Into Tech

While Disney is quite often painted as the leader of the pack when it comes to ridiculous and draconian copyright-related proposals, much of that can be attributed to former CEO Michael Eisner, who helped push for the Bono Copyright Extension Act to “protect” Mickey Mouse. Eisner, famously, loves to talk about the history of intellectual property law — though, he’s almost entirely wrong, attributing much of copyright law to Abraham Lincoln, who had nothing to do with it. After Eisner left, Robert Iger took over, and for a while, it seemed as if he might actually understand that he needed to learn how to embrace new technologies and not treat users as criminals.

Apparently Iger doesn’t fully believe that, though. Joining with previous statements made by the folks in charge of NBC Universal and Viacom, Iger was recently in London saying that ISPs should ban users who are caught downloading unauthorized material. While UK ISPs have agreed to send out industry warning letters, so far they’ve resisted banning users from the internet. Iger, however, thinks that’s not enough:

“We are simply asking for people who are downloading illegal files to get a warning initially then to get their service cut off.”

He then falsely suggests that ISPs are effectively relying on their content to be effective. This is the lie that Big Content likes to tell itself. That it’s really Hollywood content that gets people online, rather than communication tools or other content. But to Iger, the internet’s main purpose is apparently to distribute Disney’s content:

“Most distribution businesses succeed because they have a distribution process in place. They also have product. We contribute to that mightily. It is a joint partnership.”

No, actually, it’s not a partnership. Disney’s using the internet as a platform because that’s what customers demand. If Disney doesn’t like it, it’s free not to bother — but everyone knows that wouldn’t make much sense. And, then, of course, Iger (the same guy who said the entertainment industry should recognize that file sharing was just customers showing content companies what they wanted) falsely equates copyright infringement to “stealing.” So much for Disney taking the high road.

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When we talk about all the harm patents do, some people respond that even if the market can make up for cover the research costs for commercial products, without patents, basic research would never happen. Nothing can be further from the truth. In fact, there’s increasing evidence that patents are harming basic research as well. The main arena for basic research has long been universities. Yet, back in 1980, what was supposed to be a “minor tweak” to the patent system, the Bayh-Dole Act, allowed universities to start patenting their research. And, patent it they did. However, as the NY Times notes, rather than foster new research and innovation, this resulted in much less collaboration, much greater secrecy and much higher costs to innovation.

As the article notes, the problem was in making the same mistake that many patent system supporters make, assuming that the invention stage is the most important part of innovation — when it is not. Invention is just one part of the innovation process. Locking up the invention stage makes every other part of the process of innovation much more expensive, thereby limiting innovation — and in fact, that’s exactly what the Bayh-Dole Act has done:

Part of the problem has been a lingering misunderstanding about where the value lies in innovation. Patenting a new basic science technique, or platform technology, puts it out of the reach of graduate students who might have made tremendous progress using it.

Similarly, exclusive licensing of a discovery to a single company thwarts that innovation’s use in any number of other fields. R. Stanley Williams, a nanotechnologist from Hewlett-Packard, testified to Congress in 2002 that much of the academic research to which H.P. has had difficulty gaining access could be licensed to several companies without eroding its intellectual property value.

As for whether or not it’s actually increased the amount of basic research, a study we wrote about earlier this year found that it had actually decreased basic research at universities. And, the story gets even worse, because it’s not even as if this ability to patent university research has resulted in huge monetary windfalls for universities either. While some had hoped to hit the jackpot with patents, they failed to recognize just how costly it is to maintain patents and run a technology transfer office. A recent study found that the majority of tech transfer offices had lost money for their universities.

About the only good news in the article is the fact that the steady stream of studies and complaints from within academia about this impact is gradually waking up some to how big a problem the Bayh-Dole Act was in stifling research and innovation in the US. Unfortunately, just getting basic patent reform moving is difficult enough. And since the pharma industry likes Bayh-Dole (since it allows them to sweep in and get all the value from discoveries made at universities — see The $800 Million Pillion to learn about how pharma and biotech companies have abused the system for years), you can bet that they’ll put up a huge fight to repeal this incredibly harmful bit of legislation.

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While computers are now an important part of the lives of human beings, there was a time where computers did not exist. Knowing the history of computers and how much progression has been made can help you understand just how complicated and innovative the creation of computers really is.
Unlike most devices, the computer is one [...]

HP is claiming to have cracked one of mobile computing’s biggest challenges by launching a laptop that can run for 24 hours on a single charge.

The new EliteBook 6930p enterprise notebook marries an Intel Solid State Drive (SSD) with a new LED display to push the battery past the magical 24-hour mark.

According to HP, the SSD boosts battery life by around 7% over the regular hard disk drive while the LED display is credited with adding 4 hours to the battery life. Both the SSD and the mercury-free LED display are options.

More movies are being released in the new generation Data Video Disc format High Definition Data Video Disc (HD DVD) as we speak. Is it time to get an HD DVD player? This article will discuss some of the features of high definition Data Video Disc over the existing format and some points to consider [...]

As we reported yesterday, Dell was supposed to unveil its Asus Eee challenger today and here it is: the Dell Inspiron Mini 9.

On sale now, the little Netbook costs £299, including VAT and delivery, for the model running Windows XP Home. The model running Ubuntu 8.04 and an ‘intuitive Dell-developed custom interface’ will arrive in a few weeks for £269. No funky colours though, just serious Business Black.

The Mini 9 is shipping now in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany and Austria, with Spain and Italy to follow in October. It weighs just over 1Kg, has an 8.9in display and is powered by a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor.

Jump now for the full specs:

There’s a famous saying by John Gilmore, that “the internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.” However, that saying may apply equally to other “damage” beyond censorship — and that includes spying, slow connections and many other things. In fact, with it being considered somewhat common knowledge that US intelligence agencies frequently tap into internet traffic coming through the US from elsewhere, more and more countries are working hard to make sure their internet traffic need not travel through the US at all. It’s not just about the spying — though, that is a part of it.

It’s also about a basic competitive advantage. Since the internet has become such an important infrastructure concern, relying on a separate country to make sure that infrastructure remains solvent (especially when that country has actively promoted policies that seem to hinder investment in that infrastructure) doesn’t make much sense. So, while the US gov’t argues over side issues like net neutrality, other countries are making sure that whatever the US does with its internet policy doesn’t impact their ability to make use of a global information network. One of these days, US politicians are going to wake up and realize that while they were arguing over net neutrality and policies concerning telcos and cable companies, other countries built out much stronger internet infrastructure that will allow their economies to profit, while we start playing catchup.

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What is a Receiver?
A receiver is that big, heavy thing that you plug your speakers and other components into (like a DVD player, TV, CD player, Xbox, PlayStation, iPod, and etc.). Its the “brain” of the show, really. The idea of connecting all your components to a receiver is the concept of audio/video switching, allowing [...]

Pandas beware, Asus wants your bamboo. OK, maybe not but, the bamboo laptops from Asus which have been mooted for some time have finally been finalised and christened the ‘Bamboo Series’.

Glowing with ‘green’ goodness, the series comprises an a 12.1in model that weighs 1.57kg and an 11.1in one that weighs 1.25kg, both powered by a selection of Intel Core 2 Duo processors.

Of course, first you have to appreciate the ‘artisan-grade Moso bamboo paneling’, with its ‘organic tactility, refreshing scent and minimalist aesthetics’ which give these lappies ‘an arresting aura of spirituality, warmth and old world charm that synthetic materials and cold, impersonal metals will struggle to replicate’. That would be every other Asus product then, I guess.

The Canon IXUS 75 is an incredible digital camera with some of the most admirable features that make photography a joy. The camera is equipped with great facilities that give the photographers complete satisfaction. This innovative camera comes with highly user friendly functionality. The various users can easily use the device and take amazing pictures [...]