Re: How scary

80% of the population are Hindu's and only 13% are Muslim.

Rapes per 100,000 people (2010):

India: 1.8

To be fair, that's reported rapes.

But getting back to the point...

The guy getting sued, if he were in America, he would be protected under his first amendment rights to free speech as long as his speech doesn't run afoul of libel or hate speech.

The lawsuit is bogus and in the US would be considered a SLAPP suit.

Why the down vote? Re: Good Luck!

Sometimes I fail to see why people down vote a comment ... I Have to scratch my head and wonder WTF?

I think it was a good idea for these guys to go off and make the phone. Seems some of the Silicon Valley attitude is leaking out on to the world.

I wish them luck because they're taking all of the risks.

Re: Ota tuo, vihreä robotti Google!

While I agree that Nokia was dumb to let these guys go... I don't think it was a bad idea.

Considering the fact that Nokia has enough cash that they could buy out this company and take the device and run with it... It let these guys alone and design in peace.

That may seem like a weird concept, but it really does make sense the more you think about it.

These guys can develop a phone unmolested by pointy haired managers.

Nokia can cozy up to Microsoft's teat, and get needed cash.

The guys who create the phone take all the risk and Nokia doesn't have any risk of devising a new platform.

Those guys who built it will make a shit load of cash for their risk when they sell out. (If they sell out.)

Just food for thought....

@btrower... Re: S/B class action, but authors should lose

I think that its poor form to criticize another poster when you yourself don't grok the basic meaning of the term 'fair use'.

What Google is doing is theft, plain and simple. Google is not being altruistic in their actions. Actually far from it.

First, let clarify what is meant by the term 'fair use'.

I urge you to read the following web sites:

http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

and

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Fair+use+doctrine

In short you have four parts to the litmus test:

"

The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes

The nature of the copyrighted work

The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole

The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work

"

Google is taking large chunks of the work and publishing it online. Note there is no commentary on the part of Google.

Google makes money from this act even if it's 'free' to you.

Google not only sells ads, but they also capture information as to who browsed their selection, how long and what they were interested in.

That is to say, Google knows who you are, what you are interested in, along with other details. The more they know about you, they better they can 'target' ads. The bottom line is that they gain value from your visit, even if they don't show an ad. (The advertisements are a bonus).

Note that none of this 'value' flows down stream to the author of the work. That is theft. They are using the work of another person to gain value for themselves.

Note that this isn't for books no longer protected under the copyright laws but what they consider 'orphaned' books. That is to say that these books are no longer in print, yet still protected under the copyright laws.

Google is ignoring the law, yet again. They should be fined. Not sure if the Judge's comment was taken out of context, or if he was making a comment based on what had been presented in court.

The one thing that Google has in its favor is that the authors need to show harm which isn't a simple argument.

Re: Seems counterproductive...

I think that the argument of 'fair use' doesn't pass the sniff test.

As to Google wanting to fight many smaller suits is that without class action status, many of the authors couldn't afford to fight Google. Google has that deep of a pocket that even if found guilty of copyright infringement in all cases.. it would put a dent only in 1 qtr's earnings.

Google is on the hook potentially for 3Billion USD. If they can win some of the cases, it would come out ahead in terms of dollars and cents.

Re: I don't get the this Landfill Android meme

He means that the cheaper the phone, the greater the chance that it will break and rather than fix it, its cheaper to throw it away and buy a new one. Hence the landfill...

Unfortunately that's the sad truth. Cheap disposable devices will win out.

Re: But this is *not* a network, by your own definition.

You do realize that this is still experimental right?

Do you remember the first phone networks?

Give it time....

Re: That's quite a turnaround.

Funny, but you do realize that even changing your name doesn't work.

There is still going to be a public record between your new name and your old name so that all of the data will still exist.

The only way to get stuff off the web is to die and no longer generate net new data. Of course if you are dead, you will not care what is said about you on the web....

Just saying....

Re: One shot

You could build a ceramic gun that could take the pressures of multiple rounds.

You could build a ceramic/carbon fiber barrel that could take multiple rounds through it.

As to caseless ammo, it does exist however its very expensive and its a collector's item. Its not made out of ceramics or carbon fiber, btw....

The drawback to caseless ammo is that you need an electronic firing device to set it off.

Ironically while there is fear of the case less ammo, if you wanted to insert an RFID tag/ring or some other biometric feature to the gun, it would be easier to do it to a gun that fired case less ammo.

There is a reason why the gun doesn't have a barrel ;-)

The interesting thing about this gun is that you could print it but to be in possession of such a gun would be an instant jail term.

I think its cool as shit, while I'd be willing to download the plans, I am sure as hell I wouldn't actually consider printing it.

Re: @h3 ... OOPS!

Clearly you've never gone in to a Fleet Farm or maybe the seed and feed.

(Yes, I have).

Again, try buying Ammonium Nitrate fertilizer and you will see how much things have changed over the years.

@h3 ... Re: OOPS!

Yup, you pretty much proved my point.

When my father was a kid. The pharmacist had everything. That was pretty much the same up into the 50's and 60's.

When I was a kid, you could get certain things via mail order. But some of the stuff was controlled, but it was still possible.

Today? Not so much.

Heck 10-15 years ago, you could get Ammonium Nitrate fertilizers and of course diesel fuel. Today? LOL... try it and the feds will come a-knocking.

@Mad Mike Re: OOPS!

I think you've been watching too much TV.

First school age kids can't run around with weapons legally. Technically the .22 rifle they got for Xmas or their birthday is owned by their parents. Also you better believe that when a parent give a gun to a teen, they teach the teen about proper gun safety. (Or rather they should...) [Think of it as evolution in action]

Also in an accidental shooting, no one is let off scot free. They may not face charges or jail time, but there are still repercussions.

Note that I'm not advocating any jail time, however because they did this on school property, I think that its fair that the school does something.

Re: OOPS!

Why all the down votes?

Clearly I'm old enough to have a) done worse as a youth, and b) have kids their age.

The difference is that

1) We didn't have the constant worry about home made bombs going off killing or seriously injuring people.

2) Unlike the the girls, we took precautions to keep us safe.

3) We didn't do any of this on school grounds.

Should the girls face criminal charges? No.

Should the girls face disciplinary action from the school? Yes.

There's a reason why there is a disclaimer on the TV shows that kids shouldn't do things on their own.

Sorry, but lets be real. The school system has to protect itself and it has to re-enforce that its possible to do something stupid and someone can get hurt. They have to set an example so others think before doing something similar but even more dangerous...

I wonder if you can still buy iodine crystals at a local pharmacy these days....

Re: OOPS!

I think most of us as teens did similar things.

But that was then and before things like 9/11, 7/7 and now 4/15 (Boston).

Yes its very easy to walk in to a grocery store or a pharmacy and buy household chemicals to make explosives. Heck, you don't even need to do that to make thermite.

While I don't condone the girls getting charged, I do think that they were stupid and should have been more careful.

Doing it on school grounds should have been reason for a short suspension, but other than that... imagine if they mixed amonia and bleach together in a confined space with poor ventilation....

Re: Don't bash the MPs for doing their job

Its a clear and simple tax dodge that fails the simple sniff test.

If this was done in the US, the IRS would have a field day. Oh wait, they did with Amazon's Affiliate programs. The Affiliate is in NJ, not Amazon even though Amazon is doing the fulfillment from their warehouse in Indiana so Amazon should pay taxes in NJ. (This is just an example. I don't know if Amazon has a presence in NJ or not.)

I also agree about the double standard. Which is why I universally hate all politicians just on principal. Lawyers too and you will see me cheering when the revolution comes and they line up all of the lawyers first. ;-)

The point is that what Google is doing doesn't pass the sniff test.

Re: @IMG

Well thats the thing.

Sure you can create a bill from Ireland and have the person in the UK sign a contract with Google Ireland but that doesn't stop the transaction from occurring in the UK.

Google clearly has a presence in the UK, Whatever you call the office its essentially a sales office thus the transaction is local to the UK.

The tax dodge should fail under existing laws.

With respect to Starbucks, they got a bit clever saying that they were buying their coffee beans from a supplier in the Netherlands. (I think it was the Netherlands.) As it turns out, its a wholly owned subsidiary set up to sell coffee to only Starbucks at a 20% mark up. So you have Starbucks selling coffee to itself as a way to capture the 20% revenue at a lower tax bracket, increasing the costs in the UK so that they either make little or break even in the UK.

Again its a tax dodge, however it would be a bit harder to stop.

Re: Dear TMP

Clearly he doesn't know anything... ;-)

First, this is a repackaging of the IWA ( Informix/IDS Warehouse Accelerator) which was an extension of Kevin Brown's work done in the Financial Foundation done a decade earlier.

Second, the acceleration comes from the fact that you're putting everything in to memory and only a TB at that. (Note: they compress it to give you the feeling of more...)

That's pretty much it. Keep in mind that you have to load everything in to the accelerator and that takes time. So while you can query on things faster, its not really going to meet your needs in terms of 'big data' performance.

Its a hack to get a bit more simple analytics out of your RDBMS.

And yes, in spite of Janet Perna, IDS still has a large customer base. Its probably the best RDBMs on the market.

But this BLU is more smoke than mirrors. All it does is put a relatively small bit of data in memory for faster analytics than if it were on disk.

Re: Oh great

Uhm... Just a nit. If you create a wrap around display, there is no back.

There also isn't an easy way to replace the battery, or sim.

Very misleading...Re: OPN Pledge.

More smoke and mirrors and a bit of a reach.

First Google cant make a pledge and say that they won't sue companies that support and use apache licensed code, and then attempt to assert patent enforcement on a company that creates a derivative based on Apache which is permissible under Apache's license.

It doesn't wash.

The statement is more about image management than about protecting an invalid patent.

A lot of the techniques used have been around longer that the ability to register a software patent.

Sorry, but when you see pledges like this, you start to realize why software and business process patents are so wrong.

I don't think you understand...

First I think you have to see which patents google has.

To your point, google releases GWT.

They can't now go after companies who use it because they are infringing.

Even if they embed GWT into their product, a lawsuit will be tossed.

What google is saying is that if a company creates or uses software in their own products which are based on the open source code that violates a google patent , then they might sue.

While google wont win, they will spend you into the ground. This was clearly a warning shot meant at a specific large company.

Re: 4 x RE: I can't imagine the near future has many innovations ahead

And I used punch tape. So what's you point?

Re: RE: I can't imagine the near future has many innovations ahead

The IBM PC didn't emerge in '72 Not sure what you consider a personal computer.

Try Heathkit's H8 or the IMSAI and others which started to emerge around '77-'78 time frame.

The IBM PC was '82 not '72.

Hence the down vote.

And yes I'm old enough to have cut my teeth on an OSI C3A. when Floppies were 8" and only stored 128K per side. (Shugart ?sp? )

Re: Links? Links! to Global Warming?????

The sad thing is that this is common sense. A change in the world's climate will cause a shift in the weather patterns. (No duh!) Sorry you don't need an army of butterflies to get a change in the weather pattern.

All scientists have to do is to pull enough core and tree ring samples to see the temperature change also impacted the amount of rainfall and or lack of it in the area.

The key thing is that many involved in the climate gate fiasco is blaming this on man kind. It isn't.

Having said that, if all nations followed the Kyoto Treaty, having cleaner air wouldn't be a bad thing. Unfortunately that won't happen any time soon.

Along with the lack of clean power from nuclear energy and research in to fusion reactors.... we're doomed to keep polluting our planet.

Re: Not one to defend Apple but....

You do realize that Apple is the clear winner here.

How many people are going to file a claim?

And if they do, the bulk of them will receive apple credits, not cash.

The lawyers receive the cash. So parents will spend even more money through Apple's iTunes.

Apple will end up generating more revenue and continue to lock in their install base.

The only good will come when Apple forces their army of app developers to lock down the permissions and allow parents to turn off the ability to buy in app products unless a different password is used.

Then its the parent's fault for not supervising what packages their kids buy or that they know the parent's passwords.

Re: I love this organisation

It sounds more like the squabbling between the Judeans People's Front and the People's Front of Judea.

(Yes, I went there with the Monty Python reference. (Where's the Graham Chapman icon when you need it?))

Sorry but having seen the ad too many times, I never once thought about beastie love.

Actually pedophilia did cross my mind because this pig seems to act like a kid in most of the commercials where he's featured. (Remember the one where he's in the back seat of the car on a ride home from school? )

Yeah, its a dumb commercial. Just as bad as the overacting Gecko. However the fact that we know this means that they are effective ads.

But lets boycott their products not because of the Million Mommies who do enough damage to their childrens' mental health but because they make silly commercials.

And on the note of using fake animals in commercials, lets start a petition to bring back Gilbert Godfrey as the voice of the AFLAC duck! I think he learned his lesson ....

Re: Better names

Maybe it sounds better in Finnish?

Here, There and Everywhere ?

Täällä, täällä ja kaikkialla?

Thats the Google translation.

Re: Good piece

Unfortunately you don't grok 'Big Data'.

It's not something to be ashamed of. Really. There are a lot of 'Big Data' pundits who don't really understand it either.

If you want to be useful, you should know both and understand how to put both systems in to play working together.

BTW, the price of one Oracle license of a large 'enterprise' server would cover the costs of an entire cluster of Hadoop machines along with a licensed support contract. Then add in your hardware to boot.

That s why people are looking at Hadoop.

@ James

If you can't figure it out then you really don't know much about the languages or how you can do HFT and market making using Java.

Re: Can anyone point me at a good newbies guide?

Depends on how you define 'big data'...

Hadoop, just head over to Apache's website or look for Tom White's book (3rd Ed)

To answer your question...

Before Apple, or Windows, there was no hardware company using the name Apple. Same for Windows, or how about Acorn? (What every happened to them?) Common words.

IMHO the guy fighting to trademark Python is going to have a hard time on his hands.

Python is a computer language and has been in the public eye for quite some time.

Python is also slang for biceps.

And Python is a snake.

Could Verber be looking to brand a computer, service or class of service as Python?

I really don't know.

To your point, you can trademark a common word like Python, however in the US, it would only stop competitors in using the term. A company in a completely different line of business who didn't trademark the name could still use it... (Apple Records vs Apple Computer)

@Swarthy Re: Not just Coke (@ IMG)

Uhm yup that is why I wasn't diagnosed until I was 40. ;-)

My addiction to caffeine and the fact that I started to take harder courses in high school (requiring more focus and interest) cause a dramatic improvement in my GPA.

While some joke about ADD, its both a blessing and a curse.

Re: Not just Coke

It was throughout the day.

But damn. I started to wean back after doing 2+ liters of diet coke a day.

(And its probably my addiction to caffeine that made it difficult to diagnose my ADD until I was 40 )

Had she switched from Coke to diet... things might have been different.

Re: MySql

MySQL vs Oracle?

Puleeze. Get a real RDBMS in Informix's IDS now under IBM.

Even with IBM's inept management of the product there's a rabid core following and for a good reason. ;-)

Its more ORDB than its competitors and is still the fastest when tuned properly.

There's even a scaled down free version...

-Just saying!

@AC changing weather patterns

The change in climate results in a change in weather patterns. Weather patterns change, you don't get a consistent rainfall or snow to replace the water in the region.

Traditional crop lands dry up, resulting in lower food production.

Now what has a greater effect on weather patterns?

A) a shift in the earth's gravitational poles?

B) increased solar activity? Aka Sun spots?

C) natural volcanic events?

D) cooling of the earths molten core?

E) man made pollution?

If you've said E) you just might have a future in climatology and slinging BS

Note: I am all for cleaner air, but using junk science? Really?

@Anon 16 Re: Searching for diamonds

Clearly you don't grok Hadoop.

If you did you'd understand that your M/R is Java code. Or it could be streaming C/C++ code.

There are plenty of use cases that prove you wrong.

Hadoop is a parallel framework. Pretty basic in concept.

Its a wonder that any recruiter called on your.

The fail is for you.

Re: I believe it

What this essentially means is that the hype has exceeded the value so its now time for the real people to get the real work done.

You're now past the point where the pointy haired management type say 'lets do big data because that IT Research group tells us to do it...' You are to the point where they now know the term Big Data and face it with some scepticism so that people have to prove that it works and are not just choosing it to puff their resume.

Re: We don't need no f*g schema!

Actually that's not true. You do need a schema. If you actually knew anything about Hive, Pig and HBase, Schema design is important, and if you're using Hive, add partitioning of the data.

Re: Disposable

The article states that the orbit is low enough that it will decay over time burning up in the earth's atmosphere. Since these are small enough devices, I seriously doubt that anything of size would be left to even hit the surface of the planet.

Of course if this were mainly 2KG of depleted uranium... launched at the surface from that hight?

That could be a different story...

@Ragarth ... Re: $48M a Pop

The sats are 2 million a pop so its not $48M a pop.

If you look at the costs involved in changing a position of a spy satellite, this is relatively cheaper and it allows for more of a continuous upgrade in terms of technology. (How often can you launch a big bird? )

The interesting thing would be if you could place a mini sat in geo synchronous orbit over the target.

Assuming that you can get in to the airspace over the target in the first place.

I don't know if you could launch this from an SR-71, but something capable of that high of an altitude and speed...

Just saying