Microsoft Surface is making waves across the blogosphere in the last 48 hours. It brings the meaning of “desktop computer” to a new level…it is a table-top :-)
This is mostly based on the multi-touch technology from Perceptive Pixel, a less then 12 months old company founded by Jeff Han of NYU that changes how user interface works.
The first appearance of this multi-touch technology is over a year ago, in April 2006 where they adapted Warcraft III for multi-touch. Very cool video :-)
In case you haven’t notice, I got a legal letter from lawyers representing Grand Seasons International today. We are now seeking legal advises on the next step.
Our Ref: JSG/1311/07
Date: 23 May 2007
Editor
Tomorrow.sg
Registrar: Vooju Pte Ltd
Registrant: James Seng
[Address]
Dear Sir
GRAND SEASONS INTERNATIONAL – TIMESHARE SCAM COMPANY
We act for M/s Grand Seasons International Pte Ltd.
Our clients instruct that a blog has been published in your Bulletin of Singapore Bloggers at the following url address: http://tomorrow.sg/archives/2006/10/23/grand_seasons_international_ti.html with the heading in bold “Grand Season International-TimeShare Scam Company”.
We are instructed that the above words are defamatory of our clients and our client’s reputation and goodwill has been disparaged and seriously damage. It is common knowledge that the Internet has millions of users who have free and open access to the words complained of.
In the premises our clients instruct that unless the above offending words are removed from the above url address and from the bulletin board within the next 5 days from the date hereof our clients shall have no alternative but to proceed as they deem fit in the matter.
Our clients also seek your co-operation to disclose the name and address of “GECKO” who has posted comment on 23/10/06 regarding our clients in the captioned matter as our clients intend to pursue their legal rights against the writer.
Okay, I am down with Conjunctivitis for the last two days. It started with my daughter complaining about her eye pain last week. Sunday morning, she developed a full-blown red-eye and we bought her to see the doctor. By lunch time, my eye started to sore and by evening time, I had my red-eye. I canceled all my appointments and see the doctor the first thing in the morning on Monday. This is followed by my baby son and wife in the evening.
Yea I know the picture is gross but thats how my eye look like :-(
On a lighter note of things, I had a drinking session last week at a place where the price of the beer varies depending on the time you were there: $2 at 11am to $9 at 10pm.
It is kind of silly to talk about .XXX, especially it is a forgo conclusion that it is not proceed, not to mention a couple of months late. Nevertheless, I was discussing this with a friend recently and said something I like to share:
“.XXX is (perhaps) the first time the pornography industry and the conservative Christians stand along the same side”, ie against .XXX.
It is like as if democrats and republicans have the same position as gun control.
Perhaps the conservative Christians should sit back and really think if they have any clue what they are protesting.
Venture Beat reported the highlight of TiECON, the big technology & VC conference in Santa Clara:
The buzz on the expo floor was about Silicon Valley gaming startup Elementeo and its precocious 13-year old founder and chief executive, Anshul Samar. “We inject fun into education,†the fast talking entrepreneur confidently proclaimed, touting his new fantasy role playing board game which he believes will change the way kids learn chemistry.
No kidding. He is a lot better than many CEOs I know! This kid will go a long way!
Played a bit with Gapminder (via Loic ). A lot of very interesting countries data can be extracted from the tool, particularly compared country against country and over time.
MCMC stated that, based on the numerous complaints it received, the issue involved mobile users who claimed they are being charged for services/content which they have NEVER subscribed ot purchased.
For the problem to escalate to this massive scale, it must have being going-on for a long time now.
“The trouble is I don’t understand the language. I don’t really understand what a Web site is,” he told a London court during the trial of three men charged under anti-terrorism laws.
Prosecutor Mark Ellison briefly set aside his questioning to explain the terms “Web site” and “forum.” An exchange followed in which the 59-year-old judge acknowledged: “I haven’t quite grasped the concepts.”
This scares me at so many level that I dunno where to begin…
The New Yorker has a great article about US Free Trade agreement and the IP provision (DMCA) that comes with it:
Why does the U.S. insist on these rules? Quite simply, American drug, software, and media companies are furious about the pirating of their products, and are eager to extend the monopolies that their patents and copyrights confer. These companies are the main advocates for such rules, and the big winners. The losers are often the citizens in developing countries, who find themselves subject to a Draconian I.P. regime that reduces access to new technologies.
More interesting, it cites the following:
History suggests that after a certain point tougher I.P. rules yield diminishing returns. Josh Lerner, a professor at Harvard Business School, looked at a hundred and fifty years of patenting, and found that strengthening patent laws had little effect on the number of innovations within a country. And, in the U.S., stronger patent protections for things like software have had little or no effect on the amount of innovation in the field. The benefits of stronger I.P. protection are even less convincing when it comes to copyright: there’s little evidence that writers and artists are made more productive or creative by the prospect of earning profits for seventy years after they die, and the historical record suggests only a tenuous connection between stronger I.P. laws and creative output.
Singapore is one of the first country to sign the free trade agreement with US and we also have our copyright laws changed, sad to say.
ps: Anyone has a source to the study made by John Lerner?
Dealing with ‘non-bogus’ patent are tough, especially if it is held by non-OSS-friendly company, like Microsoft. (Microsoft have huge patent portfolios btw, but so far, they have not use it aggressive against competition yet). This is where we need a ‘Cold War’ in software patents – Where two or more giants, each with huge patent portfolios, and no one wants to be the first to strike.
The Redmond behemoth asserts that one reason free software is of such high quality is that it violates more than 200 of Microsoft’s patents. And as a mature company facing unfavorable market trends and fearsome competitors like Google (Charts, Fortune 500), Microsoft is pulling no punches: It wants royalties. If the company gets its way, free software won’t be free anymore.
ps: 2 years ago, IBM did established the patents commons. I wonder how is that going…
Okay, I am down with 
