Michael S. Hart, Founder of Project Gutenberg,
Dies at Age 64

post from Daring Fireball on 07 September 2011 11:03:37 PM. © Daring Fireball

From his obituary at Project Gutenberg:

Hart was best known for his 1971 invention of electronic books, oreBooks. He founded Project Gutenberg, which is recognized as oneof the earliest and longest-lasting online literary projects. Heoften told this story of how he had the idea for eBooks. He hadbeen granted access to significant computing power at theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. On July 4 1971, afterbeing inspired by a free printed copy of the U.S. Declaration ofIndependence, he decided to type the text into a computer, and totransmit it to other users on the computer network. From thisbeginning, the digitization and distribution of literature was tobe Hart’s life’s work, spanning over 40 years.

A true pioneer, who made the world a better place.

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.gutenberg.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_S._Hart

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Why Didnt Google Sue Apple Directly

post from Daring Fireball on 07 September 2011 08:03:57 PM. © Daring Fireball

Nilay Patel has questions for Google re: the patents it bought and gave to HTC which HTC then used to countersue Apple:

Did Google acquire these patents knowing they would be allegedagainst Apple, by Google or a third party?
Has Google started acquiring patents for express purpose ofoffensive litigation, which it?s promised it would never do?

Like I said, fair’s fair once you start shooting in a patent war, and Apple started the shooting in this one. But can Google spare us the crocodile tears going forward? They complained only when they had no relevant patents, and soon as they got some, they gave them to HTC to sue with them.

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Read The Full Article:
http://thisismynext.com/2011/09/07/htc-sues-apple-patent-infringement-patents-pur
chased-google/

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Shape of the Earth Both Sides Have a Point

post from Daring Fireball on 07 September 2011 07:03:24 PM. © Daring Fireball

This 11-year-old Paul Krugman quip is what Kevin Drum was alluding to today with his “Views Differ on Shape of Earth, Climate Edition” headline:

If a presidential candidate were to declare that the earth is flat, you would be sure to see a news analysis under the headline “Shape of the Planet: Both Sides Have a Point.” After all, the earth isn’t perfectly spherical.

The argument is that the mainstream news media attempts at all costs to appear “balanced”, by giving both sides of any dispute equal footing — as opposed to simply trying to report what is actually accurate. Thus, in the debate over climate change, they give undo emphasis to arguments claiming that climate change lacks scientific consensus, when in fact the opposite is true.

Climate change may or may not be occurring. But there is no dispute that 98 percent of climate scientists believe that it is happening. But Americans are grossly misinformed regarding this.

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/01/opinion/reckonings-bait-and-switch.html?scp=13&
sq=krugman%20shape%20planet%20bush&st=cse

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Favorite Mailboxes in Lion Mail

post from Daring Fireball on 07 September 2011 07:03:24 PM. © Daring Fireball

Matt Gemmell:

There are several new features in Mail that I?m enjoying, andone of the least promoted is the new Favorites Bar. I think it?svery useful, particularly if you like to use keyboard shortcuts asmuch as possible, and so I?ve written this brief articledescribing how it works.

Mail, overall, is my favorite new thing in Lion.

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Read The Full Article:
http://mattgemmell.com/2011/09/07/favorite-mailboxes-in-lion-mail

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HTC Sues Apple Using Patents Obtained From Google
Last Week

post from Daring Fireball on 07 September 2011 06:03:23 PM. © Daring Fireball

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

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Read The Full Article:
http://bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-07/htc-sues-apple-alleging-infringement-of-four
-u-s-patents.html

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Detective Latchkey

post from Daring Fireball on 07 September 2011 05:03:52 PM. © Daring Fireball

This week’s episode of The Talk Show, with me and Dan Benjamin talking about HP/Palm, Yahoo/Bartz, the purportedly lost iPhone 5 prototype, and the last of the Pierce Brosnan Bond films, Die Another Day.

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Read The Full Article:
http://5by5.tv/talkshow/58

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Manhattan Edit Workshop Gives Filmmakers Concepts
for Creation

post from prMac on 07 September 2011 04:20:00 PM. © prMac

Manhattan Edit Workshop today is pleased to announce its expanded and heightened training curriculum, taking content creation from start to finish, just in time for fall 2011. Recently named one of New York's only Autodesk Authorized Training Centers, Mewshop's fall line-up includes brand new courses like Autodesk Smoke classes, a Documentary Filmmaker's Intensive course, Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve demos, and more, to take students from concept to creation.

Read The Full Article:
http://prmac.com/release-id-30557.htm

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Do Not Develop in the Open

Information from the Oracle v. Google lawsuit includes these bullet points from an internal Google presentation:

Do not develop in the open. Instead, make source code availableafter innovation is complete
Lead device concept: Give early access to the software topartners who build and distribute devices to our specification(ie [sic], Motorola and Verizon). They get a non-contractual time tomarket advantage and in return they align to our standard.

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Read The Full Article:
http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2011/09/shocker-for-android-oems-google.html

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Views Differ on Shape of Earth, Climate Edition

Americans — of all political stripes — are grossly misinformed about the percentage of climate scientists who think global warming is happening. Sad.

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Read The Full Article:
http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/09/views-differ-shape-earth-climate-editio
n

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Daring Fireball RSS Feed Sponsorships

September is sold out, and October and November are starting to fill up. If you have a product or service that you?d like to promote to Daring Fireball?s audience of smart, good-looking readers, please do get in touch.

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Read The Full Article:
http://daringfireball.net/feeds/sponsors/

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