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The information on Groklaw is not intended to constitute legal advice. While Mark is a lawyer and he has asked other lawyers and law students to contribute articles, all of these articles are offered to help educate, not to provide specific legal advice. They are not your lawyers.

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Apple TV
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, December 17 2012 @ 05:15 AM EST
I can see it already.
On an Apple TV, you may only receive signal from cableTV providers having $igned
up with Apple and these may only provide programming approved by Apple.
Once sales have peaked (that is, when the die-hard must-have-an-Apple-device has
bought theirs) and Apple is stuck with warehouses full of unsellable design
icons, it's time to drag other TV-set makers to court for violating the Apple
concept patents, their design patents, and their style patents.
That will be Apple's ups-we-hit-an-iceberg-good-thing-we're-unsinkable moment.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

  • Apple TV - Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, December 17 2012 @ 05:39 AM EST
    • Apple TV - Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, December 17 2012 @ 06:30 AM EST
Peripherals for your Raspberry Pi, and much more....
Authored by: tiger99 on Monday, December 17 2012 @ 07:54 AM EST
People have already been using Arduino boards to provide I/O expansion and other facilities, or more specific boards using the same AVR microcontrollers, e.g. the Gertboard. But this has just come to my attention. At a very Pi or Arduino price you get a rather good ARM based microcontroller with features for use in safety critical systems, including self-checking hardware with two cores, multiple timers, ADCs, CAN busses and and lots and lots of I/O pins. It will not replace the Pi itself, having only 2MB flash and 160k RAM, but these are huge amounts for a real time control system, and the Pi would be able to run the GUI etc.

But it gets better. There is a free RTOS, funnily enough called FreeRTOS which supports it and a variety of other microcontrollers, with the possibility of simple upgrade to a similar OS certified for safety critical systems, which runs in much the same 7k to 14k footprint. Now, whether you need the certified OS or can use the free one, that is still a huge leap forwards compared to what was state of the art only a year or so ago.

We are in a new era where people can make software-controlled things for themselves, easily and cheaply. I just hope that it is not all wrecked by a bunch of patent trolls somewhere, who are incapable of inventing anything.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Hackers target Westboro Baptist Church
Authored by: Gringo_ on Monday, December 17 2012 @ 09:39 AM EST

Link.

I don't always agree with the tactics of Anonymous, which at times descend from noble protest to rable-rousing vigilantism. At a minimum, they are often entertaining at least. The above article links to a video posted by Anonymous, attacking the Westboro Baptist Church for their hate campaigns. I was really, really impressed with the wording of the message. Very well spoken!

In the end, in this instance at least, Anonymous is no more to be condemned than the Westboro Baptist Church.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Danish cartoon: Google vs. Apple
Authored by: stovring on Monday, December 17 2012 @ 11:10 AM EST
The ongoing battle between Apple and Google has reached the Danish newspaper cartoons: http://heltnormalt.dk/striben/20 12/12/16

The Danish text says: "Future wars"

Not sure whether this is completely off-topic, though...

Regards,

stovring

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Introducing the Pi Store: a one-stop shop for all your Raspberry Pi needs
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, December 17 2012 @ 12:17 PM EST
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/2768

"We’ve been amazed by the variety of software that people have written for, or ported to, the Raspberry Pi. Today, together with our friends at IndieCity and Velocix, we’re launching the Pi Store to make it easier for developers of all ages to share their games, applications, tools and tutorials with the rest of the community.

The Pi Store will, we hope, become a one-stop shop for all your Raspberry Pi needs; it’s also an easier way into the Raspberry Pi experience for total beginners, who will find everything they need to get going in one place, for free."

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

How to Turn a Jaguar into a Titan
Authored by: Steve Martin on Monday, December 17 2012 @ 12:34 PM EST

It takes more than the side mural to turn the fastest supercomputer dedicated to Open Science into the fastest computer in the world. The same room and cabinets that held supercomputer Jaguar, now holds Titan.

...

Boasting proven speeds at 17.59 petaFLOPS, or the ability to perform 17.59 quadrillion calculations per second, and theoretical speeds topping 20 petaFLOPS, Titan unseated Lawrence Livermore's IB M Sequoia supercomputer.

Clicky

299, 008 processor cores, 710 terabytes RAM, and of course, it runs Linux.

---
"When I say something, I put my name next to it." -- Isaac Jaffe, "Sports Night"

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Editorial: Does Windows Phone even have a chance without Google?
Authored by: SilverWave on Monday, December 17 2012 @ 01:54 PM EST
Editorial: Does Windows Phone even have a chance without Google?

---
RMS: The 4 Freedoms
0 run the program for any purpose
1 study the source code and change it
2 make copies and distribute them
3 publish modified versions

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

A kind of United Way for the Truth - The Freedom of the Press Foundation
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, December 17 2012 @ 02:52 PM EST
Crowd Funding the Right to Know
Xeni Jardin, Boing Boing

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

MEP: It is important to make clear that this new patent package does not cover software patents
Authored by: SilverWave on Monday, December 17 2012 @ 03:36 PM EST
Quote:


"Dear [redacted],


Thank you for your email regarding the European Unitary
Patent.

There has been a lot of confusion on what the new European
Patent would cover, and it is important to make clear that
this new patent package does not cover software patents as
many have been led to believe. Software patents are outside
the scope of the European Unitary Patent and not concerned
by these rules.

The Patent Package proposed by the European Commission was
voted upon on 11 December by the European Parliament. It
will allow for a unitary patent which will be valid
throughout the EU. This package contains three parts: a
draft regulation which sets up the unitary patent, another
regulation on translation rules, and a draft
intergovernmental agreement setting up the patent court
system.

Previously, an individual wishing to protect a patent had to
make a request through the national patent offices in the
different Member States in which the patent was to be
protected. An alternative was to go through the European
Patent Office, but this route still required a validation
process in each EU Member State, which was very burdensome
and also very costly. The package will reduce patenting
costs by up to 80% and improve European competitiveness as
US patents, for example, are currently substantially cheaper
than patents in the EU. In addition, this unitary patent
will avoid legal confusion as there will be one united
European Patent legal basis.

I hope that this is helpful."

---
RMS: The 4 Freedoms
0 run the program for any purpose
1 study the source code and change it
2 make copies and distribute them
3 publish modified versions

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Anti-Piracy Chief Patents “Pay Up or Disconnect” Scheme
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, December 17 2012 @ 07:01 PM EST
https://torrentfreak.com/anti-piracy-chief-pate nts-pay-up-or-disconnect-scheme-121217/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=fee d&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Torrentfreak+%28Torrentfreak%29

Looks like a business method patent to me...

... and stunningly un-innovative

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

We are iiNet, not King Canute
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, December 17 2012 @ 09:53 PM EST
You may remember iiNet, the Australian ISP that Hollywood attacked (with support of US State Department officials) after they decided that it was too small to fight back, but big enough that people would notice. They guessed incorrectly, and iiNet not only fought back by taking a strong pro-consumer view, but won in convincing fashion.

Even more importantly, as we noted, the courts made it clear why it's silly to expect third party service providers like ISPs to be copyright cops, since establishing infringement "is not a straight 'yes' or 'no' question," but rather involves going through a lot of evidence and evaluating it.

Since then, Hollwyood has continued (via the Australian government) to pressure ISPs to step up to become copyright cops anyway, and iiNet has participated in those discussions. But late last week it walked away from the discussions after Hollywood folks kept demanding a system similar to the US's in which ISPs would send along notices to people they accused of infringement. iiNet gave a bunch of good reasons for walking away, but the basic message was that piracy is a problem that the entertainment industry could solve itself by making all of its content available more conveniently and at better prices.

Until it does that, it's silly to rope in third parties to try to hold back the tide.

Mike Masnick, Techdirt

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

  • an alternative - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, December 18 2012 @ 02:42 AM EST
    • an alternative - Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, December 18 2012 @ 12:17 PM EST
Apple's injunction request denied/Samsung Jury tampering claim denied
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, December 17 2012 @ 11:39 PM EST
Apple does not succeed in its request to ban the sale of
Samsung devices http://www.scribd.com/doc/117196812/Sales-Ban

Samsung also loses its case for Jury Misconduct.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/18/us-apple-
samsung-idUSBRE8BH06620121218

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Say sorry to Judge Koh ...
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, December 18 2012 @ 12:49 AM EST
Just in http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20765334

So some of those who were predicting Judge Koh's findings owe the lady an
apology. She does understand the mess created by software and 'looks like'
patents.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Marco Polo and the TPP
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, December 18 2012 @ 03:33 AM EST
I've just picked up a copy of the 1908 Dent edition of
The Travels of Marco Polo, and towards the end of a
four page introduction John Masefield says

>> It may be that the Western mind will turn to
Marco Polo for a conception of Asia long after
"Cathay" has become an American colony. <<

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Answers about Android
Authored by: tiger99 on Tuesday, December 18 2012 @ 05:52 AM EST
BBC

They admit they have a problem:

"If you look at the amount of energy we spend on Apple, it pales in comparison to what we spend on Android. And that's right - we agree with the audience." But he then outlined the challenges involved:
One of the alleged problems:
"It's not just fragmentation of the operating system - it is the sheer variety of devices. Before Ice Cream Sandwich (an early variant of the Android operating system) most Android devices lacked the ability to play high quality video. If you used the same technology as we've always used for iPhone, you'd get stuttering or poor image quality. So we're having to develop a variety of approaches for Android."
Lots more good stuff follows, and they seem to be intent on making it work on just about every Android device.
DD: "By the end of 2013, it will be a distant memory of when Android was vastly different from iOS. We're moving very quickly now. We've just solved the experience on seven-inch tablets, we've upgraded for Jellybean 4.2. It will never be as easy to develop for Android as Apple because of the variety of devices, but we're not upset about that - it's where the audience is. Apple may punch above its weight in users accessing video and so on, but much of the Android audience are just the kind of people we want to reach, people who've never used their phones before in this way.
And I like his final statement very much:
"And there are big advantages to the Android platform. Whenever we want to launch something new we just do it, without waiting for approval (My bold). And then there is multi-tasking, which you can't do on Apple. Once we solve the basics, there are a lot of things about the platform that will be extremely powerful."
I suspect that Cook will not be very pleased!

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Germany orders changes to Facebook real name policy
Authored by: tiger99 on Tuesday, December 18 2012 @ 08:11 AM EST
BBC

I wonder if Facebook will apply the change everywhere. It is one of the basic essentials if you want to retain your privacy to some degree, while being able to communicate with your friends, who mostly will be using Facebook, despite its many problems.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

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