Legitimate e-book lending site taken down by angry authors

A pack of digital authors ganged up on a useful site that connected e-book consumers and shut them down.

The process of lending an e-book is complicated and much of it is a result of conflicting DRM locks and platforms as well as a reluctance on the part of publishers to allow their books to be loaned. But authors can also be a roadblock when it comes to lending, and we’ve just had a classic example of how that can happen with the brouhaha over LendInk, a service that allowed readers to connect with others in order to share e-books. The site has effectively been put out of business by a virtual lynch mob of authors claiming it breached their rights, even though what it was doing was perfectly legal.

 

 

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How Satyamev Jayate, India’s favorite TV show uses data to change the world

The show analyzes the millions of messages they receive on controversial issues to do everything from planning future episodes to pushing for political change.

In India every Sunday morning millions of people in India tune in to watch Bollywood star Aamir Khan host one of the country’s highest-rated television shows, Satyamev Jayate. Only unlike so many popular programs, Satyamev Jayate doesn’t involve a singing competition or a collection of volatile strangers living under the same roof. It’s a documentary program tackling some of the country’s most-sensitive topics, and it has the whole country — indeed, the whole world — talking. In order to funnel millions of messages a week into something valuable, the shows producers have turned to big data. (video)

 

 

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MIT’s autonomous robotic plane’s indoor flight: Video

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYs215TgI7c&hd=1[/youtube]

Academic and industry researchers have been working  for decades on control algorithms for autonomous helicopters — robotic helicopters that pilot themselves, rather than requiring remote human guidance. Dozens of research teams have competed in a series of autonomous-helicopter challenges posed by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI); progress has been so rapid that the last two challenges have involved indoor navigation without the use of GPS.

 

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Four Key Trends Driving the Future of Patents

Futurist Thomas Frey: In July, David Kappos, Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, announced expansion plans for the USPTO that would involve opening satellite offices in Denver, Dallas, and San Francisco. These coupled with the previously announced office in Detroit would draw on a diverse new talent pool for future examiners.

 

 

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Google’s self-driving cars have driven 300,000 without a single accident

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdgQpa1pUUE&hd=1[/youtube]

Self-driving cars have been a vision of the future for decades. However, they may finally be getting closer.

Google’s self-driving cars have now clocked up 300,000 miles without a single accident.

 

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The future of in-car connectivity

While driving we can get connected to the world through the internet.

Everyday the world of automotive technology changes.  Companies are designing very advanced in-car technology that needs to be secure but also easily usable to their customers.  Now a days big automobile brands introduce the internet facility  and secure navigation systems in cars. This is very beneficial to the consumers.

 

 

 

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Augmented reality moving beyond novelty

As smartphones explode in popularity, augmented reality is starting to move from novelty to utility.

Yelp quietly added a feature to its iPhone app in 2009 that blurred the line between the real and the virtual. If you held your handset up and looked at the world through its screen, you’d see little floating tags containing the names, user ratings, and other details of businesses around you.

 

 

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Steve Wozniak worries about cloud computing

Count  Apple co-founder and tech icon Steve Wozniak among the skeptics on cloud computing.

Cloud computing is here to stay, but not  all of us like the idea of putting our personal data onto what is essentially a shared resource beyond our control. No less a tech icon than Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak expressed his reservations on this topic this weekend.

 

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