Wednesday, July 04, 2012

MIT 2012 Commencement Address by Salman Kahn

MIT 2012 Commencement Address - YouTube

Udacity "Elegant Code" Competition

Official Elegant Code Competition! - CS212: @ Udacity

Whoever submits the code with the most votes will get a free Udacity T-Shirt.
Code can be anything in any language, but people have to like it to vote for it.

Android patent challenges: Apple, Nokia vs Samsung, Google

Samsung fails to stall Galaxy Nexus sales ban • The Register:

Samsung's bad luck in the US courts continues after Judge Lucy Koh refused to delay a ban on its Galaxy Nexus smartphones...

Google has pulled the Nexus from its US Play store, and the phone has been changed from "for sale" to "coming soon" with no other information.


By the way, the Google is selling the Nexus phone for $349,
that is about half the price of iPhone 4S.
Most likely Google is not making profit on such sales,
so that may be the best "deal" on a smartphone.

Same goes for Nextus 7 tablet ($199), that is being challenged
by Nokia patents
recently...

It is interesting that from most of Android devices sold, Microsoft is getting $5 to $15 on patents licensing, but Apple does not want to provide any license, and Google does not want to pay any.

Patents are a mess... A useful tool, but a mess.

California for autonomous, self-driving cars

Plan for, autonomous, or self-driving cars passes California senate hurdle. - Los Angeles Times


2012-05-21: "A bill that allows for the use of self-driving cars on California’s roads passed the California State Senate.


SB1298 by State Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) would establish guidelines for such "autonomous vehicles" to be tested and operated in California. The bill now goes to the Assembly for consideration next month."


Ongong negotiations about liability

Driverless vehicles would be required to have a licensed driver behind the wheel and be ready to take over should a problem arise