ericjones12398 - Slashdot User

Submission + - "Close Enough is Close Enough" DARPA exploring analog microprocessors (patexia.com)

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ericjones12398

on Saturday September 22, 2012 @11:47AM

ericjones12398 writes: "For a long time, precision has been a key standard in microprocessor design. But DARPA is starting to rethink that with analog microprocessors, which are less precise, but also require less energy. Maybe close enough really is close enough."

Submission + - Lenovo closes in as market share leader (patexia.com)

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ericjones12398

on Wednesday September 19, 2012 @01:30PM

ericjones12398 writes: "Lenovo’s 2011 annual report shows strong numbers and substantial growth as the Chinese company eyes international market share. As the world’s second largest and fastest growing PC company (14.9% market share), Lenovo looks poised to accumulate economies of scale in the global consumer electronics segments they deem ‘PC+’, or more specifically PCs, tablets, smartphones, and TVs. A number of recent acquisitions demonstrate that continued growth will come in the form of branching outside of their dominance in China, and they have the cash flow and strategy in place to do so."

Submission + - Innovation is a dead horse at Apple (patexia.com)

Submitted by ericjones12398 on Tuesday September 18, 2012 @01:38PM

ericjones12398 writes: The iPhone 5 debuted this week, causing underwhelmed responses to the latest toy from Cupertino. As the first big iPhone release since the death of Steve Jobs, Apple was under a lot of pressure to wow their audience and the general public. The result? An iPhone 4S with a slightly larger screen, mostly, but also a little more juice under the hood, lighter weight and a longer battery life. The Internet quickly took to calling the device "the iPhone 4SS."

Submission + - Super-stretchy Harvard hydrogels perfect for robust biological applications. (patexia.com)

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ericjones12398

on Friday September 14, 2012 @03:18PM

ericjones12398 writes: "A new kind of gel from researchers at Harvard can be stretched up to twenty-one times its original length without breaking. The gel is a composite of two individual gel materials each of which alone is no stronger than Jell-O. When combined they synergize wonderfully to make a tough, elastic-like gel that holds promise as replacement cartilage."

Submission + - Unused wireless spectrum previously used for analog TV lets wifi extend its reac (patexia.com)

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ericjones12398

on Thursday September 13, 2012 @02:10PM

ericjones12398 writes: "Wireless spectrum is at a premium amongst smartphone carriers looking to expand data offerings. Still, the FCC is reserving one portion of the low-frequency spectrum for a new type of wireless data transfer that promises to bring wifi to rural areas."

Submission + - Obama's Justice Department seeks expansion of surveillance (patexia.com)

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ericjones12398

on Wednesday September 12, 2012 @02:29PM

ericjones12398 writes: "The Obama administration was elected on a promise of "hope and change." One area where the Obama administration has not differed much from its predecessor is on the subject of surveillance. Lawyers for the administration argued Tuesday that the American public has no expectation of privacy when it comes to mobile-phone location data."

Submission + - Nokia gambles with a Lumina release in the week before the new iPhone (patexia.com)

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ericjones12398

on Monday September 10, 2012 @02:37PM

ericjones12398 writes: "Smartphones aren’t for everyone, and Nokia’s "dumbphone" sales are steady. Selling off about a million a day is no small revenue stream, even if they aren’t turning Apple-esque margins. The emerging markets around the world will continue to demand economic phones for the near future, barring technological breakthroughs. This should contribute significantly to keeping Nokia afloat.
The second strength is their patent portfolio. For two reasons. The first is that Nokia IP alone has a monetary value in the billions, though precision in assessing exactly how much is guesswork at best. This translates well into the second strength Nokia holds, and that is an annual licensing revenue hovering around $600 million. This is a critical component in offsetting some struggling financials following the 2008 meltdown."

Submission + - Next year the USPTO will adopt a "first-to-file" patent system (patexia.com)

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ericjones12398

on Wednesday September 05, 2012 @02:54PM

ericjones12398 writes: "The US currently operates on a "first to invent" patent system. The first person to demonstrate inventorship is the one who has priority. In a "first to file" system, the first entity to file for a patent application has priority, regardless of prior publications detailing an invention. America will switch to the first to file system next year, and the consequences on innovation will be noticeable"

Submission + - Apple beats down walls leading to Google (patexia.com)

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ericjones12398

on Tuesday September 04, 2012 @02:48PM

ericjones12398 writes: "Someone following the patent wars closely might say that with the recent Apple win over Samsung, things are coming to a head. This victory wasn't maonetarily much of a win for Apple, the largest tech company in the world, but could mark a significant first step in Apple's litigious march towards Google and the Android OS."

Submission + - GOP opposes net neutrality, internet piracy (patexia.com)

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ericjones12398

on Saturday September 01, 2012 @06:16PM

ericjones12398 writes: "While GOP candidates won't stop publicly disavowing it, all eyes are on the Republican platform. The convention, which closed Thursday, inserted a number of controversial planks regarding abortion, English-only laws and a committee to examine the possibility of returning to the gold standard. Receiving considerably less attention was the downright Orwellian naming of the "Internet freedom plank," which opposes net neutrality."

Submission + - Moffitt Cancer Center researchers investigate a potential new tumor suppressor (patexia.com)

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ericjones12398

on Friday August 31, 2012 @08:45AM

ericjones12398 writes: "A tumor suppressor gene acts as a molecular guardian against cancer by protecting the cell from various forms of damage. "p53" is a tumor-supressing protein that functions as an anti-cancer gene in several ways. Early this week researchers reported the identification of a transcription factor that regulates p53, an important step towards better cancer treatments."

Submission + - Nanocrystalline Algorithm Means More Alloys to Come (patexia.com)

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ericjones12398

on Thursday August 30, 2012 @06:06AM

ericjones12398 writes: "One graduate student, Tongjai Chookajorn, put these projections to the test using tungsten. Through synthesizing tungsten and titanium, Chookajorn demonstrated that Murdoch’s equation can be executed successfully. This particular alloy held up to an enormous amount of heat (about 1,100 degrees Celsius) over the course of 7 days. The application of tungsten and titanium in particular would be useful in militaristic applications, but what makes this discover so interesting is what other combinations of alloys might be quickly discovered and produced as a result of the effectiveness of the algorithm. Some speculation as to which companies might capture the most value if specific alloys are found are likely semiconductor companies (microprocessors in particular) and military equipment developers."

Submission + - Do robot automation help or hurt the job prospects of Americans? (patexia.com)

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ericjones12398

on Wednesday August 29, 2012 @03:52AM

ericjones12398 writes: "If every robot replaces ten jobs and creates only two, it seems obvious that increasing automation will mean fewer jobs. But this may not be the case. Rory Crump argues that the competitive advantage offered by robot manufacturing will allow US companies to grow enough to counteract these initial job cuts."

Submission + - Broadband divide presents serious issues of equality, infrastructure (patexia.com)

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ericjones12398

on Tuesday August 28, 2012 @09:04AM

ericjones12398 writes: "Every year the FCC reports on its progress towards the goal of internet access for all by 2020. The latest report indicates that progress is slow, hindered by resistance to adoption and infrastructure costs. Getting there may mean a re-evaluation of what technologies are invested in."

Submission + - Voice Control Patent Should be Buried in Potter's Field (patexia.com)

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ericjones12398

on Monday August 27, 2012 @01:57PM

ericjones12398 writes: "In 2004, research and design company SRI International filed for a patent on "Accessing network-based electronic information through scripted online interfaces using spoken input", citing the '569 patent. Three years later, SRI spun off this development as a separate consumer focused company called Siri, which in another three years was acquired by Apple. We all know the rest; Siri became the high-profile centerpiece of the iPhone 4S, crystallizing the voice trend among mobile device companies.
SRI's citation may be a critical element in Potter's case, in that it's virtually the only evidence that the '569 patent played any role whatsoever in the long quest for the holy grail of voice-integrated computing."

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