15 Jan 2004
Microsoft loses $521m Eolas patent appeal

This won't put M$ out of business, but imagine the effect it would have had on a smaller company. This patent is bogus bullshit - even the USPTO knows that. But apparently, it don't matter to the judge. I wonder if, when the patent is overturned, M$ will be owed interest on the money it's going to have to cough up to Eolas? I doubt it, somehow.

Patently unfair?

(link) [The Register]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

LEGO Mindstorms Will Survive

Apparently this was the result of a "misunderstanding". It's a good thnig too - this is one 47 year old customer of the Lego Corporation that wouldn't be a customer if they didn't have Mindstorms!

(link) [Slashdot]

00:00 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

Visa program may aid foreign companies

Apparently it's not enough to steal our jobs by shipping them to Hydrabad - now Indian companies are setting up shop over here and importing the workers! Egads! Have they no honor at all! If we tried this in a Third World country we'd be "colonialist, imperialist exploiters".

India-based companies with U.S. operations rely heavily on temporary visas, and the trend could escalate with a recent change in the law.

(link) [CNET News.com - Front Door]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Seeds of destruction

I never thought I'd make a post to my Ag section from technology source CNet, but here it is! And they make a good point, too. Biodiversity protects against plagues in the fields the same way diversity in the tech world protects against the proliferation of virii and worms.

Agriculture epidemics may hold clues to Net viruses

(link) [CNET News.com - Front Door]

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

Why NAT Isn't As Bad As You Thought

I never really thought of it in this fashion, but I think the author here may be onto something. I NAT myself on our home network in conjunction with a firewall: it's more a security thing for me (I do have a private, routable IP for server use elsewhere, however). But the idea of pure economics driving NAT is rather novel.

Please do sit down. Should the shock cause you to suddenly lose consciousness, I hereby disclaim all responsibility for any subsequent loss or injury. I'm about to defend the anthrax of the Internet: NAT. Network Address Translation is a hack to enable private IP addresses on one side of a router (inside your network) to talk to public IP addresses on the other side (on the Internet, outside your network). It really doesn't matter how it works. The consequence is that unless the router...

(link) [CircleID]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

SCO Fails to Produce Evidence

The Court order SCO to show evidence of IBM's copyright infringement by 12 Jan 2004 - and SCO delivers a document that says, "Gee, your Honor, we're almost certain that they're copied our stuff, but they need to show us their stuff first!"

How do you spell "contempt"? Try S - C - O

(link) [Slashdot]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

More mad cow cases to come in U.S.

Somebody has a clue ...

For the first time in history, the United States is faced with a confirmed case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease within its borders, but according to one researcher, there are many more undocumented cases just waiting to be discovered. "The American public should be concerned, at this moment, there is contaminated beef sitting in grocery stores and personal freezers across the country," he says.

(link) [Science Blog]

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link