Story is a non-starter

I read the patent application and if you think that apple are trying to patent the WhereTo? UI then they are also trying to patent 'Sodoku [sic]' apps as well.

The application is for an API:

“A method comprising:

- determining a user is scheduled to travel to a destination on a current date;

- determining a portable electronic device in possession by the user is powered off;

- determining the user arrived at the destination by detecting that the portable electronic device has been powered back on; and

- transmitting an arrival notification of the arrival of the user to at least one third party recipient”

WhereTo? does not do this. The UI has been, perhaps unwisely, used as an example of an app that could potentially use the API/methods described in the application.

I would be pissed that I hadn't been contacted before the illustration was used, but I believe that Apple can do that as per their agreement with app developers.

If someone can find where in the application the UI or functionality of the WhereTo? app is being patented, then I'll change my opinion, but really, it does not seem to be there.

@Bilgepipe

"If he can't debate without resorting to insults, he should keep quiet. Now his arse will get dragged through court."

2 YEARS FOR TROLLING.

Seems like you're very willing to send a commenter you only know from the Internet to prison for being stupid - have you done it before, or have you spent time with similar idiotic offenders in your Fantasy Internet Prison?

Re: The Big Red Box

Wordpress no longer prompts for removal of the install.php script. While it is obviously a good idea to remove the install script, I had to check if this was still good practice after noticing the warning was no longer displayed. My first thought was that the install scripts were being deleted automatically now - not the case.

This kind of makes the "Oh, it's so obvious, you deserve whatever you get for not deleting the install.php file" look a little like commenting from the ignorant rather than ivory tower.

Regarding slow wordpress sites, you can speed up serving with wp-cache.

Losing your site because of database connectivity sucks, but you can create/copy simple backup scripts that should at the very least minimize downtime.

@Gerhardt

"'Sort of'? Is there some sort of grade scale for Jewishness?"

It's all to do with how much gold you have, I think.

It would be interesting to alter the code to DDoS another IP. Say, the IP of the controllers of the botnet.

@Jemma

"they all cause MORE suicides than they stop"

What is your source for this?

Strangeness

The stores "must sell" 5 iPhones during the pilot? That's enforceable how?

Obese v Stupid

People who are using the argument "If you say it is okay because she is obese, then you obviously have no problem with me using an image of you in a program about sexual deviants/idiots/VB programmers/people who still use tables to layout HTML pages" are missing the point.

Obesity - or at least being overweight - is pretty easily judged from someone's appearance. Any of the other examples you folks have given are not easily judged from appearance alone. It's the difference between running footage on the prevalence of Burberry (easily assessed from footage of the public - are there lots of people wearing it in footage gathered from city streets?) and running footage on the prevalence of people who think the earth was created 6,000 years ago - in that case you are making assumptions you can't reasonably back up without further data.

The issue is what kinds of footage of you can be legally distributed without your permission. I am pretty sure that crowd scenes are fine, whereas any kind of interaction or observation of your actions specifically are not. This footage seems to be in a grey area, and I imagine any legal decision would be made by assessing the documentary makers' intentions in capturing that footage and deciding where that places the footage in terms of the 'fine' and 'not fine' categories defined by law. IANAL, in case you hadn't guessed.

My point, though, is that I couldn't use these comments conflating judgments on appearance (which is the essence of any visual media) with judgments on intention to show that the people making them are ugly or fat, but I could use excerpts for a paper on 'kneejerk reactions to sensitive debate subjects.'

Sarah Bee - no, she doesn't lose her rights, obviously. It's all about the context - if the footage is obtained and used legally, then if she is fat, I think it is acceptable to use it in the context of the documentary. If the use of the footage goes beyond the guidelines for acceptable use, then there is a legal problem which should be addressed - and there are her (and everyone else's) rights. IIRC, you weren't so large when you were on the MM, so unless things have gone downhill since then, why so touchy?

Re: I wonder how they stay in business?

They've licensed code to Nintendo for the Wii, and I think possibly to the XBox too.