huima - Slashdot User

Gartner Says 3D Printers Will Cost Less Than $2,000 By 2016 170

Posted by samzenpus on Friday March 29, 2013 @12:25AM from the get-you-one dept.

colinneagle writes "Widespread adoption of 3D printing technology may not be that far away, according to a Gartner report predicting that enterprise-class 3D printers will be available for less than $2,000 by 2016. 3D printers are already in use among many businesses, from manufacturing to pharmaceuticals to consumers goods, and have generated a diverse set of use cases. As a result, the capabilities of the technology have evolved to meet customer needs, and will continue to develop to target those in additional markets, Gartner says."

Google Stops Ads For "Cougar" Sites 319

Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday May 18, 2010 @10:52AM from the here's-to-you-mrs-robinson dept.

teh31337one writes "Google is refusing to advertise CougarLife, a dating site for mature women looking for younger men. However, they continue to accept sites for mature men seeking young women. According to the New York Times, CougarLife.com had been paying Google $100,000 a month since October. The Mountain View company has now cancelled the contract, saying that the dating site is 'nonfamily safe.'"

Comment Re:What good do software patents bring? (Score 2, Interesting) 188

by huima on Tuesday April 13, 2004 @07:06AM (#8846181) Attached to: Second Round of EU Patent Fight, Coming Up

One of the best (worst) aspects of software patents (depending on your viewpoint) is that one may infringe them accidentally too easily. As has been noted many times before, software patents, for various reasons, tend to be overly abstract and generic. This means that the probability that you genuinely invent a solution to a problem, and that the said solution then infringes a third-party owned patent, is notable.

This is the reason why Big Corporations push software patents heavily. If you have a big collection of patents, any randomly chosen software company with a high propability infringes at least some of them. This opens an avenue for ligitation. Therefore, patents turn into abstract warfare, and it is then the number and extent of patents which counts.

Because a Big Corporation can acquire a larger number of patents than a small enterprise, Big Corporations win the arms race. Therefore, it is logical for Big Corporations to be proponents of software patents; and for individual software engineers and small enterprises to be against them.

In the same way as medieval kings and modern countries must have armies, so must software companies nowadays and in the future have patents. The king with bigger army wins. The corporation with larger patent portfolio wins. So, software patents bring [not-any-more-so-much] a change in the rules of the game, and it depends on your position, whether the change is for good or for bad.

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