Post by: Paddy on August 24, 2012, 11:45:53 AM
Please, someone, make it stop.
Post by: gunug on August 24, 2012, 12:45:17 PM
I'd actually like to see cellphones (all of them) banned so maybe my wife wouldn't be in danger of a high speed wreck in a local parking lot. . .from a fifty something idiot who couldn't stop talking on the cellphone!
Post by: Xairbusdriver on August 24, 2012, 03:49:38 PM
I heard that report this morning also, gunug. Although, I must say, listening to a knife chopping something left a lot to the imagination... How do we know he was really chopping chicken? And I kept waiting to hear that this was the guy who created SPAM! OTOH, I'm not sure anyone would admit to that without a good deal of torture...
Post by: tacit on August 27, 2012, 04:53:14 PM
QUOTE(Paddy @ Aug 24 2012, 04:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I keep going back and forth on whether the patent wars going on in IT are ridiculous or not.
On the one hand, patents are supposed to be awarded for things that are novel, useful, and non-obvious. It seems that a lot of patents fail the "non-obvious" test, and more than a few are being awarded for things that are not novel. I'm especially skeptical about the idea of software patents. And there's no doubt that patents, which are supposed to be used to spur invention by giving people the ability to profit from their inventions, can also be used as a blunt instrument to prevent other people from competing.
And don't even get me started on patents for things that are necessary industry standards. Seems to me that if a company submits something as an industry standard, they should relinquish their patent on it.
On the other hand, I look at the way cell phones used to be before the iPhone. We had an amazing range of radically different cell phones in all kinds of different form factors. Flip phones. Those cool slider phones they used in The Matrix. Phones that unfolded vertically.
Nowadays, nearly all smart phones have the same form factor and look the same, right down to the rounded corners. Samsung phones, the HTC Sensation in my pocket, LG phones...with the exception of BlackBerries, they all look pretty much the same. That tells me that yes, people really are copying Apple; it's not like a smart phone HAS to have that form factor!
Post by: Xairbusdriver on August 27, 2012, 05:36:32 PM
But one might then get sued?! Or at least banished for making such a bad pun?
It's certainly fueled the Fandroid and Apple-hater crowds.
Post by: krissel on August 28, 2012, 02:43:56 AM
http://www.tecca.com/news/2011/11/10/nokia...flexible-phone/
Post by: Xairbusdriver on August 28, 2012, 09:12:29 AM
Some of the things have already been suggested, like the tactile feedback function. That could be handy for keyboards and especially braille displays. Not sure what use the flexibility would enhance. 
A smaller screen seems a step backward... I suppose one would soon figure out which way is 'up' for the 'thing,' unless it uses the 'standard' used now; up is whatever is highest. 
Post by: gunug on August 28, 2012, 10:22:23 AM
Post by: Xairbusdriver on August 28, 2012, 11:09:34 AM
QUOTE
let's see it in the world before we patent it
I think that would need an ironically named, "Design Patent." However, simply describing a method to do something (designing it?) would need only a "Utility Patent." (<Step 2>) In other words, as I understand it, you can file for a Utility Patent without actually building anything. Thus, it doesn't have to be "in the world." I think that concept, if I understand it correctly, is a big part of the problem with our patent system. Some one who gets an idea to actually work, could be in violation of a patent that the owner never developed into anything functional. 
I think I remember why I decided against a law degree...
