In the current patent process patent applications are already published 18 months after filing. If there were to be a patent wiki it would probably only be used for published applications.
The patent process has been gradually becoming more expensive with the latest round of changes greatly increasing the costs to file applications with many claims. Unfortunately, the profits of the patent office, it is one of the few government agencies that actually makes money, are diverted and not used to improve the examination process. Because of this examiners only have a few hours per application to review prior art. This, and the culture of meeting patent quotas needs to change before the U.S. patent system can be improved.
Creating a new database would not help the situation as examiners are already limited by time rather than content. Also, any database would need to be coded to match up to one or more patent classes to be searchable which would require considerable extra manpower.
Even assuming such a database was used, without tight quality control it would be worthless. Patents generally have very detailed specifications and a set of claims that narrow down to become very detailed as well. Unless the submissions to the database have the same level of detail, there would be gaps that could be used to distinguish the submissions.
Also, there is an obligation on the part of the patentee to disclose any relevant prior art that they are aware of. If there are non-patent documents that are prior art the patentee must disclose them or risk losing their patent down the road.
Finally, the fact is that patent law is a corporate arena and the players have access to many databases full of prior art articles through Lexis, Dialog, Google etc.
Unfortunately, SCART sockets aren't found on US TVs. There may be some PAL/NTSC compatible TVs out there but most aren't to my knowledge. THe power issue is much easier since there are converters available even if the power supply is not switchable.
HDCP is required to be included in any upconverted DVD output according to the DVD license. In other words, upconverted analog output is not allowed. It is a contract issue and not a copyright or DMCA issue. There were similar lawsuits about a year ago where some manufacturers made DVD players with upconverted analog outputs.
From TFA it seems that the letters are intended to be disruptive more than anything else. Its a lot easier to scare someone into not downloading than it is to go after them and the end result is pretty much the same. It isn't economical for HBO to sue and they aren't an **AA trade organization with a mandate to draw blood.
are understandable since Rome is their big subscription pitch for the moment. If they can frustrate DLers enough to pay for a subscription, buy or rent the dvd, then they can profit. While many opinionated slashdotters will scoff and say people should boycott HBO, fact of the matter is most people's convictions aren't so strong that they will throw away the time invested in watching the earlier episode. On a positive note, the fact that HBO has some sense of what is going on technologically means that they are that much closer to offering download services of their own.
While this is an interesting project the use of an array of solenoids really doesn't make much sense other than as an inexpensive hack for fingering. While a lot could be accomplished using the plucking mechanism, technique-wise the solenoid array is pretty useless. Understandably its a school project but the solenoid array does not seem like much of a challenge compared to developing an actuator to mimic vibrato, bends or even a sliding motion.
This pretty much already happens without technology. Seeing as the technology involved requires trasngenic modification and further requires a uv light source that can reach the neurons in question, somewhat less of a problem for an essentially transparent fruit fly than it would be a human with a half inch of bone and a flak helmet in the way
I think that Taiwan would be more concerned about the call for investment from India in China especially given how bad the situation is between Taiwan and mainland China with their current level of interdependence.
That actually makes some sense as to the one season deal. It sounds like the BBC thought they needed someone like Eccleston to boost the show and figured a one year deal was a fair bargain for it.
I think Episode III is supposed to be intended more for adults than kids. Anakin Skywalker falls to the dark side, kills everthing in sight, gets horribly burned and becomes Darth Vader. Somewhere along the line he knock up his girlfriend. I could've cared less about the eps 1 and 2 since they were basically franchise fodder and eye candy. I just really hope he doesn't fuck this one up.
Sure Episode 1 sucked. A lot. But Wpisode 2. C'mon, the romance scenes were pure comedic genius. I don't know how the actors could keep straight faces through them. I can remember the theater after the scene where Natalie Portman's chest was heaving up and down. One person started clapping and then the whole audience broke into applause and laughter. I can only hope that Episode 3 will have a moment like that one.
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In the current patent process patent applications are already published 18 months after filing. If there were to be a patent wiki it would probably only be used for published applications.
The patent process has been gradually becoming more expensive with the latest round of changes greatly increasing the costs to file applications with many claims. Unfortunately, the profits of the patent office, it is one of the few government agencies that actually makes money, are diverted and not used to improve the examination process. Because of this examiners only have a few hours per application to review prior art. This, and the culture of meeting patent quotas needs to change before the U.S. patent system can be improved. Creating a new database would not help the situation as examiners are already limited by time rather than content. Also, any database would need to be coded to match up to one or more patent classes to be searchable which would require considerable extra manpower. Even assuming such a database was used, without tight quality control it would be worthless. Patents generally have very detailed specifications and a set of claims that narrow down to become very detailed as well. Unless the submissions to the database have the same level of detail, there would be gaps that could be used to distinguish the submissions. Also, there is an obligation on the part of the patentee to disclose any relevant prior art that they are aware of. If there are non-patent documents that are prior art the patentee must disclose them or risk losing their patent down the road. Finally, the fact is that patent law is a corporate arena and the players have access to many databases full of prior art articles through Lexis, Dialog, Google etc.
Unfortunately, SCART sockets aren't found on US TVs. There may be some PAL/NTSC compatible TVs out there but most aren't to my knowledge. THe power issue is much easier since there are converters available even if the power supply is not switchable.
HDCP is required to be included in any upconverted DVD output according to the DVD license. In other words, upconverted analog output is not allowed. It is a contract issue and not a copyright or DMCA issue. There were similar lawsuits about a year ago where some manufacturers made DVD players with upconverted analog outputs.
From TFA it seems that the letters are intended to be disruptive more than anything else. Its a lot easier to scare someone into not downloading than it is to go after them and the end result is pretty much the same. It isn't economical for HBO to sue and they aren't an **AA trade organization with a mandate to draw blood.
are understandable since Rome is their big subscription pitch for the moment. If they can frustrate DLers enough to pay for a subscription, buy or rent the dvd, then they can profit. While many opinionated slashdotters will scoff and say people should boycott HBO, fact of the matter is most people's convictions aren't so strong that they will throw away the time invested in watching the earlier episode. On a positive note, the fact that HBO has some sense of what is going on technologically means that they are that much closer to offering download services of their own.
that they had created the predecessor to what would ultimately become "The Hands of the Robot Devil"
While this is an interesting project the use of an array of solenoids really doesn't make much sense other than as an inexpensive hack for fingering. While a lot could be accomplished using the plucking mechanism, technique-wise the solenoid array is pretty useless. Understandably its a school project but the solenoid array does not seem like much of a challenge compared to developing an actuator to mimic vibrato, bends or even a sliding motion.
This pretty much already happens without technology. Seeing as the technology involved requires trasngenic modification and further requires a uv light source that can reach the neurons in question, somewhat less of a problem for an essentially transparent fruit fly than it would be a human with a half inch of bone and a flak helmet in the way
I think that Taiwan would be more concerned about the call for investment from India in China especially given how bad the situation is between Taiwan and mainland China with their current level of interdependence.
That actually makes some sense as to the one season deal. It sounds like the BBC thought they needed someone like Eccleston to boost the show and figured a one year deal was a fair bargain for it.
I think Episode III is supposed to be intended more for adults than kids. Anakin Skywalker falls to the dark side, kills everthing in sight, gets horribly burned and becomes Darth Vader. Somewhere along the line he knock up his girlfriend. I could've cared less about the eps 1 and 2 since they were basically franchise fodder and eye candy. I just really hope he doesn't fuck this one up.
Sure Episode 1 sucked. A lot. But Wpisode 2. C'mon, the romance scenes were pure comedic genius. I don't know how the actors could keep straight faces through them. I can remember the theater after the scene where Natalie Portman's chest was heaving up and down. One person started clapping and then the whole audience broke into applause and laughter. I can only hope that Episode 3 will have a moment like that one.