The twins keep us on Centaurian time, standard thirty-seven hour day. Give it a few months. You'll get used to it... or you'll have a psychotic episode.

No.

Can you mention some names/brands?

Mouse=Input Device=Camera

InputDevice provides data (i2c sensor, temperature sensor, mouse, camera, mic, voltage meter) computer responds to said data stream. It's kinda what they do.

Hell, if you count the optic sensors as primitive cameras you can extend the analogy.

Like I said before, I have no problems on copyrighting code, or patenting a specific way to determine motion in a specific context... but the arbitrary gesture parts are where things get hinky, starting at Claim 11.

The guy who wrote motion was doing the same thing... he was just making it easier for other folks.

http://www.lavrsen.dk/foswiki/...

I didn't have time to read the whole page, but I know for certain that he was operational in 2009 as I was hoping that he would have time to work out the kinks to make things a bit more stable.

Patenting a gesture? Really?

And yes, I could unlock my linux laptop by sitting in front of it, according some the script detritus since 2009... Around the same time as the guy who wrote the motion utility was making life a lot easier.

So, arbitrary gesture (who gives an eff what the gesture is) unlocks machine... POOF! Magic. Or not.

I knew I should have deleted that bit as someone would pedant on it. (There's a freebie for the grammar nazis.)

It was more of an aside wondering how Apple thought this was going to fly after this idea had been beaten to death... for years. MIT has prior art, and the basic feature has been reproducible in linux since 2009.

Hopefully, I'm not falling for the bait.

I don't understand how you think this rates a patent.

Using well-known protocols and scripts already out there in the world I rigged my son's laptop to wake when he walks into the room. This constitutes a gesture in 3D space by the loosest criteria. If you read my post, I said that the patent on the sensing device and related firmware is fair, as that is what is determining the discrete actions in 3D space. However, patenting a response to an input which has very broad and very frequently used precedent is dubious at best.

As soon as the kinect came out dozens of people starting working on how to make the gesture capability do everything (even the impractical) via gesture. So the idea is neither obscure nor non-obvious. The code implementation will be unique and thus protected via copyright, and the gestures may be enforceable via trademark or copyright. This patent ranks right up there with "swipe-to-unlock" which again mimics a mouse movement in a different medium, making it stupidly obvious.

IF they did something super spiffy like authenticating the user via Fitbit, audible pacing of footsteps, and a gesture then the patent still would not be on the concept, it would be on the aggregation of the data in such a manner that it constitutes and unique representation of the user. Definitely patentable, but probably more profitable to keep under lock and key copyrighted. The only reason that Apple wants this patent is to "rent-seek" and inhibit competition on an obvious and ubiquitous feature while they can get away with it in court.

For reference:
http://www.sensiblevision.com/...
http://openkinect.org/wiki/Pro...
http://youtu.be/Krcguf4HO8Q MIT demo of gesture navigation in 3D space, sensors are different, concept... the same.
http://youtu.be/UtozGpoDhwk Same sort of interaction via camera.

Just so you know... ppl have been doing this for a while using webcams or motion sensors or mice...

The sensing device, which is not part of the patent provides the input, essentially the patent boils down to "Move the mouse in an axis 20cm and the computer will unlock."

There are a lot of patents on the software and hardware in the sensing device that determine object, distance, vector, size, and shape. Those patents are super spiffy awesome sauce. The software to interface with said sensing device should be copyrighted if the owner wishes that protection but the action of unlocking a computer with a sensor input, should not be patentable... because it is fracking obvious. We can power on/off, run scripts, do whatever we like in response to any number of sensors right now.

Yes. Two days in a 90 day project is a project manager monkeying around.

MS wants to make Google look bad. That's cool, mission accomplished to everyone that wanted a reason to hate Google.

To everyone that hates software/hardware companies dragging ass while we wait for them to fix something, YAY GOOGLE!

Cool. Buy a Google Nexus. The price point is outstanding, and I have been on the Nexus line since the first Nexus phone. The only thing that seems to kill them is my wife or I killing them with water.

The only reason I don't have a 6 is that my 5 refuses to die.

Perhaps you are looking for the wrong job.

I just hired 6 people just out of university, and a 7th that has been out of work for a year. Yes the pay isn't fantastic, and the travel sucks, but the training is good, the exposure is great, and the skillset is transferable.

You are unlikely to get the job you want the first time around. Take the job you can get and make it into the job you want. If that fails, you learned something about business, about people and about yourself while someone paid you.

According to the article you linked:

Dear Slashdot,

I apologize for my critical comments about Slashdot Editors. It appears that the ability to look up the correct spelling of a phrase is not required in modern publishing, e.g "right vs rite of passage", "corporal vs corporeal punishment". I am not a grammarian, nor an expert in child rearing, however this article makes me feel that I am a veritable genius.

TL:DR version:

Don't beat your kids, it can act as an interruptive stimulus but has little lasting effect. (No kidding?)

Don't use time out. It's almost as bad as beating, and can cause emotional dissociation from the parents without time-ins (UmKay...)

Time-ins are the secret magical ingredient that parents didn't know about before the specific identification of the mirror neuron. Therefore, all of those parents that used coaching to illustrate logic empathy and consequences, you knew not what you hath wrought. ( Yeah, whatever.)

Cynics Summary: Hey, being a good parent means treating your child like a human being, and trying to establish a rapport such that your requests make sense to the child. Coaching your child about consequences for actions (good and bad) are still the primary method of behavioral training. Punishments should be used sparingly to be of good affect.

I know my grammar probably sucks. I don't get paid, nor do I want people to click on my article to generate ad revenue. This is a public service announcement. ;P

The Strip's monorail could trivially have extended to the airport, but that plan was nixed in order to preserve the taxis' revenue stream. What a crock.

From a person who has spent most his life in networking, I just passed midline 2 yrs ago, most. Most network admins certainly don't take the time to consider the possibility until it starts to adversely affect the performance of a mission critical application. Senior Engineers, or Architect types who have been around 15 yrs plus often present the possibility, and may even build a demonstration, but if you have a management team that leans toward age bias it becomes an argument of credibility.