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Good documentary on the absurd state of software patents and its impact on new business and therefore growth.

Ever seen this on a menu?

An ice cream shop made the best pistachio ice cream around. It was the only flavour of ice cream it made. For years it sold well but one day sales started to decline. Some of the customers told the shop owner they should think of serving different flavours. But pistachio had sold well for years so the ice cream shop continued to make only pistachio. The ice cream shop told its customers that if they didn’t buy more pistachio ice cream, the shop would go out of business and they’d never again taste their pistachio ice cream. Some of…

Last night, at my local DVD store, I purchased a Blu-ray disc for RMB 80 (USD 12). The same disc on Amazon costs USD 17.50 (down from USD 35). It is safe to assume, just like every other title in the shop, it is a fake. When Blu-ray was introduced there was doubt as to its viability due to the rise of Internet delivery and competition from HD-DVD. But the appearance of fake discs means Blu-ray has arrived as a standard. It must be viable because there is a big enough market for pirates to be shipping discs. Therefore, I…

China has been in the news a lot lately. Not all of it good. But here is some good news. The New York Times is reporting on China’s rise in renewable energy industries - already World leader in wind turbines and solar panels. And The Guardian is reporting that, in the wake of the US plans to scrap moon missions, China could be the only country remaining with the goal to place men on the moon. Good luck to ‘em it will be a marvellous achievement.

Hands up if you like receiving junk mail… Let’s count. Oh, no one. Why is it that when a product or service is purchased from a company, the supplying company assumes that this means it is OK for them to send you junk mail? And not only that, it gets better, they also assume it is OK for them to invite 3rd parties to send you junk as well?

This is a brilliant video (embedded below from YouTube) of the relationship between designer and client. NSFW. Been there. It’s made using Xtranormal which is a very cool site for turning a script into an animation. You just type in your script and directions and out pops a movie with Lego like people. (Other people are available). Great fun to play with.