Below is the final list of technology news and issues for the Tuesday, 23 Jul 2013, NEW NET (NorthEast Wisconsin Network for Entrepreneurism and Technology) 7:00 - 9:00 PM weekly gathering at Sangria's Restaurant in Appleton, 215 S. Memorial Drive, Appleton WI, USA.
The Weekly Top
Ten, (pre-NEW NET, based on potential or immediate impact and/or general tech
interestingness)
1.
5by Wants To Be Your Web
Video Concierge (# 14)
2.
The anti-virus age is
over (# 17)
3.
NSA head admits the
agency made “huge set of mistakes” in 2009 (#18)
4.
Smartphone Upgrades Slow
as 'Wow' Factor Fades (# 19)
5.
Google tests encryption
to protect users' Drive files against government demands (# 26)
6.
Google Maps out-Yelps
Yelp (# 32)
7.
Apple Owns 56% Of The
Streaming Devices Market, Roku Second With 21% (# 38)
8.
3D printing
will explode in 2014, thanks to the expiration of key patents (# 46)
9.
Seej 3D Printed Game
Update (# 49)
10.
Canonical Seeks $32
Million in Crowdfunding for Linux Phone (# 51)
The ‘net
11.
Edit Wars Reveal The 10
Most Controversial Topics on Wikipedia http://www.technologyreview.com/view/517101/edit-wars-reveal-the-10-most-controversial-topics-on-wikipedia/ “…Wikipedia’s own estimate is that it has
some 77,000 contributors working on more than 22 million articles in 285
languages…So it’s not surprising that disputes arise over the wording of these
articles. Indeed, the controversy can sometimes reach war-like proportions with
one editor changing the wording and another immediately changing it back again…Taha
Yasseri…and a few pals have ranked the most controversial topics in 10
different languages according to the intensity of the editing wars they
generate…Yasseri and co looked instead for “mutual reverts” in which one editor
reverts another’s work and vice versa, so both editors are undoing each other’s
changes…That gives a simple list of the most controversial articles in each
language. In English, the top 10 most controversial articles are as follows:
George W Bush…Anarchism…Muhammad…List of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
employees…Global Warming…Circumcision…United States…Jesus…Race and intelligence…Christianity…”
12.
Apple Buys 2 Mapping
Companies http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/19/apple-buys-2-mapping-companies/?src=recg&gwh=C2F51B6C657DE2659A68C3F21604F027 “Apple is deepening its mapping skills,
buying two start-ups that specialize in location technology. Apple…bought…two
small companies, HopStop and Locationary…HopStop is an application that can be
used to get directions within cities and shows real-time traffic delays. The
other start-up, Locationary…specializes in maps and mapping data…HopStop was
founded in 2005 with the idea that someone could type two addresses into a Web
site and get reliable directions for public transportation…”
13.
Bitcasa Takes Infinite
Storage To Version 2.0 http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/23/30-petabytes-later-bitcasa-takes-infinite-storage-to-version-2-0-with-revamped-android-ios-desktop-apps/ “…Bitcasa has spent the last five months or
so growing out of its beta launch…Bitcasa is launching version 2.0 of its
desktop, iOS and Android apps…Bitcasa is a software service that essentially
gives you infinite storage on your computer. It does this by only saving
information that is unique to you, and only saving one version of all the
content that is redundant. Because of this, Bitcasa actually gets faster the
more people use it…” http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/18/bitcasa-for-ios-and-android/ “…Bitcasa…promises to bring infinite storage
to its users for just $10 per month…Bitcasa’s encrypted, proprietary and
patent-pending “Infinite Drive”…acts as a virtual external drive that just
continues to grow as you save more data to it. As an added bonus, everything is
encrypted across the system and as the company’s co-founder and CEO Tony Gauda
told me earlier this week, even the Bitcasa team has no way of accessing your
data…”
14.
5by Wants To Be Your Web
Video Concierge http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/22/5by-wants-to-be-your-web-video-concierge-and-its-taking-aim-at-phones-and-tvs-too/ “…You’re bored out of your wits and rather
than try to do something productive, you just spend hour after endless hour on
YouTube…that’s exactly…a Montreal-based web video startup called 5by is trying
to fix. 5by takes a decidedly different approach to how it finds and plays
videos for you…5by has been called the Songza of video…you’re greeted not by a
smattering of videos but by a series of categories like “Blowing You Away” and
“Killing Time.”…When you’re in a video, you’re presented with a series of
reactions: you can hit buttons to signify that you’ve laughed at the video
being shown to you, hated it, or felt it tug at your heartstrings. And if a
video just isn’t your cup of tea, there’s always a skip button to take you far,
far away…”
Security,
Privacy & Digital Controls
15.
SIM Card Hack Allows
Attackers to Remotely Control Victim's Phone http://mashable.com/2013/07/22/sim-card-hack/
“A dangerous SIM card hack has been
discovered, potentially allowing attackers to remotely send premium SMS
messages or re-direct and record calls…Not all SIM cards are vulnerable — just
under a quarter of the SIM cards tested were susceptible to the hack — but
those that are can be hacked via sending a hidden SMS. All in all, millions of
phones worldwide could be affected…an attacker could use the victim's phone to
send premium SMS messages, which can skyrocket one's phone bill, collect
location data, re-direct or record calls, or even carry out paymnet fraud. Nohl
claims it is unlikely that cyber criminals have already found this security
flaw, and he thinks it may not happen in the next six months…”
16.
Fact or Fiction: Your
Smartphone and Tablet Are Vulnerable to Hackers http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=smartphone-tablet-mobile-vulnerable-to-hackers “Personal computers have been subject to
cyber attacks from the moment we began connecting them to the Internet…So why
don’t we have the same security problem with our smartphones and tablets, which
are essentially variations on the PC? Several factors hold back…serious effort
on the part of cyber attackers to infect mobile devices with malware designed
to raid apps and commandeer sensitive data. For starters, devices running Apple
iOS, Google Android and other mobile operating systems still are not nearly as
numerous as PCs…Smartphones and tablets are also, for the most part, better
designed than PCs to minimize the potential damage caused by viruses…Of the
more than 140 million smartphones in use in the U.S., less than 2 percent have
been infected with mobile malware…It is possible…for attackers to break into
mobile devices…But it’s much more work than it would be to do the same exact
thing against Windows…cyber criminals usually want to make money from their
efforts. These entrepreneurial types are more likely to design a piece of
malware to attack a tried-and-true target such as Microsoft’s Windows operating
system or Internet Explorer Web browser, causing maximum disruption with
minimal effort…the sheer number of PCs that have accumulated in offices and
homes over the past several decades still dwarfs the world’s population of
active smartphones and tablets…By 2015 more Americans will access the Internet
via mobile devices than with PCs or any other type of wireless device…more than
470 million Android handsets were sold in 2012. By 2017 this number is expected
to grow to more than 1 billion, giving the platform a 67-percent share of the
smartphone market…Apple will own about 14 percent of the market in 2017.
“Android is a very secure operating system—if you keep it up to date…This is
not always possible, especially if device makers don’t support the most current
versions of the operating system.” As people start using their smartphones and tablets
instead of their PCs to do online banking and purchasing, mobile devices become
more appealing targets for attackers…Likewise if PCs become more secure,
attackers are likely to direct their efforts toward mobile…”
17.
The anti-virus age is
over http://codeinsecurity.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/the-anti-virus-age-is-over/ “…anti-virus systems are as good as dead…Signature-based
analysis, both static (e.g. SHA1 hash) and heuristic (e.g. pattern matching) is
useless against polymorphic malware, which is becoming a big concern…By the
time an identifying pattern is found in a particular morphing engine, the bad
guys have already written a new one…malware behaviour is almost infinitely
re-writeable, with little effort on the developer’s part…We’ve also seen a huge
surge in attacks that fit the Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) model in the
last few years…Attacks under the APT model can involve social engineering,
custom malware, custom exploits / payloads and undisclosed 0-day
vulnerabilities – exactly the threats that anti-malware solutions have
difficulty handling. The next problem is memory-resident malware…If malware
never touches the disk, most AV software will never catch it…the economic
aspect is the nail in the coffin…the bad guys have more people working for
them, for less money…They can produce and update malware significantly more
quickly (and cost-effectively) than the AV guys can analyse and defend against
it…”
18.
NSA head admits the
agency made “huge set of mistakes” in 2009 http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/07/nsa-head-when-obama-took-office-he-narrowed-overbroad-data-collection/ “…the head of the National Security Agency
(NSA) admitted that the spy agency had been overbroad in its acquisition of
telephone data. NSA Director General Keith Alexander told the assembled crowd…that
when President Barack Obama first took office in January 2009, he called out
the agency on its blanket data collection practices…we had a huge set of
mistakes that we were working through in 2009,” he told the audience…At the
president’s direction, the NSA then set up a “directorate of compliance,” an
internal watchdog group to make sure that it wasn’t over-collecting and stayed
within the confines of the law…Alexander also emphasized the need for secrecy
in its surveillance programs…"The reason we use secrecy is not to hide it
from the American people, not to hide it from you, but to hide it from those
who walk among you who are trying to kill you," he argued…”
Mobile
Computing & Communicating
19.
Smartphone Upgrades Slow
as 'Wow' Factor Fades http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424127887323664204578610233963082210-lMyQjAxMTAzMDEwNjExNDYyWj.html “Fewer people are upgrading their smartphones—a
trend that could make it harder for companies from AT&T Inc. to Apple Inc. to
keep up the pace of revenue growth. The rates at which American cellphone users
have traded in their devices for more advanced models have declined over the
last few years…They turned negative last year, when about 68 million people
upgraded their phones in the U.S., down more than 9% from a year earlier. UBS
predicts upgrades will fall again this year…There are two components to the
trend: With smartphone penetration approaching 70% of contract subscribers last
year in the U.S., there are fewer customers left to upgrade to the Internet-ready
devices and data plans…among existing smartphone owners, fewer are seeing the
need to buy the latest Apple iPhone or Samsung Galaxy as the pace of innovation
slows…”
20.
Here’s How Qualcomm’s
Leaving Intel Behind in Mobile Computing “…Qualcomm…will
soon break into the tablet market with upgraded versions of its Snapdragon
processor that will be featured in 200 phones and tablets to be released this
year…Intel has historically…neglected mobile technology…and is now attempting
to play mobile catch-up. Both companies are behind Samsung Electronics
(SSNLF.PK), Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN), and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) in the
tablet-chip market…Intel has also been working to change the design of its
chips used in smartphones and tablets to be more energy efficient and better
tailored for mobile computing. Qualcomm’s big advantage in mobile is that its
chips work like laptop chips, combining several functions into a single, small
chip without sacrificing battery life. Intel doesn’t yet have that capability,
and neither does Samsung…”
21.
Inside the wearable
computing mobile market http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/WEARABLE-COMPUTING-Inside-The-New-Mobile-Market-4652328.php
“…wearables won't just complement
smartphones. What is perhaps most intriguing about them is that they will serve
new purposes too…they're ideal for monitoring our vital signs and health.
They'll track how active we are, our sleep quality, how many steps we take
during the day. Consumers of all sorts — fitness buffs, dieters, and the
elderly — will come to rely on them…Overall consumer awareness is still low…In
a recent report…we…analyze various growth forecasts for the wearable computing
market, explore the products and prospects of each component market - including
bracelets, smartwatches, and eyewear…Here's a brief overview of the wearable
computing market: Market sizing estimates vary…We see global annual wearable
device unit shipments crossing the 100 million milestone in 2014, and reaching
300 million units five years from now…Bracelets…dominate the wearables market…We
believe fitness and medical wearables, taken together, will account for roughly
60% of the wearables market this year, and…a larger share in the future…Smartwatches…Promoters
of smartwatches also highlight the fact that users will no longer have to
constantly reach into their pockets for a smartphone…we see the advantages of a
smartwatch display over a smartphone screen as minimal…Eyewear…Marketers see
great potential in Google Glass. They are already familiar with augmented
reality since they have experimented with print materials that are readable by
smartphone applications and can create complementary ad experiences…”
22.
New Motorola Droid sports
48-hour battery life http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/07/new-motorola-droid-sports-48-hour-battery-life/ “Verizon relaunched its Motorola Droid line…The
three new Droids run Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, and each model focuses on
maximizing one of three specs: compact design, thinness, and battery life,
thanks to the a new SoC called the Motorola X8. The X8 system has eight cores,
with two allocated for app processing, four for graphics processing, one for
“contextual computing,” and one for natural language processing. The Droid Mini
is the compact variation, with a 4.3-inch display. The Droid Ultra focuses on
thinness and design, with a coated Kevlar body and 5-inch display. The Droid
Maxx, the successor to the Droid Razr Maxx HD, is also thin at 8.5 millimeters
with a 5-inch display, but it has a 3500 mAh battery that affords 48 hours of
active use…”
Apps
23.
New smart phone app in
Alameda County matches technology with civic engagement http://www.cafwd.org/reporting/entry/new-smart-phone-app-in-alameda-county-matches-technology-with-civic-engagem “…County residents now have a new tool for
reporting issues like these to their Alameda County Public Works Agency, and it
comes in the form of a smartphone application called Mobile Citizen. The app…allows
citizens to take a photo of the problem and submit it along with GPS coordinates
gathered by their phone…Ruiz believes this is the start of a growing movement
towards local governments promoting civic engagement through tech…The primary
draw of Mobile Citizen is the real-time response. Citizens receive automatic
notifications throughout the process, confirming their request was received,
when the work order was approved, and when it's been closed…Ruiz says counties
and cities in the Bay Area have kept up a dialogue about different
technological innovations they can undertake to improve the lives of their
residents…Perhaps an app for citizens to submit their app ideas should be the
next project for Alameda County…”
25.
Pflugerville smartphone
app connects residents http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/pflugerville-smartphone-app-connects-residents/nYmHP/ “…The city of Pflugerville launched two smart
phone apps, available for free on Apple and Android devices, on July 2…The
three city festivals – Deutschen Pfest, Pfirecracker Pfestival and Chili Pfest
– have their own links within the city app, with schedules, maps, general
information and a vendor list…While the app has entertainment-based functions,
there are also sub apps for residents’ everyday life. A city calendar sub app
shows upcoming events in the city. There is also a library sub app where
residents can search for books and research databases…Residents can also pay
their utility bills and municipal court citations through the app…The Pfix-It
app, which was created by City Sourced, is a work order system for the city.
Residents can take a picture of anything that needs city attention, including
utility issues or graffiti…Waggoner has high hopes for the apps in the coming
years. She said the city will track who is clicking on what areas of the app
and what parts of the app are most popular, to better serve the community…”
SkyNet
26.
Google tests encryption
to protect users' Drive files against government demands http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57594171-38/google-tests-encryption-to-protect-users-drive-files-against-government-demands/ “Google has begun experimenting with
encrypting Google Drive files, a privacy-protective move that could curb
attempts by the U.S. and other governments to gain access to users' stored
files…the…company is actively testing encryption to armor files on its
cloud-based file storage and synchronization service…The move could
differentiate Google from other Silicon Valley companies that have been the
subject of ongoing scrutiny after classified National Security Agency slides
revealed the existence of government computer software named PRISM…Major Web
companies routinely use encryption, such as HTTPS, to protect the
confidentiality of users' communications while they're being transmitted. But
it's less common to see files encrypted while stored in the cloud, in part
because of the additional computing expense and complexity and the difficulties
in indexing and searching encrypted data…”
27.
Google to fund Taiwanese
chipmaker to push Google Glass http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/22/himax-google-idUSL4N0FS25T20130722 “Google Inc will take a 6.3 percent stake in
the unit of Taiwanese chipmaker Himax Technologies Inc that develops display
technology for devices such as Google Glass…The investment will help fund the
production of liquid crystal on silicon chips and modules used in head-mounted
devices such as Google Glass, head-up displays and pico-projectors…Google…is
pushing forward with Google Glass, a product which CEO Larry Page has described
as vital to the company's future success. The agreement also allows Google to
raise its stake in the unit, Himax Display Inc, to 14.8 percent within a year…”
28.
Motorola Mobility Is
Starting To Focus On Wearable Tech In Earnest http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/19/job-listing-suggests-motorola-mobility-is-starting-to-focus-on-wearable-tech-in-earnest/ “…Motorola Mobility is looking to produce
some new wearable gadgets…The…company quietly posted a job listing…for someone
to fill the role of senior director of industrial design for wearables…that
person will “provide strategic leadership, champion innovation and institute
best practices to create a new world-class wearable’s [sic] design group within
Motorola.”…There are repeated references to the importance of consumer appeal:
the person who lands the gig must “define design strategies that synthesize
technology innovation and consumer desires” and “ensure creative direction for
design is consumer focused”, which make it look like Motorola eventually wants
to release a wearable device that’s meant for the masses…”
29.
Google launches Cloud
Printer driver and service for Windows http://thenextweb.com/google/2013/07/22/google-launches-cloud-printer-driver-and-service-for-windows-lets-you-print-documents-outside-of-chrome/ “Google…is bringing its Cloud Print project
to Windows. The company has launched both a driver and a service, both of which
are available for download now from Google Tools…Google Cloud Print connects
Cloud Print-aware applications (across the Web, desktop, and mobile) to any
printer. It integrates with the mobile versions of Gmail and Google Docs, and
is also listed as a printer option in the Print Preview page of Chrome…the new
Google Cloud Printer driver makes it possible to print to any of your cloud
printers from Windows applications. Chrome is no longer required…”
30.
How to enable or disable
Gmail's new tabs http://www.pcworld.com/article/2044770/how-to-enable-or-disable-gmails-new-tabs.html “Gmail just rolled out one of its best features
in years: Inbox tabs…Gmail can now automatically organize certain kinds of
messages into tabs, greatly reducing inbox clutter in the process. For example,
all your notifications from social-media services (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter,
etc.) will now be sorted into the Social tab, while offers from Groupon,
LivingSocial, and other advertisers will land under Promos. If…you want to make
changes to the settings, do this…”
31.
Google accounts for 25
percent of all Internet traffic http://www.pcworld.com/article/2044938/google-accounts-for-25-percent-of-all-internet-traffic-study-finds.html “…new products being built and provided by
Google now make the company accountable for nearly 25 percent of all Internet
traffic, up from a mere 6 percent just three years ago, according to a new
study…The analysis includes computers and mobile devices as well as hundreds of
varieties of game consoles, home media appliances and other embedded devices
like Apple TV, Roku, Xbox 360 and mobile apps. The data focus primarily on North
America…Deepfield co-founder Craig Labovitz attributed the meteoric rise in
traffic patterns to server growth at Google as well as the success of a range
of products such as YouTube (which the company bought for $1.65 billion in
2006), Android-based mobile devices and various Google cloud services like
Google Drive…The rise in Google’s presence online is strongly linked with
the…Google Global Cache (GGC) dedicated server program in the U.S…Google’s GGC
program is designed to let network operators and Internet service providers
deploy a small number of Google servers inside their network to serve popular
Google content, like YouTube…”
32.
Google Maps out-Yelps
Yelp http://money.cnn.com/2013/07/23/technology/mobile/google-maps-app/?source=cnn_bin “The best part of the new Google Maps app has
nothing to do with a map. The new secret weapon of Google Maps for smartphones
and tablets is a new feature called Explore, a Yelp-like tool that allows users
to find, rate and see reviews of local establishments…Explore is a highly
visual part of Google Maps that gives you a quick survey of the best options
around you across five categories: Eat, Drink, Shop, Play, Sleep. The tool
incorporates all the reviews Google…acquired when it bought Zagat, and it
combines those with Google's own user-generated ratings….it's perfectly suited
for tablets. The iPad and other tablets offer just enough physical screen space
to deliver the loads of information about various locations that Explore cooks
up…Going back to Yelp after using Explore is a little painful. Explore is
Google's next big move towards conquering its rival, and this is only the first
of many Google Maps innovations that should give the recommendation site pause…”
33.
Gmail Offers Full-Screen
Compose Again http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/19/gmail-offers-full-screen-compose-again/ “…Google has just launched a brand new, but
ultimately ineffectual, feature for Gmail users: a full-screen compose option. Enabling
this option will push the compose window to the center of your inbox, expanded
across the majority of the screen for a better viewing experience. Google
launched a brand new compose a few months ago, which gave users a bevy of new
tools to build out their emails, as well as a new design to let you open a
compose window without ever leaving the inbox. However, it appears that some
users enjoy a more full-screen compose experience…”
General
Technology
34.
Ars Technica
System Guide: July 2013 http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/07/ars-technica-system-guide-july-2013/ “…this iteration of the System Guide looks
pretty straightforward. The new System Guide accounts for a significant jump in
graphics performance and the continuing evolution of faster CPUs, but the
effects are limited…Intel's new 4th generation Core i-series processors,
codenamed Haswell, bring nice improvements in performance and platform power
consumption, but the Haswell processors available at launch are really only
suitable for the Hot Rod…cheaper dual-core Haswell parts in the Budget Box
price range won't hit until the second wave of Haswell processors later this
year. Overclockers have not been terribly happy overclocking Intel's 22nm
processors (Ivy Bridge and Haswell), but in general, the IPC (instructions per
clock) improvement and reduced power consumption have made Haswell a nice
update all around…to AMD's credit, the very modest tweaks in its latest
codenamed Richland APUs keep them very relevant in cheaper systems such as the
Budget Box…”
35.
Smooth out
your business’s voice and video streaming with QoS http://www.pcworld.com/article/2044778/break-the-bottleneck-smooth-out-your-business-s-voice-and-video-streaming-with-qos.html “If you’ve ever engaged in a voice over IP
(VoIP) phone call or conducted a video conference over the Web, you’ve probably
experienced choppy audio, pixelated video, and other “hiccups” that make these
technologies frustrating to use at best and and an impediment to doing business
at worst. Those annoying interruptions are the result of data struggling to get
across your network. It’s important for all of the data to get from Point A to
Point B, but some types—like streaming voice and video—simply won’t work if the
data can’t travel smoothly. You can solve the problem by spending a lot of
money for a bigger, faster Internet connection, but the smart way to address
the issue is with QoS: Quality of Service…QoS is like designating certain data
as the emergency vehicles of your network: It gives higher priority to
specified data to ensure it arrives at the destination in order as quickly as
possible. You can use QoS to create “express lanes” on your network for
designated applications or computers, but QoS is not simply about getting the
data there faster. It employs different techniques and algorithms for streaming
media to make sure it arrives smoothly in the proper order to avoid
interruptions, or the dreaded “buffering” message…”
36.
New way to
prevent garbage software patents
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2013/07/22.html “There are a lot of people complaining about
lousy software patents these days. I say, stop complaining, and start killing
them. It took me about fifteen minutes to stop a crappy Microsoft patent from
being approved…Software developers don’t actually invent very much. The number
of actually novel, non-obvious inventions in the software industry that
maybe…is, perhaps, two. The other 40,000-odd software patents issued every year
are mostly garbage that any working programmer could “invent” three times
before breakfast…companies large and small have figured out that patents are
worth money, so they try to file as many as they possibly can…The first
technique is…to make the language of the patent as confusing and obfuscated as
possible…The second technique…is to use a thesaurus. Often, software patent
applicants make up new terms to describe things with perfectly good, existing
names…Since patent examiners rely so much on keyword searches…if you can change
some of the keywords in your patent to be different than the words used everywhere
else, you might get your patent through…when there’s blatant prior art…the third
technique…is, striving to get the broadest possible patent…The America Invents
Act changed the law to allow the public to submit examples of prior art…the
USPTO asked us to set up Ask Patents, a Stack Exchange site where software
developers…can submit examples of prior art to stop crappy software patents…Take
patent application US 20130063492 A1, submitted by Microsoft…This patent…used
terms like “pixel density” for something that every other programmer in the
world would call “resolution,”…So I spent about a minute with Google and…found
this…document entitled Writing DPI-Aware Win32 Applications…written by Ryan
Haveson and Ken Sykes at…Microsoft…And it was written in 2008, while
Microsoft’s new patent application was trying to claim that this “invention”
was “invented” in 2011. Boom…Total time elapsed, maybe 10 minutes…The USPTO
rejected Microsoft's Resizing Imaging Patent!...Micah showed me a document from
the USPTO confirming that they had rejected the patent application, and the
rejection relied very heavily on the document I found…It’s a pleasure to read
him demolish the patent in question, all twenty claims…Software patent
applications are of uniformly poor quality. They are remarkably easy to find
prior art for…My dream is that when big companies hear about how friggin’ easy
it is to block a patent application, they’ll use Ask Patents to start messing
with their competitors. How cool would
it be if Apple, Samsung, Oracle and Google got into a Mexican Standoff on Ask
Patents? If each of those companies had three or four engineers dedicating a
few hours every day to picking off their competitors’ applications, the number
of granted patents to those companies would grind to a halt…”
37.
SanDisk's new
flash drive wirelessly beams files to your tablet or phone http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/22/4544560/sandisk-connect-wireless-flash-drive-USB-wi-fi-hands-on “When you run out of room on your Apple iPad,
your HTC One, or other mobile device without an SD card slot, where do you
turn? Do you painstakingly delete one batch of vacation photos to make room to
show off the next?...the SanDisk Connect…wireless flash drive…can hold
additional files and beam them to your device at will, no internet connection
required…the SanDisk Connect crams a Wi-Fi radio, a microSD slot, a four-hour
battery, and all its circuitry into a device that's really no bigger than a
fancy USB thumbdrive. And, at $49.99 for the 16GB model (or $59.99 for 32GB)
it's comparatively cheap, too…You can…transfer files from stick to device, or
vice versa…”
Leisure &
Entertainment
38.
Apple Owns 56% Of The
Streaming Devices Market, Roku Second With 21% http://blog.streamingmedia.com/2013/07/apple-owns-56-of-the-streaming-devices-market-roku-second-with-21.html “…Apple owned 56% of the streaming devices
market in 2012, with Roku coming in second at 21% of the market. Apple accounts
for the majority of sales by far, despite offering relatively narrow content
access – this is not (yet) a market being driven by the value proposition of a
streaming TV experience. AppleTV’s AirPlay feature was strategically crafted to
simplify the process of transferring laptop and tablet displays to a TV screen,
and it is AirPlaying – not OTT streaming – that is the primary reason for
purchase of AppleTV devices. Roku is the second largest vendor in this space
and is driving growth through a strong lineup of content as well as through a
series of agreements with Pay TV vendors such as Time Warner Cable. The
long-term potential for this segment does remain uncertain…while current growth
rates are high, the total installed base of $99 streaming boxes is quite low…”
39.
How To Self-Publish A
Bestseller: Publishing 3.0 http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/20/how-to-self-publish-a-bestseller-publishing-3-0/ “…This post is about what I did differently,
why I did it differently, and how I think anyone can do this to self-publish a
bestseller…Every entrepreneur should self-publish a book, because
self-publishing is the new business card. If you want to stand out in a world
of content, you need to underline your expertise. Publishing a book is not just
putting your thoughts on a blog post…It shows your best curated thoughts and it
shows customers, clients, investors…what the most important things on your mind
are right now…The distinction now is no longer between “traditional publishing”
versus “self-publishing.” The distinction now is between professional versus
unprofessional publishing…The benefits are enormous: More money…Control over
design…Speed…Content control…Avoiding bad things in life…Here’s what I did
step-by-step with my latest book for the first month since publication…1) BUILD
YOUR PLATFORM…2) HOW DO YOU BUILD YOUR PLATFORM?...3) WRITE…4) KNOW WHAT YOU
WANT…5) EDITING…6) DESIGN…7) AUDIOBOOK…8) TITLE…9) MARKETING…10) FOREIGN RIGHTS…11)
OTHER MERCHANDISE…”
40.
Goodreads Has 20M
Members, Doubling In Less Than A Year http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/23/goodreads-20-million-members/ “Goodreads, the social reading service…has
reached 20 million members…It took Goodreads only 11 months to double its
membership after hitting 10 million members in August 2012. Chandler identified
three main factors behind the accelerating growth. First, he said, Goodreads
has now built up “a critical mass of book reviews.”…with more than 25 million
reviews, Goodreads now covers enough titles that you can find lots of useful
content. Second…Goodreads has seen “explosive” mobile growth…users…want to look
up titles before they purchase them in bookstores, and the easiest way to do
that is from their phones. Plus, he said it reflects…the fact that “more people
are reading on mobile devices than ever before.” The third factor has been
Goodreads’ international growth…”
Entrepreneurism
and Technology
41.
Why you should pre-launch
your startup idea http://www.bogdannedelcu.com/why-you-should-pre-launch-your-startup-idea.html “…I made a simple presentation page for the
product with the desire of validating certain ideas and for attracting people
willing to test the application shortly after its launch. Results are good: I
validated some initial assumptions about the market potential, and up to 200
visitors were willing to test the product…promoting a landing page before the
official release also brings more solid and directly measurable results. Below I have compiled a list of benefits, which can be achieved through a
landing page prelaunch…1. You can test your idea…2. You can test the value proposition…3.
You can test the necessity of some features…4. Market and traffic potential…5.
Determine the Customer Acquisition Cost…6. Get valuable feedback…7. Get a
psychological boost..8. Launch Big…”
42.
Bay Area Tech Wages Are
The Nation’s Highest At $123K http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/20/bay-area-tech-wages-are-nations-highest/ “The San Francisco Bay Area pays the highest
median tech wage, at $123,497…Despite the significant gap in wages and costs
between the Bay Area and other tech hubs, it doesn’t look like it’s causing a
significant talent exodus yet. The median wage for tech workers in San
Francisco, Marin, and San Mateo counties is nearly 21 percent higher than the
second highest, Boston, at $102,230. However, while this wage is good for
top-flight engineers, it leads to significantly higher costs for entrepreneurs…salaries
for a 10-person team, on average, would total $1,234,970 in San Francisco, but
only $932,490 in Austin, Texas. The difference in how much equity a founder has
to give up can be substantial…”
43.
MBank And The Future Of
Responsive Banking http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/20/mbank-and-the-future-of-responsive-banking/ “…How could a banking spin-off of BRE Bank
and founded in 2000 create one of the coolest, most high-tech banking
experiences I’ve seen? The more important question…was how could a Polish bank
beat the big guys — the Chases, the Citibanks, and the Credit Suisses of the
world — to the punch in terms of improved user experience and unique features?...While
they still get some funding from their parent organization, mBank was designed
to be a greenfield operation and work independently from the staid old banks…it’s
a snappy…web-only service that lets customers view their transactions using
user-experience rules that are more familiar to Steam users than bank customers…While
other bank websites show a list of transactions and little else, mBank can show
you where those purchases appear in your overall account balance and how and
where they fit into your budget. This is done with some clever animations and
dynamic objects that are as modern and sleek as an app…”
Design / DEMO
44.
Design Is
Catching Up to 3D Printing http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/22/arts/design/Catching-Up-to-3D-Printing.html?src=recg&_r=0 “If all goes well, Space, a charity that
provides studio space for about 700 designers and artists in east London, will
hit its target of £10,000 in a crowdfunding campaign that ends Saturday and can
then buy the equipment it needs to open a digital manufacturing facility named
Fab Lab. Like designers and artists all over the world, the occupants of
Space’s studios are eager to experiment with the latest advances in 3D printing
and other digital production technologies…Fab Lab is intended to give them the
physical resources to do so, while Space plans to organize debates where they
can discuss the possibilities of these new forms of manufacturing. Translating
scientific innovations into things that may make our lives more efficient,
enlightened or enjoyable has been an important role of design throughout
history…Experimenting with the rapidly evolving technology of digital
manufacturing forms part of that tradition, which is why it has proved so
contentious within design circles…Some of the companies that apply it on an
industrial scale, including CRP Group in Italy and Materialise in Belgium, have
collaborated with designers to experiment with ways of using their systems to
make furniture and other small objects in far larger quantities…”
45.
Why 3D Printing Will Work
In Fashion http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/20/why-3d-printing-will-work-in-fashion/ “…3D printing has entered the mainstream, and
it will disrupt every industry’s manufacturing processes slightly differently.
Let’s talk about why it will work in fashion. 3D printing is not entirely new
to the fashion industry, as jewelry designers have for years outsourced quick
modeling jobs to printing companies…Catherine Wales, a designer trained in
classic garment cutting at Yves Saint Laurent and Emanuel Ungaro, is currently
exhibiting a collection of masks, corsets and helmets…Designers Francis Bitonti
and Michael Schmidt collaborated with Shapeways to produce a 3D-printed gown…The
results are beautiful. Comprising 3,000 articulated joints and dotted with
12,000 Swarovski crystals, Dita’s gown fits her curves like a glittering
Chinese finger trap. Wales’s feathered shoulder piece fluffs and falls like the
real thing. This is art. It isn’t wearable, but it suggests that 3D printing
has the finesse necessary to break into an industry known for its attention to
quality craft. It is becoming more and more wearable…Printers are getting
closer to producing good fabric-like materials, using interlocking structures
to create weaves and stitches…”
DHMN Technology
46.
3D printing
will explode in 2014, thanks to the expiration of key patents http://qz.com/106483/3d-printing-will-explode-in-2014-thanks-to-the-expiration-of-key-patents/ “…In February 2014, key patents that
currently prevent competition in the market for the most advanced and
functional 3D printers will expire…These patents cover a technology known as
“laser sintering,” the lowest-cost 3D printing technology. Because of its high
resolution in all three dimensions, laser sintering can produce goods that can
be sold as finished products…Once the key patents on 3D printing via laser
sintering expire, we could see huge drop in the price of these devices…when the
key patents expired on a more primitive form of 3D printing, known as fused
deposition modeling, the result was an explosion of open-source FDM printers
that eventually led to iconic home and hobbyist 3D printer manufacturer
Makerbot…Within just a few years of the patents on FDM expiring, the price of
the cheapest FDM printers fell from many thousands of dollars to as little as
$300. This led to a massive democratization of hobbyist-level 3D printers and
injected a huge amount of excitement into the nascent movement of “Makers,” who
manufacture at home on the scale of one object at a time. A similar sequence
involving the lifting of intellectual property barriers, a rise in competition,
and a huge drop in price is likely to play out again in laser deposition 3D
printers…”
47.
Water-cooled
Raspberry Pi looks hot, runs cool
http://www.techhive.com/article/2044913/water-cooled-raspberry-pi-looks-hot-runs-cool.html “People have done some pretty insane things
with their Raspberry Pi—such as building a system cluster—but nothing looks
quite as [cool]…as attaching a water cooling system to the popular computer on
a stick…the build comes complete with a raspberry-colored cooling fluid that
keeps the processors on the board chilled…You can check out the full hardcore
build instructions on the Bit-Tech forums…”
48.
Austin
Startup re:3D Creates Gigabot 3D Printer
http://www.siliconhillsnews.com/2013/07/18/8229/ “Gigabot is Austin startup re:3D’s printer
that builds objects thirty times larger than most consumer 3D printers, and
costs less than $6,000. For comparison: The Makerbot Replicator 2 printer that
can build objects of 410 cubic inches (roughly the size of a human head) costs
around $2,000…Gigabot prints objects of 14,000 cubic inches (about the size of
your dorm refrigerator) for under $6,000…Objet 1000, built by Stratasys, has
roughly a 24,000 cubic inch volume (the size of your real refrigerator) for
about $40,000…there are other differences. Gigabot has a resolution of 100
micron layers whereas Objet 1000 can get an accuracy within 16 micron layers…”
Open Source
Hardware
49.
Seej 3D Printed Game
Update http://3dprintingindustry.com/2013/07/19/seej-3d-printed-game-update/ “Seej, to quote it’s brief, ‘is an Open
Source tabletop war game designed to advance the state of 3D printing through
competition and player-directed evolution. Players print their own armaments
and fortifications for use in battle. If you can print it, it’s legal to use in
the game.’…Seej is a game that takes the principles of open-source to their
logical conclusion: that the games components are flexible is one thing, that
the rules are open-source is another. The basic tenant is that one player has
to knock over the others flags using the various devices and arsenal concocted
by their own imagination (or love of historical warfare knowledge, Games
Workshop addiction, etc.). The base kit comes with Trebuchet, staple of all
Hollywood historical battles, with coins as arms, and logo-brick-esque walls to
knock over. These are all available, open-source and for free of course, over
at The Forge…” [one of the cool aspects of this game is that it appears he’s from the
Appleton area! – ed.]
50.
Open source hardware
searching for business model http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1263197
“There's no doubt that engineers like
the idea of open-source hardware. There are an increasing number of open-source
hardware board designs – Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Beagleboard and many others –
that enable hobbyist projects and the reuse of board designs in commercial
products. And many engineers are putting a lot of time into enabling these
movements via collaborative work online and through the creation of vibrant
online communities. What is less clear is whether such movements will scale
into the commercial world. There is a lack of clear business model…Over its
short life the Raspberry Pi low-cost single-board computer, based on an
ARM11-based system-chip from Broadcom, has been a phenomenal success in terms
of shipments. But what remains unclear is how widely the board is fulfilling
its original brief of teaching young people how to program or is being adopted
as a building block in commercial embedded equipment designs. Gert Van
Loo…architect of the prototype of the Raspberry-Pi computer board, said that
commercial uptake has been gated by considerations of whether the Raspberry Pi
Foundation can guarantee to be able to supply boards in five or ten years time.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation is doing its best to make those assurances…”
Open Source
51.
Canonical Seeks $32
Million in Crowdfunding for Linux Phone http://www.datamation.com/mobile-wireless/canonical-seeks-32-million-in-crowdfunding-for-linux-phone.html “Ubuntu Linux vendor Canonical is taking a
novel approach to getting a new type of superphone to market. Instead of
bankrolling production on its own, Canonical is reaching out to its community
via crowdfunding site Indiegogo, to raise $32 million in order to build 40,000
Ubuntu Edge devices…Ubuntu Edge will be a dual-boot device with both Android
and Ubuntu on it. The device will also be loaded with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of
RAM. The device will also include a pure Saphire Crystal screen that will
provide more resilience than what most phones provide today…Shuttleworth
explained that his company will be underwriting the design validation and if
the Indiegogo campaign is greenlit, Canonical will break even on the cost of
building the phone…”
52.
OpenIncubate launches to
supercharge infrastructure startups with open-source cred http://gigaom.com/2013/07/18/openincubate-launches-to-supercharge-infrastructure-startups-with-open-source-cred/ “All systems are go for OpenIncubate, a new
accelerator seeking startups focused on open IT infrastructure…We’ve already
seen enterprise-focused accelerators and hardware accelerators cropping up.
OpenIncubate takes from each of those categories, targeting open-source IT. Its
doors will be open to any companies or teams that are working on software,
Software as a Service (SaaS) and/or hardware and want to address the
software-defined data-center vision through open-source technology…Participants
will need to be in Austin, Texas; Menlo Park, Calif.; or Boston in order to get
working space and access to advisors. What sorts of companies might be ripe for
participation? Think of NoviFlow, a young OpenFlow-enabled switch maker, or
Cumulus Networks, an ambitious startup with an operating system for commodity
switches…”
53.
LittleBox DIY Kit: Make
Your Own Raspberry Pi-based All-in-One PC http://ostatic.com/blog/littlebox-diy-kit-make-your-own-raspberry-pi-based-all-in-one-pc “…LittleBox…is a DIY kit that allows you to
transform your Raspberry Pi into a full-fledged all-in-one desktop computer.
It…looks a little like an iMac merged with an iPad…The Littlebox kit comes with
60 laser-cut wood parts, many components, an LCD screen, connectors…The project
is currently in Kickstarter mode, and will be seeking funding there through
August 8. You can either pledge $205 and get a LittleBox in October 2014, or
pledge about $227 and get one in October of this year. Sounds like the second
pledge saves a lot of wait time. However, LittleBox is open source in that you
can get directions for building one here…”
Civilian
Aerospace
54.
Kickstarter
Campaign Wants to Send Tiny Satellites out of Earth Orbit http://www.technologyreview.com/news/517186/kickstarter-campaign-wants-to-send-tiny-satellites-out-of-earth-orbit/ “A mini-satellite, no bigger than a loaf of
bread, could push itself out of Earth’s orbit as soon as next year if a
crowdfunding campaign to support development of a diminutive propulsion system
succeeds. If such small spacecraft can be made to operate far from Earth, they
could one day make inexpensive expeditions to asteroids, Mars, and beyond. Interplanetary
spacecraft are typically bigger than a car, cost hundreds of millions to
billions of dollars, and take many years to develop and launch…Researchers at
the University of Michigan have a design for a propulsion system they believe
is ready to send a CubeSat on an expedition into deep space. Their campaign on
the fundraising site Kickstarter asks for $200,000 to pay for development
needed to make a test launch next year…”
55.
Mars needs
workers! Space startups desperate for talent http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/07/18/the-next-stem-talent-crunch-space-tech.html “Hardware, software, mobile apps, product
development. The list of potential jobs for Science, Technology, Engineering
and Math (STEM) talent goes on…bagging that talent is no small feat for
employers, in particular small companies and startups…Elon Musk's space
transportation startup Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is currently
looking for about 200 employees, including highly technical roles in
engineering and manufacturing…And it's not just SpaceX…“We’re hiring,” said
Chris Lewicki, president and chief engineer of asteroid mining company
Planetary Resources. “We take software developers of all disciplines…We’re not
necessarily looking for people who have done the type of work we’re asking from
them,” Lewicki said. “We're looking to add a few young and enthusiastic
software developers who…want to follow their passion in space…”
56.
Two Tucson researchers
get NASA awards to turn sci-fi into real thing http://azstarnet.com/news/local/education/college/two-tucson-researchers-get-nasa-awards-to-turn-sci-fi/article_f4a40627-3df7-5cc3-b8dc-d3abe35cce7c.html “Tucson-based researchers have won two of the
12 awards NASA gives annually to turn science-fiction concepts into reality…Christopher
Walker wants to build a 10-meter suborbital telescope that is essentially an
aluminized mylar balloon, while Thomas Prettyman…wants to build instruments for
spacecraft that would take full-body scans of asteroids and comets…Walker…proposes
to build a balloon whose aluminized half would form a 10-meter mirror that
could either be aimed at targets in space or turned toward Earth from its
suborbital position for remote sensing and communications…It would have the
advantage of being above most of the distorting effects of water vapor in the
atmosphere. The telescope would be surrounded by a larger balloon, the size of
a football field. It would carry the telescope up to 120,000 feet above sea
level and then serve as a stabilizing mount and protective radome…”
Supercomputing
& GPUs
57.
Nvidia Debuts GPU-Based
Surveillance Platform For Threat Detection http://www.crn.com/news/storage/240158428/nvidia-debuts-gpu-based-surveillance-platform-for-threat-detection.htm “Big data can only be smart data with the
right tools. That's becoming increasingly hard for military and crime
investigators that slice, dice and parse terabytes of image and video data to
detect threats…Nvidia announced…a GPU-accelerated geospatial intelligence
platform that allows security analysts to zip through raw data, images and
video to detect threats fast and accurately…GeoInt Accelerator, consists of the
Nvidia Tesla GPU, software applications for geospatial intelligence analysis,
and supports custom-advanced application development libraries. Nvidia claims
its platform can help companies analyze high-resolution satellite imagery,
facial recognition in surveillance video and video collected by drones 10 times
faster than systems with CPUs alone. Nvidia is targeting the fast-growing
business-intelligence market…projected to be worth $17.1 billion by 2016…”
58.
Khronos Releases OpenCL
2.0 Provisional Specification http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2013/07/22/khronos-releases-opencl-20-provisional-specification-public-review “The Khronos Group…announced the…public
release of the OpenCL 2.0 provisional specification. OpenCL 2.0 is a
significant evolution of the open, royalty-free standard that is designed to further
simplify cross-platform, parallel programming…“The OpenCL working group has
combined developer feedback with emerging hardware capabilities to create a
state-of–the-art parallel programming platform - OpenCL 2.0,” said Neil
Trevett…“OpenCL continues to gather momentum on both desktop and mobile
devices. In addition to enabling application developers it is providing
foundational, portable acceleration for middleware libraries, engines and
higher-level programming languages that need to take advantage of heterogeneous
compute resources including CPUs, GPUs, DSPs and FPGAs…”
Trends &
Emerging Tech
60.
Consumer
Reports reveals eight big tech trends and gotta-have gadgets for summer http://www.chathamjournal.com/weekly/living/technology/consumer-reports-tech-trends-gadgets-130621.shtml “…America is on track in 2013 to acquire a
new gadget for roughly every man, woman, and child over the age of 12. A
special “Gear to Go” section in the August issue of Consumer Reports outlines
some key trends that cut across multiple categories of mobile devices…Following
are six of the eight tech trends that can be found in the report: Phones, meet
cameras. Cameras, meet phones…Displays get sharp and wide…Don’t be afraid to
mix or switch platforms…E-book readers are down – but not out…Battery life
lengthens…Sound options multiply…”
*****
