Timothy Lee took a look at the difficulties that small software developers encounter in staying clear of litigation. Highlights include:

• Patents normally protect concrete, material things such as a specific machine design or a manufacturing process. Copyrights normally protect intellectual property, things like movies and music. Software is strange because it can be both patented and copyrighted, since it straddles both worlds.
• You infringe on somebody’s copyright if you intentionally duplicate somebody else’s work. This means it’s hard to infringe on a copyright unless you have the meaningful intent to do so. In contrast, it’s possible to infringe on somebody’s patent entirely by accident, without any malicious intent.
• As a software developer it’s impossible to know if your software is infringing on any patents. There are countless lines of code in any piece of software, and just a few of the lines could violate of any of the hundreds of thousands of software patents.
• This has led to the rise of “patent trolls” – firms that produce absolutely nothing of value. All they do is hold onto patents and then sue other companies as soon as they see any signs of infringement.
• Larger companies can withstand this. But smaller companies are crushed by giant patent behemoths which include not only patent trolls, but companies that produce legitimate products as well, such as Microsoft.

To read specific instances of patents making the life of independent software developers difficult, individual patents that have been granted to companies, what the politicians have to say about it, and what this means for Silicon Valley, click here.

Source: Slate

China is projected to surpass the United States as the world’s largest economy in the near future, a prospect that alarms many Americas. Charles Kenny at Foreign Policy writes: “if you really want to preserve America’s top spot in the GDP rankings, there’s only one way to do it. You’ve got to make more Americans…if the United States can’t keep up its output lead by more rapid growth of GDP per capita, then perhaps it should just find some more capita.” Highlights of his tongue-in-cheek argument include:

• The US population is currently projected to grow to 409 million by 2050. If the United States were to allow more immigrants in and let it grow to 450 million by 2050 then it would remain the largest economy in the world.
• The US could just try to grow more people on its own. It could, for example, pay people to get pregnant. But in this case outsourcing would be cheaper. Raising a child to 18 in the United States costs over $200,000. This could raise 34 kids in the developing world.
• Moreover, if the US imports people then it decreases the number of people in other countries – therefore ensuring its own dominance.
• Immigrants are generally entrepreneurial – 25% of science and technology companies founded in the United States between 1995-2005 were led by a foreign chief-executive.

To read about the sneaky policies undertaken by the Pentagon to ensure the United States’ dominance, why the US can use remittances to undermine the economy of other countries, and what role an ageing population has to play in all this click here.

Source: Foreign Policy

Via: Marginal Revolution

Bloomberg reports on a fascinating report that examines the composition of the Chinese legislature:

• The increase in the wealth of the richest 70 members of China’s legislature ($11.5 billion) in 2011 was more than the entire net worth of the entire US Congress, the President, the Cabinet, and the Supreme Court ($7.5 billion).
• The richest member of the United States congress, with a net worth of $700.9 million, would rank just 40^th in the list of the richest in China’s legislature.
• China’s top political leaders – including the President – don’t disclose their personal finances.

To read other startling comparisons as well as more about the former Chinese President who allowed the rich onto the legislature, why in a country of weak legal rights, it is in the interest of the rich to be on the legislature, and where their wealth comes from click here.

Source: Bloomberg

Via: Shanghai List, Marginal Revolution

Laser guns have long been a staple of science-fiction. Why then don’t we have any yet? Jeff Hecht answered the question:

• Lasers aren’t energy efficient. They work by converting other forms of energy into light, but a lot of energy is lost as heat in the process.
• The only way for a laser to kill is through heat. But the human body is mostly made up of water, and it requires a lot of energy to heat water up. Thus a laser gun would require a prohibitive amount of power.
• The one thing lasers can do well is burn out a person’s retinas. However staring at the sun has the same effect, and anyway the Geneva conventions don’t allow for such tactics.

To read more about how lasers can be used to take out non-human targets, as well as equally heinous alternatives for aspiring evil overlords, click here.

Source: Light Speed

Illusionist Teller from Penn and Teller recently revealed seven principles that magicians use to manipulate you. Here are three of them:

• “It’s hard to think critically if you’re laughing” – follow up an amazing trick with a joke so that the viewer doesn’t have time to analyze the deception.
• “Nothing fools you better than the lie you tell yourself” – let your audience feel as if they had the opportunity to use their own intellect to figure out what you’re doing.
• “Make the secret a lot more trouble than the trick seems worth” – if there’s a conceivable explanation for how you performed your trick, but that explanation suggests you did a prohibitive amount of work, then do the work, people will assume it’s a trick.

To read the rest of the seven, as well as an example of a trick that integrates all of the principles outlined, click here.

Source: Smithsonian

Via: The Boston Globe

In Time Michael Schuman argues that a financial crisis on the level of the one seen by Japan and Korea is inevitable. Here’s why:

• China has used the “Asian Devilment Model” to reach its current levels of growth and prosperity. The steps to this model include exploiting low wages to quickly industrialize with generous amounts of investment as determined by the government, allowing it to ‘direct’ the growth.
• The involvement of the government causes prices to settle at the ‘wrong’ levels. The study of economics has shown that if prices are at the wrong level for an extended period then this will trigger a financial crisis that will lead to a correction of prices.
• In China there is ample evidence that prices are wrong – especially in the property sector. While analysts are correct to note that China needs extensive infrastructure projects to house its people, the type of housing being built is often of the wrong type. It is either too expensive, or it does not meet the safety specifications required by corporations. The multitude of malls seem to mostly be empty.
• Countries that follow the Asian Development model generally have a crisis after about 35 years of following the model. Unless China reforms, this would place a potential Chinese financial crisis around 2015.

To read about what it means for prices to be wrong, other signs that the country is headed towards a crisis, and the things that China could do to prevent such a fate for itself, click here.

Source: Time

Via: Newmark’s Door