37720065
submission
zaba writes:
A company named PersonalWeb Technologies has decided a host of heavy players in the tech industry, including Apple, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft and Yahoo! for patents it holds related to data processing.
They have a previous suit against other big names like Amazon, Google and HP.
Anyone care to guess where the company is based or where the suits were filed?
36584735
submission
zaba writes:
Ask Slashdot:
The original iPhone was a dream come true for me. Phone, camera, mp3 player and data all in one device. It had more cpu and memory than my first computer!
Several generations of smartphones later, my wife and I have some random smartphones (some iPhone, some Android) lying around. Between privacy concerns, bad batteries, etc. these phones are not worthy of donation.
So, I ask you, Slashdot readers, have you done anything fun with an old smartphone? Any suggestions/ideas?
34528661
submission
zaba writes:
Once again, I can hear the tell-tale signs of a hard drive dying. This time, it is in the DVR for one of our TVs. In the US, are we at a point where, with a little technical savvy, "cutting the cord" makes sense? If so, what are the best options? Does a refurb Roku (anywhere from 60-80 USD) make the most sense? Building a mythbox or some such make sense?
For my family of four (36, 30, 13 and 4 yo), we are paying ~100 USD/mo for two receivers (one w/DVR).
What, in your opinion, is the best option to have TV in two rooms in the house? Kid's shows could be in one room and adult shows in another. Or, all on one server (I have computers lying around) that could go to multiple rooms... We have 5 rooms total that TV would be nice in, but we really only watch TV in 2, and it will probably stay that way for a while.
We like DVR for the instant access, but saving 100 bucks/mo would be nice as well. We could also use that money every now and and again (esp. "now" for the next few months) to upgrade the system, so we have one less bill to pay.
I can drop CAT-5 as needed, but WI-FI would be preferred. For programming, we currently have "standard" cable and mostly watch the major networks. I would love to have ESPN, but can get my sports fix (mostly college football) through other means, I am sure.
How do y'all watch T.V.? What have you found to be the best way to get what you want?
