TECHNOLOGY: MSFT patents?

Thursday, August 6, 2009

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/08/06/2322209/Microsoft-Patents-XML-Word-Processing-Documents?from=rss

Your Rights Online: Microsoft Patents XML Word Processing Documents on Thursday August 06, @07:37PM
Posted by timothy on Thursday August 06, @07:37PM
from the no-problems-there-nothing-to-worry-about dept.

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On Tuesday, Microsoft was granted U.S. Patent No.7,571,169 for its ‘invention’ of the Word-processing document stored in a single XML …

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the biggest question raised by this patent is: How in the world was it granted in light of the 40-year history of document markup languages?

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What kind of “barbara streisand” is this?

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Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: Voice out from text

Thursday, August 6, 2009

http://tts.imtranslator.net/566L

Free Text to Speech software online for English

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Entertaining?

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Posted by reinkefj

TECHNOLOGY: Kindle and its ilk too pricy for me

Sunday, July 19, 2009

http://www.macworld.com/article/141620/2009/07/kindle2_pricecut.html?lsrc=rss_main

Kindle 2 price plunge signals e-book reader competition
by Melissa J. Perenson, PC World

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Amazon quietly lowered the price on its Kindle 2 e-book reader Wednesday. That didn’t take long: The Kindle 2 became available only about five months ago. And the price cut is a significant one: Amazon cropped $60 off the top price of its second-generation e-book reader, which now carries a more reasonable price tag of $299.

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I’d suspect that before I leap on any bandwagon it has to be under 100$. (Minimize my buyer’s remorse.) And, I don’t like wht I’ve been reading about the price fixing on Kindle Books. (That is that despite near zero cost, everything is 10$.) Add to that DRM and you have to rebuy if you need to redownload too many times. (Not my idea of a good user experience!) Argh! So, I’m not in the ebook market yet.

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Posted by reinkefj

INITIALISMS: PROBLEM

Saturday, July 18, 2009

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/07/medicalrecords/

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Whether CCHIT should have such power is arguable, said Fred Trotter, co-founder of the Liberty Medical Software Foundation, a group devoted to promoting open-source EHR systems. In a blog post published in June, he described their certification process as “a check-list for a Proprietary, Rigid, Overweight, Bloated, Loaded, Expensive, and Massive (or PROBLEM for short) EHR products.”

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Great find!

Can apply to most IT infrastructure projects today.

I’d call “o” as over-budget!

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Posted by reinkefj

FUN: Feedbags?

Thursday, July 16, 2009

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To allow hands-free eating of your favorite fast-food meals, just slip the device over your ears and enjoy a pouch that blends your favorite menu choices together into an easy-to-eat mixture. For an extra 50 cents, you can throw in a beverage — literally. So stop by a participating Taco Bell, KFC, or Pizza Hut, grab a feedbag, and get busy! Play the video

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ROFL. short and safe for work

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Posted by reinkefj

SURVIVAL: Leave it all behind

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Travel/Story?id=8024779&page=3

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Leave It All Behind: Anything you brought on board can be replaced, with the exception of yourself — if you take the time to fumble for that laptop or grab that purse, you may lose everything.

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Seems obvious.

Personally, if I was “king”, I’d use the TSA to enforce the “carry on luggage” standards. Everyone hates them anyway. Make security the villain. I can’t believe what people bring into the cabin to avoid “baggage claim”. If I was an airline executive, I’d focus on making that process flawless.

(I always thought that the passengers and cargo should be “containerized”. Load the “passenger container” at the gate and then slide it into the belly of the plane. I had visions of a Quonset shaped sleeve for the people and an upside down one for the cargo. Two symmetrical half circles. Watch how fast FedEx can load one of their big monsters. Southwest Airline with their no reserved seats. We need innovation in air travel.)

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Posted by reinkefj

TECHNOLOGY: MAGICJACK (NOT RECOMENDED)

Monday, July 13, 2009

Playing with MagicJack.

A very expensive McBa

add

MagicJack

add

Verizon Wireless Broad Band

add

a $10 Radio Shack phone

EQUALS

A phone booth?

A cell phone?

A free Local and Long Distance phone?

Hmmm?

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Notes:

It didn’t go together as easy as they make it sound.

The user interface isn’t as user friendly as it could be.

The FAQ is difficult to navigate and may need some filling out.

Powered USB hub is fine. Although that is NOT clear, the device is labeled “no hubs”.

We’ll see if it’s useful.

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OBSERVATION: No way to import all your phone numbers. No way to use a directory (i.e., Apple’s Address Book or Microsoft Outlook).

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FINAL UPDATE: NOT RECOMMENDED

Gave it a live test and I could hear the drop outs. So could the other person.

RMA process is a hassle.

(And, that was from home with a real high speed line. Not Verizon Wireless Broad Band!)

Funny the McBa with VWBBIE performed better that a VISTA desktop and Comcast Broadband!

Oh well, it was a thought.

I guess you do get what you pay for.

Back to Skype and Google Voice.

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Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: Self-pub author gets a real deal!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/07/11/indie-kindle-author-lands-book-deal/

Indie Kindle author lands book deal
by John Biggs on July 11, 2009

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And you though self-pubished books were all rubbish. Author Boyd Morrison sold two books, the first one called The Ark, to Simon & Schuster. Boyd uploaded and sold the books himself and raised awareness for his novels by being a member of Kindle Boards and generally self-promoting.

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Hope springs eternal!

http://www.itstartedinchurch.com

LOL!

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Posted by reinkefj

QUOTE: Suitable for our congresscritters, politicians, and bureaucrats

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Grass mud horse n. Wildly popular on YouTube, this mythical, alpaca-like creature was conjured by Chinese citizens to protest Internet censorship. Though the grass mud horse looks innocent, its Chinese name—Cao Ni Ma—sounds like “fuck your mother” in Mandarin.

—Jonathon Keats

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For some reason, listening to the President on Healthcare, Barney Frank on Bill O’Reilly, and all the other people who want to tell us all what to do, this seems strangely appropriate!

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Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: ALUMTWEET doesn’t support adding schools?

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

# jasperjottingsIcon_lockhttp://alumtweet.com – Doesn’t have Manhattan Prepless than 5 seconds ago from web

# jasperjottings Just added myself to http://alumtweet.com – Manhattan Prep ’64 and Manhattan College ’68

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Posted by reinkefj

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