Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - New study suggests patent trolls really are killing startups (arstechnica.com) 1

Submitted by mpicpp
mpicpp writes: Heavy patent litigation scared off about $22 billion in VC funding over 5 years.

Patent reform advocates have long argued that "patent trolls"—companies that do nothing but sue over patents—are harmful to innovation, not just a plague on big companies. A new study attempted to find out if there's any real data behind that accusation or if it's just a few sad anecdotes.

Turns out there is a very real, and very negative, correlation between patent troll lawsuits and the venture capital funding that startups rely on. A just-released study [PDF] by Catherine Tucker, a professor of marketing at MIT's Sloan School of Business, finds that over the last five years, VC investment "would have likely been $21.772 billion higher... but for litigation brought by frequent litigators."

The study defines "frequent litigators" as companies that file 20 or more patent lawsuits, which limits the definition to true-blue "patent trolls," or Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs), the term used by the paper. The study covers the period from 1995 to 2012.

Tucker's paper estimates a 95 percent confidence interval for the amount of lost investment to be between $8.1 billion and $41.8 billion. Those numbers are relative to a baseline of just under $131 billion of investment that actually occurred during that five-year period time.

Comment Re:Let me get this straight (Score 2, Informative) 387

by polar red (#47209909) Attached to: Geothermal Heat Contributing To West Antarctic Ice Sheet Melting

AGW has a straightforward reasoning behind it : 1/ the greenhouse effect of CO2, which you can test for yourself: see youtube. if you have other results, warn the nobel price committee. 2/amount of CO2 released can be estimated as well, by calculating how much oil, coal has been burned the last centuries. this amount is far larger than any removal of forest cutting has been responsible for, and far greater than volcanoes.

Submission + - Can a solar-powered plane fly around the world in 25 days?

Submitted by stephendavion
stephendavion writes: The Solar Impulse 2 aircraft relies on solar energy to get around and its pilots want to take it on a trip around the world. Weighing over 2,260 kilos (5,000 pounds) and with a wingspan of more than 70 metres (240 feet), Solar Impulse 2 made its maiden flight on June 2, 2014. The aircraft flew for two hours and 17 minutes without complications at a speed of 55.6 km/h, and the test pilot was Markus Scherdel.

Now, following in the footsteps of Phineas Fogg in then iconic book Around the World in 80 Days, pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg plan to take Solar Impulse 2 for a trip around the globe beginning on March 2015.

Will they be able to pull it off? With 17,000 solar cells to power four electric motors and spin the propellers, the pilots say they can do it in 25 days and nights, or 500 hours of flying non-stop.

Submission + - Arnold Schwarzenegger praises Obama's big climate move (themukt.com)

Submitted by sfcrazy
sfcrazy writes: Arnold says, "I applaud President Obama for using every tool at his disposal and not waiting for Congress or a new international treaty. California and nine eastern states have used similar policies, including an effective cap-and-trade system, which can serve as a national model to help our country achieve the President’s goals."

Submission + - US Climate Report Says Global Warming Impact Already Severe

Submitted by Hugh Pickens DOT Com
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes: Darryl Fears reports in the Washington Post that according to the government’s newest national assessment of climate change, Americans are already feeling the effects of global warming. “For a long time we have perceived climate change as an issue that’s distant, affecting just polar bears or something that matters to our kids," says Katharine Hayhoe, a Texas Tech University professor and lead co-author of the changing climate chapter of the assessment. "This shows it’s not just in the future; it matters today. Many people are feeling the effects.” The assessment carves the nation into sections and examines the impacts: More sea-level rise, flooding, storm surge, precipitation and heat waves in the Northeast; frequent water shortages and hurricanes in the Southeast and Caribbean; more drought and wildfires in the Southwest. "Residents of some coastal cities see their streets flood more regularly during storms and high tides. Inland cities near large rivers also experience more flooding, especially in the Midwest and Northeast. Insurance rates are rising in some vulnerable locations, and insurance is no longer available in others. Hotter and drier weather and earlier snow melt mean that wildfires in the West start earlier in the spring, last later into the fall, and burn more acreage. In Arctic Alaska, the summer sea ice that once protected the coasts has receded, and autumn storms now cause more erosion, threatening many communities with relocation." The report concludes that over recent decades, climate science has advanced significantly and that increased scrutiny has led to increased certainty that we are now seeing impacts associated with human-induced climate change. "What is new over the last decade is that we know with increasing certainty that climate change is happening now. While scientists continue to refine projections of the future, observations unequivocally show that climate is changing and that the warming of the past 50 years is primarily due to human-induced emissions of heat-trapping gases. These emissions come mainly from burning coal, oil, and gas, with additional contributions from forest clearing and some agricultural practices."

Submission + - Why Don't People Understand The Chevy Volt? 1

Submitted by cartechboy
cartechboy writes: The Chevrolet Volt is a range-extended electric car that's been on the market for over three years now, and yet people still don't understand how it works. How is that even possible? Apparently Volt owners hear people think it runs out of charge and dies after 3 to 40 miles leaving you stranded, and that you have to replace the battery every three or four years. Even worse, some people seem to think recharging the battery costs about the same as filling a tank of gas and that you do it every night. The best one? People think President Barack Obama forced GM to build the Volt. These all seem a bit absurd, which leads to the question of why? Why do people not understand the Volt? What's so hard about the concept? Has Chevrolet done a poor job of marketing and explaining the Volt? Probably. But can all the blame really be placed on Chevrolet, or are consumers just really that dense?

Comment Re:False dilemma (Score 4, Informative) 504

by polar red (#46813071) Attached to: Oklahoma Moves To Discourage Solar and Wind Power

In fact it has to grow faster than the rate of inflation or I will be losing money.

BS. the normal, supposed way of gaining money is the dividident, which is being paid to shareholders as a yearly return on their invested money. But currently, people want more and more and more money from their investment, and a way to do that is artificially boosting the price of a share, by hollowing out a company.

Slashdot Top Deals

He has not acquired a fortune; the fortune has acquired him. -- Bion

Close