Slashback: Transparency, USB, Europatents 327
Now even less than a week ... mpawlo writes "As reported by Greplaw, although I am still looking for further confirmation, it seems like the EU vote on software patentability has been moved from the late fall to June 30, 2003. Yes, that is in one (1) week. If you have more information and another source - please comment on this news item."
Mikael writes: "Personally, I find it somewhat disturbing from a democracy perspective that this proposal seems to be fast-tracked in the middle of the summer, when most Europeans want to focus on whether they should have strawberry or vanilla ice cream. In Sweden, we also got our Swedish version of the DMCA this week. I guess the ice cream will have to wait."
DoSthAboutIt points out that "A 'Petition for a Free Europe without Software Patents' has gained more than 150000 signatures. Among the supporters are more than 2000 company owners and chief executives and 25000 developpers and engineers from all sectors of the European information and telecommunication industries, as well as more than 2000 scientists and 180 lawyers. Companies like Siemens, IBM, Alcatel and Nokia lead the list of those whose researchers and developpers want to protect programming freedom and copyright property against what they see as a 'patent landgrab.' The whole article can be found here, including some statistics like signatories by country"
The story of Peng. mantispraying writes "Looks like the college student who settled with the the RIAA for $12,000, his entire life savings, has recouped all of his money thanks to a very generous file sharing community. Also, the search engine he created that got him in trouble is back online, for demonstration purposes only, of course."
Reader T points out that while one of the students who lost his life savings to RIAA has made it back through PayPal donations, "the other, Dan Peng, is still short about $12,000. Brother, can you spare a dime?"
I'd prefer the garrote and the stick, but hey. Mark Ferguson writes: "I attended the FTC spam forum. It seems I was on their call list :-) I parlayed that into getting several others on the panels as well. While there I spoke with bulk emailers and other industry folks. Some people defined Confirmed OPT-IN to mean you sending a confirmation that the email address was subscribed so they were doing double, confirmed OPT-IN.
My heads spins.
What I figured from what I learned was these folks truly refused to accept real definitions the Service Providers have been using for years so I decided to do a site for just this. ... Anyway, reboot, aka Andrew Cockrell myself and another built The Carrot and the Stick to explain email, define the best practices and to get people to abide by them.
Thoughts, comments and/or suggestions?"
Sooner or later, that DeLorean's going to land someone in jail. hackwrench writes "According to channel WSMV news, Alternate Energy Inventor Carl Tilley's compound was raided. Tilley was previously mentioned on Slashdot here."
Tilley had announced the then-upcoming demonstration of his perpetual-motion DeLorean.
My nanodots can fit inside your nanodots! Rocky Rawstern writes "I recently had the distinct pleasure to interview one of my favorite authors, Wil McCarthy. Upon completing three of his latest books - two sci-fi and one work of non-fiction - I realized that others would probably enjoy his ponderings as much as I. The questions for this interview stem from my own interest in programmable matter, and the awe-inspiring possibilities raised by Wil in his book Hacking Matter."
How to succeed (not necessarily) in business. jameshowison writes "A few months ago Ask Slashdot published Kevin Crowston's question on what makes open source software successful ... well the results are in and the paper typed. We ran the responses through a funky content analyser (called Grad Students). The metrics that academics and the industry have used for years simply don't work for OSS.
More and more it seems that we'll need to survey the number of job offers developers get and the size of the community to get at this one ..."
You sound very familiar to me. Interested Observer writes "Thanks to a slashdot article discussing false positives using Soundex I thought if Soundex can be used for something as important as "no-fly" lists then certainly we should be able to get some entertainment value out of it! See if your Soundex last name-counterparts show up in a Google News search."
A member of the USB-IF Administration writes to dispel the confusion raised by the seeming conflict between many USB products' labels and their actual data-transfer speeds:
"The source of confusion derives from the fact that USB specification revision numbers and data-transfer rates are often being used in place of the logo on consumer packaging, a purpose for which they were not originally intended. The USB-IF's recommended nomenclature for consumers is 'USB' for slower speed products (1.5 Mb/s and 12Mb/s) and "Hi-Speed USB" for high-speed products (480Mb/s), as signified in the USB logos that were introduced in late 2000. In short, consumers wishing to be certain they are getting the performance they paid for in their USB products can use the logo for clarification.
The USB-IF's naming and packaging recommendations for low- or full-speed USB products, as listed at the website http://www.usb.org/developers/packaging, state that such products can carry only the basic version of the USB logo, which simply states "Certified USB." We state clearly that manufacturers should avoid using terminology such as USB 2.0 Full Speed, Full Speed USB or USB 2.0. These formal recommendations were published to the USB-IF membership and posted on the website in August 2002.
The USB-IF is a nonprofit industry organization. We do not and cannot control how manufacturers label their products. We do work continuously with system and peripheral manufacturers, striving to provide consistency in the use of this nomenclature and the logos. The logo indicates that a product's performance against and conformance with the standard have been tested, and that the product has passed the USB compliance program.
Anyone having questions about the performance of a product should contact the manufacturer for clarification.
For a brief Q & A on this topic, please visit our website at http://www.usb.org/info/usb_nomenclature."
Of course his "compound" was raided (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Of course his "compound" was raided (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Of course his "compound" was raided (Score:2, Funny)
You *have* to have a compound... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:You *have* to have a compound... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:You *have* to have a compound... (Score:3, Funny)
Hmm, not so sure about that. (Score:3, Funny)
Does Linus have a compound?
What about the Kennedy compound? (Score:2)
Re:Of course his "compound" was raided (Score:2)
Perhaps they're scared of what they might find...
They don't need to.... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Of course his "compound" was raided (Score:2)
RTFA:Of course his "compound" was raided (Score:4, Funny)
As a sometime English teacher, I must remind you that the difference between a "compound" and "complex" is huge: compounds have all the required parts in each section. Complexes have multiple instances of the same required parts, together
That said, more than I'm inclined to believe our government raided him for making false statements to his investors [ummm, let's look at exhibit A, Kenneth Lay], I'm inclined to believe that our government thinks he violated the 2nd law of thermo, and can produce energy for free, and wants in on the action [exhibit B, Iraq].
Idjits. [But we always knew that].
Software patent report postponed (Score:5, Informative)
If you are an EU citizen and care about this don't wait for other people to take action - contact your MEP and make sure they are familiar with the issues! You can read my email to my MEP in my /. Journal [slashdot.org] and you are welcome to borrow ideas from it if you like.
Re:Software patent report postponed (Score:2)
Why so? Because they are secretaries, not generals.
Re:Software patent report postponed (Score:3, Informative)
I can verify this, I also got a mail today from a Swedish MEP (Olle Schmidt) that said:
Re:Software patent report postponed (Score:5, Informative)
Anyway, things are looking actually quite good currently. Have a look at this press release [ffii.org], most MEPS are finally seeing that the proposal is completely wrong. I'm in direct contact with several people working with the MEPS and these people are really eager to learn as much as possible about the dangers of software patents.
Re:Software patent report postponed (Score:3, Insightful)
Point out that a "technological process" could be stretched to include virtually anything, and that this language will be totally ineffective in preventing patents on trivial software processes.
Perpetual motion (Score:3, Funny)
tilly's woes (Score:3, Interesting)
but the way this crackpot acted..... I'm interested how devilish his scam was....
Re:tilly's woes (Score:5, Interesting)
However, there was a great suspicion that he has been committing fraud (magic isn't real). Therefore, the government goes in to gather evidence against him. They'll come up with enough evidence, try the guy for fruad, and hopefully send him to jail. The people who gave the crackpot money will still be out of luck though.
Re:tilly's woes (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:tilly's woes (Score:2)
Now that this resource has been depleted, I'd like to point to a vast and as-yet untapped supply of crushed dreams, disillusionment and worthless stock options. While that's not as clean a fuel source, there's enough of it there to fuel the USA well into the next century.
"Magic Box" (Score:5, Funny)
So long as it remains closed (Score:2)
Ironic that so long as the cat isn't with us, it is still half alive.
Re:"Magic Box" (Score:2, Funny)
If its real... (Score:2, Interesting)
Can he sue them for a few trillion dollars?
Its probably not real, but the implications of it being an actual working device are astronomical.
Re:If its real... (Score:2)
Not only that... (Score:5, Funny)
I understand that the EU is voting on software... (Score:3, Interesting)
That's my question.
Kevin "KevX45" Myrick
Patents are law like everything else (Score:5, Informative)
Governments drew a line in the sand at what can and can't be patented. Discoveries can't (ie you can't patent Newtons laws) and algorithms can't either (which is why up until recently it was required to discribe software as an invention comprising of a computer with said computer having of display unit, random access memory, etc etc and then start talking about your software as part of this computer invention).
The reason to not allow software patents follows in the same theme. Is it or is it not in the best interest of the public to allow patenting of software? Most software people would probably say no but unfortunately what's in the public interest and what makes money generally don't coincide.
My First Patent.... (Score:2)
There that should cover just about anything you can do with a computer (aside from using it as a paper weight or a foot rest...)
Now taking bets... (Score:3, Funny)
This is seriously a lot of topics to even focus on in one go. My head is spinning just trying to decide on which topic to respond to... When faced with large numbers of topics to read and respond to, people as a large group will invariably choose the same ones and ignore others.
So, I am now taking bets on which topic will be the unpopular one!
My bet is the "My nanodots can fit inside your nanodots" story. **YAWN**
Of course, by submitting this, I have now created a discussion thread on that topic, thereby invalidating my bet. DOH!
Re:Now taking bets... (Score:3, Funny)
Open Source Free Energy? (Score:5, Funny)
The only chance you have is to let the genie out of the bottle and licence your device as GNU/Energy.
You will become world famous overnight and will still make a fortune in grants, speaking engagements, and probably the Nobel Prize.
Of course, if your just making stuff up and ripping people off, then I hope they send you to Federal "pound me in the ass" prison.
Possibility of being sued ... (Score:5, Funny)
In light of the fact the RIAA is suing everyone left and right and is now going after more individual users there is a potential that I might get sued. As I don't distribute copyrighted material, I don't know HOW this would be possible, but I'm not about to think the RIAA will do something as simple as "Follow the law". I'm sure there's something I've done wrong that can cause them to force me into a settlement.
Anyways I expect this to cost somewhere in the ballpark of $130,230.34. That amount was literally randomly typed and it seemed like a real big amount. If I don't get sued, rest assured I will go forth and break the law because there really is no recourse for my actions. Even if I do "break the law" I can still count on the internet community to bail me out.
The internet is such a great thing and thank you in advance!!
SuperDuG
A perpetual motion car? (Score:5, Funny)
The mind boggles.
Re:A perpetual motion car? (Score:2, Informative)
Assuming that this guy isn't a crackpot, what makes you think that the perpetual motion would have anything to do with the movement of the vehicle? I'd guess his perpetual motion engine would be used as any other engine, except this one you wouldn't turn off. In other words, when you need to stop, you'd
Re:A perpetual motion car? (Score:3, Insightful)
Okay, here's the first thing newly hired patent reviewers of all patent offices in the world are told
If it says "perpetual motion" or "endless source of energy" anywhere in the patent application, grab the red stamp labelled "crackpot idea", stamp the patent application, send the application down the "rejected" chute and move to the next one. If you know nothing else, know how to do that.
Perpetual motion is proven impossible. That's why the feds raided this guy
Re:A perpetual motion car? (Score:2)
Submarines, airplanes and rockets were all thought to be impossible at one time too. Guess someone proved them wrong huh? Never claim something is impossible for it is the surest way to mark yourself as a fool.
Re:A perpetual motion car? (Score:3, Insightful)
>Submarines, airplanes and rockets were all thought to be impossible at one time too.
There is a big difference between "thought to be impossible" and "proven imposible". And the specific cases you mentioned, the "imposisbility" referred to practical engineering rather than theory. Just as I could say that it is impossible to make a battery that runs a car for a week -- it is impossible now, but that implies nothing about future technology.
Re:A perpetual motion car? (Score:5, Informative)
motion has not been and never will be _PROVEN_
impossible. That's not how science works. You
cannot prove a negative. The most you can say is
that we have yet to devise an experiment which
would violate energy conservation law. Scientists
never prove anything, they only disprove things,
and concrete things at that (it is easy to show
that this or that device conserves energy but it
is impossible to generalize that without some
sort of qualifiers).
Re:A perpetual motion car? (Score:2)
motion has not been and never will be _PROVEN_
impossible. That's not how science works.
True, but hey - Albert Einstien is quoted as saying that if he believes the least likely physical "law" to be overturned is the second law of thermodynamics.
Also, if a perpetual motion machine was possible (producing more energy than was put in to actually create real work rather than just perfecting a zero friction device), then the whole universe would blow up in a puff
Re:A perpetual motion car? (Score:5, Informative)
Wrong. A perpetual motion machine is impossible only if the laws of thermodynamics are correct. Unfortunately the laws of thermodynamics are based on human observation and humans make mistakes.
Of course, there's plenty of supporting evidence for the current laws. So it's not very likely that they're wrong and subsequently it's not very likely that perpetual motion machines exist, but a good scientist never says never.
A more correct statement would have been "a perpetual motion machine would destroy the laws of thermodynamics, cast doubt on thousands of experiments, and undermine physics as we know it, though that doesn't mean it's impossible".
PS: I took tertiary level thermodynamics courses.
Re:A perpetual motion cat? (Score:3, Funny)
Brings to mind another perpetual motion idea: As buttered toast always lands butter side down, and a cat always lands on it's feet..if you strap a piece of buttered toast to a cat's back and drop it, the cat will continue to rotate in mid-air in perpetuity.
Arg... (Score:5, Insightful)
But how much did you PAY the politicians to vote the way you want them to. Yea... I thought so...
Geeks just don't get it.
Re:Arg... (Score:2)
Re:Arg... (Score:2)
Re:Arg... (Score:4, Interesting)
EU : citizen elect politicians. Depending on that choice : politicians (usually left) favors national companies, ev. buy some shares,
US : citizen elects politicians. companies give money to politicians. then, honestly, what will they favor ?
Add to that the factor that you'll need (proportionaly) much more money to get elected in US
Btw, to correct a few details
- Airbus : As if boeing wasn't paying contributions to US politicians which accidently rose army's budgets ???
- VW had to pay a few hundred billions euro fines a few years ago due to some fraud charge with the EU
- Peugeot : it's a trademark law, not a patent. and it's based on international agreements. and this law (as the patent laws) do not favor specifically some companies over others.
And btw, if you really want to dig up that and makes your final statement worth it, look at how things are going in Switzerland vs western europe for those points.
Pay close attention to the names (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Pay close attention to the names (Score:2)
Maybe IBM (a US company) does not want European competitors to be able to patent new software ideas. When those European companies try to compete in the US, they will have to play by the US rules.. and face IBM's buttload of patents.
Re:Pay close attention to the names (Score:2)
You argument on their motive has no logical merit.
Re:Pay close attention to the names (Score:2)
However, IBM management have looked at the situation and basically come up with the following:
http://www.the-carrot-and-the-stick.com/ (Score:5, Funny)
You want a "Plan for Spam" or a "End to all ends"??? Here ya go. You take all these lowlife scum bandwidth hogging email clogging horrible pieces of rat shit they are. Take them into the streets and beat them until they are a soupy mess on the floor that can only be cleaned up with a hose.
AND TELEVISE IT, that way anyone else thinking about joining the industry can see the example of "what will happen to you" and find another way to make their dirty money. I say we throw telemarketers ans sex criminals in the same boat, all of them. Put um all together and just beat them with a small stick.
That's my plan for spam. If we can bomb the hell out of a country for no reason then goddammit america can beat spammers to a pulp as well.
So yeah, that's my plan.
Re:http://www.the-carrot-and-the-stick.com/ (Score:2)
Re:http://www.the-carrot-and-the-stick.com/ (Score:2)
The tape is for terrorist attacks?
Re:http://www.the-carrot-and-the-stick.com/ (Score:2, Funny)
Re:http://www.the-carrot-and-the-stick.com/ (Score:2)
Forgot Dennis Leary and Dennis Miller ...
Sorta draw from their influences and dig down deep into my soul and find the wonderfulness which is ... telling people exactly what they're thinking, but are too afraid to admit.
Yikes (Score:2)
Sounds like you could end up inadvertently careening way, way, farther back or forward in time than you ever wanted to go...
USB Mess (Score:2, Informative)
I admit I was upset to hear the news about the Pseudo USB 2.0, but looking at the logos that manufacturers are supposed to use, it looks like everything should make perfect sense.
Glad to see its been all straightened out.
Re:USB Mess (Score:2)
The Tilley story (Score:5, Informative)
For the rest of the site, uh, well, no comments. ;-)
Soundex? Holy crap! (Score:5, Interesting)
Name: Hughes
Soundex code: H220
Matches: haessig hages haggis haghighi hagos hajek hakes hasak hasas haschke hasegawa hasek hassick hassig haukaas hawkes haycock haycook heacock heacox hecox heikes heschke hescock heziak hickock hickok hickox higashi highshaw higuchi hikes hiscock hiscox hojczyk hojeij hokes hoosock hosack hosaka hoschek hoseck hosek hosick hossack hougas hoysock huges hugghis hughes hughs hugus husak husayko hykes housekeeper
Hawkes? Housekeeper? Hickox?
No wonder there's so many complaints!
It's good shit, really! (Score:2)
Re:Soundex? Holy crap! (Score:2)
I agree - this is a ridiculous idea. I can only imagine someone at the FAA or "Homeland Security" office having the brainstorm of "Hey - here's a way to find a bunch of similar names" and the clueless management (who desperately need to be seen to do *something*, no ma
Donate a dollar to Peng (Score:3, Informative)
If many of us just sent $1.00 to Peng's fund we could make a big difference and help fight the RIAA instead of just complaining about them.
I just sent a dollar. I realize it isn't much but I am unemployed.
Donate a dollar right here [arbornet.org].
Thanks,
Loomis
More Tilley Info (Score:2)
http://www.greaterthings.com/News/Tilley/fraud/ra i d/index.html
There is some sort of forum there, and people are going crazy about how Tilley's rights were violated when the government seized his stuff. Personally, I don't see that as seizure of property as much as it is seizure of evidence- the guy supposedly had cash lying around everywhere in common objects like coffee cans. Besides, how is the government supposed to test his devic
Re:More Tilley Info (Score:2)
http://www.greaterthings.com/News/Tilley/fraud/rai d/index.html
Re:More Tilley Info (Score:2, Informative)
Slashcode automatically inserts a space after a certain number of characters. This is to keep long URLs (and trolls) from messing up the layout. You get used to it and remove the space after copying the address. If you want to make things convenient for others you coul
Re:More Tilley Info (Score:2)
Compounds and trade secrets (Score:2)
cowboneal soundex (Score:3, Funny)
Electric Vechicles are Scary (Score:5, Interesting)
Just suppose for a moment that he stumbled on easy cold fusion, and then actually started to produce a product. Then release the details the day before the product ships. There is no time for FUD, and the economy could go into a tail spin. People doubting the value of cars, oil, etc. I'm all for free energy, but don't start a fire under a snow covered tree.
Soundex and drivers license numbers (Score:4, Interesting)
I now know that the coding (for males) is:
aaaa-bbbc-cddd
aaaa = soundex of last name
bbb = ?
cc = year of birth
ddd = (month of birth - 1) * 31 + day of birth
I seem to recall that ddd is altered for females.
Anyone have a decoding for bbb? I'm guessing that it's just a serial number to ensure unique IDs.
Re:Soundex and drivers license numbers (Score:3, Informative)
I couldn't get it to match my state license, but you might have better luck...
Not surprised hw companies don't like sw patents. (Score:2)
I'm not impressed by this list of harware companies companies that don;t support software patents. Of course they don't want software patents. Then they'll need to pay for the software to run on their hardware. They'd rather have no sw patents so they can copy the ideas of software designers and scre
Re:Not surprised hw companies don't like sw patent (Score:2)
Which is the way progress is achieved. (Score:3, Insightful)
But patenting ideas is just plain stupid. You should be able to patent physical things, but patenting software is akin to patenting mathematics, i.i plain stupid.
Software Patents (Score:2, Interesting)
wants to pass goes through "debate" during the summer, when all the blockbusters are coming on screen and entertainments are making their year profits.
The only way to know that your representatives are doing a good job is to control their work at all time. It's a matter of citizenship, even if it does mean droping your hollidays for that matter.
Mr. Tilley... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Mr. Tilley... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Mr. Tilley... (Score:4, Interesting)
Hmmm... energy can't be created. What did the Big Bang do, then?
Hmmm... systems tend towards maximum entropy, but over the medium term (like several billion years), it appears that there's a bias towards increasing complexity, actually.
I mean, the universe, not long after the Big Bang, was a pretty high-entropy environment. Then things like stars and galaxies started coming out of the mix. And then you can get self-replicating systems that tend towards complexity as well.
Heck, in any case, even if you can't get perpetual motion, there's nothing say you can't get "several million years" motion, is there? I'd settle for that.
Besides, you have to realise it's kooks who come up with whacky ideas and find ways to achieve them. The first step to achieving the impossible is to think that "hey, maybe it is possible after all".
(All that said, I think Tilley was a scam artist)
Re:Mr. Tilley... (Score:2, Interesting)
You see, we scientisits, unlike member of the USB consortium, don't base our conclusions on market surveys...
Here's a quick review scientific method in order of refutability:
Hypothesis
Theory
Law
I find you argument that 3 LAWS of theromodynamics are invalid becuase of the big bang laughable.
You do realize that what you saying boils down to "Th
Re:Mr. Tilley... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Mr. Tilley... (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, they don't. Laws are only ever approximations.
As our measurements improve we typically need to find new laws. For example, Newtonian physics was replaced by Einstein's physics purely because improvements in measurements started turning up things that didn't match the previous model. In other words,
Re:Mr. Tilley... (Score:2)
I disagree; it was low entropy. Entropy has been increasing ever since. Low entropy means the energy is concentrated in one place; high entropy means it is randomly distributed.
And then you can get self-replicating systems that tend towards complexity as well.
That's my definition of "living": any system which disobeys the second law of thermodynamics.
this what the EU dudes plan to do (Score:2, Interesting)
Delorian (Score:5, Funny)
double opt in? (Score:2)
At least the double opt in website was consistent with the write up: made no sense whatsoever. If I were a telemarketer, that would do very little to sway me either way.
My head spins too.
What's wrong, energy man? (Score:3, Funny)
Of course they had to haul off his vehicles. No intelligent person could expect them to be driven under their own power.
Good Exit Strategy For Tech Crackpots (Score:3, Funny)
If you're a tech crackpot claiming something impossible like PM, then getting raided by the Feds is the ideal exit strategy.
If done properly, you can create a cult of dreamers and conspiracy theorists who will claim the Feds stole and suppressed your technology.
Be sure to study the laws carefully before choosing this course. Choose something likely to net you less than a year in prison. Get a good lawyer. Chances are this is your first offense, so you should get off easy. However, be mindful of the judge who might try to "make an example out of you". Be cool while your case is pending. You don't want to get "Mitnicked".
Then when you get out you do the circuit of late night talk radio, alternative newspapers, self-published newsletters, websites, books, and even college campus talks. Unless you're really famous you won't be rolling in dough from this; but you can survive and within certain circles there will be lots of people happy to give you free meals.
Tilley hype - Flash animation (Score:3, Informative)
This guy only made $500K off his scheme, over more than a decade. This was a low-rent scam. Makes me wonder if he believed his own hype. There are easier ways to make $50K/year.
Usually perpetual motion scams just explode... (Score:4, Insightful)
Most of these schemes end with the Device mysteriously exploding on the big demo day just about the time the battery woulda run out. (The 'bad wheel bearing' thing on the race track demo seems to coincide with this pattern nicely. I recall one such demo where an onlooker got hurt or killed by the mandatory demo day explosion.
Anyway, it's interesting that he had more than one vehicle. If he was intending to demo them all at the same time, that would have seemed to preclude a plausible demo day explosion unless the whole fucking garage was supposed to blow...
It stands to reason that a genuine free energy invention would be a monumental world-changing discovery. Why tinker on a silly little gadget car in the garage, funded only by petty donations by smalltime individual investors? Think big! Nikola Tesla partnered with Westinghouse and demo'ed his monumental, world-changing Alternating Current system by harnessing the hydro power of the Niagara Falls, powering thousands of homes.
Only a fool throws a dollar after a black box.
Tesla had a system that actually worked, with both theories, engineering drawings and elaborate patent papers to back them up. At no point were Westinghouse and other corporate investors required to just believe his word when he claimed that his system worked. He let anyone visit his lab and play with his machines, none of which were black boxes.
Patents, obnoxious such as they are, provide adequate protection against asset hijacking, the 'big secret' can be out in the open and well known, and you can still be the one who makes all the money from it.
Notes on Tilley (Score:3, Informative)
the photos of the various parts and signage for his 'building power system' are here. [keelynet.com] I think it's the book 'Voodoo Science' that includes a chapter on it, also? (i think. Have to go home and check.) But this guy's a treat. I'm not surprised to find out about the heist. I AM alarmed that this guy has any credibility at all, but i guess there's always someone willing to believe...
Re:article incase you missed it. (Score:2)
Re:Moderation (Score:2, Offtopic)
"Now that's funny."
at plus 2. Immediately some moderator is modding down the entire thread to -1. The thing was funny. My reply was ontopic.
I don't know who the moderator is, but I hope he meets the "IF I EVER MEET YOU ILL BEAT YOUR ASS" guy. Where's he been anyway?
Re:Moderation (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Fun with Soundex (Score:5, Funny)
Re:They must have thought he was crazy.. (Score:5, Informative)
His little demonstration at the Nashville track last year...the car didn't even make it to theoretical distance available from just the plain car batteries. It had a "problem with the wheel bearing." It was going pretty slow before it stopped, too. Also they'd drive it, stop it to "check on it" and attach a voltmeter so the audience could see that the voltage wasn't going down. In fact, while they had the "voltmeter" terminals connected, the voltage was going up. Proof of an amazing breakthrough I say.
His "explanation" of the "physics" behind his invention is the same "battery-popper" tripe that "alternative energy" scamsters have been pushing all along. They all involve big capacitors periodically pulsing high voltage into the battery at a certain frequency, which taps into some hitherto unknown energy in the atomic forces. Or some such crap. And it works with cheap, available car batteries! Convenient, because then they can keep the car batteries in plain sight.
I'd rather buy a Sundance generator. At least those look kind of cool.
Re:Send just $1.00 to Peng (Score:2)
Can you please provide a link to where we can download a dollar too?
Re:Black box (Score:4, Funny)
That's what always cracked me up. What did his investors say after they saw his demonstration?
"Wow, your streaming video solution is amazing, but how do I adjust the tracking?"