Thursday, December 28, 2006
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Google Now Offering Domain Registration Services
Friday, December 15, 2006
8:18 AM PT Posted by Erin Biba
Google announced today that a domain name search and registration service has been added to its Google Apps for Your Domain offering. Google will partner with GoDaddy and eNom, two domain registration companies to offer the service.
Registration fees are a nominal $10 per year, which will include private registration to protect personal information and will support .com, .org, .net, .biz, and .info domains.
Besides search and registration, the service also includes the creation of an administrative account for managing the site and a configurator to ensure the Google Apps are immediately available on the new site.
Google Apps for Your Domain includes Gmail, calendar, shared calendaring, Google Talk instant messaging, Google Page Creator, and the Start Page for creating a home page.
The domain name service is available now.
From Ephraim Schwartz at InfoWorld
8:18 AM PT Posted by Erin Biba
Google announced today that a domain name search and registration service has been added to its Google Apps for Your Domain offering. Google will partner with GoDaddy and eNom, two domain registration companies to offer the service.
Registration fees are a nominal $10 per year, which will include private registration to protect personal information and will support .com, .org, .net, .biz, and .info domains.
Besides search and registration, the service also includes the creation of an administrative account for managing the site and a configurator to ensure the Google Apps are immediately available on the new site.
Google Apps for Your Domain includes Gmail, calendar, shared calendaring, Google Talk instant messaging, Google Page Creator, and the Start Page for creating a home page.
The domain name service is available now.
From Ephraim Schwartz at InfoWorld
Google Patents: The Atari Files
Thursday, December 14, 2006
1:53 PM PT Posted by Harry McCracken
The new Google service o' the day is Google Patent Search, and it's exactly what it sounds like--a search engine that puts a Googley front end on millions of documents from the U.S. Patent Office. It's fun to explore, but as I started poking around, I was reminded of a basic fact of patent life: Some of the world's most interesting products have incredibly tedious patent filings (tedious, at least, if you're not an engineer).
Here, fr'instance, is a little number from 1977 titled "Microcomputer for use with video display." The inventor was a computer hobbyist named Steve Wozniak; the assignee was a tiny startup called Apple Computer. Historic. But dry reading, to say the least. And the art is nothing to write home about:
atari-woz.jpg
There is, however, at least one technology company whose patent filings are fun to look at. That company is Atari, and I've been enjoying myself rummaging through them. A few examples...
Actually, this first one isn't Atari-related, strictly speaking, but it's a must: In 1969, Ralph Baer, sometimes called the forgotten father of the video game, patented a box for playing a ping pong-like game on your TV. This was before Atari unleashed Pong, the first video game blockbuster, on the world; even the most primitive video game imaginable was..well, almost unimaginably high-tech.
atari-baer.jpg
OK, now for some Atari patents. Here, from 1978, is what would seem to be a rudimentary version of the original Atari 2600 console--back in the dats wgeb the mere notion of cartridges was a breakthrough in itself. It's a reminder of just how long ago this was in video game history that the TV shown is a big ol' boxy model with knobs rather than pushbuttons; you can't tell from the drawing, but I'll just bet it has a fake-walnut case...
atari-vcs.jpg
Also from 1978, here's what looks to be some sort of home system with BMX-like grips...
atari-bmx.jpg
Here's the 1980 patent on the Atari joystick, still one of the greatest game controllers known to man, and available again today as part of the modern-day Atari's Flashback retro console.
atari-joystick.jpg
And here's another Atari controller, less well remembered, from late 1982. It hasn't aged nearly as well as its predecessor...
atari-laterstick.jpg
Here's an oddball case, from 1982, for an arcade machine that was two, two, two games in one--there was a display and controls on both sides.. (I don't remember ever seeing one of these at any of the arcades I hung out at...)
atari-dual.jpg
And I have no idea, also from 1982, whether this "puppet-like apparatus" turned into an Atari product, but I couldn't not include it.
atari-puppetlike.jpg
That's just for starters--there are other Atari patents worth perusing, and I'll betcha that its competitors' intellectual property is equally interesting in some cases. (The products of Coleco are probably worth of particular study.)
If you find any cool stuff, let me know...
1:53 PM PT Posted by Harry McCracken
The new Google service o' the day is Google Patent Search, and it's exactly what it sounds like--a search engine that puts a Googley front end on millions of documents from the U.S. Patent Office. It's fun to explore, but as I started poking around, I was reminded of a basic fact of patent life: Some of the world's most interesting products have incredibly tedious patent filings (tedious, at least, if you're not an engineer).
Here, fr'instance, is a little number from 1977 titled "Microcomputer for use with video display." The inventor was a computer hobbyist named Steve Wozniak; the assignee was a tiny startup called Apple Computer. Historic. But dry reading, to say the least. And the art is nothing to write home about:
atari-woz.jpg
There is, however, at least one technology company whose patent filings are fun to look at. That company is Atari, and I've been enjoying myself rummaging through them. A few examples...
Actually, this first one isn't Atari-related, strictly speaking, but it's a must: In 1969, Ralph Baer, sometimes called the forgotten father of the video game, patented a box for playing a ping pong-like game on your TV. This was before Atari unleashed Pong, the first video game blockbuster, on the world; even the most primitive video game imaginable was..well, almost unimaginably high-tech.
atari-baer.jpg
OK, now for some Atari patents. Here, from 1978, is what would seem to be a rudimentary version of the original Atari 2600 console--back in the dats wgeb the mere notion of cartridges was a breakthrough in itself. It's a reminder of just how long ago this was in video game history that the TV shown is a big ol' boxy model with knobs rather than pushbuttons; you can't tell from the drawing, but I'll just bet it has a fake-walnut case...
atari-vcs.jpg
Also from 1978, here's what looks to be some sort of home system with BMX-like grips...
atari-bmx.jpg
Here's the 1980 patent on the Atari joystick, still one of the greatest game controllers known to man, and available again today as part of the modern-day Atari's Flashback retro console.
atari-joystick.jpg
And here's another Atari controller, less well remembered, from late 1982. It hasn't aged nearly as well as its predecessor...
atari-laterstick.jpg
Here's an oddball case, from 1982, for an arcade machine that was two, two, two games in one--there was a display and controls on both sides.. (I don't remember ever seeing one of these at any of the arcades I hung out at...)
atari-dual.jpg
And I have no idea, also from 1982, whether this "puppet-like apparatus" turned into an Atari product, but I couldn't not include it.
atari-puppetlike.jpg
That's just for starters--there are other Atari patents worth perusing, and I'll betcha that its competitors' intellectual property is equally interesting in some cases. (The products of Coleco are probably worth of particular study.)
If you find any cool stuff, let me know...
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
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