Re:Why now? (Score 1)

They do, at least partially.

I didn't read the patents themselves, but what tomhudson is saying about them. Now I did, at least in part - replacing 682 by 652...

682: a small application I had on my desktop (ctwm, I think) in 1994 to automatically raise a flag when mail arrives in my mailbox.

The patent is narrower, though, including the ability for the sender to specify the importance as well. I don't know if xbiff could do that. A whole bunch of RSS readers should be able to do it.

314: (this is about a device not necessarily connected to the computer) what about a cellphone stand beside your monitor, with a cellphone sitting in it, the cellphone lighting up when a text message arrives?

507: Slashdot. However, the patent seems to describe how to automate the process.

What the patents describe is something I can't see on the various websites - no idea how they got the idea the other companies might be infringing. If they do, it's hidden pretty deep, IMHO.

I could have misunderstood the patents, too - maybe the same happened to the examiner that granted them.

Ulli