Microsoft patents the "search engine"

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/search-engine-seo-bing,11462.html#xtor=RSS-181

"Microsoft has received a patent that covers a search engine platform that is based on a "bag-of-words" and "essential pages" ranking system to make searches more efficient."

I'm no expert, but this sounds pretty similar (although not identical) to another very popular search engine.

What hasn't Apple patented? :P

http://gizmodo.com/5662615/apple-will-help-your-mom-stop-you-from-sexting

Very interesting patent (bringing in a couple of topics we've talked about). I wonder how their algorithm actually catches it, and whether it can stop photos as well.

*edit* Only text is covered in the patent. Reading comprehension fail =(

Ethical reasoning at work.

Anti-censorship Hidden truths A new way of beating the web’s censors

I found this article while going through some articles on The Economist. It's funny how the only way I understood what they were talking about and the reason it popped out at me is because of this class :)

It's crazy how people go through such measures just to get messages out...

http://www.economist.com/node/17243251

Nader

Apple trademarks "There's an app for that."

So Apple has just received a trademark on the sentence "There's an app for that."

Original Article

I'm posting it because I've been thinking a lot recently about companies that spend a lot of energy getting their product name (or slogan) to become part of the English language and then turn around and say, "You're infringing on our copyright when you say that."

Is Xerox really unhappy that people use xerox as a verb? Is Kleenex really unhappy that people say, "Can you hand me a kleenex?" Would they really want to give up all that name recognition and free advertising? Or do they just have to pretend they're unhappy so that they can prove in court that they are defending the trademark?

I think there is a lot of evidence to support the notion that companies want their trademarks to become part of how people speak:

• Those print ads admonishing people not to use Xerox as a verb or whatever... Do they run them in Newsweek or Rolling Stone or other popular magazines? I've never seen them there. I've only ever seen them in trade journals with relatively small readerships. And I've certainly never seen Xerox run a TV ad about not using their name in vain. If they really wanted to get the message across, why not use the most effective form of advertising?

• Also, those ads only ever appear after the trademark has been fully established in the language (and is therefore unlikely to fade away). Yes, the modern BandAid commercial sings about "BandAid Brand," but if you go find the original commercial that aired for years, you'll hear it sung, "I am stuck on BandAid, cause BandAid's stuck on me." They spent years running this ad, got a nation of children singing it on playgrounds, and then changed the lyrics and started lecturing people about how they were using their name wrong.

• Finally, if companies don't want their product names to be used as common nouns, how do we explain: "Hi, I'm a Mac"? Shouldn't that be "Hi, I'm a Mac brand computer. Or are they going to wait until they've successfully got the entire population using Mac as a noun and then say we're infringing on their intellectual property?

Is it ethical to try to influence the way people talk and think, and then turn around and prohibit it? If it's not outright unethical, it feels at least hypocritical and duplicitous.

Kids under 2 have an online presence

They say that 82% of children (aged 2 years or younger) in 10 western countries have an online presence. The problem is, "disclosing a lot of personal info, such as birth dates, middle names and mothers' maiden names -- which can be carelessly inserted into photo captions -- can aid identity thieves."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/social.media/10/07/baby.pictures/index.html

using gps to spy on a student

Interesting read! A student from California found a GPS tracker on his car, which he says belongs to the FBI. His friend posted the photos on reddit (http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/dmh5s/does_this_mean_the_fbi_is_after_us/) and the student was approached by FBI agents who wanted the tracker back.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/gaming.gadgets/10/08/fbi.tracks.student.wired/index.html