This is particularly relevant in the context of the Apple/Samsung trial, because it isn't the first time Apple has been involved in a high-stakes "copying" court case. If you go back to the mid-1990s, there was their famous "look and feel" lawsuit against Microsoft. Apple's case there was eerily similar to the one they're running today: "we innovated in creating the graphical user interface; Microsoft copied us; if our competitors simply copy us, it's impossible for us to keep innovating." Apple ended up losing the case.
Given the underlying reason that Apple has been bringing these cases to court was to enable them to continue to innovate, it's hard not to ask: if copying stops innovation, why didn't Apple stop innovating last time they were copied? Being copied didn't stop or slow their ability to innovate at all.
If Apple ends up winning this case against Samsung -- and either stops Samsung from releasing their phones and tablets to the market, or charges them a hefty license fee to do so -- does anyone really believe that the market will suddenly become more innovative, or that devices will suddenly become more affordable? Similarly, if Samsung wins, do you really believe that Apple will suddenly slow its aggressive development of the iPhone and iPad? It's certainly not what happened last time they lost one of these cases.
Who Cares If Samsung Copied Apple?
Scott Pilgrim
Also, the colorized re-issue of Scott Pilgrim vol. 1 is out now and you should buy the shit out of that.
Sandia Hand
A modular, plastic proto-hand whose electronics system is largely made from parts found in cell phones, the Sandia Hand can still perform with a high level of finesse for a robot, and is even capable of replacing the batteries in a small flashlight. It is expected to cost about $10,000, a fraction of the $250,000 price tag for a state-of-the-art robot hand today.
The fingers are modular and affixed to the hand frame via magnets. This gives the researchers the flexibility to design interchangeable appendages tipped with screwdrivers, flashlights, cameras and other tools. The fingers are also designed to detach automatically to avoid damage if the hand hits a wall or other solid object too hard. The researchers say the hand can even be manipulated to retrieve and reattach a fallen finger.
The Hand's current incarnation has only four fingers, including the equivalent of an opposable thumb. "It turns out that for a wide range of manipulation tasks that humans do, four fingers is enough," Salisbury says.
Never trust a man with a pig farm, or a plastination company.
Bo Xilai's former mistress on display in Body WorldsAccording to reports, Zhang was Bo Xilai's mistress in 1998, and she challenged openly challenged Gu Kailai after she was found pregnant. Gu, at trying to bring down the news anchor from behind the scenes, eventually called upon China's national and public security forces to threaten Zhang into leaving her job. After she left television, Zhang had taken to promoting a petition against Gu Kailai until she collapsed into a state of hysteria.
She was secretly detained in the Dalian Nanshan Hotel and attempted suicide several times. Afterwards, she disappeared from the world, and nobody has known her whereabouts since.
The pregnant woman's body at the Bodies exhibition was said to resemble Zhang's skull shape and the near mature fetus inside the pregnant body seems not to be the result of an execution.
Yeah, this has all the trappings of single-sourced Grade-A Internet Bullshit, but what a floral vintage. It also shares a certain similarity with the movie Anatomie starring Franka Potente of Run Lola Run. It was a pretty decent horror movie. Avoid the sequel, though.
