Do you really want to encourage them to overbook and bump more people?!

I guess it depends on who you believe, but there have been climate scientists that have said we are beyond the tipping point, that even if we reduce emissions warming will happen. Ok well if that's true, and if it is true that the warming will be a net harmful thing, then some kind of geo engineering would be necessary. You can't very well say "Reducing CO2 won't fix the problem, but let's do as much of that as we can and only do that and then cry about the problem!"

Not really... Contrary to popular wisdom (and Subby's attempt to call a 500 person company a small shoe store), patent trolls almost never go after individuals, because individuals don't have any money. Unlike copyright infringement with the $150k per work, there are no statutory damages in patents, and damages aren't even 100% of profits - they're limited to a reasonable royalty. If even a small patent lawsuit costs $200-500k, and you can expect to get 5% royalties, you aren't going to sue someone with less than $4M in annual revenue... And in reality, try closer to $1M to run a small patent lawsuit and royalties closer to 2-3%. So, now you're talking $50M in revenue to be a real target.

So, the real question is can you crowdfund $2-5 million to defend companies with tens of millions in annual revenue? It's like you're asking David to donate to protect Goliath.

And regardless of that, most people wouldn't refer to one as a "small shoe store".

Not really a small shoe store as Subby implied, but rather, a manufacturer and wholesaler which, according to LinkedIn, has between 200-500 employees. So, it's more like "patent troll sues multi-million dollar company", but that doesn't really get as much sympathy.

Absolutely. I should've been more clear that I was only objecting to the length part. :)

Here we go with the "help the middle class" again.

By definition the middle class can AFFORD things, the poor and lower class need help MORE than the middle-class does.

Yes the middle class is seeing it's status erode, but the poor and lower-class are having it WORSE.

Guaranteed they don't get longer. Patent term hasn't been extended since 1861*. Unlike copyright, where you've got big copyright owners with tons of money lobbying on one side vs. poor pirates on the other, and BMG and Sony have no interest in using each others' copyrighted works, in patents, everyone may want longer term for their own stuff, but shorter term for their competitors'. So, like if Microsoft started lobbying for longer patent term, Apple and Google would lobby against them. And vice versa.

*It did go from 17 years from issue to 20 years from filing, to comply with an international treaty, but it took about 3 years from filing to get issued, so there wasn't any real change. It's actually arguably shorter now, because there aren't submarine patents that can last decades.

These are good suggestions... Such that many of them are already implemented:
1) Before applications are allowed, they're judged by the Examiner and the Examiner's Supervisor (and, in the case of lower tier Examiners, also a Primary Examiner). It's a small jury, but still is one.
2) That's currently the rule - if something has been done before, it can't be patented. So, Apple's slide to unlock patent can't just claim "sliding to unlock" or "emulating a bathroom door-style sliding lock". Instead, it claims the algorithm that doesn't have a real-world analog.
3) This was actually the result of KSR v. Teleflex several years ago. The Supreme Court said that if you claim A+B+C and different prior art teaches A, B, and C separately, the combination is obvious by definition, unless there's some explicit reason why it's impossible to combine the art.
5) The USPTO does random quality checks before patents get issued - they randomly select some allowed applications and a panel of senior examiners in the relevant technology review the prosecution and examination history. If it's good, they get allowed. If it's bad, they get rejected and the original examiner gets sent for more training.

The real new suggestion is #4, but I don't think that would be constitutional, since you're making a rule that essentially seizes revenue from a company from a legal source, yet because of that source. That could present some 5th Amendment issues.

If the problem is that the Argentine currency is unstable... well then Bitcoin is the WRONG answer. It is exceedingly unstable, it would be unstable even for a stock, never mind a currency, it moves like a thinly traded penny stock. So trying to use it for some kind of stability is just about the dumbest thing you can do.

To me, this seems like more Bitvertisement by which ever of Slashdot's editors is heavily invested in them and trying to drum up interest.

http://msti.files.wordpress.co...

You just blew my mind. I was one of those thinking why twitter was valued so high, what kind of value is in "poop tweets" or "breakfast tweets", but it's also "I saw this ad, or a friend told me about this product" It's like instant market research.

It doesn't. It's probably midway between a PS3 and PS4. Its like my computer, the base configuration was no match for the PS3, upgraded it's better but no match for the PS4.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfr...

I first added in a GT220, and eventually upgraded the thing to a quad core 2.8GHz Phenom II, 4GB of RAM (it's the max it can handle) and a GT640 rev2.

Basically, it can play Fallout 3 slightly better than the PS3 (main difference is resolution/detail/lighting, VATS is slightly smoother on the PS3 and sound is slightly better on the PS3), but can't play War Thunder as well as the PS4. Now if I was to put a GT970 in it, then it would be somewhat more competitive with the PS4....but that alone is over $300....and I have a PS4. All my PC needs to do is handle my generic computing tasks, and Second Life. (which is pretty much the ONLY reason I have a GT640 in it). If it wasn't for SL, I could make do with less, in fact I probably wouldn't have upgraded the CPU, power supply and GPU.

Not only that, but you can buy a Playstation TV for what is it, $75 now? With that you get access to a bunch of PROVEN PSone, PSP and Vita games better than most of the F2P monetized crap on Android, access to Playstation Now AND you can stream from a PS4.

They were reasonably open to indies BEFORE Ouya shipped, though they are more so today.

Bob Pelloni's company was just HIM. Aint no way Nintendo was going to give him a license or dev kit when he was basically every stereotype of a "wanna be game developer with SERIOUS Aspergers" His disability was just that severe. Now you may feel a kinship with him because of that disability, but don't. Really...don't. He's no role model for you, and you should go out of your way to be NOTHING like him in any way.

That 100 day lock-in of his? It's NOT the sort of thing done by an adult with a job who wants to be taken seriously. Bob Pellonishould be living in a supervised group home....that's how disabled he is.

You'll notice it varies year to year, so if you check out the numbers for Texas in the bottom tabble ....they've had some VERY bad years. They're doing better than they did in the past, you're right on that.

And I do have an inherent bias. While my bias isn't quite as bad as this: http://fuckthesouth.com/

I do believe the south's been bringing the rest of the country down practically since the founding of the country. The north has had to drag the south along kicking and screaming into each new century, it's getting rather tiresome. And the South considers itself "better" and "more real american", and is full of braggadocio that the actual numbers don't support.

And now we got neo-conservative neo-confederate wannabes lobbying up north and saying how Illinois or Iowa needs to basically turn themselves into Alabama or Mississippi clones with "right-to-work" and other anti-union measures and defunding social services and infrastructure improvements to "compete"

So yes, I loathe the "Southernization" of American politics. The South is the last place one should take socio-economic cues from. And yes I loathed the nomination of Bill Clinton during the "We have to nominate a conservative southern democrat to compete with the South-centric Republicans" period.