I didn’t have time to address a few additional points in my previous post on creativity and innovation. In this post, I wanted to sumarize the evidence underlying my claim that most of innovation results from industry reworking, improving, and advancing existing technology and not from the direct application of […]
Patents
21 posts
This evening, I will be presenting a talk “Some Thoughts on Creativity and Innovation” at Neurostimulation: Stimulating change in patient care by 2024 sponsored by Cambridge Consultants. If you are surprised why an RF scientist with expertise in antennas and near-field wireless systems is speaking at a conference on neurostimulation, […]
Some interesting and informative links from around the net: Via The Art of Manliness, here’s “How to Survive a Lightning Strike,” “Why I Am Not An Environmentalist: The Science of Economics Versus the Religion of Ecology,” by Steven E. Landsburg, excerpted from The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life, Sean […]
Following is a press release from my company, Q-Track. More details are in this recent post: NFER® RTLS for Forklift Tracking and Supply Chain Management. Always a pleasure to have good news to share! -Hans Invention expected to dramatically lower cost of supply chain visibility Huntsville, AL — June 7, […]
Starting May 4, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will allow inventors to expedite their patent prosecution. The first 10,000 inventors willing to pay an extra $4000 (no discount for small entities) will be able to place their patent applications in a “Fast Track.” The new service aims to achieve […]
Answer: more quickly than it used to if USPTO Patent Commissioner, Robert Stoll, has his way. Patently O reports on a new USPTO initiative to drive toward an average of ten months to an initial office action after an inventor files a patent. To that end, the Patent Office has […]
As noted previously on ÆtherCzar, the FCC recently issued an NPRM proposing to offer favorable treatment to academic researchers over researchers in industry. Yesterday, ÆtherCzar presented evidence from wide-ranging studies showing that industry, not academia is the principal fountainhead of innovation. This previous research did not specifically address wireless technology, […]
Previously, ÆtherCzar noted that the effectiveness of full body scanners has been called into question. Liquid explosives and other organic contraband contrast poorly and are said to be difficult to spot. These reports were largely anecdotal, however. Good technical information on the performance of x-ray backscatter full-body scanners has been […]
This post extends on my post of last week: How Full-Body Scanners Work – and Fail The aim of this post is to explain x-ray backscatter scanning in further detail by examining a few of the patents that describe how x-ray backscatter full-body scanners work. In order to receive a […]
Is history repeating itself? Just as Apple took the early lead in PC’s only to be overtaken by IBM and a horde of loosely aligned competitors, so also is Apple’s flagship iPhone increasingly challenged by a variety of manufacturers offering not only Android phones but also phones powered by Microsoft’s […]
It was a busy week to have been out on vacation. Here are some RTLS and Location-Based Services links to help get caught up: My employer, NFER® RTLS vendor Q-Track, unveiled an updated website, took second place in the Global Security Challenge, West Coast Final, and was featured in RFID […]
A few quick updates, while I recover from Wireless Wednesday on Twitter: New Scientist explains the history of complex numbers in a fascinating piece, “Putting the ‘i’ in iPods.” But since the iPod is more an accomplishment of engineering instead of physics, shouldn’t it be called the” jPod?” To learn […]
Dennis Crouch at PatentlyO kindly shares and summarizes updated patent examination guidelines from the USPTO, as published in the Federal Register.
Physicist, woodworker, and patent attorney, Steve Gass, invented the “SawStop” system ten years ago. SawStop technology detects when a saw blade makes electrical contact with a finger and brakes the saw blade before it can do more than give you a small nick (see the video ,below). This is an […]
From the Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Ten Tips for Streamlining Patent Prosecution.
On April Fools’ Day this year, the fine folks at ThinkGeek introduced a new product: Canned Unicorn Meat. Despite the fact it looks suspiciously like Spam with sparkles, they dared advertise it as “The New White Meat.” That got the National Pork Board’s attention. The National Pork Board, as you […]
I’ve long wondered if the modial interaction of magneto-reluctance and capacitive directance might have practical application for energy conversion on long duration space missions. Now, an inventor claims to have actually reduced this to practice in in a conventional automotive transmission application! The inventor calls it a “Turbo Encabulator.” I […]
A few “Quick Picks” – highlights from the week past worth passing on… Glenn “Instapundit” Reynolds on the pending collapse of the higher education bubble. And Eight Reasons College Tuition is the Next Bubble to Burst. The “stars fell on” Alabama May 18, and now NASA’s looking for the meteorite. […]
Congratulations! Your patent has issued and you have a twenty year monopoly on the sale, manufacture, use, or distribution of your cool new invention, right? Not unless you pay your maintenance fees. At the current fee levels, inventors must pay: $980 ($490) due at 3.5 years after issue, $2480 ($1240) […]
A few quick picks… The National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) is welcoming public comments on dealing with contraband cell phones in prisons. Submit your comments before June 11. Hat tip: Ars Technica. Elliot revisits the cell phone ban on airplanes. Chiropractor in Frederick, MD cleanses “EMF toxins” using ancient […]
A few quick picks: A new radio direction finding system for deployment on Humvees was introduced last week by Southwest Research Institute. Claire Berlinski reporting in City Journal reports a surprising lack of interest in a couple of Russian exiles with copies of the Kremlin’s secret archives needing translation and […]