Oracle - Google Android Lawsuit Surfacing Interesting Facts. Open Source Java!

It is fascinating to read about this lawsuit. In an email by Android boss Andy Rubin to Google's Sergey, Larry Page and some other Googlers, reveals that Google could have had an annual Java license for $100 million and the group agreed to decline it. If ever Oracle manages to get a injunction over Android, costs of getting a new license will be million folds of the 100 million.
Another fact that coming out is the SUN proposed  a Redhat style Android distribution with Open Source Java. Yes hind sight is 20/20 but it is not too late to learn more about these facts.It IS fascinating.
Read more at FOSS Patents.

Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (H.R. 1249) Passes 93-5 In Senate.

Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (H.R. 1249) has passed the Senate as expected. The Act is slated to become a law as soon as President Obama signs it.
The act was passed earlier in the Senate and another version in the House earlier but the differences in the versions passed sent the act back to the Senate and it passed after the Senate came back from the anual recess in August.
Basically we are not getting much out of this law but all the politicians, both the sides, will get some ride on it saying it will create 200,000 new jobs. But the general understanding is it will not which has even has been answered by a survey.
PatentlyO explains this much better than I could;

To be patentable, an invention must still be new, useful, and fit within one of the statutory classifications.  The primary difference on that front will be that the inventor’s pre-filing activity becomes even less important and third-party activity just prior to the filing date becomes more important.  Innovative companies will need to rethink filing strategies to fit the new rules, but this will not normally be CEO level strategic rethinking - but instead general counsel and chief patent counsel planning. The law of patentability will be more complicated and unstable for the next decade as we go through the transition, but the dust will settle and the patent system will remain.

You can read more at PatentlyO

Tech Pier In SF, Pier 38 To Be Emptied By September 30th! America Cup Anyone?

After weeks of speculations and other stuff, San Francisco Port Authority has declared the pier to be unsafe for public.(the pic above was taken by Robert Scobble) One of our colleagues spent two good years of his life in this pier located on the San Francisco water front (map) and I have been to  Pier 38 last week.
Pier 38 houses a collection of tech companies including Automatic (Wordpress), DogPatch Labs (responsible for many startups housed here), Polaris Ventures, True Ventures, 99 Designs, EGG HAUS and a bunch more.
There are no real reasons or news yet but the fact that these companies will have to move and the question remains to where?
Perhaps Port Authority need the space for America Cup, just speculating!
Via TC

Brother Announces AiRScouter, Its See-Through Head-Mounted Display (Video)

Brother has announced that it is bringing out AiRScouter, a head-mounted and transparent transmissive liquid crystal display. When worn, the device creates the impression of a 16-inch screen that’s about one meter away from user’s eyes.

Brother Industries Ltd. (President: Toshikazu Koike, hereinafter BIL) has announced the commercialization of its "AiRScouter" see-through type head-mounted display.

Brother has already secured an agreement with NEC Corporation (President: Nobuhiro Endo, hereinafter NEC), which will adopt the product as the display for its own business-use wearable computer "Tele Scouter®". And from this autumn Brother Sales, Ltd. (President: Shunsuke Katayama, hereinafter Brother Sales), a subsidiary of BIL will start the shipment of AiRScouter to NEC.

Brother Sales will also start its own sales activities focusing on companies specializing in systems development or architecture and aim to expand the sales for industrial use including assembly support in the factory.

AiRScouter is a head-mounted, see-through type display that allows images from computers and smartphones to be viewed by the wearer. Images appear as if they were in front of the user. The technology includes a high-definition liquid crystal panel, with mirror reflected light making the image visible, as if they were shown on the translucent display.

Head Mounted

• Users can use both hands whilst viewing the image. They do not need to move or change their eye directions to get sources they want to see.
  Therefore, operational efficiency is improved.

See-through

• Users can see an transparent image without impacting the field of view.
  Therefore, it improves certainty of operation and ensures security.

Letters are clearly viewed in full color

• The size of the image viewed by a user is the same as one viewing a 16 inch full color display at a distance of 1m.
  It is possible to read down to 12-point font with AiRscouter and suitable to read instruction manuals.

Small size and light weight

• AiRScouter is compact and the display weighs approximately 64g. By using titanium as a material of frames the overall weight including the display, glass, frames and cables is approximately 106g.

Low power consumption

• Electricity consumption of AiRScouter is about 1/20 of one consumed by a standard 16 inch LED display. Therefore, AiRScouter contributes to the reduction of environmental burdens.

Others

• Users can wear AiRScouter with a helmet or cap.
• When combined with a camera, headset and communication system, it can facilitate operational support from a remote place.
• Frames for people who wear glasses are provided.
• Users can adjust the focus point from approximately 30cm to 10m, using an adjustable dial attached on the display.
• Users can adjust the display to the best position using a position adjustable system which slides the display from side to side and up and down.

From above feature, BIL foresees potential needs on AiRScouter at various different worksites, such as product assembly, products and parts picking, and maintenance and repair, where operators need to read instructions as they work.

The Brother Group will focus on developing and expanding the new business under its Mid-Term Business Strategy "CS B2015".

Brother

The Nikon COOLPIX S1200pj, A Camera With A Builtin Projector.

The COOLPIX S1200pj: Share with Flair
Building off of the award winning innovations from its predecessors, the COOLPIX S1200pj encourages a new level of content sharing with a powerful and brighter 20-lumen built-in projector. For added versatility, the COOLPIX S1200pj works with an iPhone®, iPad® or iPod touch® allowing users to project images and movies stored on these devices as well as online content. In addition, the camera maintains the ability to project content from a computer, such as presentations of multimedia content. The COOLPIX S1200pj also offers improved operability including illuminated icons and raised controls for easier access, even in the dark. Projecting an image up to 60-inches wide, the COOLPIX S1200pj helps make a big impression, whether in front of clients during a business meeting or at the center of a party.

The COOLPIX S1200pj includes must-have features to help capture great photos and movies including 14.1-megapixel resolution, 5x Optical Zoom, HD (720p) movie capture with stereo sound and a 3.0-inch LCD screen display to help compose at the touch of a finger. The user can also add their artistic touch to their images with a variety of Special Effects and Filter Effects. Compact enough to slip into a pocket, the COOLPIX S1200pj goes wherever life takes it.

The COOLPIX S1200pj will be available in mid September 2011 for an estimated selling price*** of $429.95 in black and pink.
The Nikon COOLPIX S1200pj, A Camera With A Builtin Projector.

MSN Hulu Using SuperCookies To Track You (How To Remove Included)

While ago MyAdlets showed you how to remove supercookies using flash to track you and now there are two more reasons for you to check your computers, be it PC, MAC or Linux.
It was revealed that Microsoft's MSN and Video site HULU has been tracking users using SuperCookies.
These hard to remove supercookies are used to monitor the info of those who visit these sites and can provide significantly more information than standard cookies. For instance, they can suck up your entire browser history.
Microsoft has said they did not know why the supercookies were used (yes we believe you M$) and has removed the code once informed.
Hulu which used Kissmetrics code to create their superCookies, say that they are investigating the matter. Perhaps while they are investigating, you can find other video sites.
You can use MyAdlets link above to remove and block flash SuperCookies.
If you are a Firefox user, you can use Betterprivasy extension to protect against SuperCookies. Also CCleaner can remove SuperCookies from Windows Computers. Mac users have Flush.app

Via Gizmodo

Tie And Die Google Map Of Berkeley! Thanks To Rorschmap

One half of the Kaleidoscopic Berkeley

Ever wonder what what Google Maps will look under the influence of drugs that makes one go kaleidoscopic? Now you can do that without needing the harmful drugs, thank to Rorschmap This Google Maps mashup by James Bridle so much fun I had multiple kaleidoscopic views of Berkeley CA. You can easily send your own location on a trip!

Rorschmap via Kottke

Protecting Users From Malware Using Knowledge Gained From Data

You may have seen an unusual sign if you visited Google recently, like in the image above. That is Google and power of data acting together with security engineers to protect you.

If you see the message, your machine is infected with a strange variant on malware.

Google was able to detect that computers infected with this strain of malware is sending traffic to Google via a set of proxy servers.

Google expect to help out users with eradicating these malware by warning users when traffic is coming from these proxies. Users are directed to a special help page to work with antivirus software to remove infections.

So far this is what Google / we know about these infections;

• The malware appears to have gotten onto users' computers from one of roughly a hundred variants of fake antivirus, or "fake AV" software that has been in circulation for a while. We aren't aware of a common name for the malware.
• We believe a couple million machines are affected by this malware.
• We've heard from a number of you that you're thinking about the potential for an attacker to copy our notice and attempt to point users to a dangerous site instead. It's a good security practice to be cautious about the links you click, so the spirit of those comments is spot-on. We thought about this, too, which is why the notice appears only at the top of our search results page. Falsifying the message on this page would require prior compromise of that computer, so the notice is not a risk to additional users.
• In the meantime, we've been able to successfully warn hundreds of thousands of users that their computer is infected. These are people who otherwise may never have known.

Official Google Blog: Using data to protect people from malware

Lithro, Light Field Camera, Focus Free Digital Camera That Brings Point And Shoot To Point And Shoot!

I have had my share of cameras, from Medium format manual camera to Latest Canon DSLR wonder. But Many a times I have sighed because of the focus, or contrast or my inability to take proper photos.

But the news of Litro, a light field camera, a brain child of Dr. Ren Ng, is putting a large smile on my face and those photo blues are vanishing like bay area fog fronted by sun.

Basically the Litro allows you to Point and shoot. Once that is done, you can focus on any area of the photo!

There is no other way to explain but play with the simulation provided by Litro! Click on any where on the photo below to focus. See more examples by following the link after the jump!

This is more than Great, I am waiting for the camera!
Litro

Final Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour, An Epic Feat.

 After 30 years of triumph and tragedy, NASA’s space shuttle era is drawing to a close as Space Shuttle Endeavour took it's last flight. Then again Youtube, Google PBS News hour and NASA is presenting you with a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a part of this special moment.YOU can ask NASA Crew Questions for a LIVE Interview From Space. Follow the link after the video.

PBS Newshour at Youtube

REDHAT Is Fooling FOSS And Feeding Patent Trolls!

I am very happy that just a few weeks ago, I made a decision not to buy Readhat product and instead went with CentOS and private local support for a project requiring Linux servers.
The answer to why? is in the lengthy post by Florian Mueller revealing what Redhat is doing behind the closed doors.
Through  examining a series of a lawsuits, negotiations with patent trolls, litigations, Florian shows how  Redhat managed to fool FOSS community and feed the Patent troll at the same time. In this particular case, Redhat has paid 4.2 Million to the patent holders.

Red Hat coughed up $4.2 million in June 2008 to settle a patent infringement suit that had been brought by FireStar Software.

The content is too vast to summarize here but what matters is that
While patent license agreements are just a routine deal for traditional IT companies, the significance of this finding lies in how it reflects on Red Hat's credibility:

• In political and regulatory contexts, the market-leading Linux distributor insists on the false claim that open source licenses (especially the GPL) are absolutely incompatible with the payment of patent royalties (while this simply depends on the specific terms and conditions of a deal).
• The GPL also serves as Red Hat's pretext for refusing to offer its customers implementations of patent-encumbered standards such as the popular AVC/H.264 video codec.
• Another important credibility issue is that the world's largest open source company actually fails to be open about its patent-related dealings and positions, a fact that others have criticized before. It hides behind self-imposed confidentiality obligations and employs legalese terminology that in the eyes of many laypeople will appear far more favorable to Red Hat than a straightforward representation of the facts would.

If you are involved in FOSS, it is very important to learn these facts so I urge you to visit the source and read the article in it's entririty.
Thanks Florian.
Red Hat feeds the patent trolls and fools the FOSS community

The Document Foundation ( LibreOffice ) Raises €50,000 In Eight days!

If you are a LibreOffice user, you can be rest assured that good news is covering the The Document Foundation, which is responsible for the LibreOffice, the free personal productivity suite.
I have been a OpenOffice user for a very long time but I have moved over to LibreOffice because, unrestricted freedom it offers.
It is very good news in many a fronts, one way we assured that LibreOffice and The Document Foundation will continue to operate and provide the valuable service. But most important is that people like you and me, trusts and supports The Document Foundation. If OpenOffice allowed you to be free of clutches of M$, now you can soar free with OpenOffice, Please visit.
Even if you cannot make a financial contribution, please help by spreading the word and introducing people to the LibreOffice.
Following is a exact post on the Document Foundation blog;

The Community around LibreOffice, the free personal productivity suite, has accomplished the next major milestone in establishing The Document Foundation as a legal entity. In just eight days, some 2,000 donors from all over the world contributed €50,000 for the capital stock necessary to set-up the legal entity in Germany.
“We still can’t believe it,” says Florian Effenberger, Steering Committee member. “It happened in such a short period of time and was beyond our wildest expectations. You all really rock! On behalf of the Community, the Steering Committee would like to thank all the donors for their generous support.”
The €50,000 collected will form the Foundation’s paid-up capital, ensuring a permanent future for the organization after the legal paperwork is complete, based in Germany. The capital will be frozen assets for the Foundation: the funds cannot be spent, and we will be able to avail just the annual interest. All money donated from now on will actually bankroll our ongoing running costs for things such as marketing, hardware, infrastructure, attending trade shows, initial financing of merchandising material and, of course, developing new and exciting ideas.
“So we still need your support: Every donation helps to pay for our future operational running,” Effenberger adds.
Details on how to donate to The Document Foundation and how the money will be spent are available at http://challenge.documentfoundation.org
Information about LibreOffice can be found at http://www.libreoffice.org
The home of The Document Foundation is at http://www.documentfoundation.org
About The Document Foundation
The Document Foundation has the mission of facilitating the evolution of the LibreOffice community into a new, open, independent, and meritocratic organization over the next few months. An independent Foundation is a better reflection of the values of our contributors, users and supporters, and will enable a more effective, efficient and transparent community. TDF will protect past investments by building on the achievements of the first decade, will encourage wide participation within the community, and will co-ordinate activity across the community.
Media Contacts
Florian Effenberger (Germany)
Mobile: +49 151 14424108 – E-mail: floeff@documentfoundation.org
Olivier Hallot (Brazil)
Mobile: +55 21 88228812 – E-mail: olivier.hallot@documentfoundation.org
Charles H. Schulz (France)
Mobile: +33 6 98655424 – E-mail: charles.schulz@documentfoundation.org
Italo Vignoli (Italy)
Mobile: +39 348 5653829 – E-mail: italo.vignoli@documentfoundation.org

Google Code Jam Africa and Arabia 2011!

Google Code Jam is a coding competition in which professional and student programmers are asked to solve complex algorithmic challenges in a limited amount of time. The contest is all-inclusive: Google Code Jam lets you program in the coding language and development environment of your choice.

Want to match wits with coders across the continent, test your skills on some tough algorithmic problems, or win a prize? Register now for Code Jam Africa and Arabia!

Interested in Google internships? Register now and let us know! Outstanding performance in Code Jam Africa and Arabia 2011 may be considered if you apply for an internship at our European Headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.

Need even more coding? Ready to take on the world? Join Google's global Code Jam 2011!

Do you enjoy solving tough problems and grappling with technical challenges? You can practice on our past contests. If this is your first time competing in a Code Jam event, take a look at our Quick-Start Guide to learn the basics of how to compete.

Take a trip To Cowboys Stadium In 3D

“Cowboys Stadium, Arlington TX In 3D” 
Everyone knows it is cold in Texas, specially for us here in Cali, with weather reaching 70s! :) . But cold or not, in two days, the Cowboys Stadium will be the center of the earth for us football fans.
I am not lucky enough to be in the stadium, not even near it, but we are all stacked up with beer and other drinks food and we are going to enjoy the 76 degree weather on Sunday.

But the good news is that, Google Earth can take us to the center of the earth mentioned above in 3D.
Just click on "The center of the earth" and you will be taken there.
If you have Google Earth PC, Google Earth iPhone or Google Earth Android, installed search for “Cowboys Stadium, Arlington TX”
Enjoy the Super Bowl, have fun!
Never mind what any one says, Thank God for America, Thank God for Football!
Google LatLong: Take a trip to the Super Bowl with Google Earth

Copyright Troll, Drops 670 John Doe Porn-downloading Case.

Mick Haig Productions, an adult video company has dropped its lawsuit accusing 670 John Does, Internet users, of illegally downloading pornography. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Public Citizen (PC) are counsel for the anonymous defendants at the request of the court.

"Copyright owners have a right to protect their works, but they can't use shoddy and unfair tactics to do so," said EFF Intellectual Property Director Corynne McSherry. "When adult film companies launch these cases, there is the added pressure of embarrassment associated with pornography, which can convince those ensnared in the suits to quickly pay what's demanded of them, whether or not they have legitimate defenses. That's why it's so important to make sure the process is fair."

Mick Haig Productions dropped the case just 48 hours after EFF and PC demanded that it withdraw subpoenas Mick Haig's lawyer apparently issued while the question of whether the court should allow the subpoenas at all was still under consideration by the court.

"This dismissal is wonderful news for the 670 anonymous defendants in this case, but troubling questions remain about the behavior of Mick Haig Productions," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Matt Zimmerman. "Given the extremely invasive power of subpoenas, plaintiffs have a duty to ensure that subpoenas are not misused. EFF is committed to ensuring that litigants are held accountable for taking shortcuts around the due process rights of their opponents, especially in cases such as this one where the very act of obtaining someone's identity could be improperly leveraged into pressure to settle a claim."

Copyright Troll Gives Up in Porn-Downloading Case
Another Copyright Troll, Drops 670 John Doe Porn Cases

Github Follows Google, Lists DCMA Takedown Notices Like Sony Online.

When I saw Matt Cutts tweeted this news, I was surprised but happy to see the news that Github, inspired by Google is disclosing DCMA takedown notices by companies like SONY. You can see a takedown notice, the first, by Sony here.

I hope SONY relaizes that Android is an open source OS and also hope they will not infect the perfect OS with DCMA laden code.
Oh Why worry, those fake SONY blogs did not work and we have not forgotten about those Sony root Kits either. We steer away from the likes.
Thanks Github for being informative and Google for setting the trend.

"Inspired by Google's DMCA policy, this repo contains various DMCA takedown notices we've received here at GitHub.For more details on our own policy, please see this page."

I Want To Ride The Freeway (Highway) Train, SARTRE Vehicle Platooning

First demonstration of SARTRE vehicle platooning.
Platooning may be the new way of travelling on motorways in as little as ten years time and the EU-financed SARTRE project has carried out the first successful demonstration of its technology at the Volvo Proving Ground close to Gothenburg, Sweden.
This is the first time the EU-financed development teams in SARTRE try their systems together outside the simulators.

"We are very pleased to see that the various systems work so well together already the first time," says Erik Coelingh, engineering specialist at Volvo Cars.
"After all, the systems come from seven SARTRE-member companies in four countries. The winter weather provided some extra testing of cameras and communication equipment." "This is a major milestone for this important European research programme," says Tom Robinson, SARTRE project coordinator, of Ricardo UK Ltd.

"Platooning offers the prospect of improved road safety, better road space utilization, improved driver comfort on long journeys and reduced fuel consumption and hence CO2 emissions. With the combined skills of its participating companies, SARTRE is making tangible progress towards the realization of safe and effective road train technology".

Safer and more convenient ;Vehicle platooning, as envisaged by the SARTRE project, is a convoy of vehicles where a professional driver in a lead vehicle drives a line of other vehicles. Each car measures the distance, speed and direction and adjusts to the car in front. All vehicles are totally detached and can leave the procession at any time. But once in the platoon, drivers can relax and do other things while the platoon proceeds towards its long haul destination. The tests carried out included a lead vehicle and single following car. The steering wheel of the following car moves by itself as the vehicle smoothly follows the lead truck around the country road test track. The driver is able to drink coffee or read a paper, using neither hand nor foot to operate his vehicle.

Platooning is designed to improve a number of things:

Firstly road safety, since it minimises the human factor that is the cause of at least 80 percent of the road accidents.
Secondly, it saves fuel consumption and thus CO2 emissions with up to 20 percent.
It is also convenient for the driver because it frees up time for other matters than driving.
And since the vehicles will travel in highway speed with only a few meters gap, platooning may also relieve traffic congestion.

The technology development is well underway and can most likely go into production in a few years time. What may take substantially longer are the public acceptance and the legislation where 25 EU governments must pass similar laws.

"It is great to see that all systems work so well together. We develop the communication between the vehicles, today using a vehicle-to-vehicle specified radio frequency. Our next step will be to develop a parallel system, probably using 3G, so there is a built-in back-up if the primary communication fails," says Erik Hedin at SP.

About the SARTRE project: The SARTRE project stands for Safe Road Trains for the Environment. Part-funded by the European Commission under the Framework 7 programme, SARTRE is led by Ricardo UK Ltd and comprises collaboration between the following additional participating companies: Idiada and Robotiker-Tecnalia of Spain, Institut für Kraftfahrwesen Aachen (IKA) of Germany, and SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Volvo Car Corporation and Volvo Technology of Sweden. SARTRE aims to encourage a step change in personal transport usage through the development of safe environmental road trains (platoons). Systems are being developed in prototype form that will facilitate the safe adoption of road trains on un-modified public highways with full interaction with non-platoon vehicles. The project is addressing the three cornerstone transportation issues of environment, safety and congestion while at the same time encouraging driver acceptance through the prospect of increased "driver comfort". Read the full story »
http://goodnews.ws/2011/01/20/system-designed-for-stress-free-road-driving-tests-are-a-success/

Library of Congress Gets A New Home Page.

One of the worlds largest knowledge portal has got a new home page.
Oncowikia Blog: Library of Congress, A portal To Knowledge, Gets A New Home Page.

Big Victory for Consumers' First Sale Rights, EFF Wins Against Universal Music Group (UMG)

San Francisco - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has shot down bogus copyright infringement allegations from Universal Music Group (UMG), affirming an eBay seller's right to resell promotional CDs that he buys from secondhand stores and rejecting UMG's attempt to claim that a sticker on a CD created a license agreement forbidding resale.
Troy Augusto, represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the law firm Durie Tangri LLP, was sued by UMG for offering promo CDs for auction on eBay. At issue was whether the labels on the CDs, some of which stated that they were "promotional use only, not for sale," trumped Augusto's right to resell the CDs that he bought. Copyright's "first sale" doctrine prevents a copyright owner from restricting further sales or uses of a work once title has passed.
In an opinion issued today, the appeals court held: "UMG transferred title to the particular copies of its promotional CDs and cannot maintain an infringement action against Augusto for his subsequent sale of those copies." The court noted that UMG did not maintain control of the CDs once it mailed them out, did not require the recipients to agree to the "conditions" it sought to impose with the not-for-sale label, and did not require return of the CDs if the recipient did not consent.
"This ruling frees promotional CDs from the shadow of copyright infringement claims, which is good news for music lovers," said EFF Intellectual Property Director Corynne McSherry. "But it also has broader ramifications. The court flatly rejected the argument that merely slapping a notice on a copyrighted work prevents the work from ever being sold. It eliminates the risk of copyright infringement claims against later recipients -- regardless of whether they paid for the work."
"The Ninth Circuit recognized an important principle: that you can't eliminate consumers' rights just by claiming there's a 'license agreement,'" said Joe Gratz of Durie Tangri, lead counsel for Mr. Augusto. "Once a copyrighted work is freely given, the copyright holder isn't in charge anymore. The copyright owner can't stop you from selling it or lending it to a friend."
For the full opinion in UMG v. Augusto:
https://www.eff.org/files/filenode/umg_v_augusto/UMGvAugusto9thCircuitOp...
Contact:
Corynne McSherry
Intellectual Property Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
corynne@eff.org

NNN, Next New Networks Raise $1 Million Amid Youtube Acquisition

Next New Networks has raised $1 million in debt financing. According to this SEC filing and some big boys are behind the NNN and Ross Levinsohn from Fuse Capital, Bijan Sabet from Spark Capital, Goldman Sachs and Saban Capital Group are listed as investors.
The NNN manages and produces it's own video content as well as managing independent film makers. If the rumors of YouTube acquisition are true, NNN will provide the first inhouse video production facility for YouTube and Google TV.
I guess we need to wait and see if the rumors are true.So we can "Watch and Be Merry"
NNN via TC