OpenStreetMap parties in India

Read this interesting article on LiveMint about OpenStreetMap parties in India (link).

How do you get involved: Take a look at this India wiki on OpenStreetMap – it has a ton of useful information.

And remember, you can use OffMaps for the iPhone, to download map tiles from OpenStreetMap and use it anywhere in the world.

http://www.openstreetmap.org/

Software patent portfolios of companies gone up in smoke?

Last week in a land mark decision the US Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit decided that in most cases software processes are not patentable. This would mean that millions of dollars for many companies has gone up in smoke as for most software companies patented software processes account for up to 70% of their asset value. Wonder what this means for the valuations of companies like Google and Microsoft. (This is one of those decisions that has such far reaching implications that it most probably will be appealed to the Supreme Court).

Read more about the decision at - Federal Circuit Decides Software No Longer Patentable

Here are the highlights (excerpted from PLI.edu):

• The Federal Circuit rejected the that the "useful, concrete and tangible result" inquiry as being inadequate.

• Patentability under 101 does not depend on process steps, but rather requires a tangible machine or transformation into a different state.

• Software is once again un-patentable in the United States. 

• In order to protect what was formerly known as patentable software we will have to go back to claiming a machine that provides certain functionality.

• Software patents that have been issued under the previous understanding of the law are almost certainly now worthless.

Here is more information from a ZDNet article - http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=3052

Pop some champagne! writes Groklaw. ” At issue was whether an abstract idea could be eligible for patent protection. The court says no.”

The authors at PatentlyO do not think this eliminates well-written software patents.

I agree that in many cases software patents are absurd. Here are some examples:

• Jeff Bezos patented his one-click ordering system and took Barnes and Knobles to court so as to make them deliberately complicate their ordering process.
• Even before GPS devices became ubiquitous, a company patented the idea of a GPS based alarm that would go off once you were close to a certain location.
• Dell and Compaq have been sued for transmitting data over a communications line as it was patented by Multi-Tech systems.
• Unisys patent for the LZW algorithm made the GIF format inaccessible to many companies. The PNG format was created as an alternative to GIF file format. Many image libraries started supporting GIF format only after the patent expired.

In software engineering it is very common to take ideas from a different domain (such as biology – evolution and genetic mutation for example) and convert it into an algorithm that can be used in other domains (Genetic algorithms in this case). In my opinion, such reapplication of ideas definitely should not be patentable.

Here are 2 articles from Fortune.CNN.com. One is about the ruling Did big patent ruling doom software patents, and the other is about software patents Ending Software Patents: Has the time come?

Finally, here is an open letter that Dr. Donald Knuth wrote to the patent office where he argues against software patents. http://www.scribd.com/doc/29707/Letter-to-the-Patent-Office-From-Donald-Knuth (For those of you who dont know – Dr. Knuth wrote one of the most important books on software programming - “The Art of Computer Programming” and he is a professor at Stanford).

Don't even think of putting an iPhone code snippet online....

Don't even think of putting an iPhone code snippet online.... For that matter, don't blog about the SDK or even have a user group meeting, cause if you do, you will be in violation of the non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

Here is a good blog post on the restrictive (overly restrictive, IMHO) NDA Honoring your NDA and terms of use and the iPhone SDK

Here is the gist:

1. You can't post a code snippet that uses the iPhone SDK.
2. You can't meet with other developers or have a iPhone SDK user group.
3. You can't write a book on the SDK.
4. You cannot OpenSource your cool iPhone app.
5. You obviously cannot sell the iPhone app on your own.... no you must use the iPhone app store!

You have got to wonder how Apple expects more developers to come on-board with their new SDK. Especially with the competition heating up (read Google Android and Windows Mobile) you would think Apple would try to make it fun for developers to work with their iPhone platform. Seems like Apple has the myopic view of protecting current revenue streams, instead of trying to get cool apps developed that makes its iPhone platform the only one people would like to have because of the myriad applications available for it. (It is for this very reason that I have never considered an Apple desktop as a replacement for my 3 Windows machines at home).

Apple, will you never learn?

More information:

iPhone SDK and free software: not a match

Apple’s iPhone contract leaves developers speechless

How-To: Expand your camera with CHDK - Hack a Day

How-To: Expand your camera with CHDK - Hack a Day

The Hack a Day website has information on how to expand your camera with the CHDK firmware hack. Unfortunately the hack works only on Canon cameras. But the features that it adds (scripting, advanced features like higher shutter speeds, raw formats, etc.) make me wish that I had gone for a Canon camera instead of the Nikon.

The following video (shown on the Hack-A-Day site), was made using a script to take pictures once every 15 seconds.

If you have a Canon camera - definitely check out the CHDK camera firmware hack. The best feature of the hack is that it is completely reversible and so you don't have to worry about bricking your camera.

The Hack-A-Day site and LifeHacker have very good posts on using the hack. The Chdk site is at http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page and Canon camera models supported can be found at http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ#Q._What_camera_models_are_supported_by_the_CHDK_program.3F.

What format do you use when you compress files

I have always by default used the ZIP file format whenever I have needed to compress files. Never gave it a second thought as I have been using ZIP files for archiving since the days of PKZip/UnZip (at least 17 years).

That was until a friend of mine (Josh Morey) from work told me to use *.7z. And he pointed me at the following page to prove his point Comparison of compression methods.

Sure enough it turns out 7z leads to higher compression ratios. (For example on a LAS file - a LiDAR point cloud containing binary data - the original file was about 73 Mb. The ZIP format lead to a compressed size of 40mb and the 7Z format lead to a file size of 29mb). It does seem to run slower than when I zipped the file, but to me compression ratios are more important that processing speed.

His recommendation for software to use - 7 Zip and iZarc. I like 7 Zip, as it has a good set of context menu options - which is important to me (I hardly use the full UI to perform my compression and decompression work). He likes iZarc as it has a release that is portable and can be run off a USB drive.

Whatever you choose - bottom line - if you have been using ZIP by default, then its time you took a look at the newer compression algorithms. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_archivers

Thanks to Josh on setting me straight on the path to reduced bits.

The Best Free Software - Reviews by PC Magazine

from The Best Free Software - Reviews by PC Magazine:

157 software tools. No fees. No expiration dates. No problems. Sometimes even no downloads. No kidding.

Here are the ones I use or found interesting from the list (also at the end are some that didn't make this list - but are high on mine):

Firefox (though my primary browser of choice is IE)
www.mozilla.com
Windows | MacOS | Linux This PC Mag Editors' Choice Web browser has been on top of the heap since version 1.5 came out in late 2005.

GIMP (I mainly use Photoshop - but when I dont have it I use either Paint.NET or GIMP)
www.gimp.org
Windows | MacOS | Linux The GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) does most of what Photoshop does; the Gimpshop project (plasticbugs.com) even makes it look like Photoshop.

ajaxWindows (This sounds very cool)
www.ajaxwindows.com
Web A virtual operating system (aka Web OS), it uses Asynchronous Java-Script and XML (AJAX) programming to mimic the look and feel of a Windows desktop in Firefox or IE. It stores files (using Gmail) and runs its own applications, plus Web apps like Meebo and Google Maps. If you can launch a Web browser, you can get work done through ajaxWindows.

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition (On machines where I cant install McAfee - this is my choice of AV)
free.grisoft.com
Windows Its control center is awkward, but AVG scans files on demand, upon access, on a schedule, and in e-mail. Its rescue disks will help you recover from disaster.

HijackThis (A must have)
www.trendsecure.com
Windows Run HijackThis, save a log, and then post the log on sites that support the program. You'll quickly get personalized expert help to remove any malware.

EULAlyzer (another possibly cool software I might install)
www.javacoolsoftware.com
Windows Wonder what you're agreeing to when you click "I Accept"? Don't worry; just drag EULAlyzer's target icon onto the EULA for a quick report on any troublesome language.

mint (This is already my favorite money management software - my post: Mint Refreshing Money Management)
www.mint.com
Web Mint isn't like Quicken, where you enter in all your transactions. Instead, it syncs with your bank and credit card accounts online, checks your spending habits, and tells you how to improve to save money. If you're not paying attention to your spending, it'll send you regular alerts to inform you where your money has gone (nice for making sure you haven't been ripped off).

Google Docs (When I need to work on a document that needs constant shared access and collaboration - GDocs is what I use - though my primary office app is still MS Office)
docs.google.com
Web | Mobile Google's slickly designed office suite offers online shared word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations-and best of all, finally a solid alternative in the office-suite space to the totally dominating Microsoft. Upload or e-mail your current documents for storage and editing.

Notepad++ (As a developer - I constantly use this tool)
notepad-plus.sourceforge.net
Windows Notepad++ handles text--especially source code-in ways the basic Windows Notepad could only dream of, with embellishments like tabs and color coding.

Windows Live Mail (If you post to your blog constantly - this tool will make your life so much easier)
get.live.com
Windows Live Mail not only reads your Hotmail, but also can check POP, IMAP, or HTTP mail accounts. It works as an RSS feed reader and a newsreader.

SyncToy v2.0 (Another awesomely cool tool from Microsoft - keeps my life simple by doing all the back up and sync work between all my computers and the centralized backup disk).
www.microsoft.com/downloads
Windows Make sure folders across your networked computers contain the same files, even on drives that change location and name.

CCleaner (I like this tool for how simple it makes it to clean the crap of your machine)
www.ccleaner.com
Windows The extra C is for crap, and that's what CCleaner gets rid of: all the detritus left behind in the course of using Windows.

FileZilla (Before I used to use SmartFTP - but who wants annoying ware - this works just as great and is completely free!)
www.filezilla-project.org
Windows | MacOS | Linux Download this FTP client for accessing multiple sites or to use as an FTP server. In both cases, FileZilla has convenient drag-and-drop support.

NetStumbler (Useful for the laptop)
www.netstumbler.com
Windows Use it to detect any Wi-Fi network in your vicinity and see if it's open for use, or just use it to troubleshoot your own.

Google Reader (This is my favorite reader - as I can quickly move between any of the 3 machines I am working with and start of from where I left on another machine. Also you can access your reading list from your phone. One of the best online apps)
reader.google.com
Web | Mobile Google Reader is arguably the best RSS/newsfeed reader on the Internet. Read feeds while off-line or on your mobile phone.

ooVoo (My main messenger style app is Live Messenger. But when I want to video chat with more than 1 person - this is the best. You can video chat with upto 5 other people).
www.oovoo.com
Windows | MacOS ooVoo video chat is more P2P than Skype (no supernodes!), with a better picture. It supports up to six co-videoconferencers, file transfers, and group text chat.

Jing (This is the best free app to do screen captures. The interface is a little two simple and sometime annoying to work with - but its made on the platform of CamTasia - so its pretty good and fast)
www.jingproject.com
Windows | MacOSx Jing shares what's showing on your monitor with others online, or records it for future viewing.

VLC media player (I constantly use this app - especially to play all the flv files I have. You can also convert your flv files to other formats)
www.videolan.org
Windows | MacOS | Linux Forget Windows Media Player. VideoLAN's open-source VLC can replace it, and nearly every other player, too. VLC supports almost every audio format and video codec imaginable and doubles as a server for streaming your music and video to other PCs. Change its skin to make it look like the player you want—even WMP.

Paint.NET (I use this app constantly. Especially when I dont need the muscle of PaintShop but need more control then Picasa - this is my go to graphics app)
www.getpaint.net
Windows This program is probably the closest thing to Photoshop you can get free, courtesy of a student project.

Picasa (For browsing, cataloging your digital images this is my favorite. In addition I love how simple it makes it for me to post my images to the web using PicasaWeb. The only reason I dont use flickr is how easy it is for me to post images to PicasaWeb using Picasa.)
www.getpaint.net
Windows | Linux Google's photo manager makes it easy to get pictures off a digital camera, organize them, and even edit and share them.

Google Toolbar (My favorite feature about G-Toolbar - is bookmarks. Bookmarking via this toolbar is easy and makes your book marks available on any computer - either via a web page or the toolbar. Also - I love the FireFox style search that it provides within IE. Another must have tool)
toolbar.google.com
Windows | MacOS | Linux The toolbar brings Google's search and other functionality directly to IE or Firefox. It offers extras like auto fill, spell-checking, and one-click RSS feed subscriptions.

Geni.com (After I got most of my family subscribed to this site - its amazing how much our family tree has grown. Its easy - that even the oldest members in my family were able to get in on the action).
www.geni.com
Web | Flash Share your genealogy with everyone in the family. They can contribute more individual profiles until your family tree is complete.

Google Earth (Just install it - enuff said. Also get the Virtual Earth control for your browser.)
earth.google.com
Windows | MacOS | Linux Fly over familiar terrain or foreign lands with Google Earth, a searchable database of satellite images and geographical data—even images of the heavens. You can go a step further with all sorts of downloadable, gee-whiz applications from scientists, media outlets, and other third-party developers to trick out your Earth-moving experience.

Google Maps (I am constantly using Live Maps and Google Maps - dont have a clear favorite as yet - but sometimes find the Live Maps has better and more relevant search results)
maps.google.com
Web | Mobile This interactive mapping tool goes beyond driving directions. View destinations in Street View, Satellite, or Terrain modes; check traffic updates; or look up info on nearby businesses.

Other apps I like and that didnt get a mention in the above list:

TrueCrypt: The easiest way to secure your important information. Provides you with an encrypted file which is mounted and acts like another disk drive. Simple and powerful.

OrbitDownloader: Makes it much easier to download media from web-pages. Especially useful to download a backup of YouTube videos.

Andrea Mosaic: Make cool mosaic images from many small thumbnails derived from images on your hard-disk.

WinDirStat: A very useful system utility - that shows you how your disk space is being used. Use it to quickly find those large files that you no longer need and delete them.

Microsoft Makes Strategic Changes in Technology and Business Practices to Expand Interoperability

New interoperability principles and actions will increase openness of key products.

REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 21, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today announced a set of broad-reaching changes to its technology and business practices to increase the openness of its products and drive greater interoperability, opportunity and choice for developers, partners, customers and competitors.

Specifically, Microsoft is implementing four new interoperability principles and corresponding actions across its high-volume business products:

(1) ensuring open connections;

(2) promoting data portability;

(3) enhancing support for industry standards; and

(4) fostering more open engagement with customers and the industry, including open source communities.

via MS PressPass (read more):

Microsoft Makes Strategic Changes in Technology and Business Practices to Expand Interoperability: New interoperability principles and actions will increase openness of key products.

Microsoft Interoperability Website: http://www.microsoft.com/interop/

OpenSource project - SpatialViewer

Spatial Data Viewer

A C# OpenSource project for easy viewing of spatial data.
The current release has the following functionality: (from summary page)

1. Draw points, Lines and polygons
2. Auto close lines and polygons
3. Draw with Freehand or with fixed lines(using shift key)
4. Zoom in and out of drawing (scroll bars not yet implemented)
5. Enter 1 or geometries by text.
6. Text Geometries are validated and errors displayed
7. Display geometries in text and graphical form
8. Select and highlight geometries from a grid
9. Select geometries using drawing pane by using another geometry (lasso style selection)
10. Snap to grid. Restricts points to whole numbers

The Spatial Data Viewer project was started by SimonS whose blog is a good resource on SQL Server 2008 - Katmai. (Many of his latest entries are on using SQL Server 2008 with spatial data). http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/simons/