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Government

$30B IT Stimulus Will Create Almost 1 Million Jobs 809

Posted by CmdrTaco from the i'm-sure-they-won't-filter-anything-either dept.
itif writes "This report takes a look at how many jobs you get if you invest $10 billion each in three different IT infrastructure projects — broadband, health IT and the smart grid. It argues that if you are going to be spending billions on a stimulus package, investing in 'digital infrastructure' creates more jobs than physical infrastructure (e.g. roads and bridges) in the short-term, and you get a whole host of other benefits in the long-term."

Comment Re:I didn't say they were useless (Score 2, Informative) 504

by ThrasherTT (#20155923) Attached to: New Explanation For the Industrial Revolution

Basically technology is like a castle of cards. You can't build the top until you have the lower parts ready. For each invention, there were tens of other inventions and advances which had to be made first.

A little out of date now, but this TV series was amazing, and happens to be an excellent example of your point.
Software

Through the Patent Looking Glass with Microsoft 187

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the innovate-don't-litigate dept.
Andy Updegrove writes "By now you've probably read more than you want to about Microsoft's announcement that it owns 235 patents underlying leading open source software, including many opinions about whether Microsoft's new assertions do, or don't, represent a real threat to Linux, OpenOffice, and other OSS. To get to the bottom of the issue, though, you have to take a deep dive into how patent cross licensing works these days. When you do, you realize that patents don't mean what they used to, and have far more defensive than offensive value in the marketplace today. It also becomes apparent that it really doesn't matter whether Microsoft has valid patents or not, because so many other companies do as well. Today, what companies worry about isn't asserting their patents against other companies, but maintaining their freedom of activity. In this case, the open source community can simply ride the coattails of the major vendors, because Microsoft doesn't hold enough cards to win the hand, much less the game." Relatedly The Register is reporting that the author of the main report being used by Microsoft to support their patent claims has come out against Microsoft's interpretation of his work and Jonathan Schwartz gives some free advice to the overly litigious.

A New Wireless Power Transmission Sheet 126

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the electric-blanket dept.
Roland Piquepaille writes "Several companies have started to sell power 'pads' that can charge your cellphone when you put it on the pad's surface. But these silicon-based pads are expensive — and relatively 'specialized.' Now, Japanese researchers have built a plastic sheet which could power all the devices placed close to it. So far, this 4-layer sheet, which uses printed organic transistors and plastic MEMS switches, can deliver up to 40 watts of power — enough for some laptops. The technology is apparently efficient and inexpensive to produce. But as the devices to recharge will need to incorporate a special receiver, don't expect to see these plastic power sheets on sale before several years."
Movies

Submission + - World's first jail sentence for BitTorrent piracy

Submitted by
Rob T Firefly
Rob T Firefly writes: "Hong Kong newspaper The Standard reports on what seems to be the world's first case of a BitTorrent movie pirate being sent to jail. After losing his appeal against a November 2005 conviction, Chan Nai-ming, a 38-year-old BitTorrent user known as "Big Crook," has begun serving a prison sentence for making the films "Daredevil," "Miss Congeniality," and "Red Planet" available for download via BitTorrent. His appeal was based on the fact that he did not profit from the piracy.

From the article:
[Appeals Judge] Beeson noted [convicting magistrate] MacIntosh, in handing out the sentence, was fully aware of the noncommercial nature of the case, but measured the seriousness of the case by the harm done to the moviemakers — not by the gain made by the offender. Chan, and those in the chatroom, "were aware of the possible criminal implications of uploading films to the system," Beeson wrote.

She also noted the sentence was already drastically reduced, from a maximum of four years, to three months, in order "to reflect the novelty of the conviction."
"

Comment Re:Cry Wolf (Score 1) 474

by UNIBLAB_PowerPC (#15365996) Attached to: Lenovo Banned by U.S. State Department

Wow, TripMasterMonkey, are you sure you don't live in Northern Virginia? ;-)

I lived in Representative Wolf's district for almost 20 years (even went to school with one of his daughters), and even after being gone for a decade, I'm surprised to find he's still in office. Everyone in the neighborhood talked about how he never does anything, yet no one ever votes against him or puts up a real campaign against him. Thank you for pointing out his "look at the little monkey" tactics so I didn't have to dig them up for everyone -- what we have here is a classic example of a do-nothing politician in an apathetic upper-class district. Quite sad, really, when you consider the amount of tertiary degrees or professional positions held by the district's constituency.

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