Almost Half The U.S. Subscribes To Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu Plus

It’s a good time to be a cord-cutter in the U.S. A new study says that 47% of all American households subscribe to Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime or a combination of these. And almost half the country has at least one internet-connected TV set. Read more…

More:
Almost Half The U.S. Subscribes To Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu Plus

Xanadu Software Released After 54 Years In the Making

redletterdave writes: “‘Project Xanadu, ‘ designed by hypertext inventor Ted Nelson to let users build documents that automatically embed the sources they’re linking back to and show the visible connections between parallel webpages, was released in late April at a Chapman University event. Thing is, development on Xanadu began in 1960 — that’s 54 years ago — making it the most delayed software in history. ‘At its simplest, Xanadu lets users build documents that seamlessly embed the sources which they are linking back to, creating, in Nelson’s words, “an entire form of literature where links do not break as versions change; where documents may be closely compared side by side and closely annotated; where it is possible to see the origins of every quotation; and in which there is a valid copyright system – a literary, legal and business arrangement – for frictionless, non-negotiated quotation at any time and in any amount.” The version released on the internet, named OpenXanadu, is a simple document created using quoted sections from eight other works, including the King James Bible and the Wikipedia page on Steady State Theory.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Taken from:
Xanadu Software Released After 54 Years In the Making

‘Not sci-fi anymore’: NASA is working on Star Trek healing devices

NASA and Houston-based company GRoK Technologies will work on the development of new “breakthrough products, ” noninvasive medical technologies designed to “regenerate bone and muscle tissues.” It really sounds like something out of Star Trek, but “it’s not just sci-fi anymore.” Read more…        

Taken from:
‘Not sci-fi anymore’: NASA is working on Star Trek healing devices

Ethernet’s 400-Gigabit Challenge Is a Good Problem To Have

alphadogg writes “As it embarks on what’s likely to be a long journey to its next big increase in speed, Ethernet is in some ways a victim of its own success. Years ago, birthing a new generation of Ethernet was relatively straightforward: Enterprises wanted faster LANs, vendors figured out ways to achieve that throughput and hashed out a standard, and IT shops bought the speed boost with their next computers and switches. Now it’s more complicated, with carriers, Web 2.0 giants, cloud providers, and enterprises all looking for different speeds and interfaces, some more urgently than others. … That’s what the IEEE 802.3 400Gbps Study Group faces as it tries to write the next chapter in Ethernet’s history. … ‘You have a lot of different people coming in to the study group, ‘ said John D’Ambrosia, the group’s chair, in an interview at the Ethernet Alliance’s Technology Exploration Forum in Santa Clara, California, on Tuesday. That can make it harder to reach consensus, with 75 percent approval required to ratify a standard, he said.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

View post:
Ethernet’s 400-Gigabit Challenge Is a Good Problem To Have

iPhone 4, iPad 2 Get US Import Ban

Bent Spoke writes “The U.S. trade agency has banned the import of older Apple iPhone and iPad models due to the violation of a patent held by Samsung (PDF). ‘The president can overturn the import ban on public-policy grounds, though that rarely happens. Apple can keep selling the devices during the 60-day review period. … Apple pledged to appeal the ITC decision. The underlying findings will be reviewed by a U.S. appeals court specializing in patent cases. … The decision could mean fewer choices for AT&T and T-Mobile customers who want to get an iPhone without paying the higher cost of the iPhone 5. Samsung told the commission that Cupertino, California-based Apple could drop the price of the iPhone 5 if it was worried about losing potential customers. All of the iPhones are made in Asia.’ It’s getting so complicated we need a scorecard to keep track of who’s winning these offensive patent battles in the smartphone coliseum.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Taken from:
iPhone 4, iPad 2 Get US Import Ban

Microsoft scores biggest patent licensee yet: Foxconn

Foxconn Zhengzhou facility, under construction in February 2012. Bert van Dijk / flickr One company—Taiwan’s Foxconn—makes a staggering 40 percent of the world’s consumer electronic devices. Starting now, Microsoft will be getting paid a toll on a large number of those devices. The company’s long patent-licensing campaign has landed its biggest client yet in licensing Foxconn, formally named Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Foxconn has agreed to take a license for any product it produces that runs Google’s Android or Chrome operating systems. The Redmond software giant has insisted for years now that any company making Android phones needs to license its patents. That campaign has generally been successful; so successful , in fact, that by 2011 Microsoft was making more money from patent licensing than from its own mobile phone system. Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Originally posted here:
Microsoft scores biggest patent licensee yet: Foxconn

Meet the nice-guy lawyers who want $1,000 per worker for using scanners

Aurich Lawson / Thinkstock Starting late last year, hundreds of US businesses began to receive demand letters from secretive patent-holding companies with six-letter gibberish names: AdzPro, GosNel, and JitNom. The letters state that using basic office equipment, like scanners that can send files to e-mail, infringes a series of patents owned by MPHJ Technologies. Unless the target companies make payments—which start at around $9,000 for the smallest targeted businesses but go up from there—they could face legal action. In a world of out-there patent claims, MPHJ is one of the most brazen yet. It’s even being talked about in Congress. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), who has sponsored the anti-troll SHIELD Act, cited the operation as a perfect example of why the system needs reform. After publishing a story on the scanner-trolling scheme , Ars heard from letter recipients and their lawyers from around the country—Idaho and Texas, California and South Dakota. Before the AdzPros and GosNels took over, the patents were owned by an entity called Project Paperless, which threatened dozens of businesses in Virginia and Georgia. Project Paperless ultimately filed two lawsuits, prosecuted by lawyers at Hill, Kertscher, and Wharton, an Atlanta firm with complex connections to the patents. In late 2012, Project Paperless sold the patents to MPHJ Technology Investments. Today, the anonymous owner of MPHJ operates GosNel, AdzPro, JitNom, and at least a dozen other shell companies now targeting small businesses around the country. Read 65 remaining paragraphs | Comments

More:
Meet the nice-guy lawyers who want $1,000 per worker for using scanners

You Have To Wait One More Day for an iPhone 5 Jailbreak

That iOS 6.1 jailbreak that was maybe probably definitely supposed to come out today , courtesy of evad3rs ? Bad news; it’s not coming until tomorrow. Despite the rumored (and hoped) Super Bowl-day launch date, we’ll all have to wait just a little longer. More »

View article:
You Have To Wait One More Day for an iPhone 5 Jailbreak