Techdirt. – Intel, Who Coined The Term ‘Patent Troll’ Makes Deal With Patent Troll To ‘Monetize’ Unused Patents

Aug 302022
 

The pattern is pretty common: young companies innovate, older companies litigate. When you can’t keep up and you can’t succeed by beating the market, you turn to the courts to try to squeeze cash out of those more successful than you. Often this involves patent lawsuits or handing your unused patents off to patent trolls to “monetize” them for you.
Over the years there have been a bunch of “patent aggregation” firms that showed up, offering to buy up patents and then promising to bring in free money by “licensing” them. The most well known of these was probably Intellectual Ventures, which scooped up tons upon tons of unused (perhaps because they were useless) patents, many from…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.techdirt.com/2022/08/30/intel-who-coined-the-term-patent-troll-makes-deal-with-patent-troll-to-monetize-unused-patents/

 2022-08-30  Comments Off on Techdirt. – Intel, Who Coined The Term ‘Patent Troll’ Makes Deal With Patent Troll To ‘Monetize’ Unused Patents

Ars Technica – Greenland may have already committed us to almost a foot of sea level rise

Aug 302022
 

Enlarge / View from a survey flight over the Helheim/Kangerlussuaq region of Greenland. (credit: NASA/John Sonntag)
While it’s possible to halt global warming by halting our greenhouse gas emissions, sea level rise is a consequence that keeps on giving. Great ice sheets like Greenland and Antarctica have tremendous inertia—they’re slow to melt but carry on melting even after the thermometer stabilizes. There are many reasons for this, including complex processes beneath glaciers that control their rate of downhill flow. And this complexity makes projecting ice loss over the coming century—and centuries—exceptionally challenging.
In the face of this formidable complexity, a new study led by Jason Box at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://arstechnica.com/?p=1876968

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Richard Stallman’s Political Notes – Federal Reserve plans to keep increasing interest rates

Aug 302022
 

The Federal Reserve plans to keep increasing interest rates until inflation goes down.

Low interest rates are not causing today’s inflation, so this tactic
is not going to achieve the goal until it creates lots of unemployment.

It strikes me that Powell’s real goal may be to undermine the wave
of unionization. His business cronies will surely appreciate that.

External feed Read More at the Source: https://stallman.org/archives/2022-may-aug.html#30_August_2022_(Federal_Reserve_plans_to_keep_increasing_interest_rates)

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The Intercept – Facebook Tells Moderators to Allow Graphic Images of Russian Airstrikes but Censors Israeli Attacks

Aug 282022
 

After a series of Israeli airstrikes against the densely populated Gaza Strip earlier this month, Palestinian Facebook and Instagram users protested the abrupt deletion of posts documenting the resulting death and destruction. It wasn’t the first time Palestinian users of the two giant social media platforms, which are both owned by parent company Meta, had complained about their posts being unduly removed. It’s become a pattern: Palestinians post sometimes graphic videos and images of Israeli attacks, and Meta swiftly removes the content, providing only an oblique reference to a violation of the company’s “Community Standards” or in many cases no explanation at all.
Not all the billions of users on Meta’s platforms, however, run into these issues when documenting the…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://theintercept.com/2022/08/27/facebook-instagram-meta-russia-ukraine-war/

 2022-08-28  Comments Off on The Intercept – Facebook Tells Moderators to Allow Graphic Images of Russian Airstrikes but Censors Israeli Attacks

Planet Emacsen – Marcin Borkowski: Screenshots from Emacs

Aug 272022
 

Some time ago there was a discussion on the Emacs mailing list about making screenshots from Emacs. From one of the posts there I learned about the x-export-frames function, whose existence is fascinating for me. It basically allows you to make a screenshot of your Emacs frame without ay external program, in one of several formats (including pdf and png). Jean Louis provided some simple code in that post which I reproduce here (with minor changes). The frameshot command takes a picture of your current Emacs frame, puts is in the frameshot-directory directory and moves the point to its line.

External feed Read More at the Source: http://mbork.pl/2022-08-27_Screenshots_from_Emacs

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Ballot Access News – Initiative Proponents File Request for Rehearing En Banc on Montana Ban on Pay-Per-Signature

Aug 272022
 

On August 24, the proponents of an initiative in Montana asked the Ninth Circuit for rehearing en banc in Pierce v Jacobsen, 21-35173. They only want a rehearing on the part of the August 10 decision that declined to strike down the Montana ban on paying initiative circulators on a per-signature basis. They already won the other half of the case, against the out-of-state ban.

The Ninth Circuit on August 10 had declined to rule against the per-signature ban on the grounds that the evidence wasn’t sufficient. But the initiative supporters argue that their evidence is strong enough.

External feed Read More at the Source: https://ballot-access.org/2022/08/27/initiative-proponents-file-request-for-rehearing-en-banc-on-montana-ban-on-pay-per-signatures/

 2022-08-27  Comments Off on Ballot Access News – Initiative Proponents File Request for Rehearing En Banc on Montana Ban on Pay-Per-Signature

Jacobin – How to Work Hard, Live Frugally, and Still Have $71,000 in Student Debt

Aug 272022
 

Critics like to paint a picture of debtors as overeducated elites demanding a handout while idly snacking on $15 avocado toasts. But I’ve worked hard and lived modestly, and my debt is still haunting me — even after the White House’s partial cancellation.
Around 6 million Americans owe more than $50,000 in student debt. (Andre Hunter / Unsplash) “I don’t know if I can marry you — not without a prenup.”
That’s what my ex-girlfriend told me after I proposed to her five years ago. The reason? She didn’t want to touch my $80,000 in outstanding student loans with a ten-foot pole. My massive debt had hung over my life like the…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://jacobin.com/2022/08/student-debt-low-wage-biden-loan-payments/

 2022-08-27  Comments Off on Jacobin – How to Work Hard, Live Frugally, and Still Have $71,000 in Student Debt

The Intercept – Facebook Tells Moderators to Allow Graphic Images of Russian Air Strikes, But Censors Israeli Attacks

Aug 272022
 

After a series of Israeli airstrikes against the densely populated Gaza Strip earlier this month, Palestinian Facebook and Instagram users protested the abrupt deletion of posts documenting the resulting death and destruction. It wasn’t the first time Palestinian users of the two giant social media platforms, which are both owned by parent company Meta, had complained about their posts being unduly removed. It’s become a pattern: Palestinians post sometimes graphic videos and images of Israeli attacks, and Meta swiftly removes the content, providing only an oblique reference to a violation of the company’s “Community Standards” or in many cases no explanation at all.
Not all the billions of users on Meta’s platforms, however, run into these issues when documenting the…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://theintercept.com/2022/08/27/facebook-instagram-meta-russia-ukraine-war/

 2022-08-27  Comments Off on The Intercept – Facebook Tells Moderators to Allow Graphic Images of Russian Air Strikes, But Censors Israeli Attacks

jwz – Dali Clock 2.45 released

Aug 262022
 

I basically hadn’t touched the X11 version since the Twentieth Century, so it was looking pretty threadbare compared to other platforms. I replaced the 1991-vintage Xlib version with a backport of the macOS OpenGL version to GTK 3. Let me know how it works on your incomprehensibly powerful hundred dollar supercomputer.Source only release. I didn’t bother re-spinning the various other platform builds just to bump the version number.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2022/08/dali-clock-2-45-released/

 2022-08-26  Comments Off on jwz – Dali Clock 2.45 released

Deeplinks – Federal Judge: Invasive Online Proctoring “Room Scans” Are Unconstitutional

Aug 262022
 

Online proctoring companies employ a lengthy list of dangerous monitoring and tracking techniques in an attempt to determine whether or not students are potentially cheating, many of which are biased and ineffective. This week, one of the more invasive techniques—the “room scan”—was correctly deemed unconstitutional by a federal judge. “Room scans” are a common requirement in proctored exams where students are forced to use their device’s camera to give a 360-degree view of everything around the area in which they’re taking a test. Often, this is a personal residence, and frequently a private space, like a bedroom. (A demonstration of a room scan by Proctorio can be seen here.) 
We have criticized room scans as well as…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/08/federal-judge-invasive-online-proctoring-room-scans-are-also-unconstitutional

 2022-08-26  Comments Off on Deeplinks – Federal Judge: Invasive Online Proctoring “Room Scans” Are Unconstitutional

Phoronix – Intel Arc Graphics Running On Fully Open-Source Linux Driver

Aug 262022
 

Intel GPUs from the consumer desktop Arc Graphics hardware to the Intel Data Center Flex GPU Series “Arctic Sound M” and forthcoming Xe HPC Ponte Vecchio are built around fully open-source drivers. A common misconception or confusion I’ve heard many times over the past number of months has been questioning whether Intel’s discrete GPU driver support on Linux is open-source or is closed-source, etc. Well, it’s fully open-source aside from the usual firmware caveat and running on Linux. Here is some initial commentary with running the Intel Arc Graphics A380 on Linux!

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.phoronix.com/review/intel-arc-graphics-linux

 2022-08-26  Comments Off on Phoronix – Intel Arc Graphics Running On Fully Open-Source Linux Driver

Richard Stallman’s Political Notes – Ben & Jerry’s lose bid to block sale of ice-cream in Israeli West Bank settlements

Aug 262022
 

A court ruled that the Ben & Jerry’s founders can’t legally make Unilever
stop selling ice cream under that name in Israel’s colonies in Palestine.

External feed Read More at the Source: https://stallman.org/archives/2022-may-aug.html#25_August_2022_(ben_jerrys_lose_israeli_settlements_palestinian)

 2022-08-26  Comments Off on Richard Stallman’s Political Notes – Ben & Jerry’s lose bid to block sale of ice-cream in Israeli West Bank settlements

The Intercept – The Origin of Student Debt: Reagan Adviser Warned Free College Would Create a Dangerous “Educated Proletariat”

Aug 262022
 

With the vociferous debate over President Joe Biden’s announcement that the federal government will cancel a portion of outstanding student debt, it’s important to understand how Americans came to owe the current cumulative total of more than $1.6 trillion for higher education.
In 1970, Ronald Reagan was running for reelection as governor of California. He had first won in 1966 with confrontational rhetoric toward the University of California public college system and executed confrontational policies when in office. In May 1970, Reagan had shut down all 28 UC and Cal State campuses in the midst of student protests against the Vietnam War and the U.S. bombing of Cambodia. On October 29, less than a week before the…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://theintercept.com/2022/08/25/student-loans-debt-reagan/

 2022-08-26  Comments Off on The Intercept – The Origin of Student Debt: Reagan Adviser Warned Free College Would Create a Dangerous “Educated Proletariat”

Techdirt. – Fucking TTAB Says FUCT Owner Can’t Trademark ‘Fuck’ Because That Word Fucking Belongs To All Of Us

Aug 252022
 

I love this story so much I want it to find other similar vulgar stories so that those stories can have little baby vulgar stories for me to read. You may recall the saga of Erik Brunetti, founder of FUCT, a fashion brand with a name supposedly standing for Friends U Can’t Trust. We wrote about FUCT at first being denied a trademark on the brand over vulgarity concerns, a decision overturned on appeal on First Amendment grounds. It was a good ruling on the merits, as the government shouldn’t be in the business of saving our ears from naughty words based on its judgement of naughtiness.
Well, Brunetti is back at it again. He applied for…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.techdirt.com/2022/08/24/fucking-ttab-says-fuct-owner-cant-trademark-fuck-because-that-word-fucking-belongs-to-all-of-us/

 2022-08-25  Comments Off on Techdirt. – Fucking TTAB Says FUCT Owner Can’t Trademark ‘Fuck’ Because That Word Fucking Belongs To All Of Us

World Socialist Web Site (en) – Roger Waters named on far-right Ukrainian hit list

Aug 252022
 

A website linked to the Ukrainian state calls for “law enforcement agencies” to intervene against the outspoken rock musician for alleged “acts against Ukraine’s national security … and international law and order.”

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/08/25/wwmt-a25.html

 2022-08-25  Comments Off on World Socialist Web Site (en) – Roger Waters named on far-right Ukrainian hit list

Hackaday – Coffee with Kernighan

Aug 252022
 

There was an interesting tidbit buried in a Computerphile video released last week (below the break), featuring professors [David Brailsford] and [Brian Kernighan] having a chat over coffee. Among other topics, they discuss the history and current state of various text processing tools. We learn that [Kernighan] has taken on a summer project of updating the AWK text processing language to handle UTF-8 text, an omission he admits is embarrassing in this day and age. He is also working on a second edition of The AWK Programming Language book, which hasn’t been updated since being first released in 1988.

[Brian Kernighan] is a legend in the world of Unix and computing, working at Bell Labs during the 70s where…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://hackaday.com/2022/08/24/coffee-with-kernighan/

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Motherboard – Economists Say Life Is Going to Be More Expensive Forever, Sorry

Aug 222022
 

These days, it seems like everyone has a few important questions on their mind: Is the economy still in the gutter? Or are things getting better? Does inflation mean prices will stay high forever, or will these prices eventually come back down?  There’s been some developments that suggest good news is around the corner. A version of the Build Back Better agenda was passed—significantly pared down but still, passed. Hundreds of thousands of jobs continue to be created each quarter, and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was passed. Finally, inflation in key sectors has begun to cool off. That last point is key, especially if your wallet has been feeling pinched as prices have skyrocketed over…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/k7b7qe/economists-say-life-is-going-to-be-more-expensive-forever-sorry

 2022-08-22  Comments Off on Motherboard – Economists Say Life Is Going to Be More Expensive Forever, Sorry

The Onion – City’s Primary Investment In Community Comes Through Police Department’s Wrongful Death Settlements

Aug 162022
 

ST. LOUIS—Touting their continued support of citizens in the city’s economically disadvantaged neighborhoods, officials in St. Louis told reporters Monday that their primary investment in the community came through the police department’s wrongful death settlements. “Millions of dollars have been pumped into our most…

Read more…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.theonion.com/city-s-primary-investment-in-community-comes-through-po-1849413099

 2022-08-16  Comments Off on The Onion – City’s Primary Investment In Community Comes Through Police Department’s Wrongful Death Settlements

Planet Lisp – Kaveh Kardan: 41. World Building And Alternate Reality Common Lisp

Aug 162022
 

Time for another Interlude, wherein I take a break from my career journey and reflect on what we’re doing. I say we, not because I have been taken by delusions of royalty, but because there is more than just me involved now, as you will find out below, in the second half of this post.It occurred to me the other day that I am developing alternate reality software. And what, I hear you cry, do I mean by that?I have been a science fiction fan ever since I can remember. I was a nerdy kid who watched “Star Trek (TOS)”, “Lost in Space”, and “Land of the Giants” on TV. I read all the science fiction I could…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://kaveh808.medium.com/41-world-building-and-alternate-reality-common-lisp-ca9fbc619a8c?source=rss-a1ddb30a4a53——2

 2022-08-16  Comments Off on Planet Lisp – Kaveh Kardan: 41. World Building And Alternate Reality Common Lisp
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