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  1. Re:Oh you know Britain on Illegal To Take a Photo In a Shopping Center? · · Score: 2

    Actually, it's along the lines of "you can take photos in public places, except for some places which we won't tell you about, and if we think you're up to no good" - guidance here. But the courts and MPs have been eroding this power over the last couple of years such that the savvy journo should be able to argue rings around any jobsworth copper trying to lean on them for taking photos.

  2. Prior art on Bill Gates Patents 'Virtual Entertainment' · · Score: 1
  3. Re:World Class Hypocrisy on Apple Claims Samsung and Motorola Patent Monopoly · · Score: 1

    So when Motorola/Samsung/Nokia/... each spend $Millions researching stuff to stick in the aforementioned patents, under the understanding that they can all cross-license at a reasonable cost (i.e. share the pool, probably at an overall expense of near $0), it is unreasonable to then charge more to a new entrant who has contributed nothing to the standards (and who has more cash than the US govmt)?

  4. Re:Didn't see this one coming on Google To Acquire Motorola Mobility For $12.5 Bill · · Score: 1

    Scratch that, Symbol went to Motorola Solutions...

  5. Re:Easy way to increase production on Google To Acquire Motorola Mobility For $12.5 Bill · · Score: 1

    err - IIRC all (or a significant portion) of Motorola Mobility manufacturing is in China...

  6. Re:Patents on Google To Acquire Motorola Mobility For $12.5 Bill · · Score: 1

    Motorola Mobility owns all the patents that Motorola owned. Motorola Solutions has sweet FA except for that which it filed post-separation, which is sweet FA as there was no budget for that.

  7. Re:Battle of the Apes on Google To Acquire Motorola Mobility For $12.5 Bill · · Score: 1
    There ain't no such thing as Motorola anymore, as Motorola Inc split into Motorola Solutions (Networks) and Motorola Mobility (Handsets + set top boxes) - affectionately known as Motorola Solutions (making a small profit) and Motorola Problems (not quite making profit). As part of the deal, all of the IPR owned by Motorola Inc was transferred to Motorola Mobility to give it a revenue stream (and, I suppose, to make it more attractive on the auction block) and Motorola Solutions got a license to use what it wanted at the time of the split. Since then, Solutions has split into two, with the (3GPP and 3GPP2) mobile networks technology bit getting bought by Nokia Siemens Networks, leaving the TETRA/Govmt and iDEN businesses in the Motorola Solutions stable.

    "Motorola" as a brand is now thoroughly axed to death. I can't imagine that the brand will last long on consumer devices when under the Google umbrella, and the enterprise devices are either dying a slow/quick death (3GPP, 3GPP2 being replaced with NSN kit & iDEN cos it's a dying proprietary tech) or being outsourced to another well known brand (TETRA is relying on Ericsson for it's LTE enhancements, IIRC).

  8. Re:Didn't see this one coming on Google To Acquire Motorola Mobility For $12.5 Bill · · Score: 1

    Motorola Mobility contains all consumer devices, plus Symbol, plus set top boxes (which also run Android) and cable modems.

  9. Re:Open Source but Patent Encumbered on Motorola To Collect Royalties For Android · · Score: 1

    Update: Google buying Motorola Mobility (handsets) for $40/share (a markup of 63% on last weeks closing price). Interesting move, but they acquire all of the old Motorola's IPR in the deal, so conceivably get a chunk of ammunition for these Android law suits.

  10. Re:Open Source but Patent Encumbered on Motorola To Collect Royalties For Android · · Score: 1

    They may be the oldest, but their market share for handsets has slipped down to the low single digits (this mirrors the picture in their network infrastructure business, which is now owned by NSN after being spun off as a separate business last year, but all the IPR stayed with the handset division). Yes, they do have a patent "war chest", but the investment in it has shrunk considerably over the last decade at least, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's actually a "war jewellery box". There might be a few gems in there, but most of the killer patents will have expired or are soon to expire so their negotiating position might be somewhat weak.

  11. Re:They were played on Motorola To Collect Royalties For Android · · Score: 1

    hmm Perhaps the hammer is aimed quite well at the nail with this post.... Although I can't see an exit from Android for Motorola quite yet.

  12. Re:They were played on Motorola To Collect Royalties For Android · · Score: 1

    So that means that the early GSM patents are just now in public domain

    FTFY. The GSM specs have been evolving over the last 20 years, and continue to do so as it enters the last maybe ten or so years of usefulness (and even that's a figure in doubt as the GSM network coverage is so ubiquitous - handset churn rate helps this along, though). GPRS and EDGE and enhancements to the specs, and even UMTS (incl HSPA) and LTE reuse & improve on some aspects of GSM. Patents are still being sought on GSM tech, and the spec still has changes being made by manufacturers and operators - especially when they have a patent on the change proposal

    You might possibly be able to make a handset that technically does GSM without infringing on a patent, but it would be rather feature-light (if functioning at all, with modern network infrastructure).

  13. Re:Seriously? on Ripping CDs Set To Be Legalized In UK · · Score: 1

    Under current UK law, software backups are fine, ripping DVD/CD video/audio content is a no-no.

  14. Re:thanks... on Queen Elizabeth Sets a Code-Breaking Challenge · · Score: 1

    oops - my bad. ")"

  15. Re:Recruiting? on Queen Elizabeth Sets a Code-Breaking Challenge · · Score: 4, Informative

    errr - that's not a tardis (hope this isn't a "swoosh" moment, it's a regular old-style public phone box (booth). You don't see them about much, although a while back an enterprising sculptor put a dozen together like this and flogged it to my local council for several tens of thousands of quid.

    The tardis is supposed to be a police telephone box, which has a different design and colour like this. These boxes also contained equipment other than a phone - such as a first aid kit and an incident book.

    On a last pedantic note, there were red police boxes in Glasgow, Scotland, for a time.

  16. Re:He didn't rape them on Julian Assange To Be Extradited To Sweden · · Score: 2, Informative

    The definition of rape in Sweden is a lot more liberal than in the UK (or US, for that matter). I think the charge is something along the lines of "having sex without a barrier protection method on the assumption that the parties involved do not sleep around and then subsequently finding out that at least one does sleep around, thus increasing the risk of STDs to the injured party".

    Oddly, I wasn't aware that you could be extradited from the UK to face a charge for something that isn't illegal in the UK - I think they're trying (and succeeding, so far) to peg it onto a "sexual assault" charge

  17. Re:£149? on TiVo To Brick All Remaining UK PVRs On June 1 · · Score: 1

    In the UK it actually is the same (although mostly without the technical terms such as "ADSL2+" which would confuse the poor ignorant masses), although you will also be shaped depending on traffic class during "peak" hours (that typically last for much of the day) with a lot of the major ISPs - check out your Fair Usage and Traffic Management policies that are required to be easily findable on your ISPs website. If you are fortunate enough to live near an unbundled exchange, then you have a better choice of ISPs and so may be able to find one that offers an unshaped, unlimited (without the *) contract. These contracts are either not very cheap or not very common. Buy cheap broadband and expect to be heavily throttled and have caps put in place

  18. Re:My Face on Your Face Will Soon Be In Facebook Ads · · Score: 1
    There's also that key phrase "subject to your privacy and application settings". In there, you've got:

    Your status, photos and posts
    Photos and videos you're tagged in

    How hard is it to modify those settings to one that is not "all and sundry in the world"?

  19. Re:True, in theory on Your Face Will Soon Be In Facebook Ads · · Score: 1

    ...in the UK, at least :)

  20. Re:True, in theory on Your Face Will Soon Be In Facebook Ads · · Score: 1

    You're wrong - if it's work for hire then the default is the copyright is assigned to the person that did the hiring. However, if there is an agreed contract between the two parties that states otherwise, then that over-rules the default.

  21. Re:I would be very concerned on Electronics In Flight — Danger Or Distraction? · · Score: 1
    GSM is time division multiplexing. No-one transmits/receives at the same time on the same carrier.

    The alternative would be CDMA, a code based multiplex where everybody uses orthogonal codes, so no harmonics there either.

  22. Re:I would be very concerned on Electronics In Flight — Danger Or Distraction? · · Score: 1

    The ban is almost entirely a matter of regulatory inertia and risk of lawsuits. Since the bans are universal, no airline wants to risk paying higher damages in a lawsuit if there's a crash and someone is able to convince a jury that their policy of allowing electronic devices theoretically increased their liability by even .000001%. On the other hand, if airlines could install picocells that made it impossible to connect to a carrier's towers, but enabled them to collect $1/minute roaming charges, you'd see any hint of a ban eliminated within a matter of days.

    ahem

  23. Re:I would be very concerned on Electronics In Flight — Danger Or Distraction? · · Score: 1

    It's usually a problem because people talk louder on the phone than they do in conversations, generally

  24. Re:I would be very concerned on Electronics In Flight — Danger Or Distraction? · · Score: 2

    Unlikely to be a very good Faraday cage - the amount of times I've seen folks making calls on landing (before doors open) throws that out the window. The main reason for not getting a signal is that the antennas on the base stations aren't pointing up. But it's still conceivable to get a signal to a tower under those circumstances, and it can play havoc with the network as it's not designed to cope with those speeds (even when not making a call). Making a call would probably be problematic as, in GSM, you'd use up several timeslots just with the timing advance over that distance.

  25. Re:Expensive legal defense on UK Law Body Targets RIAA-Style Settlement Letters · · Score: 1

    One interesting thing is that, AFAIK, under British law you have to prove the person not just the address for an alleged crime. For instance, more than a few people have defended a speeding ticket by stating something along the lines of "I own the vehicle, four of my family members are insured to drive it, I wasn't driving it that day and wasn't at home, and I cannot tell who was the driver". Unless the photos clearly show the driver's face or other distinguishing feature, you can't prosecute.

    That loophole is now closed for speeding tickets - if the registered keeper can't say who was driving, then they still get slapped with at least the fine and, in this case, all 6 points. I've seen other articles where the fine and points were divided between potential drivers (in the case where they said "it was a long journey and we alternated, but can't say who was at the wheel at the time"). There's been quite a few cases of this nature getting thrown out.