So it was granted in 2000, and they sat on it for 12 years, let other people use their "invention" and only _then_ do they sue. Maybe patents should be like trademarks(?) - if you don't defend them, you lose them? It's not like they could argue they didn't know Google or AOL existed until now ...

The problem with that approach is "select the ones that really matter".

Matter to who? How do you know today what your child will hold dear in 20 years time? How do you know what will interest your grandchildren? You don't. Yes delete the blurry ones, and the weird ones of random people you don't know, but don't assume you know what "matters", because you don't have a clue.

My ten year old son takes a bzillion photos, and I've kept them all, most are pure crap IMO, but to him, when he looks through them, they mean something, they all remind him of a day, or a summer, or whatever. Who am I to decide what he wants to keep?

I'm in a similar situation and my plan is thus:

1. Buy two mid-range external hard drives, and store one at home, and one at work/somewhere a few miles from home
2. Store the "live" copy of the media on a single source (laptop/server/NAS/whatever)
3. Every weekend, backup the media from the source to the drive stored at home
4. On the first weekend of each month swap the location of the two external drives

This way you have three copies of the data, one live, one at most a week old, and one at most a month old. If the worst happens, you lose only one month of media. When one of the drives inevitably fails, replace it and do a backup/restore depending on which drive failed.

For extra protection, mirror the "live" source using RAID or similar, and buy a fire-proof safe to store the home-backup in

Thank-you Nethemas.

So this patent was applied for in April 2008 and has just been granted. Disregarding any prior-art that existed before that date, what happens if you or your company "re"-invented this technology between 2008 and now? Do you now have to pay a nice fee to Bill Gates and his friends? That seems a little unfair to me.

Bonus question: If it took 3 years to grant a patent from 2008, and more and more things are being patented as the years go by, how long will it take to grant a patent filed in 2011? Six years? Doesn't look like this arrangement is sustainable to me.

Uhhhh...no it doesn't. That would be one webserver running two web sites.

I do wonder ... would format shifting a DRM'd video to xvid be legal? I guess we'll have to wait for more detail of this law to find out

Good news everyone!

I've not had one since launch, but I've had it a while and I find the 3D effects are nice, not IMAX "wow", but I doubt you'll ever get that feeling on any screen smaller than a few meters. My experience is thus:

Monkey Balls - I'm glad I rented this, because I completed the single player in 90 minutes, the 3D really shines here, but you can't use the 3D if you use the motion controls, which is a shame.
Pilotwings Resort - Only played this for about 2 minutes in a shop, but the island looks awesome in 3D, whether this would wear off after time I don't know, but I can imagine it would.
Nintendogs + cats - This is the only game I own and it works well, the 3D doesn't change the game as such, but I always put it on when I can, it just makes it "nicer", it's hard to explain, but it works.
Face Raiders - This is another game that really has to be played in 2D, but I think makes great use of the under-marketed feature of the motion controls, and it's a fun little game!
AR Games - Now, this is where I think the 3DS shines. Forget the 3D, the AR stuff and motion controls are where the good games are going to be. I know it's been done before, but something like the PS Eye or Kinect is not nearly a immersive or "touchable" as the 3DS, they're like a mirror, where as this is a window and for me, it's just better. I want to see more games like this.

Street Pass (especially the Mii Quest) is a nice little touch, I find myself taking my 3DS out with me even when I know I wont get the chance to play on it just to see if I can catch someone else. I also love the 3D effect in all the menus, it's so subtle, but it looks so nice.

I think he is right, people don't understand the 3DS (and you can't really sell it using 2D adverts), but I can see them longer-term being able to sell it on the other features, which (as you can probably tell) I prefer over the 3D effect.

Don't get me wrong, I love playing 'dogs in 3D, but the other features are much better, and easier to market too.

No. Next question?

Unfortunately their parents are in their friends list and/or set up their accounts for them!

I looked that that, but the options are very limited (pretending to be someone else, abusive comments, etc.), and none of them are "under age user".

I could just block them I guess, but that doesn't really solve the real issue.

Surely if they're teenagers, they're 13 or over and allowed to use Facebook? :o)

The kids in question are 8-10 years old, their parents really should know better ... (my nine-year-old son is not allowed on, much to his annoyment!)

I know a few children who have accounts on Facebook (children of my friends), how do I report them so I can finally be rid of their immature comments on their parents' publications?

INAL, but this could be a GOOD thing. Now when someone gets sued by the RIAA they can point to this case and say that they should only be paying the RIAA $167 per track, as per this example. They could perhaps even argue to pay less as they had no business interest in the infringement, unlike in this instance.