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It’s not actually that simple. The guy who invented the technology (and patented it) went to the saw makers to try and license the technology but none of them wanted it because it would have made their saws (especially the cheap entry level ones) way to expensive. So he made his own company that sells fairly expensive saws. Later, when the governments regulators looked at the tech and whether they should mandate it, they found a problem: they would have to mandate a monopoly for this inventor, which is exactly what a governmental regulator doesn’t want to do. But he has the patent lock stock and barrel (he happens to have been a patent lawyer before inventing this tech) and he is refusing to license the technology (unless of course it gets mandated), in addition to patenting every possible augmentation of his idea just to stop the saw makers from using something a little different.

Either they mandate this safety tech and hand someone a huge licensing monopoly or ignore a dangerous but solvable problem.

3 days ago on Finger-saving SawStop has been around for a decade, but tool companies aren't interested 2 recommends

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STOP ALL THE DOWNLOADING is my go to response to people who try to justify their rampant piracy (i.e., with some people there is simply no point in arguing).

What’s odd is how many of these people have no idea what I’m referencing.

7 days ago on Body Message: GI Joe and the invention of the viral video

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Having spoken to people in Kansas City who worked with Google and how enthusiastic they were to get the service up and running, I find it hard to believe a municipal government that was approached Google would not bend over backwards to get fiber. I doubt any mayor would like to have headlines that said their city turned Google Fiber away.

17 days ago on Google Fiber also coming to Shawnee, Kansas following Austin and Provo

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Provo has actually done a good job attracting a fair number of both large companies and high tech start ups so actually Provo makes a lot of sense.

17 days ago on Google Fiber also coming to Shawnee, Kansas following Austin and Provo

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I think it’s probably fair to say Scribblenauts use of Keyboard Cat and Nyan Cat infringes their owners copyright. Just like they say, if it had been Mickey Mouse, Disney would have had a problem with that. However, unlike Threadless’ 3 Keyborad Cat Moon T-shirt, I think it’s hard to say this use was profiting off another creators work. How many people bought Scribblenauts because it had these meme cats in it? They are a tiny, tiny fraction of the games content, and I think it could be argued that their appearance in the game only helps the owners of Keyboard Cat and Nyan Cat by perpetuating the characters in pop culture.

I don’t think these guys are without grounds to sue, but it really only makes them look like ass holes.

18 days ago on Nyan Cat and Keyboard Cat creators sue 'Scribblenauts' studio for using their memes 1 reply 3 recommends

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This is how sequestration works, it’s not targeted but arbitrary, ‘across the board’ cuts. Departments must find the savings, and because of things like contracts, they can’t always just cut the things that make the most sense. It was not meant to be good policy when both sides of congress passed the bill and the President signed it, it was meant as an incentive (or threat) to get the ‘super-committee’ to propose an intelligently targeted set of cuts or tax reforms that would have cut the budget by an equivalent amount. All this complaining about the sequester is petulant. If congress thought they could find better, more targeted cuts then it was there job to do so, but because no one wants to actually be on record supporting entry fees at the Smithsonian or closing them on Sundays, they instead get to cover their asses while the public suffers. No one should be happy with this, but to blame one side and not the other, or to insinuate the people leading these agencies are selecting these cuts on purpose and not because they are being bound by bad policy is simply being disingenuous.

26 days ago on Artless: budget cuts force Smithsonian to close exhibits at random 3 replies 3 recommends