Hello All,

So…now that the heat has abated a bit, we can concentrate on hurricane season again. We are at ‘I’ (for Isaac), which means we have seen quite a few tropical storms and hurricanes already. I’m really hoping we avoid any direct hits this year—many places in Vermont are still struggling to rebuild from Irene, which hit last year, and there are many areas where the geography has been completely rewritten. I think I would find it difficult to endure hurricanes and hurricane damage every year. People adapt to the most amazing things!

The big tech news this week is Apple’s victory over Samsung in the courts. It was decided that Samsung stole patented ideas from Apple for interfacing with phones and tablets, including the ‘pinching’ and ‘opening’ gestures which zoom images in and out. All the buzz is about whether this decision will hamper innovation or inspire other companies to seek their own solutions to make their touch interfaces work. There are plenty of persuasive arguments for both sides, really, including one that argues that certain gestures are like the steering wheel, where form follows function so closely that changing it could render the device almost useless.

Imagine if Henry Ford had received a patent for the round steering wheel and anyone who wanted a Chrysler needed to use a square or triangle. Or two levers. The argument could be made that this would have spurred innovation in other car makers and therefore driven competition in the market. But it could also be argued that the round steering wheel (like pinching) is such an integral part of car design itself that exclusively granting its use to one company would kill competition and innovation. In any case, I’m sure the appeals will drag on for years. And I will still be reading on and pinching my iPad, unless someone makes something better.

Thanks for reading!

Liam
liam@smalldog.com