Fry up: Just data on a disk

Gary Numan revisits ‘Cars’

Software patents – who needs them?
The Government won’t be amending the Patents Bill to include software; instead it’s going to create guidelines. The Ministry of Economic Development has said the law’s true intent is software that controls machinery should be patentable, but not software per se. because it “just changes figures on a screen or data on a disk”.

The decision was announced yesterday and it has prompted a lively debate on the Computerworld site, evoking all kinds of random stuff like the 1970s, batshit and carrot cake. Feel free to join in.

Software Patents Bill clause will not be altered

Bumpers are the new black
Tomorrow at 5am New Zealand time Apple will hold a press conference at its headquarters in Cupertino, California. The company is acting coy about the reason, but widespread speculation is it will be about so-called signal-strength problems with the iPhone 4.

For those unwilling to miss their weekend lie-in, Scott Kleinberg from Chicago Now has scripted how he thinks it will go on his blog. His pseudo 10-step-conference has the eerie ring of truth about it, especially this bit: “We'll talk about this until our throats (and fingers) hurt and forget about it. And next year we'll all get in line for iPhone 5, which will be the most advanced phone on the market today. And we'll love it. And we'll all buy bumpers.”

Apple makes surprise press call
Steve Jobs news conference EXACTLY in 10 steps