Teknovis

Somebody recently told me about on{X} (part of Microsoft), and its service that enables you to program your Android mobile device without any programming skills. Interesting idea!

For more details see on{X}: The Coolest Thing to Happen to Android. Courtesy of… Microsoft Israel?.

Tags: Microsoft

Today I read an interesting article about the cost of patent trolls in the US. Apparently, the figure is $29 billion!

The article is ‘Patent trolls’ cost other US bodies $29bn last year, says study.

ESB (the incumbent electricity provider in Ireland) is currently looking for ambassadors to trial some electric cars. There are more details in The Great Electric Drive, and the Private Motorist Application Form will need to be completed before midnight on Monday 16th July (that is three weeks from today).

Tags: ESB

I came across the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list today, and I thought it was fascinating!

Tags: Forbes

A friend made me aware of this fascinating story of a two-factor authentication failure – I know someone whose 2-factor phone authentication was hacked….

(It is an interesting blog!)

I came across an interesting tablet user demographic during the week in Tablet users are older, richer and more likely to watch video – study. The article title contains all the key points, but I will include the figure here regardless.

Tablet User Demographic (Copyright ComScore)

Have a good weekend!

There is an interesting, and counter-intuitive, argument for obtaining patents described in The Defensive Patent License makes patents less evil for open source.

However, I am not sure if this is so viable in light of the judgement earlier this week described in Apple blocks HTC’s use of Google patents in US lawsuit.

A US judge has ruled that HTC is not allowed to use some of the patents that it recently acquired from Google, as part of its efforts to sue Apple! For the full story see Apple blocks HTC’s use of Google patents in US lawsuit.

This ruling could have significant effects on the values associated with patent rights, portfolios, and transfers!

Tags: Apple, Google, HTC

There was an interesting story in the news today about a man who was sentenced to a two year jail term for possession of child pornography images. See Father jailed over child pornography for further details.

In particular, the article states:

Defence counsel said the case was unusual as 24 of the 27 images were virtual images – no actual children were used to create the images.

I wonder if all 27 images had been “virtual images”, would he still have received a prison sentence? Indeed, would it even be a crime to posses such images?

I am going to be controversial here, but in my opinion the possession of virtual images definitely should not be a crime.

I must admit that I am also uncomfortable with the idea that the possession (or distribution) of any types of images is a crime. It seems illogical to me to say that if you arrange your 1s and 0s in this order it is a crime, but it is perfectly legal to rearrange them in a different order (to produce a different image).

For the sake of clarity, I believe that it definitely should be illegal to produce such images.

Tags: Ireland, Pornography

AT&T‘s CEO envisages that that mobile phone plans could be data-only within the next 24 months! For more details see Cellphone Plans Could Be Data-Only in 2 Years, Says AT&T CEO [VIDEO] and AT&T CEO Calls Data-Only Smartphone Plans ‘Inevitable’.

This makes sense to me! I do not see why voice services cannot become services that you obtain using an app on your mobile device – just like any other service!

I guess that the biggest counter argument is that it consigns the mobile network operator to being a “dumb pipe” supplier :o

Tags: AT&T