The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention

Wow, i am 80 pages into this book and it is one of the most amazing book i have ever read!!

The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention


I saw it being talked about on Jon Stewart a few weeks ago and thought the author sounded interesting but i had no idea how dense the concepts were (or how closely it relates to IT development).

The first page talks about how apart from slight variances the average worker made between $400 and $550 worth of GDP output per year from Alexandrian time to the 1700's.

So whatever a blacksmith was capable of outputting before christ they were pretty much using the same tools and same techniches 2000 years later.And although increases were made the Malthusian trap of increased  production came with the issue of increased population (it explains it more in the foreword).

And allthough steam based toys have been around since the days of the romans (who knew), that it wasn't until the 1800 and changes in the "valuations" of thoughts and inventivity that made the invention of steam power (and everything to follow) overtones of current software patentability issues.

The other concept they cover is the issue of inventors being hamstrung by "benefactors" (VC's?) and until they were able to solve industrial age problems (water in coal mines) hey were unable to make a living to be self supporting/get rich.

Another interesting area they briefly touch on is the implementation of Gresham College, a "shangrila" for lecturers that have no students but are there simply to give lectures to the general public or anyone who happens to wander in (overtones of online elearning courses being offered by MIT).



Cheers,
Dean

P.S> finished it, and then turned around and started to read it again. If you work in software development this is a must read. Still processing all my thoughts but lots of thought provoking concepts to mull over.

Movie product placements

Whats the deal with movie product placements? they really have gone too far.

I was watching "The Book of Eli" movie tonight and in the middle of a post apocalyptic world that is desolate and people are scavenging for resources Denzel Washington pulls out to listen to a MP3 player and a pair of "Dr Dre Beats Headsets" ..... WTF?

I hope the producers got paid a chunk of change in order to feature these Beats headsets in the movie because their believability just feel through the floor.

I feel dirty.


Cheers,
Dean

Use of Trademark in a Domain Name

According to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the use of a trademark in a domain name does not necessarily amount to trademark infringement. In a decision issued in July 2010, the court highlighted that the critical factor to establish trademark infringement in a domain name is that the use of the mark generates a “strong likelihood of confusion for consumers.”

In the case of Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc v. Tabari, the domains “buy-a-lexus.com” and “buyorleaselexus.com” were used as websites for brokers of Lexus automobiles. Toyota challenged the use of the Lexus name, arguing that it was likely confusing for consumers who would think Toyota sponsored those organizations. In its opinion, the court stated that a trademark owner must establish three things to show that the use of a trademark amounts to infringement and not fair use:

(More........Use of Trademark in a Domain Name Does Not Alone Establish Trademark Infringement)
 
Good to know.... though i wish their response gave a clearer understanding of when it DOES constitute trademark infringement, would save some people a lot of legal bills in the future.
 
 
Cheers,
Dean

Virtual versions of real world physical goods

Just came across this article in Techcrunch this morning - http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/09/check-in-for-swag-at-the-new-foursquare-store/

The most important part of this article is the physical/virtual copies idea; I like the idea of getting virtual "online" items when purchasing "Offline" physical items.

I've blogged about it back in 2008 - http://blog.collins.net.pr/2008/05/real-world-visithere-have-virtual-piece.html - basically you should be receiving a digital copy of everything you purchase :)


Cheers,
Dean

Proof that i'm a mean sadistic bastard

Most people dont think i'm a mean sadistic bastard but i am.

And every time i see the banner ad above just proves how mean i can be to some poor ad purchasing exec who i've never met and have no idea who they are.

As i've written about before I really think there needs to be a "forget me" button in ads that are retargetting you - http://blog.collins.net.pr/2010/06/retargetting-ads-really-need-forget-me.html ; And about 3 months ago i bought $80 worth of vacuum bags (lol yeh i know, i like to buy stuff like that in bulk so that the cleaner doesn't need to tell me that often...the last bag is full, can you get some more before next Friday.....). But basically for whatever reason i must now be classed as high value prospect and this company is appearing on almost 10% of the ads that appear before me on all the websites i visit.

For the first month i just ignored them hoping they would fall off.... now I'm just plain mean and click them every time i see them.

Someone at GoVacuum is obviously not seeing these non-purchasing clicks as i must have cost them $80 in clicks by now and they still keep appearing.

Any other suggestions on how i can get new adds to appear (and no cookie clearing hasn't solved the problem).


Cheers,
Dean

Tit for Tat

Laughing at how everyone in New York was aghast at how the russians had people spying here in New York (and of course how one of them was somewhat of a hottie)........ everyone in the USA press practicaly buried the fact that the sent them to Moscow in EXCHANGE for USA spies who had been caught previously....

lol, security is a myth, deal with it.


Cheers,
Dean

Hanging on the deck

Hanging out on the deck on a Friday night. Life is good.

UAE Blackberry ban

So if the UAE and other countries are banning blackberry's, predominately because they cant data snoop - though i think it is more likely because because they found someone in the USA was snooping on UAE govt/citizens messages over here in the USA/Canada, interestingly everyone has glossed over this potential point...... so my question is - are there any vpn/encryption restrictions for other similar type tools in the UAE?


Cheers,
Dean

Google Wave is dead

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/update-on-google-wave.html

Proves yet again that google are batting about .200. I knew this project was a dog and to get out of it early about a month after it came out. This is due solely to the wrong people in the wrong positions.

There were several fundamental flaws about how Wave was structured that I’ve posted about before eg. no wave app api, no ability to restrict robots to particular servers etc – I used to own several wave related app domains such as http://www.waveappstore.com/ that I sold about a month after wave was launched when I realized from my research it had issues.


Cheers,
Dean

Social Distortion

Jodie and I went to see Social Distortion in Hartford, CT. last night. It was a long drive up there and back but definitely worth the effort considering they only do a few concerts a year.

lol it was Jodies first punk concert ever......she wanted to know whats with all the police and why security are doing full body pat downs.

The Action Design were the support act, i'd never heard of them before but they were great. I haven't worked out who the lead singers voice reminds me of but it sounded really similar to something i've heard before and Emily Whitehurst is too cute (very Molly Ringwald'esque' circa Breakfast Club).

They have a new single out so check it out but sounded much harder (in a good way) in person, the mix below sounds a little top40'ish'. 

Desperation by The Action Design

Social Distortion hammered hard. They missed a couple of songs i thought they would cover but the crowd loved every minute.

My only complaint is the lead singers mic was too quiet compared to the band so some of the audio was a little muddy, but for some old guys they still rock. lol and yes some of the audience slamming in the mosh pit were as old as me.

Cheers,

Dean