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Patents

IBM Wants Patent On Finding Areas Lacking Patents 151

Posted by CmdrTaco from the all-for-me-none-for-you dept.
theodp writes "It sounds like a goof — especially coming from a company that pledged to raise the bar on patent quality — but the USPTO last week disclosed that IBM is seeking a patent for Methodologies and Analytics Tools for Identifying White Space Opportunities in a Given Industry, which Big Blue explains allows one 'to maximize the value of its IP by investigating and identifying areas of relevant patent 'white space' in an industry, where white space is a term generally used to designate one or more technical fields in which little or no IP may exist,' and filling those voids with the creation of additional IP."
Enlightenment

Submission + - Tech Puts America on the Map (eweek.com)

Submitted by
eweekhickins
eweekhickins writes: "Right out of National Treasure, the Library of Congress used hyperspectral imaging to look for hidden text behind the oldest known map to include America. Hyperspectral imaging combines both conventional imaging and spectroscopy, using optical elements, lenses, spatial filters and image sensors to capture 3D image cubes of the object. After years of highly restricted use by the government mapping agencies, hyperspectral imaging is emerging as a valuable tool for historical conservationists and preservationists."
Earth

Submission + - 3000 Swimming Robots Report No Global Warming 2

Submitted by NobleSavage
NobleSavage writes: As reported by NPR, 3000 Swimming Robots have been been busy plying the ocean collecting temperatures data and the results have scientists puzzled:

These diving instruments suggest that the oceans have not warmed up at all over the past four or five years. That could mean global warming has taken a breather. Or it could mean scientists aren't quite understanding what their robots are telling them. This is puzzling in part because here on the surface of the Earth, the years since 2003 have been some of the hottest on record. But Josh Willis at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory says the oceans are what really matter when it comes to global warming.
Security

Submission + - Hacking a pacemaker

Submitted by jonkman sean
jonkman sean writes: University researchers conducted research into how they can gain wireless access to pacemakers, hacking them. This story is covered in the New York Times as well as CNET. They will be presenting their findings at the "Attacks" session of the 2008 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy. Their previous work noted that over 250,000 implantable cardiac defibrillators are installed in patients each year. This subject [Wired] was first raised along with similar issues as a credible security risk in Gadi Evron's CCC Camp 2007 lecture "hacking the bionic man".
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft's definition for open source developers (microsoft.com)

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: According to Microsoft's Patent pledge for open source developers

To benefit from this promise, You must be a natural or legal person participating in the creation of software code for an open source project. An "open source project" is a software development project the resulting source code of which is freely distributed, modified, or copied pursuant to an open source license and is not commercially distributed by its participants. If You engage in the commercial distribution or importation of software derived from an open source project or if You make or use such software outside the scope of creating such software code, You do not benefit from this promise for such distribution or for these other activities.


"Non-commercial open source developers" would still have to worry. Rather than a license, the pledge is specified as a "promise" which may not really have legal significance .

Redistribution of the software also becomes discouraged:

This is a personal promise directly from Microsoft to You, and You acknowledge it is a condition of benefiting from it that no Microsoft rights are received from suppliers, distributors, or otherwise by any other person in connection with this promise.
Which means, you cannot pass the "benefits" of this promise to other people, effectively if someone else wants to use your source code to make his own version of the project, the patent pledge better still be 'active' else there is now way he will receive the protection.

This is a personal promise directly from Microsoft to You, and You acknowledge it is a condition of benefiting from it that no Microsoft rights are received from suppliers, distributors, or otherwise by any other person in connection with this promise
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft must pay $1.4bn to EU (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by saphena
saphena writes: The European Commission has fined US computer giant Microsoft for defying sanctions imposed on it for anti-competitive behaviour.

Microsoft must now pay 899 million euros ($1.4bn; £680.9m) after it failed to comply with a 2004 ruling that it took part in monopolistic practices.

The ruling said that Microsoft was guilty of not providing vital information to rival software makers.

EU regulators said the firm was the first to break an EU antitrust ruling.
Wireless Networking

"GiFi" — Short-Range, 5-Gbps Wireless For $10/Chip 190

Posted by kdawson from the can-you-say-giga dept.
mickq writes "The Age reports that Melbourne scientists have built and demonstrated tiny CMOS chips, 5 mm per side, that can transmit 5 Gbps over short distances — about 10 m. The chip features a tiny 1-mm antenna, a power amp that is only a few microns wide, and power consumption of only 2 W. 'GiFi' appears set to revolutionize short-distance data transmission, and transmits in the relatively uncrowded 60GHz range. Best of all, the chip is only about a year away from public release, and will only cost around US $9.20 to produce."
Social Networks

Facebook A Black Hole For Personal Info 242

Posted by Zonk from the halp-meee-halp-meee dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times has an article on how Facebook is so sticky it is nearly impossible to get loose. While the Web site offers users the option to deactivate their accounts, Facebook servers keep copies of the information in those accounts indefinitely. Many users who have contacted Facebook to request that their accounts be deleted have not succeeded in erasing their records from the network. 'It's like the Hotel California,' said Nipon Das, a user who tried unsuccessfully to delete his account. 'You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.' It took Mr. Das two months and several e-mail exchanges with Facebook's customer service representatives to erase most of his information from the site, which finally occurred after he sent an e-mail threatening legal action. But even after that, a reporter was able to find Mr. Das's empty profile on Facebook and successfully sent him an e-mail message through the network. Facebook's quiet archiving of information from deactivated accounts has increased concerns about the network's potential abuse of private data, especially in the wake of its fumbled Beacon advertising feature."
Intel

Submission + - EU regulator raids Intel offices (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
stevedcc
stevedcc writes: "BBC news is reporting that Intel's offices in Munich, Germany have been raided by European Union competition regulators. From the article:

"I can confirm that there has been a raid on our offices in Munich," Mr Mulloy said. "As is our normal practice, we are co-operating with authorities," he added. Regulators have the power to fine Intel up to 10% of annual turnover if they find it guilty of stifling competition.
"
Linux

Torvalds On Desktop Linux's Slow Uptake 450

Posted by kdawson from the dare-not-to-be-different dept.
javipas notes a Wired piece summarizing a two-part interview with Linus Torvalds that's up at linux-foundation.org (part 1, part 2). In the second part the creator of the Linux kernel gives his view on the limited success of Linux on the desktop. "I have never, ever cared about really anything but the Linux desktop... The desktop is also the thing where people get really upset if something changes, so it's really hard to enter the desktop market because people are used to whatever they used before, mostly Windows... better is worse if it's different."
Security

Fifth Cable Cut To Middle East 676

Posted by CmdrTaco from the now-wait-a-minute dept.
You may have noticed a number of stories recently about undersea cables getting cut around the world. Apparently the total is now up to 5, but the scariest part of this is that Iran is now offline. You can also read Schneier's comments on this coincidence. Update: 02/06 17:42 GMT by Z : As a commenter notes, though the country of Iran is obviously experiencing some networking difficulties, it is not offline.
NASA

Submission + - SPAM: NASA's Hubble telescope snaps gargantuan galaxy

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "NASA today said its Hubble Space Telescope has captured a new image what it calls a giant cosmic fossil. The fossil is actually a galaxy, dubbed NGC 1132 which is the aftermath of an enormous multi-galactic pile-up, where the carnage of collision after collision has built up a brilliant but fuzzy giant elliptical galaxy far outshining typical galaxies. NGC 1132, together with the small dwarf galaxies surrounding it, are dubbed a 'fossil group" as they are most likely the remains of a group of galaxies that merged together in the recent past, NASA said. [spam URL stripped]"
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