Patentopia

 Patents & Legal  No Responses »
Apr 102012
 

This just wouldn’t be my blog if I didn’t have a category for legal stuff, of course I’m no attorney but I do play one on TV.  Being well versed in legal shenanigans is the mark of either an attorney (which I am not) or someone who just loves playing the game, which I do, but really I think most of my interest comes from the basic fact that I just don’t like paying lawyers unnecessarily and really like paying them when necessary.  As an entrepreneur, it’s invigorating to create something new, and when truly new, draft and file patents, the act of which can be anything but invigorating and is typically excruciating.  Add to that the long and sometimes arduous task of keeping up with the USPTO and guiding them from application to approval.

AOL selling M$ a patent trove for $1.1B makes it all worthwhile, and the constant patent-flaming between Apple, Samsung and everyone else a source of genuine entertainment.   Makes the cut-and-dry aspect of the whole thing seem exciting, at least taking it up a notch form the standard stuff that an entrepreneur typically has to deal with – employment / HR, financing, etc.   Lawsuits never help anyone (except the lawyers) but patents can reap rewards, in this case rewarding AOL.  Out of those 800 patents, my guess is less than a dozen of them were the basis of the valuation of the transaction.

I’ve got a few that, hopefully, once awarded, will reap similar rewards.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/09/aol-sells-800-patents-for-1-billion-to-microsoft-memo-to-staff/

 Posted by at 3:25 am

Anti-Disruption for the Carriers

 Telecommunications  No Responses »
Apr 092012
 

Hemant Taneja has it mostly right, but what is missing is the actual problem — phone numbers are antiquated.  Mr. taneja is spot on with his analysis but misses a nuanced issue that is easily defined yet remains an enigma…the addressing system is completely flawed.

With the innovation of Apple and Google, operators worldwide are struggling for identity — and fiercely defending their revenue streams.   More importantly Hemant is seeing the wold through “Silicon Glasses” — not too hard considering that in the ‘Valley, we really do think differently from 95% of the world.  When I’m home in Memphis, or visiting my in-laws in North Carolina I can’t help but think how differently our perspective is in SV.  Simply, 95% of the real world uses “phones” for their intended purpose — voice and messaging (SMS).  Data is still a luxury not just outside the US but here as well — one merely has to take off the Silicon Glasses and look around.

However, everyone can agree that phone numbers are cumbersome and pointless.  What is typically overlooked is the failure of operators to innovate in their core services, i.e. voice and messaging and make things work smoothly, effortlessly and transparently with the Internet / Social Networks.  It’s the friction between phone numbers and social ID’s that make the phone portion of your handset seem “old school” when all the focus is on the new school.

Absolutely the business models need to change, but until core service addressing and permission-based communications can work seamlessly with social networks, there will always be friction and disdain for one’s operator.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/07/disrupt-the-cell-carriers/

 

 

 Posted by at 3:14 pm

All your genes are belong to us!

 Biotechnology  No Responses »
Apr 092012
 

Sure you’ve heard of DNA fingerprinting, but using modern techniques in RNA analysis and proteomics may prove that you don’t just need DNA to type an individual person.  Scary to think that bits of your existence from protein, RNA or any such remnants of your person from various chemical sources can be used to reconstruct your identity.  Makes you wonder if some of the DNA privacy stuff is only scratching the surface — hey, when quantum computers come around and multiple sample auto-loaders of various biological data are coupled, we’re all in trouble.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120408150616.htm

 Posted by at 3:54 am

Hadoop for All

 HPC  No Responses »
Apr 092012
 

Big Data is becoming increasingly accessible these days – take for example middleware based on ODBC with Hadoop hooks.   Rather than teaching [truly] old dogs new tricks like MapReduce —  without really understanding the underlying principles.  Simply providing a standard interface to Hadoop is only marginally effective for BI applications themselves when in fact the BI process itself can learn a lot from NoSQL principles.

http://mapr.com/company/press-releases/mapr-unveils-most-comprehensive-data-connection-options-for-hadoop

 Posted by at 3:47 am
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