A click to buy doesn't win a patent in Europe, even if it does in the US. Photograph: Muntz/Getty ImagesA burst of 10 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team
Nice try, Amazon: 'One-click' payment too obvious to patent >> The Register
"A payment system devised by online retail giant Amazon is too obvious to patent, the European Patent Office (EPO) has ruled. "Amazon had hoped to patent the way its customers pay for products through the click of a single webpage button. The company was previously granted patent rights to the payment system in the US.
"An appeals board at the EPO ruled that the "one-click" method was too obvious as it relied on existing inventions, called "prior art" in patent law. Inventions must be new, take an inventive step that is not obvious and be useful to industry to qualify for patent protection."
Perhaps we could hire the EPO out to the US to get their patent system into shape?
Cameron unveils the transparent society >> UKAuthority
"Data on the performance of GPs, schools and details of sentences passed by individual courts is to be released in open, standardised format under the government's latest transparency initiative, to be announced on Thursday. "A letter on the new Number 10 Downing Street website, launched on Thursday, promises 'the most ambitious open data agenda of any government in the world.'"
Other events may have overshadowed this, but it's very significant.
A Pun About Google Plus and The Circles of Hell >> Terence Eden
"This is something Nik Butler and I have discussed. "Google needs to let people choose which circles to follow. "I imagine a UI which allows me to set a circle as private ("Work", "Family", "Political ranting") and set some circles as public ("Kitten pictures", "Industry News", "Political thoughts"). "When you follow me, you can say "I hate kittens, but I love politics – I'll follow one circle and ignore the others." "At the moment, I don't have the time to categorise 200 people into what I think they're interested. And they don't want to be bombarded with QR codes when all they really want is LOLCATS. "So, come on Google, sort it out – let people choose which circles they want to be in. "Please RT!"
The irony of that final request being offered for Twitter not lost, we hope.
DNA is now DIY: OpenPCR ships worldwide >> OpenPCR
"The price of a traditional PCR machine is around $3,000. So, do people in garages have great PCR machines? Not really. Howabout high school or middle school teachers? Nope. Howabout smaller medical testing labs or labs in India or China? Nope. Even some big bio labs try their luck on eBay. We set out to change that. "Josh and I prototyped OpenPCR over about 4 months — it was a lot of fun. Last May we unveiled the first OpenPCR prototype to all a bunch of crazy people on Kickstarter, 158 people gave us a total of $12,121. With that we designed and manufactured a repeatable, works-all-the-time device — it took a lot of hard work. Now we're done and ready to share!"
PCR is polymerase chain reaction - the method by which you magnify a small sample of DNA. Now, anyone can play.
Currys.co.uk and the missing phone call >> Sarah Parmenter
The strange case of how an oven couldn't be bought because the confirmation calls kept not coming through to her iPhone. Stranger than it looks at first glance.
This is why Steve Ballmer keynotes at CES >> CES Twitter account
The CES notices what we speak of, and provides its explanation.
China-based white-box vendors expected to ship 8 million tablet PCs in 2011 >> Digitimes
"China-based white-box vendors have launched many models of low-price tablet PCs mainly equipped with inexpensive ARM processors developed by Qualcomm, Nvidia and VIA Technologies for domestic sale and exports to emerging markets, with total shipments estimated at 2m units for the first quarter of 2011 and expected to reach 8m for the year, according to sources from Taiwan-based makers.
"White-box notebook players started cutting into China's tablet PC market in early 2011, targeting mainly the entry-level segment with price levels below US$250. [Even though] their operating system choices of only Android 2.2/2.3 or Windows 7 are rather weak compared to the mainstream operating system choices in terms of software or applications availability, their low prices still attract demand from some consumer groups."
Not quite the "50%" market share that DisplaySearch was talking about, and Digitimes does seem to know the suppliers.
Browse your Oyster travel and fare history >> GitHub
Requires you to have your own server, and written for Linux (or Mac OSX). Clever, if you have the chops to make it work.
How to take screenshots on your Android phone without rooting - Recombu
"A handful of the Android phones we've recently reviewed allow you to take screengrabs - pictures of what ever is on the phone's screen at the time - simply by pressing the power and menu button simultaneously. Finally! "Big deal, you might think. Except that it is - it's a really useful feature. As well as making our lives here a little easier when we're writing up app stories, it has plenty of potential uses. "From capturing incriminating texts from friends/colleagues/ex-partners (perfect for uploading to Facebook, if you're feeling evil) to proving that you've three starred each Angry Birds level (including all of Seasons and Rio), there's loads of ways that this can be useful."
Confirmed to work on Samsung Galaxy S II, for a start.
My Summer at an Indian Call Center >> Mother Jones
"While we idle in interminable traffic, my coworker Nishant asks where I'm from. 'America?' he says. 'I'll tell you about America.' "I must look wary, because he quickly explains that, after years of 50-hour workweeks, he's probably spoken with more of my compatriots than I have. 'America is not all honey and roses the way they tell you,' he informs me. 'Truth is, 90 percent of the people there, you will find, they'll do the most stupid things, impulsive things. I know for a fact. At the same time, Americans are bighearted people, and the remaining 10 percent of them are smart. Bloody smart. That's why they rule the world.'"
Fascinating insight. The comments - including one from someone who admits they would be the idiot customer from hell - are also enlightening.
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