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| Time:
08:26 EST/13:26 GMT | News Source:
Seattle Times |
Posted By: Chris Hedlund |
Microsoft researchers have put a new twist on telling time, creating a digital wall clock with hands for each member of the family.
Instead of numbers, the hands point to places — work, school, home — and can track a person's location to show where he or she is at any time. Not good for teenagers, perhaps, but something parents might find interesting.
Don't expect to buy the clock in stores anytime soon. That invention, and hundreds of others, were on display yesterday at Microsoft's annual science fair of the most futuristic ideas from the company's research division.
Microsoft Techfest, as it is called, is designed to expose employees to projects being developed in Redmond and Microsoft laboratories around the world. Employees have a hard time following who is working on what in such a large company, and Techfest tries to connect some and inspire others.
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#1 By
ch (524 Posts)
at
3/3/2005 10:30:34 AM
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The people-tracking clock is an idea out of Microsoft's research laboratories in Cambridge, England.
Another case of MS "innovation"? No. J. K. Rowling had this in the second Harry Potter book. Funny how the article and MS doesn't give mention of that...
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#2 By
ketsugi (21 Posts)
at
3/3/2005 11:17:50 AM
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Maybe they're trying to imply that Rowling paid a visit to the lab in Cambridge and stole the idea...
After all, almost everything in Harry Potter is borrowed from somewhere!
Just kidding, by the way. And you're right, the moment I saw that clock I thought of the Weasleys.
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#3 By
ch (524 Posts)
at
3/3/2005 12:56:25 PM
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Well, since MS stole the idea they could've at least been more accurate in their modelling of the Weasley clock which, in addition to locations, featured conditions such as 'lost' and 'danger'. The MS clock should have two more zones: patching and rebooting!
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#4 By
Lilison (1 Posts)
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3/3/2005 4:22:08 PM
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That is a direct rip-off of the clock generated by Mrs. JK Rowling's brilliant imagination. There is no other explanation. I am sure the techies who "inevnted" it proably didn't read the books or they would have given her credit. I bet they saw it in the movie and figured it was just put there by the director so it didn't really count as intellectual property. This is insanity. The very least they could have done would been to aknowledge it was JK's idea and not their's. Lousy Microsoft theives!!!!!!
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#5 By
quux (439 Posts)
at
3/3/2005 5:17:20 PM
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Uh ... guys, did you notice that this was an internal see-what-everyones-up-to kind of thing? It's not like MS is poised to market the Harry Potter Clock at Bed Bath & Beyond or anything.
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#6 By
gryffindor_rulz4 (2 Posts)
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3/3/2005 5:40:14 PM
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i think that ms should just gve up wit this idea cause its JK's idea and because it probley will not work correctly
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#7 By
gryffindor_rulz4 (2 Posts)
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3/3/2005 5:40:28 PM
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i think that ms should just gve up wit this idea cause its JK's idea and because it probley will not work correctly
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#8 By
WHOA_whosthatkid (1 Posts)
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3/3/2005 7:13:02 PM
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wow this just goes to show how cool Joanne is. :)
& perhaps a little credit where it is due.
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#9 By
potts1180 (1 Posts)
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3/3/2005 7:42:50 PM
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Er, I guess quux got the closest to asking, but it's a little bothersome that something like this is being brought to the real world. Somehow it seems okay in Rowling's magical one, but a clock that can pinpoint people's locations in the real world? This could potentially border on privacy infringement, no? I mean, I understand that as the clock is standing now, there's only home and work and school and such down and these are pretty normal spaces. But still, the idea's a bit ... creepy.
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#10 By
majormeg7 (1 Posts)
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3/3/2005 7:51:28 PM
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Uh, guys? Who said MS ripped the idea from Rowling's books? These remind me of those manual clocks college students put on their dorm doors so that room/hallmates know what they're up to. MS just decided to make one that works electronically.
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#11 By
xAmarisx (1 Posts)
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3/3/2005 8:00:25 PM
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I believe that MS should of atleast acknowledged the fact that this was JKR's idea. But alas no. Not even a mention of it. Shame on you MS!
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#12 By
DynamicMood (1 Posts)
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3/3/2005 10:09:07 PM
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-_- how dense are you guys? ms didn't write this article. For all you know they could have given jk credit even though I see no reason cause they did "invent" it because there's a difference between a fake prop and a real machine. A fake prop only has to look like it's working but the real one had time and work spent on it so it actually does something.
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#13 By
garth (1 Posts)
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3/4/2005 6:23:02 AM
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indeed, shame on ms! Can you imagine the person who 'came up' with this 'idea'? How much would you bet that he/she/it didn't think anyone would notice?
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#14 By
Jangofeet (1 Posts)
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3/4/2005 1:21:48 PM
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Hey DynamicMood, perhaps you should think before you start talking about who's dense. First of all there is such a thing as intellectual property and in the case of the international publishing of copyrighted material this concept is especially valid. We aren't just talking about a movie prop that some intern slapped together in an hour; this clock was intricately described in J.K. Rowling's second book and many of those details appear in the Microsoft Clock. Coincidence is unlikely. That is not to say that it isn't possible, as majormeg7 suggested. The physical similarities, though, suggest that this is not a coincidence. The one valid point DynamicMood does make is that MS did not write this article and may have giving mention of J.K. Rowling in their official release. Also MS isn't officially marketing the product, it's still in prototype phase and until they officially pantent and begin manufacturing them they're not really required to give anyone credit for anything. Right now there is no need for anyone to get their panties in a bunch, but if MS does attempt to move forward with this product without giving J.K. Rowling her due I think you'll find that her people will begin making some noise.
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#15 By
oobey (1 Posts)
at
3/4/2005 4:04:25 PM
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Oh, give me a break. As mentioned earlier, this concept has existed in mechanical form, long before JK Rowling came alone. Are you trying to tell me that if I go out, and spend years of research and invent warp drive, that I need to say "Oh by the way I stole this idea from Gene Roddenberry."
All JK did was write about a magical version of something that already exists. MS went and built the actually technologies, devised how it should actually work, and actually assembled it in something that wasn't just a work of fiction. JK hardly has some sort of exclusive claim on this idea.
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#16 By
muku (1 Posts)
at
3/5/2005 9:42:38 AM
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For all you know, the guys who built these clocks might be die hard HP fans, and this might be their idea of fan art er.. fan tech?
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#17 By
cmdjc (3 Posts)
at
3/5/2005 5:57:33 PM
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I think that everyone seems to have their tailfeathers in an uproar over nothing. Sure manual things like this have existed for quite some time. But the unique likeness here does represent the model used in the HP MOVIE only. Sure JK wrote about it in her book, but doesnt the credit here go to whoever CREATED the actual prop for the MOVIE? I can write details about anything down to the very last nut and bolt and their placements. Whomever the one is that is actually creating it from non pre-fab pieces should be the one to take the credit. We have read the books and seen the movies are they identical? No. The movie takes on its own personality due to the creativity of the producer of the movie. Simply the prop maker gets the credit here. Sure JK had the idea in her book, but the prop maker brought it to life with their own unique creativity. Each of us in our own way takes things currently existing and reproduces them to fit our needs. If 'oobey' ever creates 'warp drive' then go back in history to find out all of the ideas that ever led us to believe that we could indeed travel that fast anyway. Talk to Chuck Yeager for starters.
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#18 By
cmdjc (3 Posts)
at
3/5/2005 5:57:37 PM
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This post was edited by cmdjc on Saturday, March 05, 2005 at 18:00.
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#19 By
cmdjc (3 Posts)
at
3/5/2005 5:57:41 PM
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This post was edited by cmdjc on Saturday, March 05, 2005 at 17:59.
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#20 By
Snowdream (1 Posts)
at
3/7/2005 12:21:47 PM
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Well,
First off, If microsoft is making this, then at least they could put "inspired by...[blah blah blah]" because even if it's true that they did come up with the idea, they did create it. the majourity of people will assume they ripped it off of JKR if they do not acknowledge JKR. So it's really public relations, even IF they came up with the idea, they still need to acknowledge JKR unless they want an earfull of "THEIVES" even though alot of today's technology is stolen between companies (speaking from expierence through a rather large corporation that has had idea's stolen from competitors because of spy's [and yes this has nothing to do with the point but I had to say it])
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#21 By
imillicit (1 Posts)
at
11/30/2005 3:20:20 PM
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I'm not sure whether JK was the first person to have the idea, but without a patent who's to say who does own the idea.
If I told my best mate about a fantastic idea I had, and he went and patented it - sure he'd soon be a crummy ex-friend - but he'd still have a legal hold on the idea. The burden would then be on me to prove that I'd come up with it in the first place.
I wonder if anybody has tried to claim the idea?
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