The results? It was true. The thing was pirated to the skies. It’s all over the Web now, ridiculously easy to download without paying. The crazy thing was, sales of the book did not fall. In fact, sales rose slightly during that year.

link: David Pogue Weighs In On Ebook DRM: Non-DRM’d Ebook Increased His Sales | Techdirt

Hopefully, this has made a few believers and will bode well for content on the upcoming tablets.

Lordy, lordy, lordy. They have no shame. It appears that Microsoft has just patented sudo, a personalized version of it. Here it is, patent number7617530. Thanks, USPTO, for giving Microsoft, which is already a monopoly, a monopoly on something that’s been in use since 1980 and wasn’t invented by Microsoft. Here’s Wikipedia’s description of sudo, which you can meaningfully compare to Microsoft’s description of its “invention”.

link: Groklaw – Microsoft Patents Sudo?!! – Updated 2Xs

The high tech industry seems to have a track record of skipping through the patent system without the patent clerks noticing that prior art exists. Now, you may be for or against patents. That, however, is a bigger issue that may not be resolved in our lifetime. However, I wonder if the USPTO would consider opening up their patent evaluation queue to the public. Let all of the folks that contribute to these articles post if they are aware of prior art. The clerks can investigate that information for validity and then make a decision. Essentially, crowd source patent evaluations. At the very least, it would…

The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama’s administration refused to disclose due to “national security” concerns, has leaked.

link: Secret copyright treaty leaks. It’s bad. Very bad. – Boing Boing

Is this for real?? This link looks a little more credible.

How ironic that Obama is doing a better job at secretive policy making than Bush. Except that he is putting it in treaties so that it can never be repealed.

Ok, that sounds like biased political rhetoric. So, I digress. Is it disturbing that the president that is supposed to be about transparency in governance is secretly outlawing the social media that got him elected.? Pitiful.

The EC, which monitors commercial competition in the 27 countries that comprise the European Union, started due diligence on the deal in August and has said it expects to have a decision by Nov. 19 on whether to approve the deal.

link: Beleaguered Sun Forced to Lay Off 3,000 More Employees

Shortly after getting the green light from the American regulator, Oracle quietly passed up the chance to propose “commitments” to address any lingering EU concerns about the deal, apparently confident that Brussels would follow Washington’s lead.

link: Second look at Oracle-Sun takeover is warranted | Policies | Information society | Information technology | European Voice

In my mind, I had always assumed that it would be in Oracle’s best interest to keep the Java ecosystem alive. In that vein, my thought had been that they would spin the parts of Java that matter (JCP, language/vm maint, even licensing) into a wholly owned subsidiary — effectively reviving JavaSoft. This subsidiary would have the mandate to act fairly among all users of the platform. Yes, Oracle would own them, but the governance rules for this company and it’s bits would limit Oracle’s influence to that of other large corporate users. Again, the idea is to allow it to continue as it has been in order to preserve and enhance the community. I was hopeful that some of the tools and javafx would roll into that company as well with the intention of promoting them as open standards.

It appears, however, based on the willingness…

SECOND-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE: — U.S. software maker Oracle Corp to acquire the whole of computer hardware maker Sun Microsystems Inc (notified Aug. 3/deadline Sept. 3/in-depth investigation opened on Sept. 3/new deadline Jan. 19, 2010)

link: EU mergers and takeovers (Oct 9) – Forbes.com

The java world has been very quiet lately. I can only assume it is because they are trying to get the deal done. When is the last time we heard something about javafx, June?

You have to wonder if Sun(or it’s assets) can survive being out of the blogosphere for this long. I sure hope that we don’t have to wait until January to get updates (or additional oracle funding). With this prolonged period of uncertainty, it is hard to imagine that Sun is successfully hanging on to it’s talent. Maybe someone in the EU has it in for Sun. Or, maybe their bureaucracy is worse than ours(US). Either way, January is a long time away.

Here are the questions that apple has to answer for the FCC.

1. What role, if any, did AT&T play in Apple’s consideration of the Google Voice and related applications? What role, if any, does AT&T play in consideration of iPhone applications generally? What roles are specified in the contractual provisions between Apple and AT&T (or in any non-contractual understanding between the companies) regarding the consideration of particular iPhone applications?
2. Did Apple consult with AT&T in the process of deciding to reject the Google Voice application? If so,…

In the course of his short career, Zuckerberg, as a tipster reminded us, has accumulated a nice array of patents. They’re related, as you might guess, to social networking and digital media. Could he use them against his rivals via Myhrvold, raising some money for Facebook in the process?

link: Facebook Huddles with Patent Vampire – Nathan Myhrvold – Gawker

Frankly, I don’t care that much about the speculation or even the concept of this article. What is interesting is the patent portfolio that Zuckerburg has built. If nothing else, it illustrates just how broken our patent system is.

The research revealed that many teenagers (65%) are streaming music regularly, with more 14 to 18 year olds (31%) listening to streamed music on their computer every day compared with music fans overall (18%).

link: Collapse in illegal sharing and boom in streaming brings music to executives’ ears | Music | The Guardian

Immigrants come to the United States and take menial jobs so that their children have a chance at a better future, he told me. While the jobs they take are below their intrinsic capabilities, they’re focused on giving their children a better life, not personal job satisfaction. Second-generation children, seeing how hard their parents work to give them an opportunity, in turn work hard at school, where, he noted, they often focus on mathematics and science in pursuit of the economic returns promised by careers in engineering and medicine. Third-generation kids figure the economic return on effort expended is better for business and legal professionals and pursue those professions instead of technical ones. By the fourth generation, any immigration-related incentives to work hard are largely nonexistent.

link: America’s Secret Innovation Weapon: Immigration

My gut reaction to Mike’s article is that he is absolutely right in his premise. I think that the US strategy of brain drain has been widely understood for some time. There are a few questions that came to mind as I read his article, however.

One thing that struck me about his opinion is how necessary it is for there to be an economic or social disparity for…