Comment Re:Go ahead Keurig... make my day. (Score 1) 769
I'll make and sell conversion kits to unfuck your Keurig 2.0
The new pods will have a plastic tap and notch so that they will be the only ones that physically fit in the coffee maker.
I'll make and sell conversion kits to unfuck your Keurig 2.0
The new pods will have a plastic tap and notch so that they will be the only ones that physically fit in the coffee maker.
Haven't carried out a detail search on the said patent,
You won't be able to, either. The article states that due to age of the patent, the application is confidential.
Without seeing the application, it's difficult to tell what its validity is. But when this patent application was filed in 1971, electronic control of machinery was already quite widespread. So, it would have to be quite specific about its implementation. Then there is the question of making companies pay for something they knew nothing about.
In the end, congress would have the power to invalidate this patent outright, if they wanted to.
Their cautiousness can also be prescient. Note that you won't find yellow #5 artificial coloring there, something that science is only now starting to recognize as unhealthy. So while some of the things that they sell don't make sense to a skeptic, the fact that they recognize that we have to be careful with what we eat is right on target.
My casual observation is that many STEM workers are far too amenable with building the robots, programming the computers, and engineering solutions to replace other people, or themselves, or help train the cheaper worker to replace themselves or another worker.
So we are also seeing an increasing supply of labor coming from increased efficiencies, which is in complete contradiction to somehow expecting long term growth for their own products?
And then is the failure of this administration (or any one for that matter) to take on age discrimination head on.
And it goes deeper. The so called smart "superstars" that someone might want to hire are smart enough to recognize how hollow of a promise STEM trades have become esp. programming might be and are moving to take up a trade instead. I see this everywhere. Because at least that is not going to be outsourced, or you won't lose your job because you turn 35.
I recommend that every would be programmer do this. You'll enjoy coding more for an open source project in your spare time. And then eventually companies will be forced to lie in the bed they are making for themselves, and it will not be comfortable. They can go ahead and move all their managers and the rest of their shebang overseas. We won't miss them.
I just read online that the flash drive containing the 170K missing bitcoins was just found behind the couch at Starbucks that it slid behind!
Average -20C day in Canada
Yes. But it is a "dry cold."
yet sites like
I know! Slashdot could remake it's format in new and interesting ways in order to attract lots of new younger readers, and call it beta!
I check a store's inventory and maybe make a call before I drive off. Olden days I would need to travel around to different stores to find a special item. More often than not I also mail order supplies I would have bought locally. Sorry Radio Shack. Well, not really.
You know that ice that's in the corner of the parking lot covered in black dirt and is the last piece of ice to melt? That's what's that probe is going to find.
The problem is that the SEC is truly powerless against the big bank wall street criminals, who they don't want to prosecute anyway to protect their jobs. So in order to justify their existence and feel special they have to clamp down on the small fry.
The political consequences will last for years. Coming soon: the doctor shortages.
Spoken like a true TeaParty ideologue. While the initial rollout of healthcare.gov was an unmitigated mess, the recovery will in time be recognized as one of the greatest tech successes. The initial design goal was for the website to be able to accommodate 50,000 simultaneous visitors. On Monday December 23rd the website was supporting 83,000 concurrent users. About 2 million people have enrolled into healthcare plans, 1.1 million through healthcare.gov. Quite a substantial number from those six people that enrolled the first day!
Regardless of what you think of the individual mandate or health care reform, that is a remarkable tech turn around - taking millions of lines of pre-alpha code in October to production status by the end of the year. Here is a short video interview with New Relic, one of the companies behind the turnaround.
For all the bad politics our government might have, do not underestimate its propensity to solve a technical problem.
Because it could be a competent competitor to current Apple products?
I know I want an Apple II smartphone that I could play Oregon Trail on and make phone calls back to the '70s with!
With your bare hands?!?