This article on Techdirt talks about the latest patent suit between EPlus and SAP. Apparently, EPlus holds a patent on searching online catalogs, checking availability, and displaying the results. How rediculous is this to have a patent for and why the hell is this kind of stuff being granted?
Author Archives: Ron Bieber
Church takes out advertising to boost congregation
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A church in the UK is creating a 60 second commercial to be shown in movie theaters advertising Christianity to boost their congregation.
Woman Charged $1,133 to Clip Toenail
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Woman Charged $1,133 to Clip Toenail – This charge from a hospital for toe-work has spawned a class action lawsuit.
Who needs Google when you have Jonna?
The Movie Blog has an article about using Google Movies for reviews and show times that was posted yesterday. So, in order to find all kinds of reviews and ticket information on The Exorcism of Emily Rose, you just type ‘movies:The Exorcism of Emily Rose‘
I thought this was a really new cool thing, having just read about it in a news feed, but when I mentioned it to Jonna, she said that it had been out for a while. She also mentioned that Google has a service for restaurants. For example, you can find tons of information on restaurants in Woodstock, IL by entering ‘restaurants 60098‘ into the Google Search box.
Here’s my dilemma. I spend a LOT of time on the Internet and going through news feeds. I pride myself on being a pretty good ‘Googler’ and can usually find information I need fairly quickly. When I find something like this movie thing in a fairly recent article (the damn thing is only a day old) I get all excited that I found something new that will make finding information so much easier.
Then I find that Jonna has already known that this stuff exists and has already been using it for a while. She said that its because she actually uses the Internet rather than just reading about it. Ouch. [ Editors note: This was said with complete love and admiration in her voice — really! ]
So I think I need to start a new category of the web site dedicated to the actual things going on in the world that I just get from Jonna, since she seems to be way more current than I am — or maybe I can persuade her her to start posting a little bit. I think it would be really valuable if she just remaindered stuff that she finds during her hardcore Internet use — you know, during the times when I am reading or listening to some podcast about it.
Updates
- Nalla sent me a link to Google Guide, which should prove to be helpful.
- Jonna replied to this posting via email with a pointer to Google Local – something I actually did already know about, however I’m more interested in the queries off of the main Google search page.
Report: Open source years from mainstream
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Report: Open source years from mainstream – Leading edge businesses are still in early stages of Linux deployments.
Google Search
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Ryan Phillips points out this funny Googlism. Try a Google search on the word ‘failure‘. The first result is rather funny.
An AJAX based IM Client
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This Ajax based IM client looks really cool. I’ve been interested in how to dynamically rearrange things in a web page for a while. Maybe now I can find the time to scan the code and find out how to do it.
Smoke Breaks Boost Memory
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For you smokers out there who need your smoke breaks in order to think, scientists are trying to replicate the boost of the transmitters in the brain that are boosted by nicotine that help people think better. Once that happens, they just have to come up with a drug that emulates the other half of the equation — getting you away from your damn desk.
Study: CIOs to increase hiring
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Study: CIOs to increase hiring in Q4. Thats the upside. On the downside, tech professional are feeling “less hopeful” and face the threat of increased automation and and the prospect of their jobs being offshored.
Bieber Labs 