If you’re anything like me, you likely have a good number of USB drives on hand. They’re all over our house actually — these little digital storage cabinets seem to multiply faster than Tribbles. So when the kids need to use one, there’s no shortage of choices. I simply grab the nearest one and hand it over without a thought. I generally assume there’s nothing on them, but occasionally the kids tell me that there’s little or no free space — that’s because residual data is there even though I’ve deleted it from the drive.
Download Squad points out Curb, a free solution that cleans out the trash on removable drives with Mac OS X. I installed the small app this morning and it works as advertised. It couldn’t be easier to dump the extra trash bits from a USB drive either — simply drag the removable drive on to Curb and it takes care of the rest. The result is a squeaky-clean flash drive.
With Curb, you can be prompted for trash removal or have the software simply wipe data without asking. And the application supports three secure removal options as well — Single Pass, 7-pass and 35-pass — plus an option to zero out all blocks after overwriting. I’d love to see Apple build this type of functionality into the native Trash Bin. Instead of dragging a USB drive for ejection, the OS could securely wipe the drive. Until then, I’m using Curb which can be found on the MRR Software site.
This morning, CNBC had an unusually good interview with billionaire investor Warren Buffett. They talked to him about a variety of topics including Berkshire Hathaway’s 50-1 stock split, Wells Fargo’s earnings and the economic picture. I wanted to note a few of the most interesting things he said, which included President Obama’s banker tax, the stock market recovery and the Kraft-Cadbury deal.
Bank Tax
First, I was really surprised how adamantly opposed Buffett was to the bank tax. I wasn’t shocked so much because it’s such a great idea. Actually, I think it’s a pretty ridiculous idea, for the same reason that Buffett does. He says about the tax:
No, I don’t understand that. If it’s some kind of a guilt tax or something of that sort because banks were among the whole United States that were saved back in 2008, everybody was taken care of then. And the banks, basically, somebody like Wells, it’s cost them a lot of money to be in the TARP and it was basically forced upon them. (They) didn’t want to take the money, but really had no choice. So that’s cost Wells a lot of money. The government’s made a lot of money off Wells. They’ve made a lot of money off Goldman. They’ve made a lot of money off J.P. Morgan. And where they’re going to lose money, at least where its possible they’ll lose money, is in the auto companies. So if you’re going after the people you saved, you might say GM shareholders didn’t get saved, the GM bondholders didn’t get saved. What happened there is they kept employment. I’m the last guy to suggest that you should go and put a special tax on autoworkers. (Laughs.) If you’re really looking for the people who benefited from government losses, you’d have to look there. Or if you look at Fannie or Freddie. Are you going to go and tax the members of Congress who ran Freddie and Fannie?
So it’s not his logic that surprised me — I completely agree with him — but more that he’d so transparently reject an Obama administration proposal. You may remember, during the 2008 election, Buffett was a staunch supporter of Barack Obama. At the end of the day, Buffett is obviously more of an investor than a political operative, but I was still surprised that he wasn’t a little more diplomatic about his stance, given his allegiance to the administration.
Of course, it’s also important to remember that Buffett is a bank investor. So really, the tax on banks is a tax on Buffett. In fact, I would argue that the tax will affect bank shareholders more than bank employees, even though it was likely created mostly as a response to large banker bonuses. As I’ve noted in the past, those bonus numbers detract from the revenue that could be provided to shareholders in the form of dividends or firm growth. Yet, it’s hard for banks to pay its employees less, because they worry about their departure to hedge funds or other financial services firms that can offer better pay. As a result, it’s easier to provide shareholders with smaller dividends or slower growth, both of which ultimately hurt long-term investors like Buffett. For that reason, Buffett also implied that he’d like to see bonuses smaller, so to provide greater returns for shareholders — as you might expect.
Stock Market
Buffett also made a rather interesting remark about the stock market. He was asked whether or not its recovery since last spring is justified. I found this a very good question, since I have hypothesized that irrational exuberance is driving those stock gains, not fundamentals. I believe the economy has an awfully long way to go before the U.S. feels very low employment and overall prosperity again.
Yet, Buffett didn’t seem too concerned about the stock market’s recovery, despite weak fundamentals. And his reasoning made sense: he’s a long-term value investor. And in the long term, he believes the U.S. will be fine, and the stock market will ultimately go up. I completely agree, but that doesn’t change the fact that, in the short-term, there could still be a correction downward from recent highs. So really, Buffett didn’t answer the question about the current rally, because he doesn’t much care about it. He’s looking decades down the road, not at the next few years.
Kraft-Cadbury
Finally, there’s been a lot of talk about his stance regarding the Kraft-Cadbury deal. He owns a whopping 9% of Kraft, so his opinion should matter. He initially opposed the acquisition. He still does. But in this case, Kraft doesn’t need shareholder approval. Here’s his take:
Now they mentioned paying 13x EBITDA for Cadbury, but they’re paying more than that. For one thing, EBITDA is not the same as earnings. Depreciation is a very real expense. But on top of that they’ve got a billion-three they’re going to spend in terms of various rearrangements of Cadbury. They’ve got $390 million of deal expenses. They’re using their own stock, 260 million shares, or something like that, that their own directors say is significantly undervalued. And when they calculate that 13, they’re calculating Kraft at the market price, not at what their own directors think the stock is worth. So the actual multiple, if you look at the value of the Kraft stock, is more like 16 or 17, and they sold earnings at 9x. So it’s hard to get rich doing that. And I’ve got a lot of doubts about the deal.
That 9x earnings he’s talking about above was the price he earlier complained that Kraft recently sold a pizza business for to Nestle. Meanwhile, he sees Kraft buying Cadbury for around 16x or 17x earnings. In other words, Buffett sees Kraft buying high and selling low, which is precisely the opposite of what good investors do. It’s no wonder why Buffett isn’t pleased. And the market must agree, as Kraft’s stock is down 2.5% as I write this.
Buffet talks at length about the economy and banking as well. In case you want to see the entire 56 minutes, check out the two parts below.
Saner heads — like mine — saw this immediately for what it was: a rocket booster outgassing while spinning. The question I couldn’t answer at the time was, was this on purpose (gyroscopic spinning for stabilization) or a booster that malfunctioned and spiralled wildly out of control?
It turns out it was the latter. My friend, the space folklore specialist James Oberg, posted an intriguing article in the IEEE Spectrum discussing how this was yet another in a long series of failed tests of the Russian sea-launched Bulava ICBM. He writes about the checkered history of the program and the massive problems it is still facing.
Of course, despite all the evidence that this was a Russian rocket, expect the comment section below to fill to overflowing with nonsensical talk about it being from HAARP, or Big Pharma, or possibly SkyNet. After all, why let silly things like facts get in the way of good conspiracy theory?
Well it took a while, but the Motorola Milestone has finally been rooted! Now all happy Milestone owners can enjoy loading custom ROMs on to their hot multi-touch handset. How about Android 2.1, HTC Sense, or Motoblur? It’s all yours. However, as someone who previously bricked a G1, be careful and only follow trusted directions.
For those brave enough, take a trip over to our friends at xda-developers and grab some ROMS!
CUNY Law Professor Maria Arias has been appointed to the Family Court. Judge Arias, who has in-depth expertise in issues affecting families and battered women, will preside in Queens County court over custody, visitation and orders of protection cases.
Professor Maria Arias
“Professor, and now Judge, Arias brings tremendous expertise to her new position. Her talent, legal acumen and deep knowledge of family law will bring tremendous value and worth to the Court,” said CUNY Law Dean Michelle J. Anderson. “We are proud of her accomplishment and will miss her presence at the Law School,” she added.
Judge Arias joined CUNY Law almost twenty years ago as a faculty member. During her time at the Law School, she co-founded and co-taught the Battered Women’s Rights Clinic (BWRC). “Judge Arias will bring to the court her strong commitments to the dignity and voice of indigent women in New York City and to the development of young attorneys,” said CUNY Law’s Clinic Director Sameer Ashar. “Her expertise, particularly as it relates to issues affecting immigrants and women of color, shaped the work of our students for almost two decades and for that we are deeply grateful.”
CUNY Law Professor Sue Bryant, with whom Judge Arias co-founded the BWRC, added, “Literally thousand of women and children are in safer homes today as a result of Maria’s work training advocates and representing clients. Maria saw the humanity in everyone she interacted with including her adversaries and their clients. I am sure she will put her deep understanding of families and compassion for their struggles to use as she assumes her judgeship in the Family Court.”
Director of CUNY Law’s Criminal Defense Clinic, Steve Zeidman, who also serves on the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary, comments that, “The Family Court became a better place the very second that Maria Arias was appointed to the Court. Her limitless reservoir of compassion, her ever-present sense of empathy, and her overarching concerns for fairness make her uniquely qualified to be a judge.”
Judge Arias is a member of the Queens Working Group of the Lawyers Committee Against Domestic Violence. She has also received numerous awards for her work on behalf of battered women, most recently The Haywood Burns and Shanara Gilbert Award from the Northeast People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference. Among other articles, Judge Arias co-wrote Case Study: A Battered Women’s Rights Clinic, Designing A Clinical Program Which Encourages A Problem Solving Vision Of Lawyering, 42 Wash. U. J. Urb. & Contemp. L. 207 (1992).
In addition to traditional lawyering and academics, Judge Arias is distinguished by her commitment to forging an innovative approach to pedagogy and to community advocacy. In her work, she advocated for holistic community development strategies to counter domestic violence that combined education, prevention and alternatives to criminalization. While at CUNY Law, she was centrally involved in the Law School’s Contemplative Lawyering Program, which teaches students stress management tools, such as meditation and yoga. CUNY Law Professor Victor Goode, who worked closely with Judge Arias in the Contemplative Lawyering Program said, “”Maria has been a wonderful friend and colleague. Co-teaching with her has truly been a great learning experience for me and I look forward to Judge Arias bringing her ‘contemplative lawyering’ skills from the clinic and classroom into the Queens Family Court. I’m sure that the compassion that she brings to her work will make the usually difficult experience of being in court better for all who are involved.”
Judge Arias received her J.D. from New York University where she was a Root-Tilden Scholar. Upon graduation, she joined the Community Law Offices in East Harlem, where she represented low-income tenants in housing court. Subsequently, she worked for the Council of New York Law Associates (now the NY Lawyers Alliance) where she represented tenant groups involved in the conversion of abandoned housing tenements into low-income housing cooperatives.
Contact: Vivian Todini, Director of Communications, 718-340-4530
The latest iMac has been shipping for over two months, yet Apple is still mailing out broken iMacs. The catch? Even Steve Jobs himself cannot fix iMacs wrought with yellow, flickering screens.
Can You Safely Purchase an iMac Yet?
Nope.
Why?
Yellow screens and flickering screens are both persistent problems, still being reported by our readers, that no firmware update has fixed. Also, it looks like new orders may be getting delayed, meaning that you might as well wait until these systems are shipping immediately before handing Apple a few grand.
Can Writing Steve Jobs Make It Right?
Nope again.
Seriously, from one reader:
“I was (un)lucky enough to buy a 27” imac…I noticed the disturbing yellow tinge to the bottom of the screen, though it’s quite a bit better than the first one you had. As I became more and more enraged, I began to search for an answer and after being rebuffed by the Apple tech people as they refused to act like the yellowing was anything more than a one of situation, I resorted to desperate measures.
I mailed [email protected]. It worked. In a way. I was promised that I could essentially have as many replacements as I wanted until it was fixed, but it was clear that there was no way to guarantee that my new machine would be problem free, much as the your experience with the Apple people in your third article.”
I always find it amusing that so many people write Jobs himself with their technical problems, but when even the highest of high technical support cannot make a product right, there’s a SERIOUS PROBLEM.
LEDs Not the Problem
One extremely tech-knowledgeable reader wrote me after dissecting his own yellowed iMac. He dug around inside the monitor and color-temperature-tested all of the machine’s LED backlighting. He said that the LEDs all read about 9300K, which is, in fact, very, very cool (think blue, not yellow), and brightness readings were normal as well. Then he confirmed his findings on ANOTHER yellow iMac, recording all LEDs as within expected thresholds of +-10mcd brightness, +- 20nm in color.
So from what we can tell, iMac displays don’t have an LED problem—which certainly comes as a surprise.
Quote of the Week
“I feel that after sixteen years of possessing various Apple computers that never gave me one day’s interruption, I am being taken advantage of by Apple.”
Keep those updates coming! Mail them to submissionsATgizmodo.com. And keep fighting the good fight!
While you still can’t get fastfood and a bag of Cheetos using your MMO money, the Korean Supreme Court has ruled that virtual currencies can be exchanged for actual money.
Between UI enhancements, bug fixes, and neat new features like smooth scrolling, Skyfire has been slamming out the updates as of late — but only for one platform. While the Flash/Silverlight-capable mobile browser is available for both Windows Mobile and Symbian, the latter edition hasn’t seen any updates in months… until today.
Just minutes ago, Skyfire pushed version 1.5 of their browser out for Symbian S60 3rd and 5th edition phones. This update makes Skyfire for Symbian a feature-for-feature match with its WinMo counterpart.
So what’s new? Two things, primarily: the UI has been tweaked dramatically to be less stylus-centric and more finger-friendly, and they’ve added “Kinetic scrolling” (a fancy way of saying “it scrolls like the iPhone”) to both the S60 3rd and 5th edition releases. The S60 5th edition release, however, gets a few bonus tricks: full screen browsing mode, and accelerometer-based auto-rotation.
If you’ve never checked Skyfire out, it’s absolutely worth a look. It pipes the web through a remote proxy before sending it to your handset, shrinking everything down to a more mobile-friendly size. In the end, that works out to faster page loads than you might see elsewhere – oh yeah, and a little something called Flash/Silverlight playback support, which is still a mostly mythical beast in the mobile world.
•Police Commission President John Mack said he attended many events honoring the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr over the weekend including the Kingdom Day Parade with Police Chief Charlie Beck. He said the parade was well attended despite heavy rain.
•Police Commissioner Alan Skobin attended a reception for all Community Police Advisory Board members with fellow Commissioner Robert Saltzman. He said the event was well attended.
•Police Chief Charlie Beck said the Department has been dealing with weather related events. He added the Department is partnering with 17 different agencies including the Los Angeles Fire Department.
•The Department’s verbal presentation and discussion relative to the current status of the Digital In-Car Video Camera system field test and the overall status of the entire Operations South Bureau project was given by Police Administrator Maggie Goodrich. Ms. Goodrich informed the Board a lot of the problems they are seeing with the system is with integration but they are seeing much improvement with stand alone testing. She added they will complete the testing in three weeks and give the system to the Senior Lead Officers for continued testing. She anticipates coming back to the Board in five to six weeks with a plan.
•The Department’s verbal presentation and discussion relative to Department strategies to respond to California Prison Reform and resulting release of prisoners was given by Deputy Chief Jim McDonnell. Chief McDonnell said on January 25, 2010, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) will reduce its population by 18,000 with 5,940 released into Los Angeles County. The Department has established a Parole Tracking Unit that will concentrate on the Skid Row area and all areas have Parole Outreach meetings which promotes interaction with parolees. The Department is also working with CDCR to apprehend parole offenders and Real-Time Analysis and Critical Response Division will track parolees who are outfitted with GPS tracking devices.
•The Department’s report, dated December 31, 2009, relative to the destruction of obsolete duplicate records, was approved and transmitted to the City Clerk, Records Management Officer.
•The Department’s report, dated January 5, 2010, relative to the First Amendment to Professional Service Agreement Contract No. C-110675 with Huntington Court Reporters & Transcription, Inc., for court reporter services, was approved and transmitted to the Mayor’s office.
•The Department’s report, dated December 29, 2009, relative to warrant applications and supporting affidavits audit, second quarter, fiscal year 2009/10 (IAID No. 09-006), was approved.
•The Department’s report, dated January 5, 2010, in response to the Office of the Controller relative to the audit of the Forensic DNA backlog reduction grant program awards, as given by Police Administrator Yvette Sanchez-Owens, was approved. Ms. Sanchez-Owens informed the Board there was going to be a re-integration of systems with Robbery-Homicide Division having the sole system to track DNA evidence. She said there are currently 1,200 cases waiting to be tested. She also added a considerable amount of money can be saved by not outsourcing the cases for testing but rather testing the cases with department Criminalists by additional funding from the City.
Même scenario qu’hier avec la Countryman chez Mini. Ce soir, ce sont les photos de la future 335is qui se baladent sur le net, enfin, les 4 premières. Les prochaines ne devraient pas tarder.
–> Toute l’actualité en continu de BMW et de ses marques, c’est sur le Fil News BMW/Mini.
–> La 335is, nous vous en parlions samedi dernier à l’occasion du restyling annoncé de la Série 3 Coupé et Cab E92/93. Il n’aura pas fallu longtemps pour en svoir plus, ou plutôt pour en voir plus…
-Si tout la série 3 passe au N55, la 335is sera basée sur le N54, vraisemblablement plus sportif que le N55, puisque c’est également sur lui que devrait être basée la future M3. Il y passe à 344 chevaux, quant-au couple, il tutoie les 500Nm.
-La 335is recevra la boite double-embrayage DKG 7 vitesses avec palettes au volant. Elle sera livrée avec jantes en 18 pouces, pack M Sport, chassis sport, calandre noire, bouclier arrière avec diffuseur spécifique.
-Les antibrouillards disparaissent en raison de l’implantation d’un système de refroidissement plus puissant.
-Aucune indication de prix ou de performances pour l’instant, mais ça ne saurait tarder puisque la production démarrera en mars pour le Cab. et en mai pour le Coupé. Cette nouvelle 335is va peut-être mettre fin au pack M Performance sur la 335i.
-Rapassez par là, la galerie complète (sans les filigranes d’indélicats sites détournant les photos officielles) devrait arriver dans quelques heures…
Nouveau: pour profiter facilement et rapidement des notifications de nouveautés sur le site, pensez à vous abonner via Twitter. Chaque modification, nouvel article ou nouvelle vidéo sur notre chaîne Youtube, fait l’objet d’un Tweet immédiat!
2010 Mercedes-Benz E350 Sedan – Click above for high-res image gallery
A November Nor’Easter had chewed its way up to New England, delivering a cataclysmic combination of rain and wind as we headed out on a late-night errand. Normally, such a prospect requires a potent blend of Italian roast and Krank20 to stay hyper alert. Instead, behind the helm of the 2010 Mercedes-Benz E350 4Matic, the going was serene and confident. In a word: Wow.
These moments of vehicular astonishment have thinned out in the last two decades. Just look around at the automotive landscape. Even more modest conveyances are kitted out like luxury cars of yore, packing tons of tech and safety features that were once the exclusive purview of the world’s well-to-do. Can anything be impressive anymore? As a matter of fact, yes. The E350, as it strafed along the pavement, solid as granite and ready for anything, made us feel like true kaisers of the strasse. Horsepower-addicted auto reviewers have complained that the 3.5-liter V6 needs more spinach. Fine. You want speed, spring for the AMG E63 and shut up. But for the above-average family man, the E350 manages to transcend its asthmatic lungs, soft-spoken tiller and supple feet to foment serious respect, if not outright desire.
Los Angeles. Los Angeles police detectives arrested Lester Robert Evans, 68, yesterday, January 19, 2010, during a bank robbery investigation. Evidence found in the robber’s apartment helped to tie the parolee to the December boutique robbery, where the suspect was captured on video shocking the young clerk with a stun gun.
"We had a feeling this guy would surface eventually," said Lt. Paul Vernon, who is in charge of detectives in downtown Los Angeles. "It just turns out he decided to rob a bank where he had his account."
Officers broadcast the robber’s description over the radio, which in part was "a White man in his sixties." Within a few minutes, officers had the name of a local man who was on parole for bank robbery, Lester Robert Evans.
"As I rolled up at the bank, my robbery detective drove by and said, ‘What do you think lieutenant? Stun-gun bandit?’ and darned if he wasn’t right," added Lt. Vernon. "The description of the bank robber was just too co-incidental."
Detectives verified Evans was on parole for bank robbery and went to his apartment in the 400 block of East 7th Street in Skid Row. Detectives arrived within minutes of the robbery and found Evans in the company of a woman. Detectives searched the apartment and seized evidence that linked the parolee to the bank robbery as well as the boutique robbery.
"Two robberies in two months and a convicted bank robber to boot; we’ll be looking closely to see if he’s responsible for any other robberies," Lt Vernon said. "Downtown businesses should be much safer with him behind bars."
Evans was booked for the bank robbery and no bail was set as he is on parole. Detectives will also present the boutique robbery case from December 15, 2009, to prosecutors.
Anyone with information is urged to call Central robbery detective Al Rasch at 213-972-1245. During non-business hours, call 1-877-LAPD-24-7. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous may call Crimestoppers at 800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477). Tipsters may contact Crimestoppers by texting the number 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S on most keypads) with a cell phone. All text messages should begin with the letters "LAPD." Tipsters may also go to LAPDOnline.org, click on "webtips" and follow the prompts.
Press Release: VASCO Data Security Inc. (www.vasco.com), a leading software security company specializing in authentication products, today announced that DIGIPASS® for Mobile now is available to Windows Mobile users. Both DIGIPASS for Mobile and DIGIPASS® for Mobile Enterprise Security Edition support Windows Mobile, facilitating the deployment of authentication using the mobile phone for online banking and the use in corporate environments.
DIGIPASS for Mobile is VASCO’s authentication solution which leverages Internet enabled mobile telephones for authentication purposes. DIGIPASS for Mobile can be used for two factor authentication and digital signature for m-banking, e-banking and e-commerce. It can also be used for authentication purposes in corporate environments: gaining secure remote access to corporate networks and business applications. With DIGIPASS for Mobile now available for Windows Mobile, VASCO covers a vast majority of all mobile platforms commonly used. The availability of DIGIPASS for Mobile for Windows Mobile facilitates the deployment of authentication especially in corporate environments. In the enterprise environment, Windows Mobile enabled mobile phones are extensively used by staff, which makes the mobile phone extremely suited for secure remote logon to the corporate network and the business applications.
DIGIPASS for Mobile can rapidly be deployed through download or for corporate deployments the USB connection can be used by IT staff to efficiently port the authentication application directly onto the mobile phone. For service providers and mobile application developers wanting to integrate authentication functionality directly into their application, VASCO also has a software development kit (DIGIPASS® API). With DIGIPASS API, One-Time Password (OTP) and digital signature functionality is integrated into the application without having to change the existing user experience or the back-end infrastructure. DIGIPASS for Mobile uses 3DES and AES and respects ANSI X4.13 specifications, widely used in the banking community. DIGIPASS for Mobile uses proven VASCO VACMAN® authentication technology and supports more than 400 types of mobile phones.
"Mobile phone users are increasingly embracing mobile services. As a result the mobile platform is becoming more and more attractive to hackers. Traditional Internet fraud schemes are moving towards the mobile environment. With DIGIPASS for Mobile companies offering their services online or mobile site service providers can enhance security of their online service channels through the authentication of their users and by digitally signing transactions. With DIGIPASS for Mobile becoming available to Windows Mobile users, we are convinced that the corporation will increasingly embrace the use of authentication," says Jan Valcke, President and COO at VASCO Data Security.
The California National Guard’s 40th Infantry Division’s Agri-business Development
Team conducted a veterinary civic action program in the provincial capital to help
area residents with their livestock, Jan. 15…
Increased funding for National Guard facilities across the nation was included in
the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2010, enacted in December, Guard
officials said today…
Members of a Mississippi Army National Guard unit marked their sixth month of entry
control point operations and no security breaches for Contingency Operating Location
Q-West, Jan. 10…
On the opposite end of the argument are analysts from Citigroup, who think that the device could be a monster hit and sell somewhere between 1 and 3 million units. It would become a massive revenue generator, Citigroup analysts including Internet Mark Mahaney predict. In a research note this morning, he writes:
Based on its first week sales traction, our review of comparable 1st-year SmartPhone unit sales, and input from CIRA Wireless Handset Analyst Jim Suva, we estimate Nexus One could potentially see between 1MM and 3MM unit sales in 2010, generating between $500MM and $1.6B in incremental revenue (3% to 8% accretive).
For additional context, we note from Kevin Chang, the CIRA Analyst who covers HTC Corporation, that HTC has build plans for 700,000 Nexus One units in Q1:10 and approximately 1.2MM for H1:10. This would seem to suggest a reasonable Year 1 range of 1MM to 3MM…..based in part on Chang’s analysis, we believe the Nexus One may generate a 10%- 15% operating margin, which implies that 1MM to 3MM Nexus One unit sales could generate between $0.12 and $0.55 in incremental ’10 EPS (0%-2% accretive). Finally, we note that given the relatively low Nexus One margin structure, every 1MM units sold would reduce GOOG’s overall operating margin by 1%.
And fourth, there is the obvious opportunity for Google to generate a sizeable new revenue stream in terms of handset sales. We offer our estimates later, but as quick comps, we note that the Motorola Droid is expected to sell almost 8MM units in its first year and that both of the iPhone 3G versions sold or are on track to sell well over 10MM units in their respective first years. Hypothetically, 10MM units of a $529 phone would generate $5.3B, which would be very significant for a company that generated approximately $17.4B in net revenue in 2009. Of course, the incremental operating profit would be much less significant, given the relatively much lower margins of handset sales vs. Google’s core business.
I find these estimates to be way too optimistic. The smartphone market continues to be very dynamic and fluid. The analysis also assumes that Apple and RIM are going to stand still. Other members of the Android ecosystem are going to do their best to keep Google at bay.
Now I’m not one to argue against Google’s capabilities, but we need to temper our enthusiasm around the Nexus One. Also we have to remember the reality: 20,000 Nexus One handsets were sold during the first week it was available, while Andy Rubin, head of Google’s mobile efforts, said he would be happy if Google sold around 150,000 of them.
In an article posted on their law firm’s web site, patent attorneys Stephen D. Harper, PhD, and Stephen J. Weed in the Valley Forge, PA, office of RatnerPrestia consider the U.S. Supreme Court’s current deliberation of the Federal Circuit’s decision on business methods in In re Bilski and possible patent protection strategies during this “period of flux.” The Supreme Court is reviewing whether the Federal Circuit erred by finding that a process must be tied to a particular machine or apparatus – or transform a particular article into a different state or thing (the machine-or-transformation test) — and whether the Federal Circuit’s M-or-T test contradicts Congressional intent with respect to patents on methods of doing or conducting business. The Supreme Court’s decision, expected by July, could have serious implications not only on business method patents but also on medical diagnostic methods, Harper and Weed contend.
Inventions related to business methods are typically claimed as a series of steps, with one or more steps often performed using a computer. The decision rendered by the Federal Circuit in Bilski set forth that processes must satisfy at least one prong of the M-or-T test to be eligible for patent protection. The Federal Circuit, however, expressly declined to comment in Bilski on whether a computer could meet the definition of a particular machine or apparatus.
“The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) recently published New Interim Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Examination Instructions (”SME Instructions”) [that] embrace the Federal Circuit’s Bilski decision,” Harper and Weed write. The SME instructions require that, to be eligible for patent protection, process claims must either: 1) be machine implemented or 2) transform a particular article. The SME Instructions also set forth two corollaries to the M-or-T test: 1) the machine or transformation must impose a meaningful limitation in the invention as claimed and 2) the particular machine or transformation must involve more than insignificant “extra solution activity.” In the PTO’s view, it is no longer sufficient to insert a step such as presenting a result on a display. However, the SME instructions provide guidance on the recitation of a computer in a process claim, stating that a “general purpose computer may be sufficiently ‘particular’ when programmed to perform the process steps,” the attorneys write.
In view of that interim guidance, consider ways in which the business method may be characterized to transform articles or how a particular machine such as a computer may be incorporated into the business method in order to satisfy the M-or-T test, Harper and Weed suggest. Second, provide support for the transformation and/or particular machine in the specifications of newly filed applications and consider filing a continuing application to add such support to existing applications. Finally, incorporate features necessary to satisfy the M-or-T test into the claims of the application.
Though most observers have focused attention on the case’s impact on software patents, innovations in the diagnostics space are also affected, the attorneys note. Patent applications claiming methods of diagnosis typically recite the basic steps of gathering data from a patient sample, comparing the data with a standard, and generating information about or diagnosing the patient based on the comparison, Harper and Weed add. The Federal Circuit addressed the question of whether such medical diagnostic methods can constitute patent-eligible subject matter on two occasions post-Bilski. In Classen Immunotherapies, Inc. v. Biogen Idec, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s grant of summary judgment that certain claims were invalid as directed to ineligible subject matter. The claims covered a method for determining whether an immunization schedule affects the incidence or severity of a chronic immune-mediated disorder, and included a step of immunizing a patient in accordance with an immunization schedule, followed by interpreting the incidence, prevalence, frequency, or severity of a chronic immune-mediated disorder compared with a control group. The Federal Circuit found that such claims were not tied to a particular machine or apparatus and did not transform a particular article into a different state or thing, thereby failing the M-or-T test. More recently, the Federal Circuit held in Prometheus v. Mayo that claims directed to a method of optimizing therapeutic efficacy for treatment of an immune-mediated gastrointestinal disorder satisfied the M-or-T test and thus represented patent-eligible subject matter. The claims included a step of administering a drug to a subject followed by determining the level of the drug’s metabolite in that subject.
“Although the SME instructions issued by the PTO do not specifically discuss medical diagnostic method claims, they do advise examiners to reject method claims if they do not tie at least one step to a particular machine or if they do not confer a different function or use on the data they manipulate,” Harper and Weed write. “Thus, one possible solution to the problem of patenting medical diagnostic methods is to include claims that specify that a comparing step is carried out using a computer programmed to compare gathered data with a standard. An alternative solution may be to include a step of treating a specific condition in the patient consistent with a diagnosis. Still another approach, as suggested by Mayo, is to include in the claims a step where either a drug or other substance is administered to a patient in connection with diagnosing the patient and/or a step where a sample from the patient is analyzed in some way.”
Editor’s note: The January issue of Technology Transfer Tactics includes an in-depth article offering specific advice for TTOs on preparing for Bilski and taking steps to optimally protect their affected IP. CLICK HERE for subscription information.
We just got a tip from a reader on these extra-tall cutting board surfaces for really, really tall cooks. Too-low countertops are a problem in the kitchen for tall cooks; remember how Julia Child herself had her countertops raised up a few inches? Well, this is an alternative for tall cooks; read on to see the inspiration for these “Colleen-ified” cutting boards!
If you’re anything like me, you likely have a good number of USB drives on hand. They’re all over our house actually — these little digital storage cabinets seem to multiply faster than Tribbles. So when the kids need to use one, there’s no shortage of choices. I simply grab the nearest one and hand it over without a thought. I generally assume there’s nothing on them, but occasionally the kids tell me that there’s little or no free space — that’s because residual data is there even though I’ve deleted it from the drive.
The latest iMac has been shipping for over two months, yet Apple is still mailing out broken iMacs. The catch? Even Steve Jobs himself cannot fix iMacs wrought with yellow, flickering screens.
![Screen shot 2010-01-20 at [ January 20 ] 8.42.16 AM](http://www.mobilecrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Screen-shot-2010-01-20-at-January-20-8.42.16-AM-148x300.png "Screen shot 2010-01-20 at [ January 20 ] 8.42.16 AM")
