It would be kind of ironic if it were a software-only patent, since one of the reasons H.264 is amazing is the hardware acceleration built into everything.

By the time the patents on one codec have run out, bandwidth constraints cause providers of non-free media to switch to a new freshly patented codec

That seems silly.

Bandwidth is one of those commodities (like processor cycles) that gets cheaper as time marches on. Bandwidth now is easily a couple of orders of magnitude higher than a decade ago (and moving towards gigabit), and that was several orders of magnitude higher than the decade before that.

Further, its a cost center now. If you could halve Netflix's bandwidth costs, you'd be quite wealthy.

The real limits are a) on the decoding side: How much processor power, RAM, etc. does it take to create an image, and b) the quality of the decompressed video, esp. against theoretical limits

There are two inches of white space on the left an text off the screen to the right. Whoever programmed that Scribd site was incompetent as hell.

. Unfortunately for Verison disabilities activists can be INCREDIBLY noisy when they are shat upon, so I doubt our deaf friends are going to tolerate this guff at all.

But how would they know?

Go deaf dudes!

Hear, hear! <-- What I actually wrote before I figured out it was ironic, which would be fine, and probably insensitive, which is not. But I will echo your sentiment: Go dead dudes!

Cisco heard your concerns and has responded: Development and maintenance will be overseen by a board from industry and the open source community.

The source is open: you can read it, you can compile it and compare binaries, etc.

In fact, it is BSD licensed.

But that only covers the copyright. The patent is not opened (nor owned by Cisco), and seem to prevent derivative works.

Cisco paid the fees to use the patent in this one application, and open-sourced it to the world. Seems like a great solution, security-wise, and clever legally.

And, it becomes just more BSD code when the patent expires in... what, a decade? Or if the new Supreme Court ruling is found to invalidate the patent.

I'm not sure what I would do to protect my device (I'm not smart enough to make a device, so it's a moot point)

But I do know that it would be a toss up between trying to keep Google from opening the box, and trying to develop a tamper-evident prove that they did. I have no idea if the lawsuit would be worth enough to justify the costs... and whether I could patent it anyway.

Why update the browser at all then?

So they gave analytics teams an easier way to send info, so they don't have to rely on really iffy hacks that often cause all sorts of stability and performance issues?

You mean like cookies? Why are cookies not the appropriate solution to a standardized way to track users if they choose to allow themselves to be tracked.

if you had a good solution to Canvas tracking then why didn't you tell them?

Sure. Disable readback from the Canvas. Done.

If FireFox took a stand against stupid bullshit that costs more than it benefits, they could kill it. They're big enough to do so.

One somewhat recent example:

http://metronews.ca/news/ottaw...

There are some people who feel that you have a right to speak on an issue only if they agree with what you are saying and will attempt to silence your speech if they do not.

That is why when you play online shooters, which attract many immature males, "faggot" is the default insult. They are insecure about their sexuality, as most young men are, and thus being called gay is one of the more hurtful things to them. they externalize that, of course, and thus that is what they use by default against others. However if they find something that works better, they'll go after that. Race, age, nationality, etc, etc.

They are assholes, sociopaths sometimes, they want to hurt others and they choose whatever they think is the most effective way to do it.

For that matter humans in general do it, women included. Bill Burr ha some hilarious bits, based in truth as the best comedy is, about women steering a losing argument towards personal attacks against their man. Saying he has a little dick, is a momma's boy, that kind of thing.

Well, that really happens. It isn't because women are some horrible creatures, but rather because they are using the insults they have learned will hurt the worst, when they get mad and decide to turn to insults. It's what people do when they lash out.

The difference between a normal person and a troll/asshole/ITG/sociopath and so on online is that most people do it only when they are angry, when they are lashing out at another person. These asshats do it for fun, just to get a rise out of people, and so on.

It is not something to be celebrated, or even tolerated (in any community I moderate trolling is a fast way to the banhammer) but trying to act like it is a problem limited to or directed at women is silly.

Of course it is assholes acting out. That's what happens when you remove consequences. Games have been an excellent example of that in terms of gameplay and mechanics. There have been games that have tried the whole "No rules but what the players make, they'll work out a stable system." No, actually it devolves in to a bunch of griefer assholes, and everyone else leaves. These people can't do that kind of thing in real life because they'd face consequences.

Sociopaths learn to moderate their behaviour in the real world because if they don't, they get punished. Online, they can run rampant and so they do.

Well, not entirely "no point"... (and I didn't even have to bring up zones ;) )

more like an awesome way for Google to grab a profitable patent in exchange for the prize money.

Except they are not claiming any of the IP, just a 100 hr license to use it for the test. Also, why they claim they will not open the box up.

...more like an awesome way for Google to grab a profitable patent in exchange for the prize money.

Seriously - if you can pop those kind of specifications, you can make a hell of a lot more than a million bucks from the patent alone.