27 Jan 2009
John Updike, Author, Dies at 76

Rabbit Has Croaked. RIP

John Updike, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, prolific man of letters and erudite chronicler of sex, divorce and other adventures in the postwar prime of the American empire, died Tuesday at age 76.

(link) [New York Times]

16:12 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

Market for Used Wind Turbines

Interesting ... especially in combination with other technologies, like geothermal.

A growing number of new companies are snapping up the old turbines on the cheap, overhauling the systems and reselling them to farmers or other community wind developers at bargain prices.

(link) [New York Times]

07:55 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

A Good Cause

Attention animal lovers: Help Allie Get New Hips!

Allie's "dad" is a co-worker. If you can't donate, spread the word - the operations needed are incredibly expensive, and consumer electronics isn't exactly a hot growth industry whose employees pull down megabucks right now ... trust me, I know that for a fact!

07:52 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

More held in India women attack

Hinduism seems to be rapidly developing a fundamentalist streak - this is not good. Not good at all.

Ten more members of an Indian right-wing group are held in connection with beating up women for drinking in a bar.

(link) [BBC News]

07:43 /Home | 1 comment | permanent link

Apple Awarded Patent For iPhone Interface

What will this mean to other touch screen developers? It'll force them to waste money on lawyers so they can keep doing the things they've been doing for the past ten years...

This is a prime example of what's wrong with the patent system in this country - the sooner we get rid of patents on software (and, by extension, math), the better off we'll be.

Apple's 358-page patent application for their iPhone interface entitled Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics has been approved after more than two years of review by the US Patent Office. Apple's claims include: 'A computer-implemented method for use in conjunction with a computing device with a touch screen display comprises: detecting one or more finger contacts with the touch screen display, applying one or more heuristics to the one or more finger contacts to determine a command for the device, and processing the command. The one or more heuristics comprise: a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a one-dimensional vertical screen scrolling command, a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a two-dimensional screen translation command, and a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a command to transition from displaying a respective item in a set of items to displaying a next item in the set of items.' As Apple seems eager to defend their intellectual property, what will this mean to other touch developers?

(link) [Slashdot]

07:39 /Copywrongs | 2 comments | permanent link