This is an interesting perspective that I have been attempting to articulate (not really, but anyway...)
Samsung copied Apple - plain as day, any third grader could make the call, and, effectively, a panel of 3rd grade educated jurors did make the call, even though they were too bored by the legal stuff to bother to answer the actual legal questions presented.
In a twisted sense, justice is served - we all know that they copied and that copying is bad, so they got their guilty verdict, legal machinations be damned.
Is there some way to turn this fuzzy justice into actual practicable law? If so, we might dispense with whole libraries full of boring legal precedents, patents, etc.
What kind of world is it that a company is "dead" the first quarter they don't grow their user base?
Here's a prediction: IBM is dead, it's only a matter of time, they're already slipping into obscurity.
And, while we're at it, how about Linux? I mean, really, with that pitiful market share, how long can they possibly last?
Just because Palm flamed out spectacularly doesn't mean that every handheld device maker will follow in their image when they lose market share. RIM is no longer going to conquer the whole world, but they probably have a viable customer base and market share for many years to come.
Not to rain on the imaginary parade, but back in real life I do know more than a couple of men who have slept their way into food, clothing, shelter, travel, etc. One made it work with a woman for almost 5 years, but the only ones I know that have really pulled it off long term have been gay - which is fine for them, but the road was typically pretty rocky, taking them to a pretty low point before getting plucked out of the gutter by their sugar daddy.
It's all good fun until your latest conquest swindles you out of your life savings because you don't understand how all that money stuff actually works.
Will it also not be a fragile POS that physically breaks (disc loader) in no time flat, oh, and while we're at it, can we also make a wireless controller that isn't also a $50 disposable item?
I have half a mind to Kubuntu my eeeBox-Ion, but all it is doing is Samba serve and XBMC, and they've got me convinced that it's going to be a hassle to get the video accelerator drivers working, and I have plenty of other stuff demanding my free-time-attention.
The desktop PC at my first job cost 2 months' salary, had a 15" color monitor, and took 5-10 minutes to compile the product.
The desktop PC at my current job cost 2 days' salary, has 2 24" 1080p panels, and takes 5-10 minutes to compile the product, while I surf the web - including HD video, and stream Pandora.
Gourmet food serves roughly the same size market it has for the last 100 years - but, sadly, not expressed per capita but in raw numbers. Population grows, but those who choose to afford good food do not.
PCs flirt with breaking the $400 price floor, then they seem to retreat back upwards. Atom and low end AMDs were good enough, until 7 replaced XP, now they're kind of dogging down. And, I'd swear that my XP running eeeBox PCs are getting slower with every new XP update.
I bought a series of $20 DVD players, they were just so irresistible in the store - at $20 you'll spend more in gas driving to a couple of stores to shop the deal - no brainer, if it works for a year it's a winner.
They used to work for 2 or 3 years, then I got a couple that only lasted 6 or so months - finally got a $200 Denon about 5 years ago and it's still running like a champ.
Of course, it didn't have HDMI, etc. etc., so now it's technologically outmoded, but still does what it always did well, and those half dozen $20 players are leaching toxic materials into the landfills. See, it's actually a Chinese conspiracy to export all their poisonous trace elements overseas....
iPhones hit that "stupid spot" in the American consumer - no money down, affordable monthly payments, visible bling to flash around with your friends, and it has grown into a hip-cool brand too.
Doesn't matter what it does or doesn't do, with those components you've got a winner.
Plymouth/Jamestown and the rest _did_ require new tech, or at least tech that the colonists lacked for whatever reason. Farming, sanitation, site selection for home construction - all of that was at the cutting edge of what 17th century colonists were able to pull together. We're a little better off today re: information management, but - reaffirming your point, the tech for Mars/Moon/Asteroid operations isn't there.
My tired old space geek point is: sitting in a comfy mud-pit thinking about it isn't going to get the lessons learned as quickly or efficiently as getting out there and failing, failing hard on occasion, taking notes, and trying again.
The batteries are cheaper than a maid, and more thorough for those things it does.
A pain to keep running (hair wraps on spinning bits), but still less work than sweeping it yourself - transforms a long boring daily task into a much shorter one with intermittent tech skills required: Google search "WTF does two beeps mean on a Roomba", ah: get screwdriver, remove edge sweeper, cut away hair wrapped on hex shaft, replace, good to go for another 50 uses.
Plymouth was chosen as an example because it was one of the earliest successes, and as such, not surprising that it almost failed.
In the Mercury-Gemini-Apollo era there were many failures too... as a nation, we have shied away from risking lives for space exploration, which I think is silly when we kill people all the time just to refine gasoline, or doing basic construction, or travelling from point A to point B in a car, plane, train, whatever.
Before Mars is colonized, people will die - potentially billions that didn't need to if we terraform it slower than we could.
Slashdot Mirror
You're boring the jury again... Here's the test: did it take longer than a hot-pocket TV ad to explain the details?
This is an interesting perspective that I have been attempting to articulate (not really, but anyway...)
Samsung copied Apple - plain as day, any third grader could make the call, and, effectively, a panel of 3rd grade educated jurors did make the call, even though they were too bored by the legal stuff to bother to answer the actual legal questions presented.
In a twisted sense, justice is served - we all know that they copied and that copying is bad, so they got their guilty verdict, legal machinations be damned.
Is there some way to turn this fuzzy justice into actual practicable law? If so, we might dispense with whole libraries full of boring legal precedents, patents, etc.
And, Apple is unlearning that lesson, or what?
You forgot: Short HP.
1. Buy RIM for $10B
2. Sit on technologies for 3 years
3. ???
4. Sell what's left for 75 million
5. Profit!
What kind of world is it that a company is "dead" the first quarter they don't grow their user base?
Here's a prediction: IBM is dead, it's only a matter of time, they're already slipping into obscurity.
And, while we're at it, how about Linux? I mean, really, with that pitiful market share, how long can they possibly last?
Just because Palm flamed out spectacularly doesn't mean that every handheld device maker will follow in their image when they lose market share. RIM is no longer going to conquer the whole world, but they probably have a viable customer base and market share for many years to come.
Not to rain on the imaginary parade, but back in real life I do know more than a couple of men who have slept their way into food, clothing, shelter, travel, etc. One made it work with a woman for almost 5 years, but the only ones I know that have really pulled it off long term have been gay - which is fine for them, but the road was typically pretty rocky, taking them to a pretty low point before getting plucked out of the gutter by their sugar daddy.
Personally, I'd like the format fraca to be high quality raw studio recordings plus a mixing layer that gives you the final product.
It's all good fun until your latest conquest swindles you out of your life savings because you don't understand how all that money stuff actually works.
Sneeze on it, no blender required.
Will it also not be a fragile POS that physically breaks (disc loader) in no time flat, oh, and while we're at it, can we also make a wireless controller that isn't also a $50 disposable item?
May I recommend:
http://www.chandon.com/etoile-restaurant.html
Nothing I'd want to do on a regular basis, but an experience worth the price - so much more than a day at a theme park.
I have half a mind to Kubuntu my eeeBox-Ion, but all it is doing is Samba serve and XBMC, and they've got me convinced that it's going to be a hassle to get the video accelerator drivers working, and I have plenty of other stuff demanding my free-time-attention.
One of the main things that kept me from investing in the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain.
The desktop PC at my first job cost 2 months' salary, had a 15" color monitor, and took 5-10 minutes to compile the product.
The desktop PC at my current job cost 2 days' salary, has 2 24" 1080p panels, and takes 5-10 minutes to compile the product, while I surf the web - including HD video, and stream Pandora.
Gourmet food serves roughly the same size market it has for the last 100 years - but, sadly, not expressed per capita but in raw numbers. Population grows, but those who choose to afford good food do not.
PCs flirt with breaking the $400 price floor, then they seem to retreat back upwards. Atom and low end AMDs were good enough, until 7 replaced XP, now they're kind of dogging down. And, I'd swear that my XP running eeeBox PCs are getting slower with every new XP update.
I bought a series of $20 DVD players, they were just so irresistible in the store - at $20 you'll spend more in gas driving to a couple of stores to shop the deal - no brainer, if it works for a year it's a winner.
They used to work for 2 or 3 years, then I got a couple that only lasted 6 or so months - finally got a $200 Denon about 5 years ago and it's still running like a champ.
Of course, it didn't have HDMI, etc. etc., so now it's technologically outmoded, but still does what it always did well, and those half dozen $20 players are leaching toxic materials into the landfills. See, it's actually a Chinese conspiracy to export all their poisonous trace elements overseas....
iPhones hit that "stupid spot" in the American consumer - no money down, affordable monthly payments, visible bling to flash around with your friends, and it has grown into a hip-cool brand too.
Doesn't matter what it does or doesn't do, with those components you've got a winner.
Plymouth/Jamestown and the rest _did_ require new tech, or at least tech that the colonists lacked for whatever reason. Farming, sanitation, site selection for home construction - all of that was at the cutting edge of what 17th century colonists were able to pull together. We're a little better off today re: information management, but - reaffirming your point, the tech for Mars/Moon/Asteroid operations isn't there.
My tired old space geek point is: sitting in a comfy mud-pit thinking about it isn't going to get the lessons learned as quickly or efficiently as getting out there and failing, failing hard on occasion, taking notes, and trying again.
The batteries are cheaper than a maid, and more thorough for those things it does.
A pain to keep running (hair wraps on spinning bits), but still less work than sweeping it yourself - transforms a long boring daily task into a much shorter one with intermittent tech skills required: Google search "WTF does two beeps mean on a Roomba", ah: get screwdriver, remove edge sweeper, cut away hair wrapped on hex shaft, replace, good to go for another 50 uses.
Plymouth was chosen as an example because it was one of the earliest successes, and as such, not surprising that it almost failed.
In the Mercury-Gemini-Apollo era there were many failures too... as a nation, we have shied away from risking lives for space exploration, which I think is silly when we kill people all the time just to refine gasoline, or doing basic construction, or travelling from point A to point B in a car, plane, train, whatever.
Before Mars is colonized, people will die - potentially billions that didn't need to if we terraform it slower than we could.
1492->1620 was a long time... still, I doubt Plymouth would have succeeded without the efforts that were ongoing after Columbus.
Any permanent move is going to have this dependent step... sooner we get started, the sooner we can viably cut the cord.
Actually, thinking about cutting the cord, imagine the collapse we'd have if trans-oceanic transport were absolutely cut off.
I think Snow Walker gives a pretty realistic picture of just how isolated these Innuits are (not) today.
I see the current civilization going out like Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove....