I wonder why this application was not initially examined in class 725, but was instead searched only in business methods class 705?

There are all different ways, cue tones, fades to black, commericals in mono rather than stereo, entitlement msgs. Those are just a few ways. The old replay tv's worked off of black frames for commercial skipping, which worked fine most of the time, but had issues with some scene changes.

Dish network owns most of replay's patent portfolio, but the above methods have been known for a long time.

in 2003 there was telecommuting (they started in 1997), it was just for trademark examiners and a small patent examiner pilot.

As of 2012 more than half of the examiners are either telecomutting 1 day a week or working from home full time (about 1/3rd or more of all examiners hotel). There are examiners working from home in hawaii, cali, texas, etc.

You need to be a gs-12 patent examiner with 2 years in the office to work form home fulltime. Telework might be less time, but im not sure.

The USPTO right now has tons of people knocking at their door trying to get in to become examiners.... Go read on various IP blogs and you will find all sorts of stories about it, though at the moment the office is giving preference to those with IP experience.

The pay is pretty good actually, people start at 50-80k with 1-2 years out of school (and are eligble for up to two promotions within their first year up to gs-11), and make 100k before bonuses and overtime within 3-5 years depending on what paygrade they were hired at. You get paid overtime (up to 50 hours every two weeks if authorized, up to a max of 155k a year) , flextime etc. Its pretty easy to go on several month long vacations each year if you want by simply working hours in advance. You get 13 days of vacation to start, 20 after 3 years and 26 after 15 years. The flexible work schedules enable you to basically set your own hours, you could work one week straight for 12 hours a day and not need to show up the next week. You could do the same thing the next biweek and work all your hours the secondweek, congrats now you have a 2 week vacation!

Plus after two years you can work from home anywhere in the continental 48 states. There is a new office opening in detroit in july and potentially other regional offices as well. So you can make a DC wage and live somewhere cheap if you really want.

If you had waited another year or two, you would have been eligible for the 10k a year for 4 year signing bonuses that they were offering.

I'm not going to give you a yes or no, because I don't have to. This is Slashdot, not a grand jury. And, because the answer is more nuanced.

Although Steve is gone, Apple is continuing everything that both Richard and I didn't like about their business. So, Steve's malign influence on people's computing continues unabated.

Like I said, I could have written it better than Richard, because Richard has problems with empathy. Had I written it, it would have been more graceful.

Steve also had no shortage of head problems. What an idiot for not retiring when he was first diagnosed - but I guess the public Steve Jobs was the only Steve Jobs there was, and he couldn't stop. Besides his foolish continuance of work, an eating disorder contributed to his demise. He did end up becoming the richest guy in the graveyard.

I was also offended by the New Yorker cover, and I think Richard was too.

Nobody should be surprised that there was much that is negative about Steve. I do oppose Apple's way of business, which is high on DRM and control of the user. Were I writing the same piece, I think I could have said it better than Richard.

I think the saddest part is that Dennis Ritchie, who really invented the stuff of our modern world, died around the same time and in comparison to Steve, was unlamented.

Of course I worked with Steve for 12 years, and despite his reputation he was always nice to me - even the time I put him on the spot about something in front of the entire Pixar staff.

So, I was offended by those comments, too.

I don't think adultery is directly illegal anywhere.

See Article 134 of the United States Military Code of Justice. Military officers are still tried and prosecuted for adultery - there have been cases in the last few years.

Whether you agree with him or not, I think that everyone can acknowledge that RMS has devoted his entire life to something that has done many people very much good.

So, (and this is not the first time) it never ceases to amaze me that the response of some contingent of the Slashdot audience is to dig through his blog and use the worst two comments you can find to smear dirt upon him. He's a libertarian, and yes, if you take Libertarainism to its logical extreme, you might indeed believe that anything that doesn't hurt someone else should be legal. Nobody is accusing him of performing these acts, only of believing that freedom really means all possible freedom.

Like RMS, I'm getting old, and travel a lot to do talks. If I fall ill or get hit by a car, I hope you turkeys never find out.

Look overseas, in europe and asia it is much more common. In china it is becoming less common, though much of the government political class has technical degrees.

In the USA, it seems that the second generation of CEOs in tech companies lack tech degrees, and then the downhill slide begins.