Top Banks Join Linux and Open-Source Patent Protection Group

ZDNet reports:
When it comes to defending the intellectual property (IP) rights of Linux and open-source software, global leading banks aren’t the first businesses to come to mind. Things have changed. Barclays, the London-based global corporate and investment bank, and the TD Bank Group, with its 26-million global customers, have joined the leading open-source IP defense group, the Open Invention Network (OIN)….

Swiss Company Claims Weakness Found in Post-Quantum Encryption, Touts Its New Encryption Protocol

“A Swiss technology company says it has made a breakthrough by using quantum computers to uncover vulnerabilities in commonly used encryption,” reports Bloomberg: Terra Quantum AG said its discovery “upends the current understanding of what constitutes unbreakable” encryption… Terra Quantum AG has a team of about 80 quantum physicists, cryptographers and mathematicians, who are based in Switzerland, Russia, Finland and the…

Microsoft Patent Shows Plans To Revive Dead Loved Ones As Chatbots

Microsoft has been granted a patent that would allow the company to make a chatbot using the personal information of deceased people. The Independent reports: The patent describes creating a bot based on the “images, voice data, social media posts, electronic messages,” and more personal information. “The specific person [who the chat bot represents] may correspond to a past or present…

Speculation Grows As AMD Files Patent for GPU Design

Long-time Slashdot reader UnknowingFool writes:
AMD filed a patent on using chiplets for a GPU with hints on why it has waited this long to extend their CPU strategy to GPUs. The latency between chiplets poses more of a performance problem for GPUs, and AMD is attempting to solve the problem with a new interconnect called high bandwidth passive crosslink. This new…

Apple Researching Keyboards With Adaptive Displays on Each Key

Apple is researching keyboards with small displays on the keys to dynamically change the label on each key, according to a newly-granted patent filing. From a report: The filing is titled “Electronic devices having keys with coherent fiber bundles” and was granted to Apple by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on the final patent day of this year. The patent…

Canon Patents an Osmo-style Camera With Interchangeable Lenses

Canon could take a page from DJI’s playback for its next camera. From a report: The company has filed a patent, first spotted by Canon News, that showcases a handheld camera that combines an Osmo Pocket-like design with its RF series of mirrorless lenses. The camera features a swivel mechanism that allows the sensor and lens mount to easily switch between…

‘Save Europe from Software Patents’, Urges Nonprofit FFII

Long-time Slashdot reader zoobab shares this update about the long-standing Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure, a Munich-based non-profit opposing ratification of a “Unified Patent Court” by Germany: The FFII is crowdfunding a constitutional complaint in Germany against the third attempt to impose software patents in Europe, calling on all software companies, independent software developers and FLOSS authors to donate. The…

Proposed US Law Could Slap Twitch Streamers With Felonies For Broadcasting Copyrighted Material

Republican senator Thom Tillis has introduced a proposal to turn unauthorized commercial streaming of copyrighted material into a felony offense with a possible prison sentence. It’s currently being included in a must-pass spending bill. Kotaku reports: Currently, such violations, no matter how severe, are considered misdemeanors rather than felonies, because the law regards streaming as a public performance. With Twitch currently…

Spotify Invents AI Tech That Will Police Songwriter Plagiarism

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Music Business Worldwide: According to a document published last week, Daniel Ek’s company is seeking a patent for its “Plagiarism Risk Detector And Interface” technology, which pertains to “Methods, systems and computer program products..for testing a lead sheet for plagiarism.” As explained in the filing — and as our songwriter/musician readers will already know…

Is Sony Developing a Dual-GPU PS5 Pro?

According to a Sony patent spotted by T3, the console maker may be working on a new PlayStation 5 with two graphics card. From the report: The patent describes a “scalable game console” where “a second GPU [is] communicatively coupled to the first GPU” and that the system is for “home console and cloud gaming” usage. To us here at T3…