I’m originally from Pittsburgh, a town whose greatness goes beyond the Steelers, great pizza, and the world-famous Primanti’s sandwich. Here’s a great video of a quarter-millennium of Pittsburgh innovation, from the Heinz History Center:
Today’s Times has an article on Johnny Chung Lee, who came up with a way to use a Nintendo Wii remote with a video display to give a more interactive experience. When you move around the room, the view on the screen changes. This is unbelievably cool and I hope it’s used in video games and other technologies soon. Also interesting is how Lee used YouTube to publicize his ideas. As the Times notes:
He might have published a paper that only a few dozen specialists would have read. A talk at a conference would have brought a slightly larger audience. In either case, it would have taken months for his ideas to reach others.
Small wonder, then, that he maintains that posting to YouTube has been an essential part of his success as an inventor. “Sharing an idea the right way is just as important as doing the work itself,” he says. “If you create something but nobody knows, it’s as if it never happened.”
The video, viewed over 6 million times, is a must-see:
SCOTUSblog reports that the Supreme Court today issued decisions in two high-profile patent cases. According to SCOTUSblog, Microsoft won (7-1) in Microsoft v. AT&T, and in KSR v. Teleflex, a unanimous Court ruled that the Federal Circuit had applied too narrow a standard for determining “obviousness.”
Note: BOGO means “buy one, get one free.”
Out with the old and in with the new.
Although Labcorp v. Metabolite was dismissed last week, in this morning’s order list, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in KSR v. Teleflex (No. 04-1350, docket here). Previous commentary at Patently-O. The issue is the obviousness test used by the Federal Circuit in patent cases. This promises to be a major case.