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Android

Microsoft Sues Motorola Over Mapping Patents 57

Posted by samzenpus from the 1-2-3-sue dept.
jfruh writes "The mobile patent wars continue, with two of the world's biggest tech companies about to blunder into direct conflict. Microsoft holds a number of patents that it claims give it rights over mobile map applications that overlay data from multiple databases (map info from one database and store location info from another, for instance). Many Android vendors already pay Redmond licensing fees for their mapping apps; now Redmond is going to court in Germany to sue one of the holdouts: Motorola Mobility, which is of course owned by Google."
Programming

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Dedicating Code?

Submitted by The_Buse
The_Buse writes: This week I lost my grandmother and after returning to work (as a web developer) I find myself looking for some way to dedicate something to her memory. Unfortunately, I'm no author so I can't dedicate a book to her, and I can't carry a tune so penning a song in her honor is out of the question. What I can do is write one hell of a web app, and after nearly a year of development my (small) team and I are nearing the release date of our next product. My question is, have you ever dedicated a project/app/code in honor of someone? What's the best way to do it: comment blocks in the header, tongue-in-cheek file names, easter eggs? Or is this a horrible idea all together?
Microsoft

Submission + - Office for iPad may be exactly what Microsoft wants (networkworld.com)

Submitted by colinneagle
colinneagle writes: It's endemic of 21st century journalism how this news story broke: a Microsoft product in the Czech Republic spilled the beans on a native iOS and Android port of Office 2013 for March of 2013, which was picked up by the Czech site IHNED.

Microsoft was quick to issue a denial to the press. "The information shared by our Czech subsidiary is not accurate. We do not have anything further to share at this time." Translation? They are doing it. Maybe a few facts are off, but they are doing a port. It's not a flat-out denial; it's a claim of inaccuracy. That's all the wiggle room a company needs to avoid being called a liar.

It's an acknowledgement of two facts: the iPad is the tablet of choice at the moment, and the enterprise really likes its tablets. At the Tablet Strategy conference last April, Chris Hazelton from 451 Research said its own research showed 78.4% of companies surveyed allowed employees to bring in their own devices. That contrasts with just 18% of employers actually providing their employees with tablets. Supporting iOS and Android means no matter what tablet you use, Office will be there. And isn't that what Microsoft wants in the end?

Submission + - Coming Next: TSA Taser Bracelets? (thenewsmakersoftoday.com)

Submitted by CaVp
CaVp writes: From the article: "The TSA’s security policies are getting more and more bizarre, from testing people’s drinks for explosives to ordering all travelers to freeze on command, but could a frightening policy that was seriously explored by the DHS be resurrected – forcing people to wear taser bracelets that would deliver an electric shock if they got out of line?" Fox coverage here.

Imagine a nutjob with a radio transmitter tuned to the bracelet radio frequency... instant bacon!...
United States

Submission + - Why Isn't Election Day a National Holiday? (vice.com) 4

Submitted by
pigrabbitbear
pigrabbitbear writes: "Voting is a pain in the ass. First of all, there are lines, unpredictable lines that leave some out in the November cold while they’re waiting to do their civic duty. Then, with all of these new voter ID laws popping up, there’s all kinds of red tape. “Do I need to bring my Social Security card?” you might ask yourself. “How about my passport, a copy of my most recent utility bill, an expired library card? What’s it take to prove you’re American these days?” And inevitably, you’re going to miss some work since Election Day is always a Tuesday. For salaried employees, this is probably just annoying — or a relief depending on how much you like your job. But for hourly employees, this means lost wages. So in a way, you have to pay to vote. No wonder voter turnout is so low."

Comment Re:First? Perhaps first this year (Score 1) 77

Could find no mention of ejectee exceeding Mach 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ejection_seat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_barrier. There were ejections post-Yeager (note that Yeager's was first _official_ breaking of sound barrier) that took place at supersonic speeds. Baumgartner is trying to surpass Mach 1 in freefall, which as things stand would be notable.

Comment Re:Simplicity (Score 2) 111

by kermidge (#41580959) Attached to: SpaceX Dragon Set To Launch

Yeah, miniaturization of components helps. That 'static support tower' is the erector, fairly common to field-launched theater, IR- and ICBMs for around fifty years now. With the later Saturns there were a lot of connections; tower made them easier to do, and to service during a hold. For the Shuttle, apart from the slew of connections, tower afforded last-minute crew egress.

Congrats to SpaceX et al on nominal launch and insertion.
Science

Submission + - AOL: Name the Tribble Contest (aol.com)

Submitted by Pyrotech7
Pyrotech7 writes:

The American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming is holding a "Name the Tribble" contest. The idea is to promote American Archives Month and show people that archives aren't just repositories of musty old documents – they can be home to cool stuff, too.

Instructions to enter your idea are given in TFA
Google

Submission + - Microsoft Asks Google to Takedown BBC, TechCrunch, CNN, US Gov, Wikipedia URLs (paritynews.com) 1

Submitted by hypnosec
hypnosec writes: Recent Microsoft DMCA takedown request to Google has targeted some of the most well-known sites in the cyberspace – BBC, TechCrunch, Wikepedia and HuffPo among others. Microsoft has sent out the take down requests stating that the URLs are involved in illegal distribution of its Windows 8 Beta operating system. The list of URLs contain 4 from BBC, 4 from Wikipedia, 1 each from HuffPo, TechCrunch, CCN, Washington post, Science Direct, and CBSlocal. None of the URLs listed for these sites and surprisingly half of the URLs listed under the section – “WINDOWS 8 BETA” of DMCA complaint actually don’t have anything to do with Windows 8 at all.
Input Devices

Submission + - Barcodes are 60 years old today (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by another random user
another random user writes: Sunday the 7 October is the 60th anniversary of the barcode patent, filed in the US in 1952. However the distinctive black-and-white stripes did not make their first appearance in an American shop until 1974 — because the laser technology used to read them did not exist.
Supercomputing

Submission + - A Supercomputer For Everyone? (kickstarter.com) 1

Submitted by leptonhead
leptonhead writes: The people of the internet have successfully funded a number of high-risk high-return projects though Kickstarter. A recent trend is the funding of cheap electronics platforms such as the TinyDuino, a microsocopic Arduino compatible embedded platform. In the spirit of bringing traditionally very expensive hardware to the masses, Parallella is a project which aims to deliver a 64-core credit-card size "supercomputer" for 199USD. Funding options also include a $99 16-core computer based on the previous editions of the platform. The project has reached about 25% of its minimum funding target during its first week, and has about three weeks to go.

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