Monthly Archives: August 2012

Mitt Romney and his cronies have gotten rich by playing with other people's … 8

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Mitt Romney and his cronies have gotten rich by playing with other people's money.

"This is the plain, stark reality that has somehow eluded America's top political journalists for two consecutive presidential campaigns: Mitt Romney is one of the greatest and most irresponsible debt creators of all time. In the past few decades, in fact, Romney has piled more debt onto more unsuspecting companies, written more gigantic checks that other people have to cover, than perhaps all but a handful of people on planet Earth."

Greed and Debt: The True Story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital | Politics News | Rolling Stone
How the GOP presidential candidate and his private equity firm staged an epic wealth grab, destroyed jobs and stuck others with the bill


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Velvin Hogan, who played the part of jury foreman and de facto patent expert in the… 3

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Velvin Hogan, who played the part of jury foreman and de facto patent expert in the recently concluded trial segment of the Apple-Samsung patent saga spoke with Brian Bishop of +The Verge. According to Hogan, juries cannot change the change the patent system, only public opinion can do that. I believe Hogan is wrong and this jury sacrificed a prime opportunity to make a difference.

In theory, public opinion should be able to change the system, but given the corporatocracy we live in today, opinions are unlikely to have any real effect anytime soon. Juries on the other hand do have the power to have some real immediate impact. If the jury in this case had actually taken the time to more thoroughly examine the patents in question rather than hammering their way through the 700+ questions on the verdict form, it's possible they might have come to a different decision on the validity of the patents.

Juries do actually have the power to change the system by invalidating patents. If that happens often enough, we might see companies file fewer patents and fewer suits. 

Apple v. Samsung jury foreman: only the ‘court of popular opinion’ can change the patent system
When the Apple v. Samsung jury handed in its $1.049 bilion verdict last week, the man that delivered the form itself was jury foreman Velvin Hogan. We recently spoke with the 67-year-old engineer,…

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A major part of the problem with the patent system today is the way patents are written….

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A major part of the problem with the patent system today is the way patents are written. The language drafted by the lawyers is often so obtuse that even "inventors" would probably have a hard time explaining what the hell it means. Having read way too many patents myself, I can certainly sympathize with patent examiners. 

Given the difficulty of determining exactly what most of these patents even claim, it's no wonder examiners can do a proper prior art search to determine if claims have already been done. Unfortunately instead of rejecting unclear applications, examiners seem to have just thrown up their hands in the face of the deluge and just granted everything. 

Over at +The Verge, +Nilay Patel takes a look at Apple's pinch-to-zoom patent. Many other writers have given up trying to decipher it, just assuming  it gives Apple all rights to pinch-to-zoom. After a careful reading, Nilay explains that it is actually pretty easy to work around. 

The myth of pinch-to-zoom: how a confused media gave Apple something it doesn’t own
In 2007, Steve Jobs stood on stage, listing the benefits of Apple’s then-new iPhone touchscreen. “You can do multi-finger gestures on it,” he said, moving his hands back and forth in the now-familiar….

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Media objectivity has always been a sham

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Come out and tell us where you stand and then tell us the truth about what politicians and corporations say

Reshared post from +Mathew Ingram

http://gigaom.com/2012/08/30/fact-checking-politics-why-we-need-open-journalism-more-than-ever/

Fact-checking politics: Why we need “open journalism” more than ever
There has been a rush of fact-checking of recent comments made by Republican vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan, but does this mean the traditional media’s obsession with objectivity and the “view fr…

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+Rolling Stone chronicles the real story of the federal bailout that saved Bain… 2

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+Rolling Stone chronicles the real story of the federal bailout that saved Bain and Company and helped build Mitt Romney's fortune. I know we all expect our politicians to lie to us, but the whoppers continuously told by Romney and Paul Ryan really out to disqualify these guys from any job higher than street sweeper. 

The Federal Bailout That Saved Mitt Romney | Politics News | Rolling Stone
Mitt Romney likes to say he won’t “apologize” for his success in business. But what he never says is “thank you” – to the American people – for the federal bailout of Bain &amp…

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Unfortunately +Bill Nye didn't come to fame until I was already an adult, but…

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Unfortunately +Bill Nye didn't come to fame until I was already an adult, but thankfully both of my kids grew up watching and learning from him. A world with more teachers like Bill Nye would be a much better place.

Reshared post from +Koushik Dutta

I linked a Bill Nye article on evolution the other day. Turns out there's a video.

On a tangent, when I was in 7th grade, I used Dr. Nye as my bbs/gamer handle.


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"Personal liberty is the hallmark of our civilization" unless you are a… 2

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"Personal liberty is the hallmark of our civilization" unless you are a woman, gay, black or anyone else that isn't a wealthy white christian male.

Daily Show: RNC 2012 – The Road to Jeb Bush 2016 – The Republican Platform
Regarding abortion, RNC attendees recognize Mitt Romney’s right to choose, but not Samantha Bee’s.

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HBO remains clueless 1

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 They've supposedly updated the HBO Go +Android app to support Jelly Bean but it still doesn't actually support any of the devices that actually run the latest version of Android including the Nexus 7 and Galaxy Nexus

HBO Go now supports Jelly Bean, forgets to support the Jelly Bean-running devices [updated] | Android Central
The HBO Go app today got an update to support Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, as well as “performance enhancements and bug fixes.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t actually support any devices that are actually runn…

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Support a constitutional amendment to reverse the Citizens United ruling, American… 2

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Support a constitutional amendment to reverse the Citizens United ruling, American democracy depends on it. Political influence should not be proportional to financial power. 

Reshared post from +Bernie Sanders

President Obama said a constitutional amendment should be considered to undo the 2010 Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United that paved the way for a flood of campaign cash from corporations and wealthy special interests. Obama made the comment Wednesday in an online chat with the website Reddit. "I applaud President Obama for expressing support for a serious effort to restore the democratic foundations of our country that are under severe attack as a result of the disastrous Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United," Sen. Bernie Sanders said on Thursday.

Sanders Welcomes Obama’s Call to Undo Citizens United – Newsroom: Bernie Sanders – U.S. Senator for Vermont

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The only apps that Apple should ever be allowed to block are those that contain malware… 7

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The only apps that Apple should ever be allowed to block are those that contain malware or don't function at all (crashing all the time). Beyond that they should either pass everything through or allow alternate app stores as Android does.

Reshared post from +Dan Gillmor

I keep hoping journalists will wake up to the dangers of putting too many eggs in Apple's content basket — giving a corporate control freak the right to decide if their journalism is acceptable. Here's the latest example of why this is a risk:

Apple Rejects App That Tracks U.S. Drone Strikes | Danger Room | Wired.com
It seemed like a simple enough idea for an iPhone app: send users a pop-up notice whenever a flying robots kills someone in one of America’s many undeclared wars. But Apple keeps blocking the Drones+ …

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