jonathan_the_ninja - Slashdot User

Comment In the UK they're smarter than us (Score 1) 108

by jonathan_the_ninja on Friday September 24, 2010 @06:09PM (#33692862) Attached to: Most Software Patent Trolls Lose Lawsuits

I'm a little ashamed that in the US we immediately turn to litigation without considering other options such as mediation law. In the UK mediation law is the norm, whereas litigation is more of a last resort. But in Soviet Russia, software patents litigate YOU!

Comment Re:I'm going to music school someday! (Score 1) 97

by jonathan_the_ninja on Sunday October 28, 2007 @10:33AM (#21148049) Attached to: YouTube For High-School Jocks

Out of curiosity, what is in the grade 9 repertoire? I've always wanted to know these sorts of things, but they're just not documented very well on the internet. :)

Comment The mobile world (Score 1) 257

by neglige on Tuesday August 21, 2007 @10:54AM (#20304653) Attached to: Flash Player 9 Gets H.264 Support

Although the mentioned release is for the PC, I'd say this has a major impact on another realm: mobile devices. I'd even go so far to speculate that this is one of the main reasons for implementing H.264 (the blog just says "our customers want it").

In most mobile standards (e.g. 3GPP, DVB), and also for IPTV, H.264 is the required video codec. So unless an environment can support it, one way or the other, it is not relevant for implementing services with it. This was a drawback of Flash in the past, I reckon it's now back in the race. With H.264 and AAC capabilities, it is possible to implement mobile (video/TV) clients. And: as Flash is supported on many different devices, you can use it to offer a service that is available on PCs, mobile devices (phone, PDA), set top boxes, ... (a.k.a. converged services)

Took Adobe a while to realize that without H.264 the road will be rocky, no matter how good their supported video codec is, just because it's not in the standards.

Farscape (Kinda) Returns 140

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday July 18, 2007 @10:42AM from the what-the-frell dept.

westlake writes "In a weekend press tour, Sci Fi announced that Farscape would be resurrected on-line in ten short webisodes to be produced by the Jim Henson Company. There are hints that Ben Browder and Claudia Black will both be both "available." Browder has another project to keep him occupied, at least part of the time: Sci Fi also announced that it had picked up Going Homer, a miniseries he developed with "Farscape" director Andrew Prowse. Greek and Roman deities walk among us, but only 12 year old Homer Ulysses Jones can see them for what they truly are. When Homer and his father are forced to flee a custody battle that would likely separate them, they journey from Los Angeles to the home of their ancestors — in Ithaca, N.Y."

Amazon Cries 'Uncle' to End IBM Patent Feud 63

Posted by Zonk on Thursday May 10, 2007 @02:22PM from the make-it-stop-make-it-stop dept.

theodp writes "Amazon will pay an undisclosed amount to IBM to settle a long-running patent feud, and the two companies have agreed to a long-term patent cross-licensing agreement. Information Week wonders if an insurance dispute prompted Amazon's settlement, noting that Atlantic Mutual sued Amazon back in March to escape any obligation to reimburse the e-tailer should it lose the case brought by IBM. Amazon had relied on Atlantic Mutual's backing in an earlier legal battle it waged against tiny InTouch. 'Amazon, whose chief executive, Jeff Bezos, is a vocal advocate of patent reform, has had numerous patent issues in the past. In 2005, the technology used in its 1-Click checkout system came under scrutiny as potentially infringing upon a similar product made by a small Virginia-based company called IPXL Holdings. Meanwhile, the US patent system itself is experiencing growing pains as Congress continues to explore the possibility of updating it to better serve the needs of the 21st-century business world.'"

Yahoo! Photos to Shut Down 71

Posted by CowboyNeal on Friday May 04, 2007 @05:14AM from the flickred-out dept.

prostoalex writes "Yahoo has finally made a decision regarding Yahoo! Photos vs. Flickr battle, and will be shutting down Yahoo! Photos by the fall of this year. Even though Yahoo! Photos currently maintains a higher share of Internet visits, Flickr growth convinced the company to maintain a single photo site from now on. Says USA Today: 'Stewart Butterfield, who co-founded Flickr in 2004 with wife Caterina Fake, says the move is a "validation" of the central idea of Flickr: that photos in the digital age are very different from a physical print. "We saw it as a means of communication and connecting with people," says Butterfield, Flickr's general manager. "People can take a picture and get immediate feedback from all over the world, and you can't do that with a printed photo."'"

Apple Sued For Using Tabs In OS X Tiger 435

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday April 24, 2007 @05:02AM from the trolls-on-the-march dept.

rizzo320 writes "AppleInsider is reporting that an Illinois-based company and its Nevada partner have filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc., alleging that Mac OS X 10.4 'Tiger' infringes an interface patent relating to the OS's nearly universal use of tabs. The suit was filed in the patent troll's and forum shopper's favorite venue: Marshall, TX. The patent in question is 5072412, which was originally issued to Xerox in 1987, but is now owned or licensed to IP Innovation LLC and its parent Technology Licensing Corporation. 'Category dividers triggered by Spotlight searches, as well as page tabs in the Safari web browser, bear the closest similarity to the now 20-year-old description' of the patent, according to the article. IP Innovation is requesting damages in excess of $20 million and an injunction against future sales and distribution of Mac OS X 10.4. Software patent reform can't come soon enough!"

How Jobs Played Hardball In iPhone Birth 479

Posted by kdawson on Monday February 19, 2007 @08:21PM from the my-customer-dammit dept.

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "Apple bucked the rules of the cellphone industry when creating the iPhone by wresting control away from normally powerful wireless carriers, the Wall Street Journal reports. From the article: 'Only three executives at the carrier, which is now the wireless unit of AT&T Inc., got to see the iPhone before it was announced. Cingular agreed to leave its brand off the body of the phone. Upsetting some Cingular insiders, it also abandoned its usual insistence that phone makers carry its software for Web surfing, ringtones and other services... Mr. Jobs once referred to telecom operators as "orifices" that other companies, including phone makers, must go through to reach consumers. While meeting with Cingular and other wireless operators he often reminded them of his view, dismissing them as commodities and telling them that they would never understand the Web and entertainment industry the way Apple did, a person familiar with the talks says.'"

Vista Not Playing Nice With FPS Games 437

Posted by kdawson on Monday February 12, 2007 @06:54PM from the shoot-em-up dept.

PetManimal writes "Computerworld is reporting that gamers who have installed Vista are reporting problems with first person-shooter titles such as CounterStrike, Half-Life 2, Doom 3. and F.E.A.R. (Users have compiled lists of games with Vista issues.) The complaints, which have turned up on gamers' forums, cite crashes and low frame rates. Not surprisingly, the problems relate to graphics hardware and software: 'Experts blame still-flaky software drivers, Vista's complexity, and a dearth of new video cards optimized for Vista's new rendering technology, DirectX 10. That's despite promises from Microsoft that Vista is backwards-compatible with XP's graphic engine, DirectX 9, and that it will support existing games. Meanwhile, games written to take advantage of DirectX 10 have been slow to emerge. And one Nvidia executive predicts that gamers may not routinely see games optimized for DirectX 10 until mid-2008.'"

Journal Journal: Ohio recount rigging case goes to court 224

Journal by MarkusQ on Friday January 19, 2007 @05:54PM

The Akron Beacon Journal is reporting that the trial of the three election workers accused of rigging the 2004 presidential election recount in Cuyahoga County is finally underway. As you may recall, this was the case where poll workers "randomly" selected the precincts to recount by first eliminating from consideration precincts where the number of ballots h

Pluto Making a Comeback 439

Posted by CowboyNeal on Friday September 01, 2006 @12:46AM from the little-space-mass-that-could dept.

anthemaniac writes "Space.com reports that the American Astronomical Unions Division of Planetary Scientists recognizes the IAU's authority to make a new planet defintion but expects it to be altered. Separately, 300 astronomers have signed a petition saying they won't use the definition. All this stems from the discontent over how only 424 astronomers voted on the proposal that demoted Pluto. Looks like this little dog is on the comeback trail."

Lead PHP Developer Quits 809

Posted by CowboyNeal on Friday July 28, 2006 @07:49AM from the changing-of-the-guard dept.

Jasper Bryant-Greene writes "Jani Taskinen, one of the lead developers of the Zend Engine (the engine that powers PHP), as well as a lead developer for the thread safety system and other core components of the PHP project, has quit in a relatively cryptic message to the php-internals mailing list. Jani has been involved with PHP for about 6 years and his loss will undoubtedly be a big blow for the PHP project."

Australian Parliament Approves Email Snooping 226

Posted by CowboyNeal on Tuesday April 04, 2006 @02:40AM from the big-brother-is-reading dept.

brindafella writes "The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, reporting on a legislative change last week, says 'the [Australian] Government will have 12 months to access communications not only between the B-party and the suspect, but also between the B-party and anyone else. If you have unwittingly communicated with a suspect (and thereby become a B-party), the Government may be able to monitor all your conversations with family members, friends, work colleagues, your lawyer and your doctor.' The Australian Parliament's major parties combined to pass an amendment to the Telecommunications (Interception) Amendment Act 1979."

Revolution Worldwide Launch Possible 77

Posted by Zonk on Monday April 03, 2006 @10:49AM from the anything-is-possible dept.

hammersuit writes "GameDaily Biz reports that a Nintendo Revolution simultaneous global launch is still in the cards. From the article: 'Bloomberg.com suggested that Nintendo would avoid a global launch. However, a Nintendo representative today said that those comments were misinterpreted. 'The comments have been taken out of context,' said the Nintendo spokesperson. 'What he's actually saying is that we're not holding a worldwide launch just because everyone else is doing one too. It's just another re-iteration of the fact that we're not looking at what Sony or Microsoft are doing.'"

Journal Journal: Software Engineering again

Journal by jonathan_the_ninja on Thursday March 16, 2006 @03:32PM

Well, today I was back to worrying about the project. I was rather nervous about coming to software engineering class today, as Professor Whitehurst was going to be asking about the project status. We did finish the System Design Document yesterday, but I for some reason didn't feel like the project was really progressing. Anyway, we talked about the project today, and I think it was a very good thing that we did. I related my concerns about making the project a team effort, and I think that nee

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