15 Aug 2013
Victoria Espinel, intellectual property chief at the White House, has stepped down from her official position as of August 9, 2013. Espinel was the first person to ever serve as the official intellectual property enforcement officer at the White House, a position that was established through Congressional legislation in 2008 but was not filled until...
9 Aug 2013
A confederation of tech executives have banded together in an attempt to lobby Congressional lawmakers in the US House of Representatives for laxer intellectual property laws. This is an odd occurrence, one would think that tech CEOs like these would want more stringent IP laws in order to protect their assets, but these executives maintain...
9 Aug 2013
For a couple of years now, General Electric has been looking to make serious investments in solar energy research and development. In 2011 PrimeStar Solar and announced that they would use that company’s resources to begin manufacture of solar panels in Colorado. However, the enterprise came to an unexpected end yesterday when solar power rival,...
9 Aug 2013
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is best known as the preeminent digital rights advocacy group, possibly in the entire world. Think of any noteworthy piece of legislation in the past couple of decades and the EFF has more than likely participated in the drafting of that legislation, critiquing the legislation, or campaigned on behalf of digital...
5 Aug 2013
There are many well founded fears about progress and how intellectual property may come to reshape our society. The New Statesman however, has hit on the most solid and grounded fear of them all: that robots are coming to steal your job. And not just blue collar jobs either, Alex Hern’s article opines that white...
3 Aug 2013
Wired, one of the preeminent technologically oriented online news sources, has a fascinating article arguing that we need a crowdfunding platform for patents. Writer Samuel Arbesman opens by citing two impressive statistics. One is that every year the citizens of the US spend $40 billion to support technological innovation and research (about two-thirds of this...
31 Jul 2013
I recently visited the annual Orange County Fair for the first time and was very impressed with the array of attractions. Thousands of turkeys barbecued over open flames raising clouds of the essence of summer over the entirety of the fair. A Bubble Roller pool showcased kids zipped up in life sized bubbles and tossed...
26 Jul 2013
Open-source web developer, Ubuntu, has announced a Kickstarter type campaign to fund the development of a new open-source smartphone: the Edge. The project is ambitious, Ubuntu has asked for $32 million in order to develop 40,000 units (a contribution of $600 to the campaign on the first day or $830 on the following days guarantees...
26 Jul 2013
John F. Kennedy, speaking to a stadium full of Americans at Rice University, September 1962: “If this capsule history of our progress teaches us anything, it is that man, in his quest for knowledge and progress, is determined and cannot be deterred. The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or...
22 Jul 2013
The New York Times blog has an article by Joseph E. Stiglitz, revisiting the Supreme Court’s decision on gene patents. As he writes in specific relation to the gene patent case, “the case was a battle between those who would privatize good health, making it a privilege to be enjoyed in proportion to wealth, and...
22 Jul 2013
Las Vegas was one of the major American cities to be hit hardest by the global recession of 2008. People aren’t in a hurry to gamble away what little money they have in a depression, and this substantially affected Las Vegas tourism for the past couple of years. However, it seems that the famous city...
22 Jul 2013
“I’ve a superb idea that is going to make us rich!” said John G. Hotchkiss, resident of New Haven, Connecticut, from Staffordshire, England. “Really? And what is that my fine fellow?” remarked his compatriot John A Davenport resident of New York, also from Staffordshire. “Well, the simplicity is the beauty of it. Let’s get a...