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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, May 13 2013 @ 06:10 PM EDT |
At first I wanted to protest, but after knowing how bad glyphosates are, I'd
rather that Mosanto be allowed to keep their seeds, and than that roundup be
banned.
(WS, not logged in.)[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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Authored by: ailuromancy on Tuesday, May 14 2013 @ 06:37 AM EDT |
Compared to other tax laws, a tax on phones and tablets is not entirely
insane.
Imagine you were responsible for collecting a tax on audio
cassettes. You could put some of the money in your pocket, spend
some getting
reports from your brother on what music is popular
and give a little to the
popular musicians
(but not authors of zx spectrum games).
The rest of the
money you spend lobbying for a tax on CD's.
The US has a 2% tax
on CD writers and a 3% tax on blank music CD's.
AFAIK, the difference between a
blank audio and blank data CD is the
decoration on the cover. Again, musicians
need to have taxes
collected on their behalf, but programmers to not.
Wakipedia
does not mention a US tax on blank DVD's. It does
mention that MP3 players are
not taxed because they are
'computer peripherals'. I can understand Microsoft
not wanting
a tax on blank media nominally for software. I assume they prefer
large damages for infringement instead. I think the movie
industry has similar
motives, but are not as successful
as Microsoft because they target poor
individuals instead of
medium sized businesses. (Do not let you employees play
a
radio out loud in the office, or it will be you turn next.)
France has
some collection agencies that can licence music,
plays, or whatever their
speciality is. My knowledge of French
copyright law is particularly unreliable,
but I think these agencies
do not need the copyright holders permission, and
can totally ignore
any and all explicit instructions from copyright holders.
There was some talk about providing the same 'service' for software,
but I do
not know whether Microsoft or the Penguinistas
threw the biggest tantrum as a
result.
I assume these collection agencies are not getting as much
money as
they want, so they are looking for a new revenue stream.
If the UK
government wasted their time on something this
stupid I would be thankful that
they were not doing something
more damaging instead.
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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, May 14 2013 @ 07:39 AM EDT |
"Cartoon Face Generation"
Here's the patent: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?
Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchn
um.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=8,437,514.PN.&OS=PN/8,437,514&RS=
PN/8,4
37,514
I found out about it from Slashdot:
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/05/14/0230248/microsoft-
patents-cartoon-face-generation[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, May 14 2013 @ 07:48 AM EDT |
You know I've usually been very positive about google glass, much less so about
<a
href="http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/13/google-glass-medrefglass-facial-rec
ognition/">this</a> idea. <br/>
<br/>
It seems to me to be a case of trying to apply a unreliable technology (face
recognition) to a field that needs reliability (at least in the simple areas
like getting medical files) in a way that provides very little bennefit. And to
further complicate things a medical environment is probably one of the hardest
to reliably use face recognition on, because it is probably relatively common to
have things (oxygen tubes, blood, ect) obstructing parts of the face. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, May 14 2013 @ 11:51 AM EDT |
Article link.
Apparently Prenda just can't get
enough of driving people to dislike them.
I once received a call by a
collections agent asking about a particular neighbor. I was polite - and
completely unhelpful.
Such behavior is rather ....
dislikeable:
Harass neighbors to (my conclusion) somehow have those
neighbors pressure the individual.
RAS[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, May 14 2013 @ 12:17 PM EDT |
Goog
le translation:
Softwarepatente in der Kritik // Software Patents Under
Criticism Google translation (last para): Like
other experts urged
Attorney Rasmus Keller, who answered a
question by Ingo Egloff (SPD) to limit
software patents law
soon. The Federal Court, it has not yet been able to
establish clear criteria which patents are permissible and
which are not. Why
could not this be left to the judiciary.
Responded differently association
representatives Oliver
Green and law professor Jürgen Ensthaler to the question
of
Ansgar Heveling (CDU), as such a definition should look
acceptable from
unacceptable patenting. Green took the view
that was needed did not exceptions.
Because of the hidden
source code sofware control of a machine is already much
harder to plagiarize than before a board, so the patenting
unnecessary here.
Ensthaler turned likewise opposed to
allowing the patenting as provided in the
application where
software is used in devices instead of mechanical or
electrical control systems. Instead, the patent should be
allowed only with a
specific function description. Then the
patent does not apply to the use of the
same software
elements for other functions. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, May 14 2013 @ 12:31 PM EDT |
Link
Apple has requested the US District court
to allow it to add the Galaxy S4 flagship smartphone to the list of the Samsung
products that are guilty of violating its patents.
Sad... The
Never Ending Story[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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Authored by: DannyB on Tuesday, May 14 2013 @ 01:38 PM EDT |
Nintendo wins in Motiva patent dispute
[ . . .
omitted . . . ]
"The evidence demonstrated that Motiva's litigation was
targeted at financial gains, not at encouraging adoption of Motiva's patented
technology. The inventors looked forward to financial gains through Motiva's
litigation, not hopes of stimulating investment or partnerships with
manufacturers," wrote Circuit Judge Sharon Prost in the Court of Appeals ruling.
"There is simply no
reasonable likelihood that, after successful litigation against Nintendo,
Motiva's patented technology would have been licensed by partners."
[ .
. . rest omitted . . .]--- The price of freedom is eternal litigation. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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Authored by: DannyB on Tuesday, May 14 2013 @ 02:11 PM EDT |
Lodsys patent rampage continues as
Activision and Capcom get sued
Apple's intervention can't stop the
lawsuits as five more were filed last week.
The patent-holding company
Lodsys became notorious in 2011. It started sending patent threat letters to
small developers asking for a bit more than a half-percent (.575) of their
revenue. The company claimed it had a patent on in-app purchases.
Apple
intervened in the case shortly thereafter. The company told the court that it
had already licensed the Lodsys patents, so they shouldn't be used against
developers working on its platform.
It hasn't helped. Lodsys has sued
dozens of targets this year, showing it has no compunction about taking on any
app maker whether it's a tiny game studio or a global corporation. Late last
week, Lodsys fired off its newest round of lawsuits.
[ . . . rest
omitted . . . ]--- The price of freedom is eternal litigation. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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Authored by: MDT on Tuesday, May 14 2013 @ 07:06 PM EDT |
The link provided in news picks goes to a website that
requires registration even for free access, which isn't
really free, since it's basically trading my personal e-mail
and such to a company and then they can sell it to someone
else. Even if they say they won't now, they can update their
terms of service at any time to say it's ok to sell it.
I would personally suggest that Groklaw shouldn't link to
such pages without the normal 'paywall' notice at the end,
like we get on others.
---
MDT[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 15 2013 @ 03:53 AM EDT |
There's a whole bunch of stories on the sidebar, mostly expressing
outrage at the DoJ seizure of call records. But down here in the
southern hemisphere we're hearing a story of why this was done
which is even more scary. Apparently some newspaper, was it many?,
affiliated to AP published details of the CIA's foiling a bomb plot on
a US-bound airplane. The publication of this information was deemed
to be a threat to the safety of the American public.
Is that AP story still readable? Now I'm a dufus, so it seems to me
that publication, so long as it didn't publish CIA trade or State secrets,
would a) put the US public on the alert (or are they all deemed to be
scaredy cats that shouldn't be frightened) and
b) tell the baddies the whistle was blown on them.
Or is it just someone covering up for the fact that
CIA had issued a denial prior to the AP story ...
http://www.radionz.co.nz/search/results?q=AP+leak
[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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- They claim - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 15 2013 @ 06:38 AM EDT
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Authored by: Winter on Wednesday, May 15 2013 @ 04:42 AM EDT |
Hear Ye, Future Deep Throats: This Is How to
Leak to the Press: Leaking by Email
Some
additions:
- Install Linux and learn how to use it (its
easy)
- Install TorBrowser
- Get an email provider that allows
HTTPS connections over Tor, e.g., Safe-mail.net (GMail does
not)
- Open a new account you will never ever access from anything other
than a TorBrowser and never ever send to or receive email from email accounts
that can in any way be linked to people who know you
- Learn how to
spoof a MAC address on your laptop AND APPLY SPOOFING
- Wear a
disposable cap or other head wear that makes work difficult for video
surveillance
Note that when using Tor to visit your email provider,
consider the provider owned by your opponent. It probably is, but Tor was build
by people who wanted to help you here. Watch out for the HTTPS connection to the
email provider, that is crucial. Make sure you know how to check the certificate
of HTTPS connections, there are good Firefox addons for that.
--- Some
say the sun rises in the east, some say it rises in the west; the truth lies
probably somewhere in between. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 15 2013 @ 09:46 AM EDT |
Link
Microsoft is upgrading its new
Outlook.com webmail service so that its users can communicate with Gmail users
via instant messaging.
Microsoft has also been
attacking Gmail for months via its Scroogled campaign, in which Microsoft
accuses Google of disrespecting the privacy of Gmail users by matching ads to
the text of their messages.
Now that's funny...
First
MS reads all your Skype and now you'll have 2 of them spying on you :-)
"There's no free lunch."
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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 15 2013 @ 02:54 PM EDT |
Article link.
RAS[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 15 2013 @ 08:23 PM EDT |
Newspick
Does Myriad have more than 3000
different patents?
If you have a strong family history, it may be
appropriate for your General Practitioner to refer you to your local Genetic
Service.
...
Searching for a BRCA mutation in a family is recommended to
start in a family member with breast cancer to reduce the risk of false
negative results and to increase the chance of finding a mutation. To date,
more than 3000 different mutations have been identified, most
unique to only a
few families. Should a mutation be found, testing can be offered to other
at-risk adult family members. link
1
All consultations with Genetic Services are provided free of
charge. Like all hospital services, we are required to prioritise our
services
within budget. However, all approved genetic testing is free.
link 2
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Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, May 15 2013 @ 10:49 PM EDT |
There is a certain kind of bad taste in the reaction from those served by the
current patent situation.
While the numbers are employed to alert us to the thousands (of lawyers) that
will go hungry and destitute should anything be done to change the status quo,
the very numbers meant to scare legislators make for some painful reading viewed
from the other side.
If we look at the numbers quoted, it transpires that from 1998-2011 320,799
patents were granted in the technology area “Electrical Computers, Digital
Processing Systems, Information Security, Error/Fault Handling” and that in 2011
alone, 42,235 patents were granted in this area, constituting 20% of all the
patents issued in 2011.
These numbers are staggering, particularly when it is remembered that some of
the patents mentioned are used to either blackmail legitimate businesses or
strategically trip up competitors, with the already overburdened courts acting
as enforcers and that the vast sums extracted from the industry are taken from
development and passed on to the customers. These are non-productive costs,
taken out of the industry eco-sphere, which will end up choking it if not
checked.
Self-pity is never endearing but when it rides atop self-serving on this scale
it comes pretty close to triggering a gag-reflex.
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