patent

The top three things Google seems to consider when building data centers are real estate costs, electricity costs, and, perhaps, privacy.  And the next generation of data centers may do extremely well in all of these respects, as Google's been granted a patent for water-based data centers. 

New criteria for restricting the scope of what the US Patent Office considers patent-worthy poses a threat to numerous software patents, including Google's famed PageRank.

Since not every single one gets clicked on, Google's ads might be considered less than perfect.  A new patent application would make behavioral targeting a central part of improving them.

Just off the wire, Dish Network has failed to convince an appeals court to overturn TiVo's earlier patent win against the company. TiVo's earlier win is upheld.

Activision Inc. is suing Gibson Guitar Corp., claiming that its popular video game "Guitar Hero" does not infringe on a Gibson patent.The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angles, wants the court to strike down Gibson's claim that Activision is infringing on a 1999 patent for technology to simulate a musical performance.

Amazon.com is a decent place to shop for books, CDs, or whatever else you like.  It's also a good site to read reviews, even if you do your buying elsewhere.  But the company has once again embarrassed itself by receiving an obvious patent.

As complex as Google's PageRank may be, search experts at Yahoo seem to think it's not complex enough. Based on patent filings, Yahoo is dabbling in ranking algorithms that incorporate more user behavior data in advance of the company's next run at toppling Google's haloed relevance.

I think before the robots take over everything and use us for batteries, it will appear that humans have hyper-evolved into mechanically enhanced super-sapiens. But that's really just to build false confidence in us. A recent Microsoft patent application is perhaps the next step toward that digitally created human battery soup dream.