Month: May 2016

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Make Your Own Doritos With This Seasoning Blend

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Consumer Reports’ Mosquito Repellent Rankings Are Now Available for Free

This is somewhat surprising, but good: after a few days of deliberation, the jury in the redo of the Oracle v. Google case concerning Google’s use of Java’s APIs in Android has resulted in a jury verdict finding that Google’s use was allowed as fair use. There’s not much to unpack here beyond what we’ve already written about the case. The jury form was a simple question of whether or not the use was covered by fair use, with a "Yes" check box meaning "finding for Google" and a "No" check box finding for Oracle The jury checked yes.

So, a few quick thoughts:

1. All things considered this is a good ruling in that it doesn’t lead to a crazy situation that undermines the reimplementation of APIs and other structures in different software, so *phew*.
2. This still sucks because fair use was the wrong vehicle. The APIs never should have been considered copyright-eligible in the first place, just as the judge in the original trial explained in his very detailed opinion. It’s only because an excessively confused federal circuit appeals court mucked things up, that the case had to go back down and be redone over fair use.
3. The trial itself was a weird one, because they weren’t really allowed to talk about the first trial and how a very large number of people in the tech industry didn’t think that APIs were covered by copyright at all. So that resulted in some weird conversations to explain why no one really thought this was infringing. They couldn’t say no one thought APIs were covered by copyright, so they had to talk about "open" and "free" in ways that were slightly misleading.
4. If anything, this may the most important fair use case to turn on factor 2, "the nature of the copyrighted work." That’s a factor that rarely is a very big deal, but without being able to (re)challenge the copyrightability, the focus was mostly on the nature of APIs and how the tech industry viewed them as free to be reused.
5. Of course, no matter what the verdict was there would be an appeal, and that’s absolutely true. Oracle will appeal. But it does make it more difficult to appeal. Oracle will have to challenge specific aspects of things, and will likely focus on the jury instructions, which it will argue unfairly biased the jury or something along those lines.
6. The Court of Appeals of the Federal Circuit (CAFC) is still a disaster, and while I hope they don’t, there’s still a decent chance they’ll end up siding with Oracle on appeal. Remember, CAFC is a court that normally focuses on patent laws and has a long and disgraceful history of loving to expand intellectual property and believing, incorrectly, that any kind of use is "theft."
7. But, in the meantime, this at least lifts something of a cloud over the industry, and we can hope that (1) CAFC will get it right and if they don’t (2) that the Supreme Court will fix it, rather than ignore it, next time around.

Overall, a good result of a bad process and a confused judicial system. For now.

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Big Win For Fair Use: Jury Says Google’s Use Of Java API’s Was Fair Use… On To The Appeal

Any expert on the driving forces behind organizational innovation will tell you that leadership is one of the most important. In fact, I’ve discovered it to be one of the 7 Immutable Laws of Innovation, and a necessity for any institution looking to prioritize leadership.
Over the next few weeks, I will dive into leadership’s effect on innovation, using examples in which management either helped or hurt innovation. I’ll also look at the steps leaders can take to make their organizations more forward-thinking.…
via Phil McKinney
The Importance of Leadership in Fostering Organizational Innovation

Any true outdoorsman knows what it means to grab a saw and go to work cutting trees… and then there are the skinny-jeans-wearing hipsters who sprout some whiskers, don a pair of flaccid leather boots and a too-tight plaid shirt, and wander around looking like lumberjacks.

In these videos, which are actually commercials for Dinty Moore, these pseudo-lumberjacks are called out and asked to use saws, as would a real lumberjack.

The first one features chainsaws. The last guy was the funniest, to me.

While it’s pretty funny — and this next video cracks me up — it’s clear that these are actors pretending to be “lumbersexuals.” But not all of their ineptitude can be faked… and as I said, it’s certainly amusing.

Enjoy.

The post Watch: City “Lumberjacks” Try to Use Chainsaw and Bucksaw appeared first on AllOutdoor.com.

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Watch: City “Lumberjacks” Try to Use Chainsaw and Bucksaw

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Those Lame Fire Snakes Get Way More Impressive When You Super-Size Them

The Department of the Army has recently released a gold mine including the updated Rifle & Carbine Training Circular Training Circular. This manual was last updated was 8 years ago in 2008.   I’m sure that you – just like me – have spent a small fortune on firearms, optics, accessories and so much ammunition.  How often do we train “right” […]

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The post The NEW UPDATED Army Rifle & Carbine Training Circular, FREE for Download appeared first on The Firearm Blog.

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The NEW UPDATED Army Rifle & Carbine Training Circular, FREE for Download

Sturm, Ruger & Co. announced a new line of rimfire rifles called the 10/22 Takedown Lite. The new rimfire long guns are designed with a lighter weight barrel assembly, a modular stock and take down easily for compact storage and transportation. The new Takedown Lite rifles use a tensioned target barrel assembly that place a […]

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The post Ruger 10/22 Takedown Lite appeared first on The Firearm Blog.

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Ruger 10/22 Takedown Lite

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Two DIY Air Conditioners Put to the Test

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The Only Three Types of Sandpaper You Really Need