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Comment Re:13 Months? (Score 1) 725

by gti_guy (#38510524) Attached to: Christmas Always On Sunday? Researchers Propose New Calendar
It *was* better. The ancient Nordic & Celtic "Earth Goddess" (aka "pagan" cultures used this "Lunar Month Calendar" -- al 13 months. When these cultures were conquered, the number 13 was demonized as unlucky since it coincided with womens natural cycle. Therefore the calendar was changed to lop off a month and days were awkwardly shifted around to a 12 month calendar. So rather tha go back to a natural solution, we want to perpetuate a 12 month calendar???

Comment No troll.... I'm dead serious (Score 1) 131

by gti_guy (#36266670) Attached to: NYSE Sends Cease and Desist Letter To News Organization
Just because it's the NYSE doing this, it doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing. It's a big, bad entity.
But what if the entity were an individual? An individual trying to assert their right regarding publication of their trademarked image (i.e., a picture of their face)?
Would you look at the argument any differently?

Comment Good for them!! (Score 0) 131

by gti_guy (#36265384) Attached to: NYSE Sends Cease and Desist Letter To News Organization
Whaaa! I can't use a photograph in my story. Whaaa! So what??? Does that stop you from publishing a story about the stock exchange? What's wrong with taking control on how your image is used? I applaud them and if they are successful, I might go about trademarking my image. Wouldn't it be nice to have the law on YOUR side when people post photos of you without your okay?

Comment Breathe Deep... (Score 5, Informative) 640

by gti_guy (#34135640) Attached to: Ubuntu Dumps X For Unity On Wayland
Calm down people. This isn't any different than Mac OS X using Cocoa for the desktop display and still having X11 available to run as another app. And yes (if you've never tried it), X tunneled through ssh works just fine on Mac OS X. It will be the same thing with the next release of Ubuntu. The sky is NOT falling.

Comment Re:Duh (Score 1) 239

by gti_guy (#33524778) Attached to: Robots Taught to Deceive
Just because something *can* be done doesn't mean it *should* be done. We rely on machines and their metrics because "machines don't lie". Intellectual curiosity tips the apple cart once again. Bra-vo! How long before these machines get stricken with malware that turns them into decep-ti-bots???
Image

Fundraiser For "White Male" Illness Dropped Screenshot-sm 241

Posted by samzenpus from the stop-the-penis-party dept.
gubachwa writes "The student association at Carleton University in Canada recently voted that Cystic Fibrosis was a charity unworthy of receiving money raised during orientation week fund-raising activities. The reason behind the decision, as given in the motion on which the student association voted, is that Cystic Fibrosis 'has been recently revealed to only affect white people, and primarily men.'" I'm speechless.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft opens personal health record site (cnn.com)

Submitted by
sunday-sunnyday
sunday-sunnyday writes: "Microsoft launches HealthVault.com site People can manage their personal health and medical information online Privacy advocates concerned patients' confidential records will not be protected Many people still consider private medical information too sensitive to put online"
Patents

Submission + - Competitive Patent Intelligence hints at Gphone (informationweek.com)

Submitted by
Balwant Rawat
Balwant Rawat writes: "Ever wondered what Google has been up to lately? How about Yahoo!, Microsoft, IBM or other high tech companies? Many professionals, companies and organizations frequently have the same questions about their key competitors. However, since this information is proprietary and highly confidential, there is almost no likelihood of getting these answers directly from the companies.

Since these leading edge companies are constantly innovating and creating barriers for their competitors, they are also continuously filing patent applications and getting many — if not most — of these granted. Hence, searching through databases, such as those provided by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which contain recently published patent applications and granted patents, is one way of gaining an insight into the strategic direction of these companies.
Companies try to keep their strategies secret for as long as possible. Especially in the technology sector, where changes and innovations take place very fast, preventing competitors from knowing about their future products and services can be critical.

Evalueserve, a global research and analytics firm, recently used a combination of IP search techniques and found, for example, that as much as 88 percent of Google's US patent portfolio may not be uncovered by simply searching traditional databases. In addition, Evalueserve has discovered several interesting patent applications, which provide hints that Google may be in the process of developing its own Google Phone. Finally, the patent applications Evalueserve has tracked also suggest that Google might be targeting the TV and video games markets and may be developing a device that can facilitate supermarket shopping with mobile phones.

Evalueserve research shows that traditional search techniques that only use databases such as the USPTO database, which comprises granted patents and published applications, for analysing a company's patent portfolio may not be sufficient.

Evalueserve suggests the following complementary techniques:
  One technique is searching through patent-assignment databases, some of which
are freely available while others are provided by Intellectual Property (IP) database vendors as licenses. For example, a complementary search within the USPTO
patent-assignment database can yield some of the missing ownership information,
especially if the granted patents and published applications were filed by one entity and later acquired by another.

  Another technique is checking accuracy by using complementary databases, e.g.,
by correlating Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) filing information with USPTO filing
information.

  Yet another technique is performing inventor-based searches along with assignee based searches which often yield more meaningful results. This technique really
works well because there are many published applications for which ownership
information may not have been recorded earlier.

By using a combination of the techniques mentioned above, firms such as Evalueserve can provide clients with a more holistic view of a company's IP activities and innovation efforts. This information is more valuable than ever in today's fast-paced world of innovation.

About Evalueserve: Evalueserve provides custom research and analytics services to over 1000 corporations and other organizations in the following five areas: Intellectual Property, Market Research, Business Research, Financial/Investment Research, Data Analytics and Modelling. Executives from IBM and McKinsey founded Evalueserve in December 2000, and it has completed over 13,000 projects till date for its globally dispersed client base. Approximately one thousand of these research engagements have focused on emerging markets including India, China, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Evalueserve currently has over 2,100 professionals in the following four research and analytics' centres: Delhi-Gurgaon, India; Shanghai, China; Santiago-Valparaiso, Chile; and New York, USA.

Additionally, a team of 50 client engagement managers is located in all major technology,business, and financial centres globally — from Silicon Valley to Sydney. For more details, please visit http://www.evalueserve.com./"

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