Nina Simone – Love Me Or Leave Me

Lovely tunes. Nina Simone – Love Me Or Leave Me. [HT Charlie Angus]

Interesting articles: Disney withdraws ‘Seal Team 6′ trademark app, PaylPal vs. Google, James Cameron 3D Michael Bay, Kristin Scott Thomas

* THR, “Disney Withdraws Application to Trademark ‘Seal Team 6′“

* CNN Money, “PayPal vs. Google: A timeline of ‘stolen’ secrets“

* THR, “Michael Bay Reveals James Cameron’s Secret Role in the Making of ‘Transformers’“

* UK Guardian, “Kristin Scott Thomas: ‘It’s the most amazing feeling of liberation’“

“”I was used to cinema questions – you know, ‘what’s it like to work with Robert Redford?’, all that kind of nonsense. I didn’t like that. I didn’t like the way people approached me after films, with this image in mind, made to look perfect through a beautiful lens, my hair blowing in the wind, perfect shade of lipstick, all huge and magnified. People would be scared of that idea. I could see it in them. But the great thing about doing theatre is that people just see you as human, not this vast image. You know my mascara is down here, and my nose is running. No tricks. I really wanted that.”

Having established herself in particular in The English Patient and Four Weddings and a Funeral as a kind of inaccessible beauty, did she discover a new way to connect?

Lockheed Martin’s networks breached by hackers using counterfeit RSA SecurID electronic keys

- PC World, “Lockheed-Martin Attack Signals New Era of Cyber Espionage“

- CNN, “Lockheed Martin detects ‘significant’ attack on information network“

- CNet, “Report: Major weapons makers see networks breached by hackers“

- Bloomberg, “U.S. Government Offers Lockheed Assistance After ‘Tenacious’ Cyber Attack“

- AFP, “Lockheed Martin confirms attack on its IT network“

- CBC, “Lockheed Martin hit by cyberattack“

NOTE: Here is a March 2011 CNet background story, “What the RSA breach means for you (FAQ)“

“Luck” – HBO

“Luck” from HBO looks really exciting. [HT C21]

Silly Girl 傻女 (A cappella)

Here is Aileen Kwan’s rendition of Priscilla Chan’s (陳慧嫻) Silly Girl (傻女). Enjoy.

Worth reading: Ratko Mladic arrested, Christine Lagarde & IMF, Sheila Fraser warns, Bob Rae elected

* BBC, “Ratko Mladic arrested: Bosnia war crimes suspect held“

* Guardian, “Ratko Mladic arrest – live updates – Police arrest man suspected of being Ratko Mladic“

* Guardian, “Has Christine Lagarde got what it takes to head the IMF? – The French finance minister is the darling of the financial media, but her handling of the European bailouts does not bode well“

* Vancouver Sun,  ”Stark choices ahead, auditor-general warns – Outgoing watchdog says Canadians will have three options: Raise taxes, cut programs or increase debt“

* CBC, “Bob Rae takes helm of political shipwreck“

Apple to Lodsys: cease and desist from any further threats

MacWorld, “Full text: Apple Legal’s letter to Lodsys“

MacWorld, “Apple to Lodsys: ‘App makers are protected by [our] license‘“

See the previous entry “iOS developers face patent threats” for some background info.

ABBA “Thank you for the Music”

Here is a rendition of ABBA‘s “Thank you for the Music” sang by Aileen. I hope you will enjoy the song as much as I did.

iOS developers face patent threats

“Apple must defend developers against patent threats, says EFF – Public silence from Cupertino highlights vulnerability of iOS developers, says Julie Samuels” Guardian, (emphasis added)

“Apple has been publicly silent since the legal threats were first publicised by worried developers earlier in May – likely less a sign of a lack of concern on its part, and more a sign that its lawyers are scrutinising the threats and the patent that forms their basis.

The EFF is not impressed, though. “Apple’s failure to defend these developers is troubling and highlights at least two larger problems: patent trolls and developers’ vulnerability when harassing and counter-productive patent litigation comes around,” writes Samuels, who links this into a wider trend of small developers without the resources to defend a patent infringement lawsuit being targeted.

“What’s different here, however, is that Apple provides this functionality to its developers and requires that they use it. Apple itself is protected from liability – Apple took a licence from Lodsys’ predecessor to use this very patent (which was likely part of a larger blanket licence). And the apparently one-sided Apple-developer agreement does not require that Apple indemnify developers from suits based on technology that Apple provides.“

The importance of in-app payments to the iOS platform – something likely to be repeated on Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone in the months ahead – cannot be overstated.“

Jobs to manufacture billions of popsicle sticks are back in Canada

There are lots of case of manufacturing jobs being outsourced to China. This is one case where jobs come back from China to Canada. Have a watch, CBC News - Importing jobs – 9 years after moving to China, a Canadian company finds it’s cheaper to reopen back home – May 20, 2011

According to the news report, the issues are:

* Quality Control

* Higher prices in China (compare to before)

* Rising cost of shipping (with the price of oil)

(Note: I can’t seem to find a working link for Global Sticks. I am pretty sure I found a working site on 20th May)

TEDxCaltech – more about Richard Feynman

TEDxCaltech – Michelle Feynman and Christopher Sykes – Fun to Imagine

TEDxCaltech – Danny Hillis – Reminiscing about Richard Feynman

TEDxCaltech – Tony Hey – Feynman and Computation

TEDxCaltech – Adam Cochran – The Electronic “Feynman Lectures on Physics” (kinda neat)

Richard Feynman is one of the people I tagged with Great Minds of Our Time. The following is a stack of Feynman books I have and treasure. And Christopher Sykes’ “No Ordinary Genius: The Illustrated Richard Feynman” is definitely one of my favourite.

Here are clips from the three films Skyes mentioned in the TEDx talk.

The Pleasure Of Finding Things Out (Part 1-5)

Feynman ‘Fun to Imagine’ 1: Jiggling Atoms

The Last Journey of a Genius – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Johnny Depp on 3-D craze

““We’re in the thick of this kind of 3-D craze, which I guess is all right if it’s necessary, and if it enhances the film in some way,” [Johnny] Depp said. “If it really adds something, then cool, but I thought it was beautiful that Gore resisted it for ‘Rango,’ it would have been the wrong choice for that movie. Gore did ‘Rango,’ watched and basically what he told me was, ‘I just didn’t think it needed 3-D.’ Not everyone is approaching it that way. I thought that was great. I’m sure studios are screaming for it but sometimes you need to resist that.”” – LA Times

Leonard Susskind: My friend Richard Feynman

Love it. Watch it! TEDxCaltech: Leonard Susskind: My friend Richard Feynman

The Business of News – There’s Something About Forecasts and Predictions

“If you have to forecast, forecast often.” - Edgar R. Fiedler in “Across the Board: The Three Rs of Economic Forecasting — Irrational, Irrelevant and Irreverent”

These are my personal views and don’t represent anyone else or any organization. I recognize this is a hard debate that doesn’t have a “right” or “wrong” answer.

At some point, “reporters” in the news business have to ask themselves what makes a story? Should a news media outlet report on a “story” because some US stations started reporting on it? And then your local competitions (in Canada or anywhere doesn’t matter) start reporting it? Should reporters follow? Or may be news is sometimes just entertainment, just a business to make some money, and a looser standard is applied?

I posted this elsewhere yesterday, out of annoyance. For the record.

“Thank you press & media for reporting on crazy prediction in last few days AND tomorrow! We really have nothing better to do than wasting our time!

P.S. Thanks in advance for reporting on this same nutty group’s prediction in 2021 or whenever because stupid/nutty/crazy news widely reported everywhere is better than no news day, right?!”

P.P.S. I did not include any links in this post in order not to give the crazy story any added attention and, more importantly, to try to turn this into a general discusion.

Bob Dylan music podcast – UK Guardian

“Music Weekly podcast: Bob Dylan special – As Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday approaches, Emmy the Great and the Guardian’s Stephen Moss join guest presenter John Harris in choosing their favourite Dylan tracks” – UK Guardian

Quite interesting to listen. Highly recommended.

Fired CPA manager Dale Fraser said, “Calgary Parking Authority did create the proprietary approach to this new parking system. And we [CPA] do have a patent-pending on this approach …” in 2008 interview

Newly termindated CPA manager Dale Fraser told me, ”Calgary Parking Authority did create the proprietary approach to this new parking system. And we [CPA] do have a patent-pending on this approach at this time.” in an August 2008 interview.

During the 30+ minutes interview, at NO point did Mr. Fraser leave this reporter with the impression the pending Canada/US ParkPlus patent was his (or his & Mr. Allan Bazar’s) personal invention or intellectual property. In fact, Mr. Fraser seemed to me quite clear in explaining the system was developed by MTS Allstream with the funds/resources from Calgary Parking Authority.

As stated in “The Patents” section in my 2008 August report “ParkPlus by Calgary Parking Authority – Reimagining the Wheels“, I suggested “US patent is one of the most important one to apply for, simply because US is one of the largest market and it has a reasonably strong patent protection regime.“.

For those that enjoy reading technical patent, have a read of Mr. Dale Fraser and Mr. Allan Bazar’s US patent application 20100191584.

For your easy reference, here is my 2008 interview video (pay attention to time code ~3:40 to ~3:50). [Please note that the interview is protected by copyright. License and use requests (including for press and media) are to be submitted via email and will be handled promptly.]

Thank you media … for reporting on crazy/nutty predictions

Thank you press & media for reporting on crazy prediction in last few days, tomorrow AND probably the day after! We really have nothing better to do than wasting our time, right?

P.S. Thanks in advance for reporting on this same nutty group’s prediction in 2021 or whenever because stupid/nutty/crazy predictions widely reported everywhere is better than no news day, right?! I mean, the show news must go on, right?

New Quotes I Love by Bill Buxton

Here are two new “Quotes I Love” entries.

“Those of us in the Internet Age with the most access to search engines have the least knowledge about our past. We’re so obsessed with the future that we only look forwards. I’ve been collecting specifically to counter that – to show how deep the roots go.” – Bill Buxton shows off 35 years of tech devices

“Look at the [Buxton] collection and then try and convince me that our slow rate of progress is due to a lack of technology rather than a lack of imagination.” - Bill @ [Buxton] collection

Magical Tulips (with video)

Tulips are truly magical. They slowly open up in the day (when it gets warmer), and close up in the evening & night (when it gets colder).

鬱金香真的神奇。會在日間（溫暖時）慢慢打開，在晚間（變冷時）閉合。

Magical Tulips (see YouTube clip) are even more amazing when they are put directly into water.

D鬱金香直接插入水時會開得好快。頭個43張相係60秒一張的time-lapse相。

Interesting Articles: Bay & Cameron talk 3D, TEPCO president resigns, LinkedIn Facebook IPO

* THR, “Michael Bay, James Cameron Talk 3D, Preview Impressive ‘Transformers’ Footage – Paramount unveiled 20 minutes of footage from its upcoming summer tentpole at a special event co-hosted by THR.“

* AP, “President of utility in Japan nuclear crisis steps down in disgrace, announces massive losses“

* CNN Money, “What LinkedIn means for Facebook IPO“

* Kevin Roberts, “What a Hotel Sounds Like“