Friday 26 August 2011

Potentially Good News on Software Patents

There's some potentially good news on software patents. The Federal Circuit appeals court has rejected a patent claim on the basis that it's just an "abstract idea," a door that was very slightly opened in a recent very narrowly-drawn Supreme Court patent decision. Might reason ultimately prevail over avarice and bullying...? Paraphrasing something a good friend of mine said to me once, I'm prepared to believe there really are patentable software ideas. I'm not sure I'm prepared to believe they number in the thousands, possibly not even in the hundreds.

Tuesday 23 August 2011

Nifty Snippets bite-sized morsels

Sometimes the pressure for a proper "article" is too much and I end up not posting something here that I run across that I think is interesting. I thought "If only there were a service tailored to quick thoughts and links..." and of course, immediately thought of Tumblr (yes, and Twitter, but I was looking for something in between blogging and tweeting). So may I present: The Nifty Snippets tumbleblog, Nifty Snippets in bite-sized pieces.

The tumbleblog is for quick thoughts and observations, not necessarily critically reviewed and possibly fleeting. Things I don't want to commit to my proper blog. Where's the line? I have no flippin' idea. More fully-baked ideas go here, but if you like something more immediate and less wordy, go follow...