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Patents

Judge Overrules Samsung Objection To Jury Instructional Video 232

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the sure-patenting-boxes-is-legal dept.
itwbennett (1594911) writes "U.S. District Judge Lucy H. Koh on Sunday overruled Samsung Electronics' objections to showing jurors a recent instructional video on how patents work, ahead of a trial in a patent dispute between Apple and Samsung. The new video, called 'The Patent Process: An Overview for Jurors,' was developed by the Federal Judicial Center to provide jurors with an introduction to the patent system. Samsung's objection is to several scenes in which Apple products are depicted and used (and, by extension, seen as patentable and innovative)."
Transportation

If Ridesharing Is Banned, What About Ride-Trading? 353

Posted by samzenpus from the hop-on dept.
Bennett Haselton writes "The city of Seattle just imposed new limits on commercial app-based ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft, effectively protecting taxi companies from low-cost competition in the form of smartphone apps. If other cities follow suit, could a company help ridesharers circumvent the restrictions by creating a ride-trading app, allowing drivers to earn 'miles' by driving passengers, and redeem those miles later to get rides for themselves?" Continue reading below to see what Bennett has to say.

Comment Re:have to admit (Score 1) 164

by uvajed_ekil (#46588437) Attached to: Peter Molyneux: Working For Microsoft Is Like Taking Antidepressants
Similarly, some people avoid seat belts because they heard a story about somebody getting their guts squashed by one. Never mind that tossed into the roof, the windshield, the steering wheel, the dashboard, or being ejected from a vehicle is almost always worse than being strapped to a seat. Yeah, SSRIs don't work for some people, but they work wonders for many. They're not supposed to make you "happy" - just get you out of bed or off the couch and able to get on with your life, and let you end the hopelessness. Of course the state of mental health care in the US is shameful, so many people forego help they need, or simply can't pay for it.

Comment Re:Thanks for peptuating (Score 2) 164

by uvajed_ekil (#46588271) Attached to: Peter Molyneux: Working For Microsoft Is Like Taking Antidepressants
Thank you! Antidepressants frequently save the lives of depressed people, and are NOT like anesthetics.

Sure, some people have bad reactions, but they can be invaluable. Some people have been killed by seat belts but you should consider the net effect, not the aberration. What I don't get is the notion that antidepressants can actual cause suicides. Depressed and mentally ill people kill themselves without antidepressants pretty often, so it seems like they just don't work for some people, not like they cause suicide attempts. And of course there are multiple classes of antidepressants, which can not just be lumped together.
Microsoft

Peter Molyneux: Working For Microsoft Is Like Taking Antidepressants 164

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the supertanker-sinks-more-slowly dept.
SmartAboutThings (1951032) writes "Peter Molyneux is one of the most famous personalities in the history of gaming, especially recognized for having created God games Dungeon Keeper, Populous, Black & White, but also the Fable series. After creating the Fable series, Molyneux announced in March 2012 that he will be leaving Lionhead and Microsoft to start another company – 22Cans. During a recent interview, the former Microsoft employee has shared some interesting details regarding the time when he was working over at Redmond. Here's the excerpt from his interview: 'I left Microsoft because I think when you have the ability to be a creative person, you have to take that seriously, and you have to push yourself. And pushing yourself is a lot easier to do if you're in a life raft that has a big hole in the side, and that's what I think indie development is. You're paddling desperately to get where you want to go to, but you're also bailing out. Whereas if you're in a big supertanker of safety, which Microsoft was, then that safety is like an anesthetic. It's like taking antidepressants. The world just feels too comfortable.'"
Businesses

Tesla's Fight With Car Dealers Could Help Decide the Next Presidential Election 282

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the single-issue-electorate dept.
Hugh Pickens DOT Com (2995471) writes "Marcus Wohlsen writes that the most recent ban against Tesla selling cars directly from the company instead of through third-party dealers was enacted in New Jersey with the support of Gov. Chris Christie, a possible contender for the GOP nomination. That prompted Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a Christie rival, to heartily defend Tesla's direct sales model. 'Customers should be allowed to buy products that fit their need,' says Rubio, 'especially a product that we know is safe and has consumer confidence beneath it.' Perhaps even more surprising is the love shown by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the once and possibly future presidential hopeful whose oil-rich state bars employees in Tesla's two showrooms from even telling potential customers how much the Model S costs. 'I think it's time for Texans to have an open conversation about this,' says Perry, 'the pros and the cons. I'm gonna think the pros of allowing this to happen outweigh the cons.' The sudden GOP embrace of an electric car company once reviled as a symbol of Northern California enivro-weenies might seem ironic says Wohlsen, but the real irony is that conservative politicians ever opposed Tesla at all.

'The widespread franchise rules giving car dealers virtual monopolies in their territories epitomize the government-controlled marketplace Republicans purportedly despise,' writes Wohlsen adding that possible presidential contenders realize there may be political capital to be gained in supporting Tesla. But the real winner is Tesla. If the company can manage to associate its brand with all the positive qualities Rubio and Perry hope rub off on them, few politicians will want to take the risk to stand against them. Mitt Romney called Tesla Motors a 'loser' company during his 2012 run for president. In 2016 running against Tesla might seem about as smart as running against Apple."
Graphics

XWayland Aiming For Glamor Support, Merge Next X.Org Release 83

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the almost-there dept.
An anonymous reader writes that XWayland is nearly ready to be merged into the main X.org tree "X.Org Server 1.16 this summer should support XWayland, the means of allowing X11 applications to run atop Wayland-based compositors without the need for any application/game changes. With the revised design, XWayland has generic 2D acceleration over OpenGL and a cleaner design compared to earlier revisions. With GNOME 3.12 having better Wayland support and Plasma Next around the corner, it looks like 2014 could be the year of Wayland's take-off!" The patch series emails have more details. The big news here is that XWayland is ditching its old DDX model for one based on Glamor. eliminating the need for any X.org drivers to be written to support X11 on Wayland: "Finally, the last patch adds the Xwayland DDX. Initially Xwayland was an Xorg module that exposed an API for Xorg video drivers to hook into so that we could reuse the native 2D acceleration. Now that glamor is credible and still improving, a much better approach is to make Xwayland its own DDX and use glamor for acceleration. A lot of the code in the Xorg approach was busy preventing Xorg being Xorg, eg, preventing VT access, preventing input driver loading, preventing drivers doing modesetting. The new DDX in contrast is straight-forward, clean code, only 2500 lines of code and neatly self-contained." It does not yet have direct rendering or any acceleration, but those patches should come soon.
Ubuntu

Canonical's Troubles With the Free Software Community 155

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the stone-the-popular-kid dept.
puddingebola (2036796) writes "Bruce Byfield looks back at the soured relationships between Canonical and the free software community. Partly analysis, partly a review of past conflicts, the writer touches on Mir and Wayland, and what he sees as Canonical's attempts to take over projects. From the article, 'However, despite these other concerns, probably the most important single reason for the reservations about Ubuntu is its frequent attempts to assume the leadership of free software — a position that no one has ever filled, and that no one particularly wants to see filled. In its first few years, Ubuntu's influence was mostly by example. However, by 2008, Shuttleworth was promoting the idea that major projects should coordinate their release schedules. That idea was received without enthusiasm. However, it is worth noting that some of those who opposed it, like Aaron Seigo, have re-emerged as critics of Mir — another indication that personal differences are as important as the issues under discussion.'"

Comment Backwards (Score 1) 466

Dear AT&T, Cox, Verizon, etc. You seem to be missing the point. It is YOUR CUSTOMERS who want net neutrality. I don't think I am alone in saying I want to be able to use the bandwidth you sell me, and to be able to use it as I please. And I'm not talking about running a server or doing anything illegal. You are so, so lucky that there is no viable competition to your local duopolies. I think it is time that we (the voting tax payers that make your companies possible) work on that. I don't think you will be happy with the result once we get angry enough as a group to take action. If you compare the state of home and business internet service in the US to countries like South Korea or Latvia, to name only two, our current system is clearly not working, so it is time to try something else. Go ahead, keep gouging us while you can, I guess, 'cause ya ain't gonna like what is further down the road.

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