27 May, 2008
The height of ridiculousless
14:31:46 | Ranting, Web Stuff | 
writebacks (5)
A SINGAPORE firm has threatened to sue websites that use pictures or graphics to link to another page, claiming it owns the patent for a technology used by millions around the world. In a move that has come under fire from the online community, VueStar Technologies has sent ‘invoices’ to local website operators asking for thousands of dollars in licensing fees …
Credit to a Straits Times excerpt (Paid subscription required).
(Read another full article here.)
Quite a few people have already been smacked with an invoice, charging them for use of their so-called technology.
Doesn’t this violate the fundamental rule about patents being that “the technology cannot be something obvious“?
Using images to link to other websites has been around for ages, goddamnit!
And furthermore - when I was a little kid learning HTML, I figured out how to link to other websites using images all by my tiny self without help from any web tutorials/books/what have yous - that is HOW FUCKING OBVIOUS the concept is!
And that was in 1997, waaaay before this so-called patent even existed.
There is talk that because the duration of the patent is coming to an end, the company is seeking to reap as much benefit they can from the patent by smacking charges on people before the patent officially expires.
Patent troll - that was the term people used. I absolutely agree. Typical, money-minded companies using the umbrella of their patent (and its associated rights and laws) to bully the rest of the online community into feeding their (money) faces.
If THAT is called a patent, then I can also go and patent simple, day by day tasks of walking, breathing and eating. (An annual license of $1000 payable for each action, perhaps?)
And plus, the nutcases who approved that sorry excuse of a patent better go get their heads checked. That patent was approved in 2003. Two FUCKING thousand and THREE. My circle of internet friends back then (plus my fellow bloggers) have been using images to link to other websites long before that. Perhaps even when God was still wearing diapers.
This is what I call the height of ridiculousness. Thank you for putting Singapore on the map for laughing stocks.
28 April, 2008
Random, random, random!
03:27:07 | Daily Life, People, Web Stuff | writeback (1)
I’ll be away, for two and a half days. (:
Seaside bungalow with my bestest SMU friends, and my girls at National Service Resort and Country Club for three days.
Aplenty of stuff to handle still, despite it being 3.02 A.M. in the morning. Managed to finish the list for tomorrow (tonight?) night’s barbecue, and realized that the amount of food we’d be getting far supercedes the budget. Oh, and do we count guys as one person or two? (Fellows have voracious appetites, don’t they?)
And I finally got myself off my lazy arse to actually pack.
In the past, I’d be all excited that I’m heading elsewhere other than staying at home for once, such that even bag-packing can be so fascinating. Well, all that seems to have fizzled out now and I’m beginning to leave things like this till the last minute.
Hoping to squeeze quite a bit of things during the next three days - get some exercise (make that PLENTY of exercise), get some sun, and spend loads of quality time with my girls.
And I swear those people at Wordpress have a vendetta against me. Exactly two days after I upgraded this weblog to 2.5, they had to release 2.5.1, which means I have to upgrade again.
Not that it’s a bad thing. But well, upgrading is rather time consuming although it’s a small price to pay for better security.
Ah, anyway.
One last thing that is waaaay overdue - was tagged for some meme more than a week ago (gasp!) by Daniela, so here goes.
18 March, 2008
New look, new colour scheme.
15:21:07 | Web Stuff | writebacks (18)
Oh yay, almost done. (: If you happened to pop by during the past five hours, you may have find links directing you to the wrong places, disproportionate positionings and all sorts of chaos that you’d experience only at ground zero.
But it’s all good now. Mostly.
Regarding the site structure, I’ve dumped out quite a bit of old content that I no longer find worthwhile to display, or little bits here and there that no longer make sense (which I may have left out during the last full site maintenance).
I’ve installed PixelPost to help manage my photography. This means no more manual thumbnail and individual HTML file creations for any new images I upload - which is my main gripe about my previous photography section which explains WHY I haven’t uploaded any new photography for SO LONG. Hopefully, the new script will compel me to upload more of my new works since playing around with it makes me happy. (Oh, geek alert.)
Oh, and lookie above! I’ve managed to import my latest Twitter updates into this site itself. (Haha, I sound extremely proud of myself here - because till today, I never knew it was possible. Thanks to Wordpress plugins.)
But one big fat issue - the Twitter posts can’t seem to be imported into the other static, non-Wordpress pages. (The Twitter import thingy is a Wordpress plugin, remember?) If anyone has any clue on how to resolve this, Brenda will give you a big fat virtual hug.
Otherwise, feel free to click around and inform me if you spot any ladybugs, big bugs, little bugs or cockroaches roaming around.
EDITED @ 13:40, 20/03
I squashed a fair bit of bugs and cockroaches thanks to your inputs. Thanks to all!
Additionally, much thanks to Jem for helping me with the non-validation issue (caused by entities in some links).
Likewise, the above Twitter issue has been resolved as well. The big fat virtual hug goes, with many thanks, to Ivy.
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