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How an F Student Became America’s Most Prolific Inventor

15 points by pmcpinto 11y ago

mintplant 11y ago
Usually I appreciate the creative touches Bloomberg give pieces like this, but I'm not a fan of this background that rapidly flashes on scroll. I get that it's supposed to represent the sheer number of patents filed, but it renders the entire article unreadable for me outside of Firefox's Reader View.
donquichotte 11y ago
An F student? The man "enrolled at UCLA at 16, where he tested into an honors-level calculus class", and got "a doctorate in astrophysics". If he was an F student, it certainly wasn't for much of his academic career.
fauigerzigerk 11y ago
I really wanted to read this but I just can't. It's impossible for me to read anything while constantly being bombarded with all sorts of animated artwork and pointless flicker on the sides. I recently cancelled my Economist subscription because they insist on playing unstoppable video adverts right in the middle of the article text so maybe it's just me being hypersensitive to this sort of thing (And yes I refuse to use ad-blockers). They say it's a sign of intelligence if you are able to focus and ignore distractions. I noticed that some devs even work with the radio on. I don't. I also need to close a door behind me when I work. So even though I am able to create some pretty interesting pieces of artificial intelligence (albeit with moderate productivity), my natural cognitive abilities seem rather limited. My special needs seem to be incompatible even with business models that do include a paid component. I find that a bit disconcerting.
- melling 11y ago
  Just hit Reader Mode on your iOS/Mac device in Safari. http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/26/iphone-101-how-to-use-reader-mode-in-safari-to-simplify-web-pag/ http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/26/iphone-101-how-to-use-rea... I think Microsoft's browser has it so it should work on Windows too. http://m.winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-81-tip-better-reading-internet-explorer-11 http://m.winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-81-tip-better-re...
  - mintplant 11y ago
    Firefox has this feature as well, on both desktop and Android.
  - fauigerzigerk 11y ago
    That's an improvement, but it doesn't remove the animations within the text. Also, I have this perhaps stupid inclination to use published stuff in a way that doesn't undermine the publisher's business model. This sentiment is of course a bit nonsensical if the only other option is to walk away entirely, because that wouldn't make them any money either.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
chaostheory 11y ago
"At 74, he’s been an inventor-in-residence at Intellectual Ventures, a technology research and patent firm, for about a decade." He works for IV which is a notorious patent troll and the article reads like native advertising / submarine PR for IV i.e. IV paid for the article. Does this guy actually invent things (that he strives to make real) or does he just waste his time submitting new patents for IV to use for its exhortion schemes?
biggio 11y ago
An F UX. Can't read.
kragen 11y ago
Here we have Ashlee Vance, who three weeks ago we saw making fun of programming-contest finalists for their haircuts and physiques (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10283567 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10283567), doing a PR exercise for Intellectual Ventures, the world's premier patent troll, whose business is to figure out what inventions would be the most important for the world's neediest people, obtain patents on them so that those people are legally forbidden to make those inventions happen, and then never bring those inventions to market themselves — putting themselves in a cozy spot to extract rent from any actual innovators who do create the inventions they've imagined. The fact that this dude who goes around dreaming up ideas that never get implemented (fortunately, in the case of Star Wars) now outshines Edison in patent count is a key indicator of how badly screwed up the US patent system has gotten. Is it a coincidence that a journalist who hates hackers and publicly ridicules them is doing submarine PR for a patent troll built to take control of hacking away from hackers? (On rereading my comment, I'm forced to add: but at least he knows how to write sentences that are shorter than a paragraph...)
heyveronica 11y ago
Digg is hosting a Dialog with the Ashlee Vance at 12pm if anyone's interested in talking to him: http://digg.com/dialog/ashlee-vance-dialog http://digg.com/dialog/ashlee-vance-dialog
myoung 11y ago
sorry for the promotion here, but thought it might be interesting for some of you. we're doing a live q&a with Ashlee now if anyone wants join and ask him some questions: http://digg.com/dialog/ashlee-vance-dialog http://digg.com/dialog/ashlee-vance-dialog

15 points by pmcpinto 11y ago

Usually I appreciate the creative touches Bloomberg give pieces like this, but I'm not a fan of this background that rapidly flashes on scroll. I get that it's supposed to represent the sheer number of patents filed, but it renders the entire article unreadable for me outside of Firefox's Reader View.

donquichotte 11y ago

An F student? The man "enrolled at UCLA at 16, where he tested into an honors-level calculus class", and got "a doctorate in astrophysics". If he was an F student, it certainly wasn't for much of his academic career.

fauigerzigerk 11y ago

I really wanted to read this but I just can't. It's impossible for me to read anything while constantly being bombarded with all sorts of animated artwork and pointless flicker on the sides. I recently cancelled my Economist subscription because they insist on playing unstoppable video adverts right in the middle of the article text so maybe it's just me being hypersensitive to this sort of thing (And yes I refuse to use ad-blockers). They say it's a sign of intelligence if you are able to focus and ignore distractions. I noticed that some devs even work with the radio on. I don't. I also need to close a door behind me when I work. So even though I am able to create some pretty interesting pieces of artificial intelligence (albeit with moderate productivity), my natural cognitive abilities seem rather limited. My special needs seem to be incompatible even with business models that do include a paid component. I find that a bit disconcerting.

melling 11y ago
Just hit Reader Mode on your iOS/Mac device in Safari. http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/26/iphone-101-how-to-use-reader-mode-in-safari-to-simplify-web-pag/ http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/26/iphone-101-how-to-use-rea... I think Microsoft's browser has it so it should work on Windows too. http://m.winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-81-tip-better-reading-internet-explorer-11 http://m.winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-81-tip-better-re...
- mintplant 11y ago
  Firefox has this feature as well, on both desktop and Android.
- fauigerzigerk 11y ago
  That's an improvement, but it doesn't remove the animations within the text. Also, I have this perhaps stupid inclination to use published stuff in a way that doesn't undermine the publisher's business model. This sentiment is of course a bit nonsensical if the only other option is to walk away entirely, because that wouldn't make them any money either.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

chaostheory 11y ago

"At 74, he’s been an inventor-in-residence at Intellectual Ventures, a technology research and patent firm, for about a decade." He works for IV which is a notorious patent troll and the article reads like native advertising / submarine PR for IV i.e. IV paid for the article. Does this guy actually invent things (that he strives to make real) or does he just waste his time submitting new patents for IV to use for its exhortion schemes?

biggio 11y ago

An F UX. Can't read.

kragen 11y ago

Here we have Ashlee Vance, who three weeks ago we saw making fun of programming-contest finalists for their haircuts and physiques (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10283567 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10283567), doing a PR exercise for Intellectual Ventures, the world's premier patent troll, whose business is to figure out what inventions would be the most important for the world's neediest people, obtain patents on them so that those people are legally forbidden to make those inventions happen, and then never bring those inventions to market themselves — putting themselves in a cozy spot to extract rent from any actual innovators who do create the inventions they've imagined. The fact that this dude who goes around dreaming up ideas that never get implemented (fortunately, in the case of Star Wars) now outshines Edison in patent count is a key indicator of how badly screwed up the US patent system has gotten. Is it a coincidence that a journalist who hates hackers and publicly ridicules them is doing submarine PR for a patent troll built to take control of hacking away from hackers? (On rereading my comment, I'm forced to add: but at least he knows how to write sentences that are shorter than a paragraph...)

heyveronica 11y ago

Digg is hosting a Dialog with the Ashlee Vance at 12pm if anyone's interested in talking to him: http://digg.com/dialog/ashlee-vance-dialog http://digg.com/dialog/ashlee-vance-dialog

myoung 11y ago

sorry for the promotion here, but thought it might be interesting for some of you. we're doing a live q&a with Ashlee now if anyone wants join and ask him some questions: http://digg.com/dialog/ashlee-vance-dialog http://digg.com/dialog/ashlee-vance-dialog