Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
Patents

Submission + - IBM Patents Changing Color of E-Mail Text 1

Submitted by
theodp
theodp writes: "Last week, the USPTO granted IBM a patent for its System and method for comprehensive automatic color customization in an email message based on cultural perspective. So what exactly did the four Big Blue inventors come up with? IBM explains: 'For example, an email created in the U.S. in red font to indicate urgency or emphasis might be mapped to a more appropriate color (e.g., blue or black) for sending to Korea.' IBM took advantage of the USPTO's Accelerated Examination Program to fast-track the patent's approval. BTW, if you missed the 2006 press release, IBM boasted it was 'holding itself to a higher standard than any law requires because it's urgent that patent quality is improved.'"
The Media

Should Google Be Forced To Pay For News? 322

Posted by timothy from the according-to-his-need dept.
Barence writes "The Guardian Media group is asking the British government to investigate Google News and other aggregators, claiming they reap the benefit of content from news sites without contributing anything towards their costs. The Guardian claims the old argument that 'search engines and aggregators provide players like guardian.co.uk with traffic in return for the use of our content' doesn't hold water any more, and that it's 'heavily skewed' in Google's favour. It wants the government to explore new models that 'require fair acknowledgement of the value that our content creates, both on our own site (through advertising) and "at the edges" in the world of search and aggregation.'"

Comment Re:I take a Libertarian POV. (Score 1) 1367

by liquidMONKEY (#26031531) Attached to: Time To Discuss Drug Prohibition?
Well, I meant it as a throwaway statement saying that people are free to do what they want with their lives and their bodies as long as they don't cause harm or discomfort to others. And in terms of "fucking their own lives up", I'm speaking from personal experience. People I've known and been great friends with have travelled down uncertain paths that usually lands them in a great deal of pain. Can't really speak for the rest of the drug-taking population, as I'm not friends with a great deal of them. And are you implying the laws as they stand are backwards and puritanical, or you're implying I'm backwards and puritanical? Since I'm Australian, not from the United States.

Comment I take a Libertarian POV. (Score 5, Interesting) 1367

by liquidMONKEY (#26027001) Attached to: Time To Discuss Drug Prohibition?
I'm straight edge. I don't smoke, nor even drink at all, or consume any other substances. (Unless caffeine in Coca-Cola counts.) But, if other people want to consume these substances and fuck their own lives up, hey, be my guest. As long as they don't tread on my right to live a comfortable life. Even if drugs were legalized, it still doesn't mean their carry-on effects, such as murder, drink-driving, et cetera, are legal. And at least it means that if those drugs are available through government programs, it'll be taking away some of that money that drug lords are supposedly making, and pump billions more dollars back into the government. Well, that's my 2 cents worth anyway. I'm sure someone will disagree with me. :P
Space

Massive Martian Glaciers Found 314

Posted by timothy from the could-be-a-trick dept.
Kozar_The_Malignant writes "Scientific American is reporting that 'data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter point to vast glaciers buried beneath thin layers of crustal debris.' Data from the surface-penetrating radar on MRO revealed that two well-known mid-latitude features are composed of solid water ice. One is about three times the size of the City of Los Angeles. This certainly makes the idea of establishing a station on Mars far more plausible."
Google

Google To Host 10M Images From Life Magazine's Archive 79

Posted by kdawson from the that's-life-what's-life dept.
CWmike and other readers alerted us to Google's announcement that it was making available 10 million images from Life magazine's archives dating back to the 1750s. (Most of the news accounts covering this announcement refer to Life's "photos," and none mention that photography wasn't invented until early in the 19th century.) Only a small percentage of the images — including newly digitized images from photos and etchings — have even been published. The rest have been "sitting in dusty archives in the form of negatives, slides, glass plates, etchings, and prints." At this point about 20% of Life's archive is online; the rest is promised within months.

Slashdot Top Deals

Marriage is the sole cause of divorce.

Close