A patent troll gets slapped for once. Hurrah.

Once again, our friends across the pond win on civility:

Apple Inc. (AAPL) was ordered by a judge to publish a notice on its U.K. website and in British newspapers alerting people to a ruling that Samsung Electronics Co. didn’t copy designs for the iPad.

The notice should outline the July 9 London court decision that Samsung’s Galaxy tablets don’t infringe Apple’s registered designs, Judge Colin Birss said yesterday. It should be posted on Apple’s U.K. home page for six months and published in newspapers and magazines to correct any impression the South Korea-based company was copying Apple’s product, Birss said.

And just in case your geeky friends didn't already tell you about this part:

Birss said in his July 9 ruling that Samsung’s tablets were unlikely to be confused with the iPad because they are “not as cool.”

[Added] Lest ye think poor Apple comes up with these designs all by itself, see here. As I heard a few days ago, creativity is the art of hiding your sources.

Thanks for all your (inadvertent) help!

The Bits blog takes another look at Siri's rival. Loved this part:

If Google is better, it is most likely because it has roots in a product Google introduced in 2007, called Google-411, or Google Local Voice Search. Ostensibly a product that provided free directory assistance, Google was mostly interested in capturing the way different people pronounced words.

Reminded me of how we have also been helping, again mostly unaware, to clean up their scanned corpus.

(previously)

(h/t: KK, via email)

Mmmm. That burn sauce tastes so sweet.

The really great part of this story starring Connie Schultz is realizing that even though he is unnamed, the wingnut Citizen Journamalist nonetheless has totally pulled his blankie over his couch cushions pillow fort. Expect not to see him for, oh, let's say ten news cycles.

(h/t: rickmaci/Wonkville)

McCain spanks Bachmann on floor of Senate

Well, metaphorically. And not by name. And in a sloppy reading monotone kind of way. And, as Rebecca Schoenkopf notes, this, sadly, amounts lately to "one of his biannual decency jags."

But still, he deserves props for doing it. It's not like anyone else in his party would, after all. So take a few minutes to listen.

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Update

2022-08-25 Video no longer available. Sorry.

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icymxkcd

From a few back:

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Willard is now paying to promote his Kinsley gaffes, apparently

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Okay, so I blurred out a few words. But it doesn't really change the point, does it?

What will all those religious scolds (the GOP base) think when they see this?

When campaign funds are unlimited ...

[ + ]

#Willard #fail

Apparently, Willard "Me, too!" Romney saw an ad he thought was effective. And so, he responded!

Sadly for him, I got to news of it a little late, I guess.

How ... perfect.

[Update] Shockingly, wingnuts are furious.

A Skype bug to be aware of

It appears that the latest version of Skype has a bug in it that is causing a few people to report that their instant messages are being sent to random others.

Fix should be coming in a few days; meantime, probably best to avoid transmitting sensitive info through that channel.

(h/t: Tech News Today #543)

When Willard Whimpers

[ + ]

Swiped from TBogg, who advises Mittens not to listen to Bill Kristol. Original source: Leaning Left of Center.

Line of the Day: 2012-07-16

If I ask Google Voice Search a question, like, “Who is Tim Cook?” it responds with an answer. (He’s the chief executive of Apple.) If I ask Siri the same question, the response is: “I don’t see Tim Cook in your contacts.”
    -- Nick Bilton

[Added] There's some good Apple news, though.

New record set for Inside Baseball

With a little clicking and scrolling, you'll find yourself down a delightful rabbit hole here: "New Statistics Unveiled, Oddibe McDowell Likely a Hall Of Famer."

From the Department of Not At All Creepy And Of Course The Cops Won't Abuse It

Did you know that your e-reader sends info back to the mothership about the books you're reading and how you're reading them?

Have a listen to On The Media's interview of Alexandra Alter (about six minutes long) and/or read her article in the WSJ.

Via Rolando's comment on the former, I see this is not breaking news -- NPR did a piece on it in 2010. Also, happily, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has been on the case for at least that long (e.g., e.g.).

Possibly useful minor Firefox thing

You know how when you're scrolling with your mouse wheel, the page goes up or down by several lines, no matter how little you move the wheel? Once in a while you might like a little finer grain control. If so, hold the Alt key while scrolling, and then you'll go one line at a time.

Assuming you haven't changed the default setting in about:config, I mean. Search for mousewheel.with to check (screenshot).

Probably!

[ + ]

However, I have not actually read Donald Douglas's post.

The truest thing you will see about Willard all month

Click below to see the whole screenshot, in case this link no longer works.

(h/t: Rufus Polk, RTing this)

Caring

Eh, maybe. But what about being bored by Collins vs. Brooks?

Sick joke

True, unfortunately (emph. added):

A boy who the police say was bludgeoned to death by his mother … was declared dead at the apartment, and his mother, Tenika Revell, was taken to Woodhull Medical Center for evaluation. Ms. Revell, 40, was charged with murder, manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child.

He's not even trying to fake sincerity anymore

Blurb for an article you're probably about as interested as I am in reading:

Days after his spokesman said the requirement that people have insurance was not a tax, Mitt Romney said it was, aligning himself with the conservative voices in his party.

Euphemism of the Day

The NYT is calling the astroturf group formed by Big Soda "grassroots-style."

Pretty good shirt, though:

[ + ]

Institution of the Day

(about)

____________________

TED talks from the founder, Dan Ariely, are recommended, as is his recent appearance on Bloggingheads.tv.

Two nights ago?

Felt a bug crawling near the inside of my right elbow. Glanced down, whacked it with my left hand. Was kind of a hard-shell bug, so I had to blanch and whack it again.

Who knew fireflies could light up, and stay that way, after they're dead? Now I feel even more guilty.

Line of the Day: 2012-06-29

Punditry is a whole industry built on confirmation bias.
    -- David McRaney

(h/t: Alan Henry)

Science!

A blurb on the front page:

A gene mutation that breeders latched onto because it makes a tomato evenly red also stifles genes that contribute to its taste, researchers found.

No one could have predicted ...

No, I can't bear to click that link either.

Looking on the bright side, there's always a chance that the wingnuts will reject this finding, too.

Prescriptivist Descriptivist Fight!

I was going to go with PDF! as the title, but I figured none of you would click on that. Even with an exclamation point. Who wants to hang the browser, or launch a hellabyte download?

Anyway, a very fun piece by Joan Acocella, from a few weeks ago due to my dead trees reading lag, in The National Review.

Deep thought

Is there a word for what's been done to the erstwhile initialization in cases like these?

Did you guys send your RSVP yet?

Oh please. We RSVPed last week.

If not, there should be. Maybe if I could think of another example or two …

Too boldly!

Perfect note on a great day:

SUBJECT: thought you would appreciate this

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I'm following the Supreme Court decision on Metafilter, and this was just posted:

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NYT has finally put up a breaking news ticker: "Supreme Court Allows Health Care Law to Largely Stand"

06/28/12: the day everything was so crazy, the NYT split an infinitive

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Ha!

(Jinnet, via email)

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Also.

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Also too, a 'shop I have already seen twenty times and cannot be seen enough.

All hail the free market sparkle pony!

Kate Miller, a Time Warner Cable customer in Utica, N.Y., said her 2-year-old daughter Jane has already learned the word “buffering.”

The above is from yet another story of how keeping US telecoms free of librul socialist government intrusion produces (As It Was Written) competition among them, resulting in better and cheaper Internet service for all!

Or, you know, not.

Good news! Skynet threat is gone.

It appears that the rise of the machines will be focused instead on searching for funny videos of the true master race.

Need a ruling from Mr. Poe in aisle 9

@joerogan @jamiekilstein Christian fundamentalist textbooks touting the Loch Ness Monster as proof of Creationism on.io9.com/POML

— Donovan Salzarulo (@SalzaruloBJJ) June 25, 2012

And the really sad part? This is happening in the USA (of course), but the original reporting is from Scotland.

(title: cf.)