skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I think if we lived in a world without patents, many of the anti-IP people would be advocating for a requirement that companies like Apple publish the nature of their inventions.

It need not be one or the other. In the specific patents under discussion, I hardly think competitors could not figure out how to implement multi-finger touching, or pinch-to-zoom. An idea that is easy to re-implement (or has a means of implementation obvious to industry workers) once made public simply shouldn't be protected by patent. By and large, companies can work around patented implementations, but not when they are so broad as to essentially encompass the whole idea (e.g. unified search, or multi-touch sensing). In the first place, patents are granted for specific implementations, not ideas.

It's clear to me that the standards and enforcement of the obviousness principle need to be raised.
EVE is still subscription based
I have a good system of CRM for influencers - I'll take the time to write up a more thorough response then post it.
But Samsung didn't copy the entire design, they copied the basic form factor which, as someone else pointed out, was unambiguously not an Apple invention. Sure, Apple made the first popular device with that particular form factor, but they didn't invent it, and therefore it shouldn't qualify for protection, even if something that general can be protected.
Ask.com, Zwinky, Smiley Central, Popular Screensavers, MyFunCards... but also vimeo, CollegeHumour, match.com... I hate them yet I like them at the same time.
Lyft nails the ride-sharing experience
I think mobile/social games are going to get much bigger for just this reason. Casino's have been playing the human psychology game of trading ring-ding-ding and related human excitement for centuries with astonishing success. Even though they've been seen as a menace to humanity, they've nonetheless been able to been able to use every trick in the book to expand their physical presence and market impact.

However, there are huge limitations to casinos: they are limited by regulation; they are limited to physical infrastructure; they have limited space that the customer has to come to.

Quite obviously, none of this exists for the online world. This is the incredible success story of Zynga. They've managed to build a giant online casino and call it a game, and get the execs of Google and Facebook licking their heels.

This is a market sector that will not simply expand. It will explode.
See Hammond's ee380 talk, linked to at http://www.stanford.edu/class/ee380/winter-schedule-20112012... .

This year's EE380 (http://www.stanford.edu/class/ee380/ ) will have many talks of comparable quality.
My inclination when people feel insulted is generally to apologize, but I've re-read my comment twice, and I cannot apologize because I am not contrite. I neither put words in your mouth nor insulted you. You can choose to feel insulted regardless, like you could choose to feel insulted if a teacher said "Nope, there is in fact no carbon in a water molecule -- here's some resources or talk to a chemist and they'll set you straight", but that is entirely under your control. Prior to deciding to become insulted, I might suggest pondering "Do I want to commit to routinely being unhappy when soliciting information about subjects I purport to care about from people who know more about them than I do?"
No, they're not, although they did work with PUAs. The Verge did an editorial on them a while back. http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/10/2984893/scamworld-get-rich...

While a bit slick/sleazy in their approach their work revolves around using social psychology principles (social proof, scarcity etc), conversion tricks, clever copy, giving away freebies in order to build up their email lists. These guys eventually upsell on their premium products for a ridiculous price whilst offering their digital product for a "limited time only" to convert users who've got a good amount of value from their give-away products.

There's hardly any regulation in this industry and the FTC has come down hard on these guys on more than one occasion.
That's just it: Apple has managed to market its products, and especially its mobile devices, as better-no-matter-what. They're consistently behind the punch and offer a pretty feature-dilute experience.

It's also been mentioned that you pay for the "peace of mind," but can anybody here actually quantify what that means on a mobile device? I also find this really ironic because this comes after antenna-gate which most people seem to have forgot. We're consistently told by the media and Apple's marketing that buying from them is a safe bet, has this ever actually meant anything?
The "shit sandwich" or positive-negative-positive method or sugar-coated version is easy to hate. On the face of it, it seems like doing this waters down your message.

But it's important to understand the real point of such a technique- which is to prevent the other person from becoming defensive and shutting down. That is really what you're trying to avoid, and there are a variety of ways to do that, including but not limited to the above. Because if they are defensive then they aren't receptive, and you've failed in giving feedback.

As michaelochurch says below, framing the criticism as it applies to their goals (as opposed to yours) is one way to make their ears perk up and keep listening.
No doubt automation will eliminate certain tasks that are currently done by humans. But there are only so many where bots can replace people. Best I can see for the near future, bots could very capably create "news spam." More tweets anyone?

There are just too many aspects of human language that comprise an actual piece of literature that are not dealt with in a particularly integrated way by current AI/NLP techniques. Narrative structure is a really fuzzy thing in certain respects and has an immense impact on a reader. Symbolism, metaphor, and various idioms are learned through personal interactions and require a sensitivity to the author's role and intended audience.

Of course I just may be out of touch. Have there really been such significant advances in computer generated journalism/writing?
> To what extent do these patents actually benefit the technical community though? As you seem to know, a technically inclined person that actually reads other peoples patents seems to be a rare animal.

I like to get paid for my technical work. Patents have some effect in that area.
I wonder what phone he owns. People seem to develop a strong personal attachment to their brand of smartphone.
Running Java Jersey with JDO 3.0 on Google App Engine, and Some Mumbling
Yeah I know, and that's probably what they did here or something like it. But this article seems a bit... off. What is this:

These headsets use EEG technology to detect and acquire neuro-signals - brainwaves, and are already popular with gamers who simply "think" about their next move.

Really? This is a thing now?
Would you say that you suspect Google/Samsung employees read Apple patents to figure out what Apple is planning on doing, or if they read Apple patents to figure out how Apple has done things?
Casinos are wildly different in that is usually a 'genuinely' social activity (most people go with friends), there is the potential to win 'real' money (however slight) and even if you don't win (or lose big) you come away from it feeling as though you had fun - Also, there's free booze.

I agree with the sentiment, which is why I only play in the poker rooms, where the odds are effectively neutralized and you just worry about the rake (which goes away in tournaments, minus 'fees'). But even though I don't like the odds of playing the table games, I will occasionally set aside a small amount to play craps with because it's fun.
What I shouldn't tell you about hackdays
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sec...
Woah, I can't believe this guy got through voir dire. He has a patent, seems like something Samsung would have really wanted to avoid.
Off Road Racing or whatever allowed inserting more coins to buy parts upgrades if you weren't good enough to get buy with the in game cash rewards.
I read it as "People are going to figure out sooner or later that strippers exploit them and not actually going all the way with them and the whole strip bar is going to go down. "

I actually think social games are here to stay, just like old card games.
>"The specter of wide swathes of middle class people who "expect" two houses"

In 2006, 40 percent of home sales were for "second homes", with the typical buyer having a household income of $80,000.

>"tatsuke95's comment is ridiculously out of proportion"

I'm glad you think it's out of proportion, based on your personal anecdotes about your friends (except for two, but you've defined them as upper middle class, so they don't count!).

But the "wide swathes" of indebtedness, bankruptcies, defaults and deleveraging in the US says otherwise. Where have you been for the past five years? Those are facts. It occurs when people "live beyond their means", which is nearly synonymous with having too high expectations: you want more than you earn. Do you think it's the rich people living beyond their means? Is it the poor people buying cars and houses they can't afford? No, it's the middle class.
Great - I've sent the email, hope it helps. Will definitely be picking up this book.

By the way, I've heard the book "Design is a Job" praised on HN as a freelance Designer's guide to freelancing. I'm currently reading it. It seems your book is very similar in its goals and content, only for programmers instead of designers. If I'm right, I would definitely consider marketing it as "Design is a Job - for developers", or at least include that message somewhere on the leanpub page. I know I looked for it.
> Many things become "obvious" after they have entered commercial production, but are not obvious at the time they are invented.

I totally disagree. Most things are obvious to many practitioners in a field at the time they were invented and if they weren't invented by one person would be invented by another within a very short time period. This is a natural consequence of the progression of technology and "standing on the shoulders of giants". History is absolutely littered with simultanous invention of ideas by multiple people simply as a consequence of the state of knowledge when they were actively working, with things like the calculus being obvious examples.

Of course, there are VERY rarely inventions where the leap made was well further than average, but those are very rare and certainly not the realm of patents like "bounce scrolling" which is obvious once you have a highly responsive touchscreen.

> The car is obvious now, for instance.

Who "invented" the car? Cugnot? Anderson? Benz? Daimler? Maybach? Marcus? Selden? Duryea?

Basically all of the above and around the same time (at least relative to the day when the Internet didn't broadcast news instantly around the globe), because the invention of various motors small enough to be mobile made a powered transportation vehicle an obvious goal. That doesn't mean there wasn't technical invention in everyone's different methods, but "the car" was totally obvious, just like "bounce scrolling" is, except "bounce scrolling" is a worse thing to allow to be patented because there are a very limited number of mathematical ways in which you would want to model that and so now you're basically patenting a very obvious idea plus a tiny bit of math (which shouldn't be allowed).
CBO: Allowing Bush-era tax cuts to expire on the wealthy would lead to...
It will be interesting to see what products are released outside the US and how those compare with products designed for the US market.

The losers might be those living in a saturated market governed by absurd patents and an uncertain legal process where billions can depend on the uninformed opinion of a small group of people who can choose to ignore the advice of a judge.
LL ‘Really’ Cool J: Protects Family from Robber
Looks like someone is selling it: http://www.narrativescience.com/technology/
Can anyone imagine if Microsoft had required its approval of applications like Netscape before allowing Windows users to install them?

And now they're doing exactly that with Windows 8 apps, and nobody cares because Apple made walled gardens cool.
I bought it, although I still have to read it. A quick glance tells me it contains the aspects it should have as a freelance book.
That's true. And I agree with you 100%.

I want the patent system to be changed just as much as others, but I find it extremely hard to sympathize with Samsung, or not be glad about the verdict in this specific case.
> Any sensible game developer will go this route. Add to this the "social" layer being foisted on users and it's really looking like dark days ahead for gaming.

Was this not the same with arcade games padding difficulty and length to force players into shelling out quarters? I find the "IAP and F2P will RUIN GAMING!!" arguments to be mostly based in fear and not common sense. It's true the majority of people aren't engrossed in gaming culture, so they are more likely to fall for F2P tactics, but that doesn't mean every single developer is going to leave the "quality" gaming market to wither and die.
I hope that Apple will realise that these games are hurting its brand and products and will kick them out of the App Store just like they did with fart apps. I don’t see what kind of business advantage allowing these games gives them.

It’s their “walled garden” and it’s their responsibility to take care of it when it’s overran by weed.
Can you elaborate on this? Do you mean that patents benefit the technical community because they grant legal monopolies and allow companies sell licensing?
Before the iPhone I was using the Sony Ericsson P800 and the Nokia Communicator E95. Both had big screens. The iPhone was not the first smart phone with a big screen.
Hi wodow - thanks for your interest.

Someone over on the Leanpub page has asked about how UK-centric it is, so I thought I'd post pretty much my answer to that question here, because I think it's relevant:

"The majority of the book is relevant to going freelance wherever in the world you are. There are some sections, though (basically the money and legal ones) where, because I have first-hand experience of operating in the UK, I've framed it in UK terms. However, the principles/topics covered are still pretty relevant wherever you are in the world and will set you on a decent path to finding out about the local equivalents.

While it's impossible to write a book that covers legal/financial stuff relevant to the whole world in one go, I do want to add in more territory-specific detail where people ask for it. So, in a future release of the book (which you'll get for free, remember) the plan is currently to refactor the UK-specific stuff to be generalised and then 'add support' for versions of that info applicable to additional territories (most likely in an appendix, but I'll see how realistic that is when I've had more feedback about the territories people want the book to cover).

But, like I said, the advice in most the book is location-independent."
> most people go with friends
> you come away from it feeling as though you had fun

As the other commenter pointed out these games aren't making money from the average person. It's making money from the "whales".

A close friend of mine is a compulsive-gambler, trust me they aren't there for the booze or the social experience.
What is your concern exactly? Your TV license didn't pay for that content.
You're correct that economics is a science, but you make an error when you say "most of the evidence", and then link to an ideological position.

It is a mistake to simply link to a book and said it is evidence, because that's just being a lazy person. People should be able to come up with their own arguments in a discussion.

That being said, it's an economic book that should be evaluated on its own merit. Calling a book "ideological" is quite unfair unless you're prepared to make an argument against the book's arguments.
Well this entire trial and damages awarded have to do with a long series of wilful copying on Samsung's part, not just pinch to zoom.
I don't think the jury was really at fault, were they? They ruled that Samsung infringed on a few patents and they probably did. They infringed on patents that should never have been issued.
So...never mind.
Steve, this is great! As somebody who's a week or two away from releasing a book on pricing for freelancers (http://doubleyourfreelancingrate.com) I'd love to compare notes sometime.

Buying now. I'm especially interested in the "Oiling the wheels" section.
Email received and Trelloed :o)

Thanks, too, for the suggestion. I've tried not to make my pitch copy on the leanpub site too SEO-ey, but I certainly get the point about helping people understand what the book may be like compared to ones they know. I'll check out "Design is a Job" when I get a moment.
where did you find him ripping Pacman off? If true (I searched through his sites, but couldnt find anything relevant), this would be like the comment of the month to me :)

Also, just like being a "nice guy" or "an asshole" would make a difference, whether or not its OK to rip someone off...
Honour codes do work-- see Ariely's book on honesty: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062183591?ie=UTF8&camp... (quote from blurb: Ariely argues, and then demonstrates, that it's actually the irrational forces that we don't take into account that often determine whether we behave ethically or not.)

Also, cheating on an exam is a classic tragedy of the commons-- if everyone did it, course grades are meaningless.
And yes, this comment has rather misinformed views of "over there".
Crowd Funding and Venture Capital | ex post facto
Link to the spreadsheet to run the numbers yourself:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvugcL9yC5-DdHR...
Running a successful freelancing business, recruiting and working for clients, balancing your work/life relationship are all things that have nothing to do with location. And that's the difficult part of this business.

Taxes, accounting, legalities, etc. can all be localized by doing a little Googling.
Hi moystard

The Leanpub page contains a run-down of the main sections and (now that the book is published) also auto-includes the real table of contents - not sure if you've scrolled down the page all that way (it's quite a scroll to get there).

For what it's worth, of the experienced freelancers I beta-tested the book on, the key peice of (pleasing) feedback that I got was a bunch of them all saying "I wish I'd had this book X years ago, when I started out".
Mayer Declares That It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time at Yahoo
In ruby, everything is an object, including modules. Boom.
I'd really like to see Snow Leopard added to this, because absolutely all personal testing I've done has shown that we've been in a steady descent from that point if you care about things like battery life and performance. I simply don't have enough time to objectively measure this, unfortunately, but if you take the aggregate of various benchmarks and reviews, that seems to be the consensus anyway.
How many tests do you run with each configuration? I'm wondering what sort of variation these test have, but it doesn't appear to be discussed.
I really don't think this is the case – I suspect that Android is already in normal people's minds as either the thing on their phone because they couldn't afford an iPhone, or they are completely unware of it. I doubt very much many normal people even know Samsung make mobile phones.

If anything, they will have just seen headlines saying that they owe Apple a billion dollars for copying them, so if anything they will go from not really thinking much about phones, to thinking that Samsung copy Apple.

Not exactly a win.
Super Hi-Vision 8K standard gets approval from UN
No free chapter?
In my experience, Moleskine notebooks are better as notebooks than the usual alternatives. That's not because of build quality, though - it's more because of the design. Unfortunately, the surcharge for that usability is too much for me.

For a heavy note-taker, regular notebooks are probably better. For drawing, I would look at specialized notebooks. But don't dismiss valuing usability in intermittently used products as mere posing.
> Since F# is quite terse, I prefer to use a POTE (Plain Old Text Editor) to develop with it on OSX.

I bow in your general direction. F# is terse, but most mortals rely on goodies like intellisense and red-squigglies in some IDE. Getting over the hump of writing non-trivial F# that builds correctly is, well, non-trivial.
And here I thought we were talking about business.

"Revenue", less profits, is money that doesn't belong to you. Keeping score with it is pretty silly. Want a lot of revenue? Start a grocery store, but sell everything at a 10% loss.
Imagination Time | Socyberty
Just out of interest, why are you still using such an ancient browser? Any reason you haven't upgraded to Chrome or Firefox?
The title of the article is not accurate. He is not a Linux developer; for those who don't know who he is, Ken is the founder of the Helios project, which is a non-profit which refurbishes old computers and distributes them to children whose families can't afford computers.

So for someone who has paid things forward, he certainly deserves help. See the following article from his hometown newspaper in Austin, Texas for more about the good works that he has done:

http://www.statesman.com/news/helios-projects-ken-starks-hel...

Update: Thomas Knight reports that they have raised the necessary $50,000. It looks like the Indiegogo campaign is still open, and there's a note than any excess that isn't needed for his medical expenses (if all goes well the $50k should be enough) will go to Reglue, his non-profit which helps children to get access to computers.
Escadas marinheiro 
As escadas marinheiro são de um tipo de escadas usados especialmente em área de risco, sobretudo em construções em que os funcionários possam estar prejudicados em virtude da altura.
The only positive thing I can see from this trial is that now Samsung has something to use against carriers who want to iPhone-ify Android phones in order to increase sales.

The only problem is if Apple can use this to get features removed from stock Android. However, Google was able to work around the universal search issue by modifying the code, and they replaced the bounceback behavior in scrolling with the "glow" thing, which (IMO) works just as well. So hopefully Google will be able to keep Android free of any patent issues (or maybe use the Motorola Mobility patents to force Apple into a cross-licensing deal).

So in the end, this may result in less meddling with the Android codebase by OEMs and carriers, something that all consumers will benefit from.
Samsung played it well. They knew that they would sooner or later lose in court against Apple because the Galaxy S was just too similar. But they were able to drag it out so long that they now have their third-generation high end phone S III on the market which is sufficiently distinct from the iPhone. They also introduced some evidence late in this trial which was disallowed, which seems amateurish. It was probably done on purpose so they have more grounds for appeal - and until that goes to trial they will be the dominant force in the market and all the models infringing can be phased out by new models without much cost.

The interesting question is how far Apple will go attacking core Android with their "obvious" patents.
Thanks, man. Happy to chat - email is in my profile.