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Comment More of the same (Score 1) 211

by cfulton (#42753763) Attached to: Micron Lands Broad "Slide To Unlock" Patent
Can't we just patent getting a patent and be done with it. Then we could all just write one check a week to the company holding a patent on getting patents and not have to go through this craziness. Slide to unlock, one click ordering, A UI connected to a server connected to a mobile device, making a graphical element disappear, accelerating a scrolling list, a method of displaying an electronic list; all of these are patented. If I, as a developer, had to pay the patent trolls for every infringement of these obvious and ridiculous patents I would be millions of dollars in the hole. BTW Patents are meant to encourage innovation!
Crime

Submission + - Hacker Faces 105 Years In Prison After Blackmailing 350+ Women (ibtimes.com) 1

Submitted by
redletterdave
redletterdave writes: "According to the 30-count indictment released by the Central District of California early this morning, 27-year-old hacker Karen "Gary" Kazaryan allegedly hacked his way into hundreds of online accounts, using personal information and nude or semi-nude photos of his victims to coerce more than 350 female victims to show him their naked bodies, usually over Skype. By posing as a friend, Kazaryan allegedly tricked these women into stripping for him on camera, capturing more than 3,000 images of these women to blackmail them. Kazaryan was arrested by federal agents on Tuesday; if convicted on all 30 counts, including 15 counts of computer intrusion and 15 counts of aggravated identity theft, Kazaryan could face up to 105 years in federal prison."
NASA

Submission + - NASA: Feb. 15 asteroid fly-by will buzz Earth closer than many satellites (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "NASA says an asteroid about half the size of a football field will blow past Earth on Feb 15 closer than many man-made satellites. NASA added that while the asteroid, designated 2012 DA14 has no change of striking Earth, since regular sky surveys began in the 1990s, astronomers have never seen an object so big come so close to our planet."
Facebook

Submission + - Consumers now trust Microsoft more than Apple with their privacy (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
tsamsoniw
tsamsoniw writes: "Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Amazon, eBay, Microsoft, and Mozilla are among the 20 organizations ranked in the Ponemon Institute's annual survey of organizations that consumers trust most with their privacy. Meanwhile, companies who've made the list in years' past — such as Apple, Google, and Facebook — didn't make the cut. Ironically, the survey also found that consumers claim to be increasingly concerned about their private data — but 60 percent admit to handing over personal info to unknown or untrusted third-parties for the sake of convenience."
Science

Submission + - The Super Supercapacitor (singularityhub.com)

Submitted by
kkleiner
kkleiner writes: "What if you could charge your phone, tablet, or laptop in 30 seconds and have it work all day long? That’s the breakthrough presented in a short film titled The Super Supercapacitor that profiles the work of UCLA inorganic chemistry professor Ric Kaner. The supercapacitor delivers a carbon-based non-toxic charging solution that would replace todays toxic, slow charging batteries."
Technology

Submission + - Turning SF's Bay Bridge into a Giant LED Display (xconomy.com)

Submitted by
waderoush
waderoush writes: "It may be the biggest art hack ever: a project to install 25,000 individually addressable LED lights on the western span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. New York-based 'light sculptor' Leo Villareal was in San Francisco last week to test the vast 'Bay Lights' art installation, which will officially debut on March 5 and last for two years; Xconomy has photos and video of Villareal running the light show from his laptop. To optimize his algorithms and figure out which patterns would be most interesting or arresting, Villareal needed to experiment on the bridge itself, says Bay Lights director Ben Davis, who has raised $5.8 million for the project so far. 'This has never been done before in history — literally debugging software 500 feet in the air, in front of a million people,' says Davis."

Submission + - VISA Down across all of Canada (ctvnews.ca)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: While not as exciting or inflammitory as a user being banned from the EA forums for posting, wait no it was because of a glitch... Here's a story about VISA going down across Canada and was unable to process any transactions. VISA at this point is blaming a third party provider. Funnily enough RBC Royal Bank was unable to process phone calls while the VISA network was done.

Submission + - IOC Trademarks '2014' (blogspot.com)

Submitted by Cid Highwind
Cid Highwind writes: The UK Intellectual Property Office has issued a trademark on the number '2014' to the International Olympic Committee. The IOC's legal monopoly on next year covers all 45 possible trademark registration classes, from live animals to fire extinguishers to metal for railway tracks.

Submission + - Erdos-Bacon-Sabbath Numbers: MITers at the Center of the Creative Universe (mit.edu)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Know what Erdos number are? Think Kevin Bacon is linked to everyone? Ever played a music gig? Add those three things together and you get EBS numbers. MIT alumni netted three of the ~21 spots identifying people who score in all three creative collaboration categories. See who else is on the list.
Science

Submission + - Purported Relativity Paradox Resolved (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: A purported conflict between the century-old theory of classical electrodynamics and Einstein's theory of special relativity doesn't exist, a chorus of physicists says. Last April, an electrical engineer claimed that the equation that determines the force exerted on an electrically charged particle by electric and magnetic fields—the Lorentz force law—clashes with relativity, the theory that centers on how observers moving at a constant speed relative to one another will view the same events. To prove it, he concocted a simple "thought experiment" in which the Lorentz force law seemed to lead to a paradox. Now, four physicists independently say that they have resolved the paradox.
Piracy

Submission + - Antigua applies to WTO for permission to run 'pirate' website (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes: Antigua is seeking permission to run a website that sells music, movies and software — but ignores copyright law. The Caribbean island is due to appear before the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 28 January seeking permission to run the site.

The decision to set up the site is the end point of a long-running dispute with the US over gambling. The US has objected to Antigua's plan saying it amounted to official "piracy" of intellectual property.

Antigua went to the WTO after the US moved to stop American citizens using gambling services, including web-based betting shops and casinos, run from the Caribbean country. Antigua claims that action deprived it of billions of dollars in revenue.

The WTO agreed with Antigua and dismissed a US appeal against its ruling. However, because the US took no action to lift the controls on cross-border gambling Antigua filed an application to recoup its lost cash by other means.

It sought permission to sell movies, music, games and software via a store that would be able to ignore global agreements on copyright and trademark controls, reports filesharing news site TorrentFreak. It wanted to be able to sell up to $3.4bn of those goods before having to make copyright payments.

The WTO rejected that figure, but said Antigua could sell $21m annually via the store before it had to consider paying copyright fees. The US is believed to have offered to pay Antigua $500,000 annually as compensation for the lost revenue.

Comment Re:How about.... (Score 2) 605

by cfulton (#42693519) Attached to: Senators Seek H-1B Cap That Can Reach 300,000
How about. But, it won't happen. The real incentive here is profit in the Tech Sector. American developers are paid a living wage (most of the time). This bill allows American tech companies to bring in workers who cannot compete in the open market for the best pay. This allows the tech companies to pay them much less than an American. The powers that be may want low unemployment, but they also want low wages.

Submission + - Steve Jobs movie clip historically inaccurate, says Woz (networkworld.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Yesterday saw the first clip from the upcoming Steve Jobs biopic starring Ashton Kutcher as Jobs and Josh Gad as Steve Wozniak. The full film will be premiering at the Sundance Film Festival later today and is set for a wider theatrical release in April.

After seeing the clip, Woz chimed in and noted that the event depicted therein was completely false and never happened.

"Totally wrong. Personalities and where the ideas of computers affecting society did not come from Jobs. They inspired me and were widely spoken at the Homebrew Computer Club. Steve came back from Oregon and came to a club meeting and didn't start talking about this great social impact. His idea was to make a $20 PC board and sell it for $40 to help people at the club build the computer I'd given away. Steve came from selling surplus parts at HalTed he always saw a way to make a quick buck off my designs (this was the 5th time).

The lofty talk came much further down the line.

I never looked like a professional. We were both kids. Our relationship was so different than what was portrayed. I'm embarrassed but if the movie is fun and entertaining, all the better. Anyone who reads my book iWoz can get a clearer picture."
Biotech

Submission + - DIY BioPrinter Hack Lets You Print Biomaterials Using an Old Inkjet (instructables.com)

Submitted by MikeChino
MikeChino writes: Instructables member Patrik has successfully transformed an old HP5150 inkjet printer into a DIY bioprinter. To do this he removed the plastic covers and panels and rewired the paper handling mechanism. Then he prepped ink cartridges to be able to handle biological materials by opening the lid, removing the ink, and washing it out with deionized water. For his first experiment, he printed a simple solution of arabinose onto filter paper.

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