Author: srp

Patent crazy

There’s a flurry of news on the technology patent front in the last day or two. First,


Creative is accusing Apple of an iPod patent breach, saying that the iPod’s user interface violates a patent that Creative has.

Then comes the news that Nintendo has patented the Sanity system for games.

THEN there’s news that even
ringtones can be patented!

Things have gone absolutely nuts.

Via The Financial Times, Slashdot, and Engadget

Google – A villian??

Now, I like Google as much as the next person. They’ve come out with some great stuff (like Google Earth), put out two new betas this week (Google Desktop & Google Talk), and generally being a darn good search engine.

You’d think that would make a lot of people happy (and, well… it does), but there are apparently quite a few people in Silicon Valley that
don’t particularly like the way people at Google have been acting lately.

According to the article, one of the reasons for that is that they’re hiring so many talented people, and it’s causing the salaries out there to go up. Another reason is that it’s harder to get funding for startups.

Some of this might just be kvetching by people that can’t get people to sign on to the companies they’ve started, and don’t want to pay the going rate for the folks out there. I guess only time will really tell.

Me? I’m still using the tools Google provides, because they’re working well for me. And that’s really the bottom line.

Nintendogs Unleashed

Nintendogs hits the stores today. This game is a HUGE hit in Japan, and has all the potential to make it big here in the states.

Nintendogs hits the stores today. This game is a HUGE hit in Japan, and has all the potential to make it big here in the states.

This game is kind of like those Tamagotchi key chain toys that were popular a few years ago in the states. It’s a virtual pet that you can interact with.

Now, as popular as Tamagotchi was, Nintendogs takes takes it to a whole new level. The virtual dogs run around, play with each other, come to you when you call to them, (remember, this is Nintendo DS we’re talking about here…. it has a built-in microphone). You can take the dogs for walks, throw frisbees to them, and feed them.

This game is wildly popular in Japan, where they sold about 700,000 of them. There’s a rumor going around that they might even have a special “Christmas” edition of the game out there.

Nintendo is releasing three versions, each with six different kinds of puppies, for a total of 18 dogs.


Nintendogs - Chihuahua


Nintendogs - Dachshund

Nintendogs - Labrador Retriever

This game is probably going to a best selling game this Christmas season.