing on knowledge is not simply about reproducing it. A textbook (or the chapters - depending on the content) have to be a unified rounded whole that allow a student to learn the material in a way that meets their needs. The book needs to present the same material in several ways that show off different facets of a subject. It needs to be challenging, readable, entertaining, rewarding and inspiring whilst still providing the requisite knowledge.
OTOH, I'm sure we have a lot of teachers too. So hey, why not?
I propose you talk to a stuttering absent-minded Japanese lawyer as I don't think a plain ol' Japanese lawyer will be confusing enough. Sure Japanese law is just like US law ... and you understand that perfectly.
I know, no help to anyone am I!
Article 12 of the Berne Convention (signatories) states that:
By removing a part of the 'work' you are making an adaption, you need authorisation from the owner of the copyright for that.
Incidentally, I think protection of computer programs by current types of Intellectual Property Rights sucks.
My computing dream for the next 10 years is a pda type device with the resolution of pencil-and-paper that rolls up (from maybe A4 size ... though if it ever happens I expect it will be non-standard size so they can sell cases easier!). It will have a 24hour battery life (and in the next 10 years will have a flexible solar panel on the rear and the backup power will be gathered from some type of e-m wave produced by a remote battery pack or it will gather stray radio/microwaves).
...
The device will be usable rolled up via wireless connection to seemingly everything (so it can play music to my in-ear Bluetooth device and video to my home entertainment system) and the rear of the device will incorporate a fractal antenna (Von Koch probably, but see http://www.fractenna.com/). The device itself will have a touch screen area which can display a keyboard or gamepad and of course will run all the usual apps.
It will probably come with Slackware 20.2 (kernel 8.2).
Dream
pbhj
discussed previously on /. at http://slashdot.org/articles/02/01/28/133218.shtml
I think that part of the secret (ie of a passionate debator getting along with those who see them as aggressive) lies in the tone taken and the manner of the conversation.
... this then becomes anti-socratic (to coin a phrase) as the discussion is one sided. If you look back at some of Plato's writing, he shows the socratic method working but the tone is always reasonable (IIRC, if not well reasoned, see eg http://plato.evansville.edu/texts/jowett/phaedrus1 2.htm) and open to the others point of view - that might of course be poor writing style.
...
:0)>
I had a few problems with this when I was first married. Previously I'd been in a house with all men (at Uni) where we enjoyed a good argument and didn't lose any sleep over it. My wife doesn't argue like that and an aggressive tone can quash her contribution
Reductio [ad absurdum] is usually used in these arguments - "if what you say is true then the world is a fudge brownie dipped in caramel, you ignorant clod". I think it's better to say something like "I'm not sure about that, wouldn't that mean the world wasn't made of rock". Then instead of going off in a huff because you're a know-it-all the other person has opportunity to make the brownie realisation or to state why their theory is still consistent in brownie-world or to say why that conclusion doesn't follow and clear up the premises made or
I suppose it's negotiation with a recognition that you may not be entirely correct
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great+Britain
Cheers
pbhj
Looks like a hoax to me - they report several sightings but have the worst photographic skills ever - these being scientists for which photography skills are pretty key to their research ... the image given on the CNN page doesn't even define a recognisable outline and there are no features to provide scale.
... whoops, forgot to point the camera. Still never mind.
Picture the scene as you decide to sacrifice one of your staff by making them imitate an injured gazelle. You get out your 3000 UKPound (cost not weight!) camera and switch off the near perfect autofocus. As the apes approach you decide to remove your glasses as you are sure astigmatic eyes are better for focussing. Finally, ensuring lots of foliage is in the way you sit and randomly click the shutter release
You look round for another guide, hoping to get more stunning photos. Suddenly you realise you're alone.
I'm a relative newbie but when I start an application, either from a desktop icon or from alt-f2 (in KDE on Slack 9) and the app fails to start there is no feedback.
After a couple of attempts I have to open a (k|c)onsole and open the binary there to get the feedback. Like last night doing an install and needed to put a couple of soft links in to actually start the app.
My ha'penneth
pbhj
"Power is cheap in America."
This is a great fallacy. The monetary cost of electricity may be low. The cost to the world is as high (assuming the power isn't from renewable sources) as anywhere else in the world.
Perhaps when KDE first started up you could have a newb option - "are you a new linux user?". This would then give a reduced menu of programs with some informative tooltips that describe any analogues (ie if it's equivalent to an MS product)and the function of the program.
I know this is a bit picky - but this is slashdot right?!
... that UK bit means the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. :0)>
FYI, there is no "British patent office" - it's the UK Patent Office
That should read "area" but it's twenty-to-one and I've been drinking. Nighty-nighty.
Small [head]torch for dimly lit aread and when the light source gets shadowed by your head ... and a magnetic screw lifter for locating lost screws (but make sure to keep it away from any magnetic storage media).
Oh and has anyone mentioned tomsrtbt yet?
Exactly what I was thinking. If a site is country specific it should use a country specific domain. And yes, if slashdot is mainly concerned with commerce it should be a .com. However, I think there's a strong argument for being .org.
McCain is a UK firm which among other things makes oven chips ... I'm assuming that is what the post is referring to (working in a processed food factory) and I'm also assuming you're not just being 'funny' in your claim to ignorance.