So....

And this is yet another example of why the patent system is broken, i could understand patenting actual code to prevent someone either lifting it directly for use in another system , or even creating code to perform the task by plagiarizing the code.

But to actually be granted a patent based only on a method describing the steps to take is ludicrous, especially when if the description of the problem was given to a 100 software designers , the likelihood of similar/identical methods would be reasonably high.

Now Next Week

I guess the Reg must run on Blizzard 'Soon' time, since the follow up hasn't appeared yet :)

So....

Any of these lock-in's with Samsung ?

Druss The Legend

More Fantasy than Sci-Fi, but this was the first book by David Gemmel that i read.

I've always imagined the big scene in the book at the breach in the fortifications that Druss is defending as follows.

<Geek Mode On>

Camera in longshot panning the wall , and slowly going into close up on Druss with his war-axe with just the musical portion of The Final Countdown playing slowly (The equivalent of a 45 single being played at 33&1/3)

<Geek Mode>

In all seriousness, Druss The Legend, is a book that is crying out for a good screen play, it could even Drag Arnie back into Barbarian mode since Druss is in his 60's when the battle takes place.

This is so open to abuse.

All you need is someone with a dislike to you and wham a speeding ticket and points.

There is no tangible evidence here, only the word of the person with the speed gun, no photographs proving who was in the car or photographic evidence of the speeding offense itself.

It's an old analogy, but does the idea of a state where other people inform on others for minor infringements of the law sound familiar?, we only need state secret police ensuring that we are all politically correct and we're there.

Why would Jobs even Be eligable for one.

He runs a company that sells overpriced hardware produced almost entirely in China.

So he costs jobs in the US because of the outsourcing and Apple Donates very little to charity when compared with other companies/CEO's

Unless its because he is the biggest Cult leader the modern world has seen i can't see any reason that he'd deserve a Knighthood, probably one of his inner circle in the British Government nominated him because He and the British Government have the same aims , i.e.impose a 1984 style culture on everyone.

Nanny State In Overdrive

So breast feeding mothers now have to be screened before they feed their babies?.

Seriously what is the councils problem, if the donors are properly screened before donating milk whats the problem?. I'm not sure I would try it but to each their own.

Its not as if History doesn't have examples of other types of Breast Milk donation, such as Wet Nurses.

This seems more like someone in the council doesn't like it there nobody else should,

Why bother

As a Brit living in the US, American TV shows think nothing of using racial stereotypes when portraying the English, from bad teeth,bad food, and always thinking Brits all speak with a Cockney accent to a very badly portrayed Queen Elizabeth on a Hebrew National hot dog advert which i found to be very insulting (Yes I'm a Royalist)

There is far too much PC in the world to day, people just seem to need something to whine about, the Mexican Ambassador should have just shut up and taken heed of the phrase 'Sticks and Stones' , and the Beeb should not have done anything to Top Gear editing wise.

Too many Fanbois Here

Judging by the number of down-votes on perfectly reasonable posts I'd say Google is attracting the same sort of Sycophantic zealots that Apple has. Down-voting posts because you don't like what they say is wrong, if you disagree with someones point of view , post a reply or just do nothing.

I usually down vote offensive or just plain stupid posts, which is the way I feel that down-voting should be used, although I must admit some of the irrationality in the comments has caused me to sink to their level and down-vote a couple of the more xenophobic posts,

Down-vote away.

The Innovation here is....

Attaching an Apple logo to what is otherwise prior art.

Most of the people who grant patents in the US will grant Apple one simply based on the fact that Apple are patenting it regardless of prior art, This just shows how broken the patent office is when all Apple need to do is take somebody elses work attach their logo and proclaim that they've invented something new.

City Of Heroes/Villians

You'd think with COH/COV having been out there for several years, SOE would have had a chance to improve on that Game, but based on the review I'd say that they are barely on a par with a much older game.

What else is there to say?

Icon says it all.

About Time To Tax

Companies that send jobs overseas. The only way to prevent these job losses is to make it as expensive to offshore as it is to employ locally, the we'll see how efficient off shoring really is. I know this means the government interfering in private industry but I don't see another way,

I wonder what companies are thinking when they do this, effectively banks are cutting there own customer pool, because no new jobs magically appear for the people laid off, which means less taxes and increased spending for the government and worse public image for the companies performing the off shoring.

I'm all for investing in staffing for a market you are participating in but to shift jobs to another country just because its cheaper doesn't show any form of social conscience from the company.

Apple Invents,

The touchscreen laptop , I can just see their press release now.

It's amazing how many people out there act like it's the second coming when Apple brush all previous incarnations of a device under the carpet and claim its their idea.

If the article about them preventing Spotify hitting the states is true I've yet another reason to avoid all Apple products, as if i needed any more.

No way

I currently buy AMD processors for my home build PC's if Oracle got their grubby paws on them that would be the and of my relationship with them.

Google cools data center with bottom of Baltic Sea

and contributes to rise on ocean temperatures in the process. :)

Err What?

"It's always encouraging to see a decision that smacks a mighty Goliath, though one can't help regretting that this one seems to favor a David who, by his own admission, is no longer able to dress, bathe, or communicate with family and friends as a direct result of his use of Lineage II.

He did however find time to engage a lawyer and file what appears to be a frivolous law suite. Whats next a law suit because people have become addicted to watching avatar?

(BTW 20,000 hours is 833 days did none of hist family notice this?)

Spectrum ZX81

Next they'll be reintroducing the ZX81 with all new components, what a joy it will be to work with that keyboard again :P

Seriously though how can anyone expect to cover costs let alone make money on something like this, its not like people will be lining up in their millions to buy this.

Common Sense

Apparently common sense is now patentable ?

In This Battle

I hope it's Oracle that walk away with the Bloody Nose, this has to have been part of their plan with regards to buying Sun from the very beginning, since this doesn't even affect any of the current areas Oracle do business in and Sun didn't see any problems this is nothing more than a predatory attack for cash, Whilst i have like respect for Google I have even less for Larry Ellison and the sharks at Oracle. If Oracle win this then other corporations using variants of Java are in a whole boatload of trouble and Oracle could be the first company to make more money from lawsuits.

Still Waiting

For Spotify to be available in the US, there is still some vague statement about it being available in 2010 , but it would be good to see them announce a committed date.

One Way Share

I rather suspect this will be a one way operation if it goes ahead, with the EU giving Israel all it wants (rather like shutting up a spoiled child) and nothing of use being given back.

The Israeli government have a strong tendency to act like a schoolyard bully in the middle east, especially to the Palestinians and when they bite off more than they can chew, they guilt the west into helping them because of what happened in the 2nd world war (regardless of the fact the allies had no control over what the Germans were doing)

Road Use?

I suppose there's gonna be a lot of money in widening road lanes by 400% to 500% to support these 'Flying' Cars. Gonna rush to a stockbroker and buy shares in road construction Companies. (NOT)

Wheres the point in calling it a car when it obviously has no viable use on a road?

Must be the little voices in his head.

Wow what a looser, guess he was having PMS issues and needed to rant either that or the voices in his head tell him to kill anyone who's photograph have a red 'X' through it.

Just to keep him happy change the color/colour to Blue :)

So much for principles at Google.

When, they first said they would stop filtering content a few months ago, I knew they would back down eventually. The way they've done it is to effectively put the choice in the hands of the people of china, and allowed the Chinese Government the ability to potentially block a singe URL that points to Honk Kong (Which strangely enough is also part of China).

Google may paint this anyway the want to but regardless of previous statements they've caved into Chinese demands, I'd laugh if they didn't grant a license to Google even after this climb down/

Whats Next?

Will the Australian government require that people are fitted with voice recorders that record everything they say?

Seems like the Australian government is attempting to become the poster child for totalitarianism.

I guess you can only emigrate to Australia now if you have tendency towards Dictatorship.

Antitrust Here We Go

Title says it all, I think Apple have just crossed that line in the sand.

New Google Job Offerings

Scape Goat Required - Temporary Assignment Only.

Steve Jobs Wants

To control everything people do so he can make money off it, to have open environments such as twitter, youtube, blogs etc. means people are saying things he can't control or censor.

More and more he looks like he's developing a God complex, and the worst thing is the press eat it up. Perhaps 12 months without any mention in the news or trade press will bring him down to earth. I'd like to see that if nobody else does, seeing headlines like Steve Jobs drinks a coffee or wears a Blue turtleneck are getting old. (Over-exaggeration I know but that''s what it feels like lately)

Good Read

A nice and balanced piece. Although I'm in what you'd call the anti apple camp, I'd have considered the Ipad if some the problems you highlighted weren't true.

Namely, the closed environment that Apple seem to want to enforce, The requirement to use AT&T for the 3G connections and one or two technical things such as USB ports etc.

What potentially would have help sell the Ipad to me as well would have been a forward faciing camera to be able to use the device as a video conference phone.

As it is I'm likely to be looking at ASUS/Acer for tablet PC (HP would have been in there but they've dropped the Win7 options for their Slate (I like choice :) )

Need more time to cleanse the data.

I'd guess in reality Google want more time to 'adjust' the contents of the data they collected, so it doesn't look as bad as it really is.

How on earth could you accidentally capture any data? they got caught and now its all about damage control.

Bye Bye Facebook

If they're trying to force people to use other social networks they're succeeding, however if anyone at Facebook thinks this is going to anything but reduce its number of members they're living in the same fantasy land as Steve Jobs.