Links 27/12/2023: DragonFlyBSD Mirror in Nanjing, China; New Bounties on Software Patent Squashing
Contents
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Leftovers
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New York Times ☛ ‘Parasite’ Actor Lee Sun-kyun Dies Amid Drug Use Allegations
Mr. Lee, a familiar face on Korean television and movie screens, had been under police investigation for months on suspicion of illegal drug use. He denied the accusations.
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TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ South Korean actor Lee Sun-kyun of Oscar-winning film ‘Parasite’ is found dead
He was found dead after weeks of an intense police investigation into his alleged drug use.
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YLE ☛ Finns return fewer online purchases
Online shopping has become more common, but Finns are less likely than before to return products.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong residents make over 1.32 million outbound trips during Christmas holiday weekend
Hong Kong has recorded over 1.32 million outbound trips made by residents during the Christmas holiday weekend, almost triple the amount of visitor arrivals. According to figures released by the Immigration Department, Hongkongers made 1,327,744 departures via various checkpoints from Saturday to Monday.
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Science
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Science Alert ☛ Japan Probe Enters Lunar Orbit Ahead of Historic Moon Landing
The big moment approaches.
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Science Alert ☛ Expert Reveals a Surprising Link Between Oral Health And Your Brain
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Hardware
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Tom's Hardware ☛ CHIPS Act: The rebirth of America's semiconductor industry? [Ed: Nope. Another grotesque bailout or corporate welfare at taxpayers' expense.]
CHIPS Act: The rebirth of America's semiconductor industry?
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Intel secures $3.25B Israeli gov't grant to build $25B chip fab in Israel amid ongoing tensions [Ed: Intel is all bailouts, taking money from taxpayers instead of earning it. How many companies out there can just ask, even demand in foreign nations, that taxpayers bail them out? The world does not need Intel or even x86, it needs to get away from both.]
Intel to build a $25 billion fab in Israel, set to get $3.25 billion in government grants.
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Silicon Angle ☛ Intel receives $3.2B grant from Israel’s government to build $25B chip fab
[Ed: People paying tax to sponsor, subsidise, bail out a foreign company that is failing the market, spreading back doors, attacking charities, and committing many crimes. Does free market mean that the ruling powers are free from prosecution and taking tax from the public into private hands is "national security"?]Intel Corp. has received a $3.2 billion grant from the government of Israel to build a new $25 billion chip fab in the country. The company announced the deal today. -
Hackaday ☛ Restoring The DC Bias
If you have a signal that passes through a capacitor or transformer, you will lose the DC portion of the signal. What do you do? If you need it, you can restore the DC bias using various techniques, as [Sam Ben-Yaakov] shows in a recent video.
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Hackaday ☛ It’s Switch Mode, But Not As You Know It
The switch-mode power supply has displaced traditional supplies almost completely over the last few decades, being smaller, lighter, and more efficient. But that’s not to say that it’s a new idea, and on the way to today’s high-frequency devices there have been quite a few steps. An earlier one is the subject of a teardown video from [Thomas Scherrer OZ2CPU], as he takes a look at a 1960s HP power supply with a slightly different approach to regulation for the day. Instead of a linear regulator on its conventional transformer and rectifier circuit, it has a pair of SCRs in the mains supply that chop at mains frequency. It’s a switch mode supply, but not quite as you’re used to.
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CNX Software ☛ TTS-20 Pro laser engraver review
TwoTrees TTS-20 Pro 20W is a compact, lightweight laser engraver that can be used with wood, plastic, leather, and metal. It can either be used for businesses that want to start producing items or schools that want students to learn how to create pieces, whether it’s cutting work or various engraving, the TTS-20 Pro 20W laser engraving machine is easy to use and safe.
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CNX Software ☛ GL.iNet GL-MT6000 “Flint 2” WiFi 6 router review – Part 1: Unboxing, teardown, and first try
GL.iNet Flint 2 (also known as GL-MT6000) is a new WiFi 6 AX6000 router based on MediaTek MT7986 (Filogic 830) Arm SoC running of fork OpenWrt 23.05 and claims up of up tup to 900 Mbps VPN speed using WireGuard.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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Science Alert ☛ Space Anemia: A Rocket Launch Might Cause Your Blood Cells to Burst
Hypergravity is no joyride.
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Science Alert ☛ Sperm Counts Are Falling Worldwide. But You Can Help Protect Yours.
The effects go way beyond fertility.
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Science Alert ☛ Scientists Destroy 99% of Cancer Cells in The Lab Using Vibrating Molecules
"A different way to treat cancer."
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BIA Net ☛ Wanted with a red notice, Eric Schroeder apprehended in İstanbul
Eric Schroeder, wanted for trading marijuana and cocaine in Germany, was apprehended in an operation conducted by the İstanbul Police Department's Narcotics and Intelligence branches.
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Off Guardian ☛ Freedom — One Liberated Fashion Company Apple at a Time
A minor but significant spark of direct action occurred in New York on 15 December. A group of people entered a Whole Foods store (owned by Amazon), took groceries without paying and exited wearing Jeff Bezos masks.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong urged to step up machine safety measures after landfill worker death
A Hong Kong lawmaker has urged the government to enhance work safety protection after a landfill worker died on Christmas Day. Legislator Michael Tien wrote in a Chinese-language Facebook (Farcebook) post on Tuesday that he had previously called on authorities to mandate safety mechanisms on machines used on construction sites.
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Bruce Schneier ☛ Google Stops Collecting Location Data from Maps [Ed: The EFF, where Schneier is on the Board, continues to take Google money... while telling us it fights for privacy]
Google Maps now stores location data locally on your device, meaning that Surveillance Giant Google no longer has that data to turn over to the police.
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Defence/Aggression
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The Straits Times ☛ South Korea sanctions North Korea spy chief for illicit cyber activities
South Korea imposed sanctions on eight North Koreans linked to nuclear and missile development through arms trade, cyberattacks and other illicit activities, Seoul's foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
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RFA ☛ S Korea issues unilateral sanctions on 8 N Korean individuals
They bring the total to 83 individuals and 53 institutions under the current Yoon administration.
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RFA ☛ O come all ye faithful – or else!
North Koreans are forced to visit historical sites during Kim Jong Il’s mourning period.
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The Straits Times ☛ North Korean leader Kim Jong Un convenes key party meeting ahead of new year
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has kicked off a key meeting of the country's ruling party, state media KCNA reported on Wednesday, setting the stage for unveiling policy decisions for the new year.
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BIA Net ☛ Gabar Mountain declared 'special security zone'
The decision comes after two deadly attacks by the PKK targeting Turkish military outposts in Iraq's Kurdistan region on December 22 and 23, killing 12 soldiers. The mountain is situated near Turkey's border with Iraq.
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Marcy Wheeler ☛ In Lev Parnas Investigation, SDNY Decided that Ivana Trump Is Not Political
When SDNY obtained a warrant for Lev Parnas' Instagram account in December 2019, they chose not to obtain a photo showing Ivana Trump at an event for Parnas' fraudulent Fraud Guarantee business, months before Parnas first started buying access to Donald Trump.
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Marcy Wheeler ☛ SDNY Obtained Warrant(s) for Foreign Agent Charges before John Demers Reviewed the Perfect Transcript
Before Bill Barr's DOJ treated the criminal referral of Trump's "perfect phone call" with Volodymyr Zelensky, SDNY had already made the Lev Parnas investigation a national security investigation.
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New York Times ☛ Satellite Images Show Israel’s Expanded Fighting in Central Gaza
A military spokesman confirmed the move on the latest front in Israel’s war against Hamas.
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France24 ☛ US carries out air strikes on sites used by Iran-backed forces in Iraq
The US military carried out strikes on three sites used by Iran-backed forces in Iraq on Monday after an attack wounded three American personnel earlier in the day, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
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RFERL ☛ Israeli Air Strike In Syria Kills Commander Of Iran's Revolutionary Guards
Razi Mousavi, a senior adviser in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), has been killed in an Israeli air strike near the Syrian capital, Damascus, according to Iranian state media.
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CS Monitor ☛ Regional conflict simmers: President Biden sends airstrikes to Iraq
President Biden ordered retaliatory airstrikes against Iranian-backed militia groups, following a drone attack in northern Iraq that injured three U.S. servicemembers. The Iraqi Prime Minister says U.S. actions in Iraq, "constitute a clear hostile act."
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BIA Net ☛ Eight killed in the airstrikes of Turkey announces the Autonomous Administration
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria stated that eight people lost their lives, 18 people were injured, and more than 2,600 towns and villages were left without electricity in the 40 attacks carried out by the Turkish Armed Forces on December 25.
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BIA Net ☛ Turkey strikes infrastructure in Rojava following PKK attack
After 12 soldiers were killed in two separate PKK attacks targeting Turkish military outposts in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, Turkey carried out retaliatory strikes in both Syrian and Iraqi territory.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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France24 ☛ Ukrainian air strike damages Russian naval ship in Crimea
The Kremlin on Tuesday acknowledged a Ukrainian attack had damaged a warship in the occupied Crimean port of Feodosia in what Ukraine and its Western allies called a major setback for the Russian navy.
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France24 ☛ Turkey parliament committee approves Sweden's bid to join NATO
A key committee in the Turkish parliament on Tuesday approved Sweden's bid to join NATO after months of delays, clearing another hurdle in the Nordic country's accession process in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year.
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JURIST ☛ Ukraine intelligence chief arrested in absentia by Russia court for second time
The Basmanny District Court of Moscow ruled to arrest Ukrainian Intelligence Chief Kyrylo Budanov in absentia for the second time this year, accusing him of committing over 104 crimes including acts of terror.
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LRT ☛ Europe must prepare for Trump’s return – interview
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has destroyed a key advantage of Europe – its strategic stability – and will present an already troubled continent with even greater challenges in the future. “Europeans must ask themselves how they would react to a possible re-election of Trump and what would be the consequences of it for their own security,” Thomas Gomart, director of the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), says in an interview with LRT.lt.
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RFERL ☛ 1 Dead In Russian Strike On Kherson Train Station, Says Ukrainian Interior Minister
A Russian strike on a train station in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson has killed at least one person and wounded four others, the Ukrainian interior minister said on December 26.
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RFERL ☛ Ukrainian Air Force Claims Destruction Of Russian Ship In Crimea; Moscow Confirms Missile Strike
Ukraine's air force hit a major naval port on the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula, and claimed a Russian naval landing ship docked there was destroyed.
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RFERL ☛ Ukraine Seeks To Terminate Free-Trade Deal With Belarus
Ukraine's government has proposed to parliament terminating a free-trade agreement with Belarus, which supports Russia's invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022, cabinet minister Taras Melnychuk said on December 25.
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teleSUR ☛ Russia Achieves Main Goal of 2023 in Ukraine: Shoigu
"Ukraine is a de facto bankrupt country," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu pointed out.
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The Straits Times ☛ Ghost ships at reawakened North Korea port put Ukraine in peril
Experts say there is a burgeoning trade in arms with Russia destined for the front lines in Ukraine.
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New York Times ☛ Ukraine Attacks Novocherkassk, a Russian Warship, in Crimea
A major military success at sea against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet was tempered by Ukraine’s acknowledgment that it had all but retreated from the city of Marinka.
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New York Times ☛ Wednesday Briefing: A Success and a Setback for Ukraine
Also, the U.S. hit Iran-backed fighters in Iraq.
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France24 ☛ Kremlin critic Navalny says he’s ‘fine’ after transfer to Arctic penal colony
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Tuesday said he was “fine” after a “pretty exhausting” 20-day transfer from his prison near Moscow to a penal colony beyond the Arctic Circle.
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JURIST ☛ Alexei Navalny found in remote Siberian penal colony weeks after Russian prison disappearance
According to a statement Monday by a spokesperson for prominent Russian dissident, Alexei Navalny, he has been located in the Russian penal system in IK-3 in the settlement of Kharp in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District in northwestern Siberia.
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RFERL ☛ Russia To Deploy Newest Howitzers Close To Finland, Norway
Russia will soon deploy its newest howitzers to its Northern Military District that borders Finland and Norway, the head of the Rostec state defense conglomerate said in remarks published on December 27.
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RFERL ☛ Kremlin Critic Aleksei Navalny Confirms His Arrival At Arctic Prison
Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny has published his first message from the Arctic prison he has been transferred to, telling his followers on X, formerly Twitter, not to worry about him after an absence of more than two weeks that raised concerns about his well-being.
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RFERL ☛ Armenia's Pashinian Vows To Focus On Economics As Chair Of Eurasia Grouping
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on December 25 that he plans to put economic cooperation ahead of any “political ambitions” of members when he assumes the rotating chairmanship of the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union in 2024.
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teleSUR ☛ Russia Lambasts Unacceptable US Claims in Arctic Region
On Dec. 19, the State Department released geographic coordinates defining the outer limits of the U.S. extended continental shelf.
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New York Times ☛ Aleksei Navalny, in Letter, Describes Transfer to Arctic Prison
The comments from the Russian opposition leader were written with a heavy dose of humor, and seemed intended to assuage concerns among allies after his three-week disappearance.
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Environment
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Energy/Transportation
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Reason ☛ William Barr Responds on American Petroleum Institute v. Minnesota [Ed: Reason is a sponsored mouthpiece of the Koch Brothers, hiding their deliberate denial of facts as "free speech"]
The former Attorney General disagrees with me on whether state and local government climate change lawsuits belong in federal court.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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Detect DeepFakes: How to counteract misinformation created by AI
Participate in the experiment at...
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China
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DragonFly BSD Digest ☛ New mirror added
Yao Ge has created a new DragonFly mirror in Nanjing, China. It’s on the mirrors page too.
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The Straits Times ☛ North-west China cities halt heavy industries to curb pollution
The weather agency predicted dense haze for the country’s north and east from early Dec 28 to Dec 30.
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RFA ☛ Has a US report proposed cutting economic ties between the US and China?
Verdict: Misleading
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The Straits Times ☛ Canada ready to pay settlements to two men imprisoned in China in 2018: Report
Canada's government is willing to sign off on multimillion-dollar settlement packages for Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig to compensate them for the near three years they were incarcerated in Chinese prisons, the Globe and Mail reported on Tuesday, citing government sources.
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The Straits Times ☛ China sanctions US firm, two researchers over Xinjiang work
The move will escalate a dispute between the nations over allegations of forced labour.
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The Straits Times ☛ China threatens more trade sanctions on Taiwan as election nears
Taiwan’s presidential and parliamentary elections are taking place in January.
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The Straits Times ☛ Whisky and the coal mining ‘shack’: Taiwan election is not only about China
The candidates are exchanging blows over everything from property disputes to whether drinking whisky is out of touch.
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RFA ☛ Three remain missing in sub accident: Taiwan Navy
Taiwan Navy’s naval staff chief said the trio were swept away by sudden strong waves during training.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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BIA Net ☛ Education union reacts to naming of school after 'torturer'
The Education and Science Employees' Union (Eğitim Sen), İzmir Branch No. 5, released a statement regarding the change of the name of a school in Buca to "Martyr Esat Oktay Yıldıran Primary School."
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New York Times ☛ Tesla Strike in Sweden Highlights a Culture Clash
Workers seeking a collective agreement from the automaker say they are pushing for their rights, but car owners see them as taking the fight too far.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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Science Alert ☛ We Just Got a Major Step Closer to Teleporting Images Using Only Light
Another step towards Star Trek.
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Didier Stevens ☛ [Old] Update: format-bytes.py Version 0.0.15
This new version of format-bytes.py adds IPv6 representations: Big-endian (b), little-endian (l) and 4 32-bit little-endian unsigned integers (l4). And if you use a # to pass on literal data (here in hexadecimal: #h#), then the data is also printed.
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Digital Restrictions (DRM)
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Reason ☛ Fifth Circuit Rejects Younger Abstention Claim by Prosecutor Seeking to Prosecute DRM spreader Netflix for Airing "Cuties"
A rare federal court decision denying Younger abstention.
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Patents
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Unified Patents ☛ $4,000 for IP Edge entity, Communication Advances, image patents prior art
Unified Patents added two new PATROLL contests, each with a $2,000 cash prize, seeking prior art on the list below. The patents are owned by Communication Advances LLC, an NPE and entity of IP Edge LLC. The patents relate to digital cameras, and in particular, to an image capturing method employing eye-gazing detection to trigger various applications.
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Software Patents
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Silicon Angle ☛ Apple banned from selling Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 in the US
Apple Inc. was today banned from selling its Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 smartwatches in the U.S. The iPhone maker told Reuters it’s appealing the decision. Additionally, Fashion Company Apple has asked a federal court to pause the ban while the appeal process is ongoing.
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Trademarks
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TTAB Blog ☛ Lack of Bona Fide Intent Sinks Application to Register JUICY FRUIT & Design for T-shirts
The Board sustained this opposition to registration of JUICY FRUIT & Design (shown below) for" t-shirt for adults," finding that pro se Applicant David Neal Seller's lacked a bona fide intent to use the mark for t-shirts at the time he filed his application. His lack of documentation provided Opposer Fruit of the Loom with a a prima facie case. Sellers failed to overcome that presumption. Fruit of the Loom, Inc. v. David Neal Sellers, Opposition No. 91268870 (December 21, 2023) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Christen M. English).
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