decoration decoration
Stories

GROKLAW
When you want to know more...
decoration
For layout only
Home
Archives
Site Map
Search
About Groklaw
Awards
Legal Research
Timelines
ApplevSamsung
ApplevSamsung p.2
ArchiveExplorer
Autozone
Bilski
Cases
Cast: Lawyers
Comes v. MS
Contracts/Documents
Courts
DRM
Gordon v MS
GPL
Grokdoc
HTML How To
IPI v RH
IV v. Google
Legal Docs
Lodsys
MS Litigations
MSvB&N
News Picks
Novell v. MS
Novell-MS Deal
ODF/OOXML
OOXML Appeals
OraclevGoogle
Patents
ProjectMonterey
Psystar
Quote Database
Red Hat v SCO
Salus Book
SCEA v Hotz
SCO Appeals
SCO Bankruptcy
SCO Financials
SCO Overview
SCO v IBM
SCO v Novell
SCO:Soup2Nuts
SCOsource
Sean Daly
Software Patents
Switch to Linux
Transcripts
Unix Books

Gear

Groklaw Gear

Click here to send an email to the editor of this weblog.


You won't find me on Facebook


Donate

Donate Paypal


No Legal Advice

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.

Here's Groklaw's comments policy.


What's New

STORIES
No new stories

COMMENTS last 48 hrs
No new comments


Sponsors

Hosting:
hosted by ibiblio

On servers donated to ibiblio by AMD.

Webmaster
Apple in trouble in China, again | 293 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
pennyarcade: Ad-blockers, the games press, and why sexy cosplay galleries lead to better rep...
Authored by: SilverWave on Wednesday, April 17 2013 @ 10:23 PM EDT
Ad-blockers, the games press, and why sexy cosplay galleries lead to better reporting

Interesting stuff...

And he is right I block all ads everywhere all the time.

---
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 | # ]

Microsoft - On their way to becoming an NPE?
Authored by: complex_number on Thursday, April 18 2013 @ 12:29 AM EDT
With their recent deal with Foxconn, I have to wonder if there is some sort of
'grand plan' in Mr Balmers mind that they could make lots more $$$ per share if
they closed down Windows and all the rest and became another NPE (aka Patent
Troll)

I really wish that Barnes & Noble had stuck to their guns and seen their
legal spat with MS all the way to a verdict thus setting a whole load of
precedents as well as probably invalidating a good number of key patents that MS
use against Android.


---
Ubuntu & 'apt-get' are not the answer to Life, The Universe & Everything which
is of course, "42" or is it 1.618?

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Cybersecurity: A View From the Front
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 18 2013 @ 02:00 AM EDT
A bank that builds identity theft and fraud into the cost of doing business is an example of market failure. A power company that treats a cyber-induced power outage as an act of God, no different from a tornado or earthquake, demonstrates market failure.

If the private sector is unwilling to take the necessary steps to guarantee the integrity of its online activities, the government must step in to fulfill its most fundamental task — to ensure the security of its citizens; that is, to provide them with a secure identity.
Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of Estonia

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

XP was my idea
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 18 2013 @ 07:17 AM EDT
XP was my idea is a blog where one of the guys behind Classic Shell writes about Windows 8 usability issues.

It's not like I would have rejected the new Windows 8 interface completely. Touch and mobility are two important factors why Steven Sinofsky said a new kind of Apps model with touch-friendly UI and battery life awareness was required. I completely agree with that. I was actually enjoying the interface (despite the terrible Metro design) until the Start Menu and other desktop features were removed. The desktop should be there unharmed.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

  • XP was my idea - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 18 2013 @ 03:46 PM EDT
Parallel Exclusion by M$, Apple et. al
Authored by: squib on Thursday, April 18 2013 @ 08:30 AM EDT
At first, Parallel Exclusion by C. Scott Hemphill of Columbia University - Law School &
Tim Wu also of Columbia University - Law School March 19, 2013
didn't seem to have any
parallels to the behaviour of M$ & Apple et. al.

It starts off slow and boring but around page 1193, all the tactics of exclusion M$ have tried
themselves over the years slowly come trickling out. The paper could almost serve as the reference
manual of warfare tactics for M$ and Apple's management. It ends by suggesting that innovation
and competition etc., will suffer if the laws of antitrust are not reconsidered.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Oh Look, Rep. Mike Rogers Wife Stands To Benefit Greatly From CISPA Passing...
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 18 2013 @ 12:07 PM EDT
It would appear that Rep. Mike Rogers, the main person in Congress pushing for CISPA, has kept rather quiet about a very direct conflict of interest that calls into serious question the entire bill.

It would appear that Rogers' wife stands to benefit quite a lot from the passage of CISPA, and has helped in the push to get the bill passed.

It's somewhat amazing that no one has really covered this part of the story, but it highlights, yet again, the kind of activities by folks in Congress that make the public trust Congress less and less.

Mike Masnick, Techdirt

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

EFF: 48 Hours Left to Stop CISPA in the House
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 18 2013 @ 01:04 PM EDT
Use the contact links on this page.

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is supposed to promote cybersecurity—a goal EFF wholeheartedly supports—but it doesn't address common-sense network security issues. Instead, it creates a new, dangerous exception to existing privacy laws. That’s why hundreds of thousands of concerned Internet users have joined EFF and other civil liberties groups in opposing the bill. This is our last chance to stop it in the House.

48 Hours Left to Stop CISPA in the House

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Before the Blast, West Fertilizer’s Monsanto Lawsuit
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 18 2013 @ 03:29 PM EDT

From The Wall Street Journal: Befo re the Blast, West Fertilizer’s Monsanto Lawsuit

http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2 -215227/

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

  • Remember Texas City 1947 - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 18 2013 @ 04:11 PM EDT
    • $$$$$ - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 18 2013 @ 04:38 PM EDT
      • $$$$$ - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 18 2013 @ 05:45 PM EDT
    • Remember Texas City 1947 - Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 18 2013 @ 06:40 PM EDT
NASA discovers two distant planets that seem ideal for life
Authored by: JamesK on Thursday, April 18 2013 @ 08:54 PM EDT
NASA’s planet-hunting telescope has discovered two planets that seem like ideal places for some sort of life to flourish. They are just the right size and in just the right place near their star.

---
The following program contains immature subject matter.
Viewer discretion is advised.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Discontent with Google
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, April 18 2013 @ 09:01 PM EDT
I must admit I'm getting disillusioned with Google. The tipping point has
been news results. They are in the vast majority from local or national
(Canadian) news sources and even at that, a select few. It is more
obvious when events occur in, say, Boston, and I would barely know tha
t Amercan sources are covering the storey. Maybe I'm just supposed to
be over the moon at the authoritatve coverage of my home grwn media
but seriously, the results are way too shallow. It really does make me
question Googles impartiality.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

'Call me the General' Elop - Tomi Ahonen.
Authored by: Gringo_ on Thursday, April 18 2013 @ 11:46 PM EDT

Can't unload them even at a loss. Nokia is toast.

Asha phones lost 45% of their global unit sales in just 3 months!!! Smartphone sales down 8% from Q4 to Q1. Preliminary market share estimate now: 3%. Smartphone unit continues to generate loss, now 16% loss. Nokia total US market smartphone sales - all essentially Lumia obviously, down 45% from Q4 to 400,000 units only. And how did the price do? The US average price is down 10%.
.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

YouTube has won, in Viacom v. YouTube
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 19 2013 @ 02:58 AM EDT
"The plaintiffs had previously convinced the Second Circuit to remand the case to the district court for determination of some factual issues relating to specific videos. District Judge Louis L. Stanton has now resolved all of the issues in favor of YouTube, and once again dismissed the case." link

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

The $12 Gongkai Phone
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 19 2013 @ 03:54 AM EDT

A teardown of a phone that costs $12

I’m curious to study this new gongkai ecosystem. For sure, there will be critics who adhere to the tenets of Western IP law that will summarily reject the notion of alternate systems that can nourish innovation and entrepreneurship. On the other hand, it’s these tenets that lock open hardware into technology several generations old, as we wait for patents to expire and NDAs to lift before gaining access to the latest greatest technology. After all, 20 years is an eternity in high tech.

Alain

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Netflix Gives Up Silverlight, Chooses HTML5
Authored by: tiger99 on Friday, April 19 2013 @ 06:23 AM EDT
InfoQ (registration may be required)

Netflix is responsible for one third of all downloaded traffic in North America, according to Adrian Cockcroft, Director of Architecture for the Cloud Systems at Netflix, and all those bytes have been streamed to a Silverlight application so far, but that is about to change.
Well, that should hasten the end of Slitherblight!
If there were any doubts before, now we can say with a high degree of confidence that Silverlight has no future. With Flash suffering from similar problems, it remains for HTML5 to occupy the RIA space in the following years.
Common sense will prevail in the end, closed, proprietary, bug ridden protocols will not.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

So all my posts are invisible?
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 19 2013 @ 09:08 AM EDT
I wonder what I should do, now that it seems that my IP get's auto-invisibled?

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

List Of Representatives Who Voted For CISPA
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 19 2013 @ 02:11 PM EDT
List Of Representatives Who Voted For CISPA

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Apple in trouble in China, again
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 19 2013 @ 06:49 PM EDT
This time it's for distributing obscene material.
The official notice (Chinese) does not specify the
offending material, but a mildly titillating screenshot in
techinasia.com suggests this is user generated content
of similar nature to that found on many Chinese social media sites.

More on Wall St Journal

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Mike Masnick calls out the MPAA on their 'Fair Use' claims
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 19 2013 @ 07:24 PM EDT
So, in the interest of accuracy (which we're sure the MPAA really intended as well), we thought we'd perhaps supplement the MPAA's history with some of the stuff Sheffner apparently "missed" in his all-too-quick "history" lesson. In researching this, I reached out to more than half a dozen copyright lawyers.

Amazingly, each one sent back different examples of the MPAA fighting hard against fair use (there was plenty of overlap, but each one had a bunch of examples that no one else had) suggesting just how widespread the MPAA's fight against fair use tends to run. Frankly, the list got so long that I'm only providing the highlights here. A complete recapping of the MPAA's war on fair use would simply take way too long.

Techdirt

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Girl Scouts to introduce game developer badge
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 19 2013 @ 07:59 PM EDT
"On the heels of the Boy Scouts introducing a merit badge for game design,
the Girl Scouts are going one better by developing a badge program to bring
girls into the world of video game development."

"The WIGI-GSLA effort will use Gamestar Mechanic, an educational
development tool from E-Line Media, to allow scouts to develop and create their
own video games."

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/04/in-move-to-pwn-boys-girl-scouts-to-introdu
ce-game-developer-badge/

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

HTC One Review: The Most Beautiful Android Phone Ever Made
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 19 2013 @ 09:29 PM EDT
Released today

HTC One Review: The Most Beautiful Android Phone Ever Made

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

  • Shock!! Horror!! - Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, April 20 2013 @ 04:47 PM EDT
Boston and networks: Bing getting credit instead of Google Earth?
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 19 2013 @ 09:33 PM EDT
Seems like the TV networks are giving Bing credit instead of Google Earth for
some of the local pictures. Does Bing do neighborhood street views like Google
Earth? If not, then I guess Microsoft has the networks bought and paid for.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Intel promoting "Android convertible notebooks"
Authored by: Gringo_ on Saturday, April 20 2013 @ 07:02 AM EDT

Intel CEO Paul Otellini earlier this week said touch devices could debut at prices as low as $200, as CNET reported. But the cheapest devices may be based on a non-Windows operating system, according to sources -- not necessarily Windows 8, as originally reported.

"There are design wins for Android tablets at that $200 price point. Intel will be participating in that market this year," a source familiar with Intel's plans told CNET. A report in Digitimes on Friday said Intel is promoting "Android convertible notebooks" and that Lenovo, Hewlett- Packard, Toshiba, Acer, and Asus will launch products in the coming months.

The CNet article goes on to talk about potential new 7-inch Windows 8 tablets using Intel Atom processors priced as low as $299...

Microsoft said Thursday that future small devices will be priced competitively. "We are...working closely with [PC makers] on a new suite of small touch devices powered by Windows. These devices will have competitive price points, partly enabled by our latest OEM offerings designed specifically for these smaller devices, and will be available in the coming months," Microsoft's chief financial officer, Peter Klein, said during the company's earnings call.

But even with Microsoft's rumored discounts for Windows 8 licensing and Office software, a $200 Windows 8 device may be difficult to sell at a profit, said the source.

Those discounts are aimed at smaller-screen Windows 8 touch devices, according to another source familiar with device makers' plans.

Think about it though... Even if Microsoft drops the price for Windows 8 enough to permit OEMs sufficient margin to develop competitive devices, that is still not enough. They are saddled with an albatross around their necks and dragging a millstone behind themselves with that unlovely and unloved OS.

They have exactly the same problem with the Windows Phone. Now that they have cleverly eliminated Nokia as a competitor, and have Nokia's patents working for them instead of against them, they will come out with their own phone. They can enjoy a good margin, since they make the OS, so they will be able to price it competitively while maintaining quality hardware.

However, competitively priced phones and tablets won't do them any good at all. They have no hope in competing with Android. Every Android OEM out there is working hard to distinguish their products from those of their competitors. The result of this healthy competition is that we have endless choices in beautiful screens and software. Microsoft 's OS, however, will always be that same ugly Fisher Price design with its clumsy and broken UI. It doesn't matter what device they put it on, or how competitive the price, it is still putting lipstick on a pig - where the device is the lipstick and the OS is the pig.

If you have always used Windows as I have, this is irrelevant as a reason to buy the WARTy Windows 8 tablets, because they are not Windows as we know it. They are something else entirely, and will not run your "legacy" software. Windows 8 is a scam. The press pointed out long ago before Windows RT was released that there will be an concern that the average consumer will be confused if Microsoft doesn't make it clear that Windows RT is not Windows. Microsoft responded back then that they will certainly make that clear when they begin selling the new devices.

However, they never did make it clear. When you see their ads, there is no mention, no disclaimers that these devices will not run your Window's software. They don't tell you you are going to have to throw out your old computer and all the software you have invested in. Microsoft is counting on consumer confusion to sell their pig of an OS.

That will not work. I will never buy a WART, and I will never buy Windows 8 on the desktop if I have to be confronted with that Metro layer between me and my work. Maybe Windows 9 will be usable. If not, I'm done with Windows when my current Windows 7 can no longer serve my needs.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Guest Post: Stop Abusive Patent Litigation, For the Sake of our Economy
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, April 20 2013 @ 12:31 PM EDT
Guest Post: Stop Abusive Patent Litigation, For the Sake of our Economy

"Immunize end users from patent suits. PAEs sue end users, including very small businesses, because it is not cost effective for these defendants to hire lawyers. Protecting end users from suit will limit the options for PAEs, forcing them to pursue the manufacturers or providers of common products or services, rather than their customers. This proposal will eliminate the scanner troll for good."

Using this "scanner troll" as an example...
Scanners are being sold under some government agency permission, isn't it? So isn't the government responsible for allowing this product to be sold ? The end user bought it in good faith and paid the due taxes. How come the state can't be held responsible and doesn't clean its own mess?

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Groklaw © Copyright 2003-2013 Pamela Jones.
All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners.
Comments are owned by the individual posters.

PJ's articles are licensed under a Creative Commons License. ( Details )