Obama signs America Invents Act into law, makes patent reform a reality

Patent reform's been bandied about on Capitol Hill for years now, and last week we finally got both houses of Congress to agree on the language to make it happen. Today, in what was a foregone conclusion, President Obama has finally made the thing official by signing the America Invents Act into law. In doing so, he made the dream of a first-to-file patent system in the US a reality. Of course, it won't go into effect for another 18 months, so we'll have to wait awhile before we find out if it can curb all those companies' litigious inclinations. Video recap of the patent reform process after the break.

Continue reading Obama signs America Invents Act into law, makes patent reform a reality

Obama signs America Invents Act into law, makes patent reform a reality originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/A6njhggIRNA/

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Best Buy makes good after customer's already opened Epic 4G Touch gives him the bird

Best Buy Epic 4G Touch picture

Android Central Forums member remii picked up his shiny new Samsung Galaxy S II Sprint Epic 4G Touch (hereafter referred to as the SGSIIE4GT for short) at a Best Buy in Riverside, Calif., only to find that it wasn't quite as pristine as you might expect, with the box apparently already opened and the phone's camera having been ... tested. Here's the story in remii's words:

So I walked into Best Buy today to get my Epic 4G Touch, and I go to play with it as the rep finishes my paperwork, and look what I find on it that Best Buy decided to throw in as a bonus!

I was pretty upset. There was another one as well of a random Sprint fixture. Also before I even got the phone in my hand the reps were handing the phone off to each other to check it out. They didn't even know anything about it nor of its release this morning.

... I have to admit the camera quality is pretty nice, lol. But, yeah, I spoke to their manager and he just made excuses. "When we get in new devices the techs like to open them up and explore them a bit" was his reasoning. I then asked why would there be such a vulgar photo on my phone then and he went on to say that they should have deleted it before it was sold. Awesome.

We're willing to bet that's not official Best Buy policy (or anyone else's, for that matter). And while we'd agree that the photos left on the phone aren't all that offensive, but that's not really the point. If we're buying a brand-new phone, we'd prefer that store reps not "play" with it first, ya know? There's probably no need to keep things as sterile as to clearly open the box in plain sight of God and the customer, but just don't "play" with what we're about to buy, m'kay?

As for remii and his almost-new SGSIIE4GT? Hit the break to see how things turned out.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/bhsB1spmHMo/best-buy-makes-good-after-customers-already-opened-epic-4g-touch-gives-him-bird

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GPS on AOSP ROM's, New Epic 4G Touch owners [From the Forums]

From the Forums

Finally! The weekend is upon us. It's been a good week for Android and Android related news so the weekend will be a great time to look back and fully absorb some of that information if you haven't done so already. As always, the Android Central forums have been rocking all week as well so check out some the threads below or start up your own today to keep the conversations going through the weekend.

If you're not already a member of the Android Central forums, you can register your account today.


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/dJunfcblIcs/gps-aosp-roms-new-epic-4g-touch-owners-forums

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Watch What the World Might Look Like if You Strapped Yourself to a Helicopter Blade [Video]

Rolling shutter effect shots are always cool, but usually used to shoot moving objects, like airplane propellers. What if you stuck the camera on the propeller? You'd get a combination of the view from the Cyclone rides at amusement parks and the view from an acid trip. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/5iE2c6qL09c/watch-what-the-world-might-look-like-if-you-strapped-yourself-to-a-helicopter-blade

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Win a FREE Case-Mate Barely There Chrome Case for iPhone 4!

Friday Saturday Freebie time again, and since I’m doing the post this week I get to pick my absolute fav case from the TiPb iPhone Accessory Store to give away FREE — the Case-Mate Barely There Chrome Case for iPhone 4! This is just one of the...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/d0x7cJMN7nU/

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Woz's Greatest Foursquare Tips [Woz]

Everyone knows that Steve Wozniak co-found Apple with Steve Jobs and that other guy everyone forgets about, and that he loves Segway polo. What you may not know is that Woz is a Foursquare guru. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/oS0p_fpQBsc/wozs-greatest-foursquare-tips

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Security firm RSA attacked using Excel-Flash one-two sucker punch

RSA attacked using Flash vulnerability
It has emerged that the underlying cause of RSA's SecurID gaffe was the recently-reported zero-day vulnerability found in Adobe's Flash Player.

The exploit, which used specially-crafted Flash embedding in Excel spreadsheets, was first reported on March 15 and has since been fixed. RSA was hacked sometime in the first half of March when an employee was successfully spear phished and opened an infected spreadsheet. As soon as the spreadsheet was opened, an advanced persistent threat (APT) -- a backdoor Trojan -- called Poison Ivy was installed. From there, the attackers basically had free reign of RSA's internal network, which led to the eventual dissemination of data pertaining to RSA's two-factor authenticators.

The attack is reminiscent of the APTs used in the China vs. Google attacks from last year -- and indeed, Uri Rivner, the head of new technologies at RSA is quick to point out that that other big companies are being attacked, too: "The number of enterprises hit by APTs grows by the month; and the range of APT targets includes just about every industry. Unofficial tallies number dozens of mega corporations attacked [...] These companies deploy any imaginable combination of state-of-the-art perimeter and end-point security controls, and use all imaginable combinations of security operations and security controls. Yet still the determined attackers find their way in."

What we'd like to know, though, is whether the attack on RSA was caused by Adobe's lackadaisical approach to patching Flash -- or was it the other way around? Was it the RSA attack that first brought the zero-day vulnerability to Adobe's attention?

Security firm RSA attacked using Excel-Flash one-two sucker punch originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 06:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/06/security-firm-rsa-attacked-using-excel-flash-one-two-sucker-punc/

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The Closest Thing We Have to a Holodeck Is Used to Molest 3D Fairies [Video]

I dream of having a room full of interactive 3D holograms, much like those found in Star Trek and X-Men. This interactive holographic system, which combines a glassesless 3D parallax display with a touch sensor, gets me closer to that dream. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/V4qS1du1Y64/the-closest-thing-we-have-to-a-holodeck-is-used-to-molest-3d-fairies

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Deal of the Day ? 50% Off Lenovo Enhanced Multimedia Remote with Backlit Keyboard

Today?s LogicBUY Deal is the new Lenovo Enhanced Multimedia Remote (N5902) with backlit keyboard for $39.99.  This is an update to the previous N5901 model.  It?s compatible with Xbox 360 and PS3.  Features rubberized keys and optical trackball (like the new Blackberry).  Uses a USB nano dongle (which stores in base of remote when not [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/09/14/deal-of-the-day-%e2%80%93-50-off-lenovo-enhanced-multimedia-remote-with-backlit-keyboard-2/

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Mozilla publishes name and shame list of slow Firefox add-ons, cracks down on tardy devs

Firefox slow-addons list
Mozilla, continuing its year-long crusade to speed up Firefox startup and shutdown times, has published a name and shame list of the Firefox's slowest add-ons.

The list is just one part of Mozilla's new efforts to highlight slow add-ons, and to help developers make their add-ons more efficient. Over the next two weeks, 'slow performance warnings' will be introduced in the add-on gallery so that users can see, before installation, which add-ons will slow down their browser. If that isn't enough to spur developers into cleaning up their add-ons, Mozilla has also begun reaching out to developers of slow add-ons with tips on how to improve add-on performance. Finally, add-on developers will soon have the ability to perform 'on-demand performance testing,' so that they can test their add-on before it's deployed publicly.

Mozilla reports that the average Firefox add-on slows down Firefox's start-up time by 10% -- which means, if you install 10 add-ons, you will double your start-up time. On fast desktop PCs that kind of slowdown might be negligible, but on older computers, laptops and smartphones, it could be the difference between a 5 and 10 second startup. Mozilla has obviously realized that while massive performance gains might've been made with Firefox 4, the addition of third-party add-ons can destroy any user-perceived improvements.

In other news, Mozilla says that a future build of Firefox will block the installation of add-ons (such as toolbars) by third-party software. Add-ons and toolbars that are bundled in this way will require explicit approval when you next open up Firefox. Hooray!

Mozilla publishes name and shame list of slow Firefox add-ons, cracks down on tardy devs originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 04 Apr 2011 05:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/04/mozilla-publishes-name-and-shame-list-of-slow-firefox-add-ons/

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