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The pumps at the local gas station also have such a button. Should he have mentioned those? A reasonable reader understands that "unique", "no one", and "anythi

The pumps at the local gas station also have such a button. Should he have mentioned those? A reasonable reader understands that "unique", "no one", and "anything" are referring to the market Amazon is selling the device in.

thrownaway2424 12y ago
On your way to absurdism you skipped over a bunch of legitimate prior art in the consumer space, such as the OnStar roadside assistance system (press a button in your car, OnStar service rep starts talking through your radio), or even dialing zero on your phone.
- eridius 12y ago
  Both of those things you cited are services you pay for. I was not familiar with Amazon's Mayday button (not being a Kindle Fire HDX owner I guess), but it appears to be a wholly free service you get merely by owning the device. OnStar and the phone system are both subscription services.
eridius 12y ago
That doesn't seem at all relevant. That's like saying in a retail store you can ask the retail employees for assistance. The addition of a button to summon an employee does not make it special. What interests me about this Amazon Mayday button (which I had never heard of before) and why I think Gruber talked about it, is because it's a completely free service provided to owners of a consumer device. It's basically customer service, but it's extremely fast (average of 9.75 seconds to get a response? Wow!) and apparently rather comprehensive too (e.g. helping a customer beat an Angry Birds level) as opposed to being restricted to actual tech support with the device in question. This is why Gruber is saying it's remarkable and unique, and I think he's right.
- function_seven 12y ago
  Just to be clear, I totally agree with you. I was using the gas pump as an absurd example (as your sibling comment pointed out) of another instance prior art. I don't think parent's complaint about the use of "unique", "no one", and "anything" is a valid one.

thrownaway2424 12y ago

On your way to absurdism you skipped over a bunch of legitimate prior art in the consumer space, such as the OnStar roadside assistance system (press a button in your car, OnStar service rep starts talking through your radio), or even dialing zero on your phone.

eridius 12y ago
Both of those things you cited are services you pay for. I was not familiar with Amazon's Mayday button (not being a Kindle Fire HDX owner I guess), but it appears to be a wholly free service you get merely by owning the device. OnStar and the phone system are both subscription services.

eridius 12y ago

That doesn't seem at all relevant. That's like saying in a retail store you can ask the retail employees for assistance. The addition of a button to summon an employee does not make it special. What interests me about this Amazon Mayday button (which I had never heard of before) and why I think Gruber talked about it, is because it's a completely free service provided to owners of a consumer device. It's basically customer service, but it's extremely fast (average of 9.75 seconds to get a response? Wow!) and apparently rather comprehensive too (e.g. helping a customer beat an Angry Birds level) as opposed to being restricted to actual tech support with the device in question. This is why Gruber is saying it's remarkable and unique, and I think he's right.

function_seven 12y ago
Just to be clear, I totally agree with you. I was using the gas pump as an absurd example (as your sibling comment pointed out) of another instance prior art. I don't think parent's complaint about the use of "unique", "no one", and "anything" is a valid one.