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Submission + - How can I succeed as a small developer in the patent war era? (nytimes.com)

Submitted by hovelander
hovelander writes: "For three decades, Mr. Phillips had focused on writing software to allow computers to understand human speech. In 2006, he had co-founded a voice recognition company, and eventually executives at Apple, Google and elsewhere proposed partnerships. Mr. Phillips’s technology was even integrated into Siri itself before the digital assistant was absorbed into the iPhone. But in 2008, Mr. Phillips’s company, Vlingo, had been contacted by a much larger voice recognition firm called Nuance. “I have patents that can prevent you from practicing in this market,” Nuance’s chief executive, Paul Ricci"

I don't have the money yet to retain a patent monkey, sorry lawyer, and don't wish to live in the movie "Brazil"! What are some pragmatic options?
China

Submission + - Congressional panel says that Huawei and ZTE pose security threat (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes: Chinese telecom firms Huawei and ZTE pose a security threat to the US, a congressional panel has warned after an investigation into the two companies. The two firms should be barred from any mergers and acquisitions in the US, the panel has recommended in its report set to be released later on Monday.

It said the firms had failed to allay fears about their association with the Chinese government and military.

The two are among the world's biggest makers of telecom networking equipment. "China has the means, opportunity and motive to use telecommunications companies for malicious purposes" the committee said in its report.

Submission + - Will a Chromebook be your next PC? (zdnet.com)

Submitted by dgharmon
dgharmon writes: Sure, you could keep using Windows, although Windows 8 looks worse every time you look at it; or you could buy a Mac for big bucks; or you could buy a Samsung Series 5 550 Chromebook starting at $449 and have a great Linux-based desktop that you already know how to use.

Submission + - US congress rules Huawei a 'security threat' (brisbanetimes.com.au)

Submitted by dgharmon
dgharmon writes: Chinese telecom company Huawei poses a security threat to the United States and should be barred from US contracts and acquisitions, a yearlong congressional investigation has concluded.

A draft of a report by the House Intelligence Committee said Huawei and another Chinese telecom, ZTE, "cannot be trusted" to be free of influence from Beijing and could be used to undermine US security.
Education

Submission + - The Case For The Blue Collar Coder 1

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: U.S. tech talent shortage discussions tend to focus on getting more young people to go to college to become CS grads. Nothing wrong with that, writes Anil Dash, but let's not forget about education which teaches mid-level programming as a skilled trade, suitable for apprenticeship and advancement in a way that parallels traditional trade skills like HVAC or welding. Dash encourages less of a focus on 'the next Zuckerberg' in favor of encouraging solid middle-class tech jobs that are primarily focused on creating and maintaining tech infrastructure in non-tech companies. Dash also suggests 'changing the conversation about recruiting technologists from the existing narrow priesthood of highly-skilled experts constantly chasing new technologies to productive workers getting the most out of widely-deployed platforms and frameworks.'
Biotech

Submission + - IBM Microscope Can See 100 Times Smaller Than An Atom (singularityhub.com)

Submitted by
kkleiner
kkleiner writes: "Building on their impressive microscopy work over the last few years, a team from IBM has refined their method to precisely measure the structural details of a single molecule. With their technique, they managed to measure very subtle differences in the distribution of electrons within the molecule’s bonds. How subtle? We’re talking 3 picometers or 0.000000000003 meters. That’s one-hundredth the diameter of an atom!"

Submission + - Czech Man Becomes the First Person in the World to Live With No Heart or Pulse 2

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A 37-year-old man from Czech Republic recently became the first man to live without a heart for six months. Jakub Halik, a former firefighter lived without a pulse for six months after undergoing pioneering surgery in April when doctors removed his heart and replaced it with mechanical pumps.
Facebook

Submission + - Man arrested for offensive joke posted on Facebook (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Tasteless joke posted on Facebook sees man arrested in the UK under section 127 of the Communications Act for ending a public electronic communication which is 'grossly offensive'.
Matthew Wood, 20, of Eaves Lane, Chorley, UK will appear before Chorley Magistrates' Court on Monday.
Education

Submission + - ask slashdot: What were you taught about computers in High School?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: What /was/ taught to you about computers in High School? Computer use and computer science in schools are regular headlines, but what "normal" do we compare it to?

It's not a shared reference. A special class with Commodore PETs was set up just /after/ I graduated, and I'm only starting to grey. Everybody younger has had progressive levels of exposure. What was "normal" for our 40, 30, and 20 year olds here? And how well did it work for you, and your classmates?
Your Rights Online

Submission + - Automated DMCA Takedown Notices Request Censorship of Legitimate Sites (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by
Techmeology
Techmeology writes: "Microsoft has sent automated DMCA notices to Google demanding the removal of several legitimate URLs from its search results that it claims were facilitating the distribution if illegal copies of Windows 8, including links to BBC news articles, Wikipedia pages, US government websites, and even Bing! The erroneous DMCA notices are being sent automatically by rights holders, who are increasingly using such techniques."

Submission + - Supreme Court to decide if Monsanto GMO patents are valid (wsj.com) 2

Submitted by tomhath
tomhath writes: The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear an Indiana farmer's appeal that challenges the scope of Monsanto Co.'s patent rights on its Roundup Ready seeds.

Mr. Bowman bought and planted "commodity seeds" from a grain elevator. Those soybean seeds were a mix and included some that contained Monsanto's technology.

The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case over the objections of the Obama administration, which had urged the justices to leave the lower court rulings in place.

Submission + - Entire Cities in World of Warcraft Dead, Hack Suspected (paritynews.com)

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: Entire cities in the World of Warcraft have been destroyed with no one spared, not even the NPCs. About 13:00 GMT, forums on WOW started getting the first comments from users regarding player and NPCs dying on the Ragnaros-EU realm in Orgrimmar. Users of the online game started reporting that Draenor had a similar sight to offer. Some of the other realms where this was reported include Tarren Mill, Twisting Nether and others.
Power

Submission + - National Ignition Facility Fails to Ignite Support in Congress

Submitted by
Hugh Pickens writes
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "For more than 50 years, physicists have been eager to achieve controlled fusion, an elusive goal that could potentially offer a boundless and inexpensive source of energy. Now Bill Sweet writes in IEEE Spectrum that the National Ignition Facility (NIF), now five billion dollars over its original budget and years behind schedule, deserves to be recognized as perhaps the biggest and fattest white elephant of all time. With the total tab for NIF now running to an estimated $7 billion, the laboratory has been pulling out all the stops to claim success is just around the corner. “We didn’t achieve the goal,” said Donald L. Cook, an official at the National Nuclear Security Administration who oversees the laser project but rather than predicting when it might succeed, he added in an interview, “we’re going to settle into a serious investigation” of what caused the unforeseen snags. On one hand, the laser’s defenders point out, hard science is by definition risky, and no serious progress is possible without occasional failures. On the other, federal science initiatives seldom disappoint on such a gargantuan scale, and the setback comes in an era of tough fiscal choices and skepticism about science among some lawmakers. "If the main goal is to achieve a power source that could replace fossil fuels, we suspect the money would be better spent on renewable sources of energy that are likely to be cheaper and quicker to put into wide use" editorializes the NY Times. "Congress will need to look hard at whether these “stockpile stewardship” and long-term energy goals can be pursued on a smaller budget.""

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