Clinton v. Trump on copyrights and patents: Reading the platform and the tea leaves

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Justin Sullivan,Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The hot-button issues this election can be counted on one’s fingers—and for most voters, things like copyright and patent policy don’t make the list. Assigned to a wonkish zone far from the Sunday morning talk shows, intellectual property issues aren’t near the heart of our deeply polarized political discourse.

Of the two major party candidates in 2016, only the Democratic candidate has a platform that even addresses copyright and patent policies. So today, let’s look at what we know about Hillary Clinton’s plan, and make some informed speculation about what could happen to these areas under a Donald Trump presidency.

Given that the campaign is focused (as always) on a relatively small group of issues, tech policy watchers who spoke to Ars were surprised to see a presidential platform that mentions IP issues at all. Clinton’s briefing paper on technology and innovation addresses both copyright and patent issues directly, and that in itself is something of a surprise. Trump’s website has no such information, so the best clues to his approach lie in his public statements and the people he has surrounded himself with.

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Clinton v. Trump on copyrights and patents: Reading the platform and the tea leaves

Mojang releases bug fix update for Minecraft: Pocket Edition

It’s been two weeks since Mojang launched the Boss Update for Minecraft on all compatible platforms. Although it brought lots of new features and improvements, it also broke a few things in the game.

But fear not, as Mojang has just announced that a new update is now being rolled out on mobile devices, which is supposed to fix many of the issues that the Boss Update brought.

The update called 0.16.1 fixes spacing, so players will now have enough room for some longer localized text. Aside from the many bugs it fixes, the update also brings some performance … – Source

Mojang releases bug fix update for Minecraft: Pocket Edition

Fitbit Charge 2 review: The best all-around activity tracker, despite heated competition

When I reviewed the Fitbit Blaze a few months ago, one of my main complaints was its bulky design and the identity crisis over what it actually is: a smartwatch, a sports watch, a fitness tracker, or all of the above to a certain extent. That was never a question with the company’s best selling tracker, the Charge HR. From the first look, you knew it was an activity tracker first and foremost, and anything else that it could do was just a bonus feature.

Read More

Fitbit Charge 2 review: The best all-around activity tracker, despite heated competition was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Fitbit Charge 2 review: The best all-around activity tracker, despite heated competition

Uber gets slapped with lawsuit over missing food delivery tips

A courier in New York who used to deliver food for Uber has filed a lawsuit against the company over unpaid tips, according to Buzzfeed News. In the lawsuit, he said that tips from customers never made it to him and other delivery personnel for UberR… – Source

Uber gets slapped with lawsuit over missing food delivery tips

Phone codenamed HTC Desire A17 rumored to launch alongside HTC Bolt

A text by ROM developer and HTC tipster LlabTooFeR says that a new HTC phone is coming soon. Codenamed the HTC Desire A17, not much is known about the device except that it will apparently have Android 6.0.1 pre-installed with Sense 8 running on top. The buzz around the water cooler is that this phone will be released at the same time as the HTC Bolt.

We exclusively told you just the other day that the HTC Bolt will launch November 11th in the U.S. The phone will be available in the U.S. only from Sprint. As far as the Desire A17 is concerned, we can go back to the HTC Desire 530 which carried … – Source

Phone codenamed HTC Desire A17 rumored to launch alongside HTC Bolt

Pokemon GO update introduces “Nearby” tracking feature

Great news for Pokemon GO fans, as developer Niantic has just announced that the Nearby tracking feature that’s been testing since August has finally been added to the game.

However, for the time being, Nearby tracking feature will have limited availability, which means it will only work in some cities. In fact, Niantic confirmed that it will only be available in some cities in the United States, something not unexpected.

According to Niantic, its engineers continue to test a variation of the Nearby Pokemon feature in San Francisco, California. Moreover, beginning this week, the developers … – Source

Pokemon GO update introduces “Nearby” tracking feature

Revolting Parasites Emerge From Dead Cricket and Try to Mate in a Ball of Evil

Seriously, I strongly warn you to not lean into your screen to get a better look at this monstrosity.

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Revolting Parasites Emerge From Dead Cricket and Try to Mate in a Ball of Evil

Chevy starts manufacturing the Bolt

A new wave of affordable yet practical electric cars is finally reaching production lines. GM has started manufacturing the Chevy Bolt at a plant in Orion Township, Michigan, putting it on track to sell the $30,000 (after tax credits) EV in Californ… – Source

Chevy starts manufacturing the Bolt

Five principles for building the next great video platform

Video is eating the internet. It accounts for nearly 75 percent of internet traffic, with Americans consuming more than an hour of online videos each day — more than three times as much as in 2011. Established platforms like YouTube and Netflix capture a large portion of this traffic, but there are also a number of new players exploiting the video opportunity. Read More

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Five principles for building the next great video platform