
How an F Student Became America’s Most Prolific Inventor - pmcpinto
http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-americas-top-inventor-lowell-wood/
======
kragen
Here we have Ashlee Vance, who three weeks ago we saw making fun of
programming-contest finalists for their haircuts and physiques
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10283567](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10283567)),
doing a PR exercise for Intellectual Ventures, the world's premier patent
troll, whose business is to figure out what inventions would be the most
important for the world's neediest people, obtain patents on them so that
those people are legally forbidden to make those inventions happen, and then
never bring those inventions to market themselves — putting themselves in a
cozy spot to extract rent from any actual innovators who do create the
inventions they've imagined.

The fact that this dude who goes around dreaming up ideas that never get
implemented (fortunately, in the case of Star Wars) now outshines Edison in
patent count is a key indicator of how badly screwed up the US patent system
has gotten.

Is it a coincidence that a journalist who hates hackers and publicly ridicules
them is doing submarine PR for a patent troll built to take control of hacking
away from hackers?

(On rereading my comment, I'm forced to add: but at least he knows how to
write sentences that are shorter than a paragraph...)

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chaostheory
"At 74, he’s been an inventor-in-residence at Intellectual Ventures, a
technology research and patent firm, for about a decade."

He works for IV which is a notorious patent troll and the article reads like
native advertising / submarine PR for IV i.e. IV paid for the article. Does
this guy actually invent things (that he strives to make real) or does he just
waste his time submitting new patents for IV to use for its exhortion schemes?

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fauigerzigerk
I really wanted to read this but I just can't. It's impossible for me to read
anything while constantly being bombarded with all sorts of animated artwork
and pointless flicker on the sides.

I recently cancelled my Economist subscription because they insist on playing
unstoppable video adverts right in the middle of the article text so maybe
it's just me being hypersensitive to this sort of thing (And yes I refuse to
use ad-blockers).

They say it's a sign of intelligence if you are able to focus and ignore
distractions. I noticed that some devs even work with the radio on. I don't. I
also need to close a door behind me when I work.

So even though I am able to create some pretty interesting pieces of
artificial intelligence (albeit with moderate productivity), my natural
cognitive abilities seem rather limited.

My special needs seem to be incompatible even with business models that do
include a paid component. I find that a bit disconcerting.

~~~
melling
Just hit Reader Mode on your iOS/Mac device in Safari.

[http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/26/iphone-101-how-to-use-
rea...](http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/26/iphone-101-how-to-use-reader-mode-
in-safari-to-simplify-web-pag/)

I think Microsoft's browser has it so it should work on Windows too.

[http://m.winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-81-tip-better-
re...](http://m.winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-81-tip-better-reading-
internet-explorer-11)

~~~
fauigerzigerk
That's an improvement, but it doesn't remove the animations within the text.

Also, I have this perhaps stupid inclination to use published stuff in a way
that doesn't undermine the publisher's business model. This sentiment is of
course a bit nonsensical if the only other option is to walk away entirely,
because that wouldn't make them any money either.

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mintplant
Usually I appreciate the creative touches Bloomberg give pieces like this, but
I'm not a fan of this background that rapidly flashes on scroll. I get that
it's supposed to represent the sheer number of patents filed, but it renders
the entire article unreadable for me outside of Firefox's Reader View.

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donquichotte
An F student? The man "enrolled at UCLA at 16, where he tested into an honors-
level calculus class", and got "a doctorate in astrophysics". If he was an F
student, it certainly wasn't for much of his academic career.

------
biggio
An F UX. Can't read.

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myoung
sorry for the promotion here, but thought it might be interesting for some of
you. we're doing a live q&a with Ashlee now if anyone wants join and ask him
some questions: [http://digg.com/dialog/ashlee-vance-
dialog](http://digg.com/dialog/ashlee-vance-dialog)

